Round 08: Long Woman's Grave

Round 07 saw us visit mid Louth to Ardee CC new league route (many thanks lads, super event) for Ràs week. Can genuinely say there was a buzz about the town, so big congratulations to all in Ardee CC and the guys in Wheels & Heels which was a real focal point on Sunday before Ràs rollout.

Well done all, fantastic to see the event in Louth again for the first time in many years.

And also, very well done to all riders who completed the Race the Ràs, especially in the horrendous conditions from Buncrana on Saturday. We’ve organized the sunshine for this Thursday (fingers crossed)

This week we return to the relative torture of the Long Woman’s Grave finish for Round 08. As usual Facebook has been awash with swap requests, so it remains to be seen what the numbers look like for tomorrow…

For those of you who are new to the league, this is much the same route as Round 05: Flagstaff, with the exception of the finish at the Long Woman’s Grave. As usual speeds will be very fast out to Omeath where riders will take their last swigs from bidons before digging in for the long drag up the mountain.

There were a couple of extremely close calls last week with riders overtaking on blind bends and nearly being taken out by oncoming traffic; please use your common sense and not put yourself in dangerous situations like this. You endanger not only yourself but all cyclists around you.

*****

Ray Fedigan (+353862374990) returns from his Ràs exploits this week and is your lead marshal (Group 2) this week, and if you’re on duty, you should have received a text already. If you haven’t already done so, please make contact with Ray to confirm your attendance.

Sign on (and roll out) is at the Sportsmans; a change from the booklet. Opens at 18:15 and closes at 18:45 sharp. Marshal, please try to arrive earlier than the riders to be allocated marshal locations.

Riders: Armbands and Chips all round please….

Safe riding, and see you all Thursday