Intro to Club League Racing Day Sat Feb 20th

Hi all

We've decided to do the much loved Introduction to Club League Racing Day again Saturday Feb 20th at 11am-1pm in Corkagh Park.

Last September 2014 Dick O'Brien ran the highly successful fun training day followed again in early Spring. Over 40-50 people of on both days enjoyed learning a trick or 2 in a safe environment on the Corkagh Park track. Again last Sept 2015 we ran it again and had a great day and even found a few new up and coming stars for the season ahead! (cough cough Brendan Kenny)

Saturday February 20th, the session will be run by Ras 2015 legend and warrior Dick O'Brien, one of the best Time Trialists in the Club and reigning Hamper Champ Valdis Andersons, the most feared cyclist in 2015 A4 and scratch racing Ken 'the Kenibal' O'Neill, and me Garret Connolly(better known for the odd hill or 2...). I was fortunate enough to attend Dick's sessions and caught the bug and haven't looked back since..

These sessions are aimed at everyone from complete racing beginners up to those of you who who've tried it a few times and would like to aim into 2016 with newfound confidence. A huge amount of those who attended last September and March 2014 ended up competed in the Club League, a lot of whom got promoted to Semi Limit and above, with a good chunk of them getting in the mix in open A4 racing and even some of them getting promoted to A3(Paul Perry and Freddie Stevens to name just 2).

This a 2 hour session that is supposed to fun and friendly for both guys and especially the huge numbers of excellent lady cyclist coming through from leisure and Ann's recent ladies beginner spins.
www.velovixen.com/blog/startracing/

We hope the day will give you a good idea of what its like to race in the club league and beyond and we'll do some drills that will include among others:
-Riding at a higher speed in a group safely
-Cornering at higher speed
-Up and overs in a race scenario
-Attacking and Chasing down attacks and overall race tactics
-Time Trialing
-Elimination racing
-Corkagh Park racing

My history of racing is mostly semi limit club league with a few A4 open races but between Dick, Valdis and the Kenibal we have probably more experience combined from the 2015 season than any other club in the history of Irish cycling so they will be more than capable of answering any questions and dishing out out advice to all budding club league racers.

This session is open to all Orwell members(both leisure and racing) with Cycling Ireland membership and it would be great to see a big turnout of lads and ladies.

Even if you're not planning on doing the club league come along and check it out...it's amazing fun and if you try it out and like it there is still time to register your license as a club league license and join the league..

We will have a tea/coffee meet/greet questions session in the Green Isle Hotel after at 1pm.

Corkagh Park
www.google.ie/maps/place/Corkagh+Park/@5...0:0xecc6b80e36d5eb89

Green Isle Hotel
www.google.ie/maps/place/Green+Isle+Hote...x0:0x453fdc5ad691ff2

Looking forward to seeing many new faces and some older ones out there on Intro session

Garret

Just giving this a bump up the charts
Bump
It's on Feb 20th

I'd like to be there but I'll be in Galway for work.
Hope you'll have fun.

Thanks for organising!

BTW, when is the League starting?

league starts end of March but deadline for entry into the league is Feb 28th
See separate post by Dick
www.orwellwheelers.org/forum/racing/5331...deadline-for-entries
cheers

Garret

Hi all

a quick reminder this is on next Saturday at 11am In Corkagh Park.

All welcome to come along and test out what racing is like in a fun safe environment that is Corkagh Park.

If you're even 1/2 thinking of doing club league, ladies racing or A4 this is the day for you. Many a great rider(and some not so great) have started off their racing career on one of these days.

I would 100% recommend giving it a go. Above all else it's amazing training for the sportifs!

Garret

A few people have been on to me about if this day is suitable for existing limit/a4 riders. 100% agree that any existing limit/semi limit or a4 riders who fancy giving it a go should come along. What perfect way to reawaken the racing legs before you're debut in the season.
All the drills done on this day will benefit existing racers as a refresher course.
All welcome
If you do this day you are 100% more likely to score points in the league vs if you skip it.
T&C apply*

Garret

Well that was...wet....

The good news is if you turned up today and took part you've already proved you're up for anything and spring summer racing in the sun will be a walk in the park!

We had 20 drenched souls turn up this morning according to my count with 6 hardy women and 14 tough blokes. We fully expected less than 5 in those conditions to turn up so to get 20 was really fantastic. All of you can take a bow, while others looked out and went back to bed you came out basked in rule 5 and 9 combined..chapeau.

Thanks to Dick O'Brien as always for running the day and keep us all on our toes with the various drills and races. Especially thanks to him for coming out and standing around in the rain while the rest of us kept 'warm' on the bike.

Thanks also to the volunteers who came out to help on the bikes, namely Ken O'Neill, Valdis Andersons and Helen Horan. Chapeau guys for giving something back.

So you loved today in the rain...you will absolutely love racing on the dry! 1st things 1st get yourself registered for the club league. That's the 1st step for all newcomers to racing. Get yourself signed up for the club league and upgrade your Cycling Ireland License to full racing(including A4 etc) or limited racing license(club league only) and worry about the open road racing later on in the season.

Full details on getting registered for the club league is here.

www.orwellwheelers.org/forum/racing/5331...deadline-for-entries
The deadline is Feb 28th so you need to pay for the club league before then,. You'll also need to do a Marshal Training Course(keep an eye out for dates etc on this on the forum). Just make sure you register for the league before Feb 28th.

For any ladies out there who are still on the fence we will announce the inaugural Orwell Club League Women's Championship later today with a full Women's points championship integrated into the league this year. We hope it will encourage everyone to take part.

What are you waiting for! Join into the League....you will absolutely love almost minute of it:-) Well done to all who togged out today. Hope you enjoyed it.

Garret

Yes thanks to Helen, dick, gar, valdis and Ken....just dried out and heart rate returned to normal...