Lakeside Wheelers hampered by the weather
In recent weeks some of the club spins have been seriously disrupted by Mother Nature with strong winds and heavy rain being the biggest culprits. The stop-start nature of weather interrupted training becomes very frustrating after a while so last weekend, with another terrible day forecast on Sunday, the group leaders decided to swap the spin to Saturday morning.
So, as the members of the C and D groups gathered for their normal Saturday morning rides they were surprised to see an extra few members lining up. Some of the C group members are very regular on Saturday mornings and with an upcoming trip to Portugal in May they are also trying to put in the hard training miles in preparation for this five day ride from the north of Portugal to the south (more info in the coming weeks) finishing in the beautiful Algarve region.
Biking blitz
Despite the bad weather there have been some events which managed to get run off and with the cyclocross over for this year it is now time for the mountain bikers to shine.
Lakeside Wheelers members, Peter Rimmer and Stewart Cox headed to Ballinasloe on February 9 for the first round of the 2025 Biking Blitz promoted by Coillte. This seven round event is a mass start cross country mountain bike event, aimed primarily at beginners but with something for all abilities. It will be staged at trail centres across Ireland and each week there will be three senior categories with a Novice and Expert section. As this was Stewart’s first mountain bike event he entered the Novice competition and did very well to claim the 3rd step of the podium. Pete has a lot more experience at this discipline so was in the Expert competition where he also rode well to finish inside the top 20. Well done lads and best of luck in the upcoming rounds.
Racing
The 2025 racing season is just around the corner with the first race of the new season only two weeks away. So, any rider with intentions of competing in open events needs to be upping their training and this is what the A group are attempting to achieve in the coming weeks as the training plan moves into the Build 1 phase. This will include working on skills to ensure efficient and safe riding within the peloton. There will be reports from all races over the course of the summer and from April 24th onwards there will of course be reports from the Midland League races. This exciting local league will, as usual, kick off with the TT based out of Horseleap so there is a lot to look forward to.
Along with the annual Mullingar GP which is once again part of the Cycling Ireland National League series of races, the club will also be hosting a major national racing event later this year. The Mullingar GP will have a new date for 2025 and all details on both of these big races as well as the other club events for 2025 will be included in next week’s notes.
Club kit night
It was decided at the February committee meeting of 2025 to host a club kit night to try and sell off some stock before any new gear is ordered. An email has been sent out to all members with details of this sale which will see a 15% discount available on all sizes left.
Wednesday February 26 is the date and the clubhouse is the venue so check your email for full info.
Membership
All club riders are reminded that this year’s membership is now overdue so please log on to the Cycling Ireland website and renew your subscription for 2025.