2 years

It took me 2 years to find the courage to write another entry. A lot of my cycling friends have now started blogging and I have to admit I am really not up to scratch.
What have I done in 2 years? I have cycled. trained, raced, been to the Alpes, the Pyreenees and around Ireland etc.

I am in OK form at the moment, and recently signed up for my 1st multi day event ... ok, it's only a 2 day race: 2 road stage and a TT. I needed a challenge and there is a women category so ... might as well. It's probably going to be the height of my season. I have taken it quite easy this year so I am only going there to finish it. Do my best. Be a pack fill. I'll be happy with just being there and taking the start as part of the group.

I have also started eating gluten and dairy free. So far so good but I am only on my 3rd day. I am hoping this will prevent me from being sick as I think I must have some kind of intolerance. Actually I have no idea, that's why I am trying to figure it out. I read that Garmin and Radioshack team go gluten free for the racing season. i am sure it's for a good reason.

Sorry ... never wrote about the TOI

I never wrote anything about the Your Of Ireland, I was way too busy, and when i was not working and getting rained on. My Massive backside appeared on several cycling site too ... when Cav got lost on his way to the press conf and ended up in my brilliantly ran press office.

I have been thinking of a great idea ... of a blog. A cycling blog ... yeah ... there are many of them I know and 99% of them will be better than mine. It will start as a blog but will evolve as a proper website at some stage if I can manage it. I was chatting to a few people during the TOI who had quite successful blogs. So .. i am going to start a blog about ladies cycling stuff ... yes, well i will start by reviewing my own stuff and maybe I will be good enough and get ladies items to test out and talk about. i doubt it will be successful but who knows. I might not go through with it. It might fail. I need a good name for it and we'll start from there.

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This weekend it's the Sean Kelly Tour of Waterford. 160k in the comeragh. I was there twice last year, had a great time. I have lost 2 additional Kg I wanted to lose over the past few weeks, but lost a bit of my fitness as I haven't trained as much with the TOI and the crap weather we've been having lately. I am actually thinking of doing a short version of the 160, skipping Seskin and upper Mahon falls if I am not able. My terrible stupid asthma has been at me this week every time i have been out on the bike. I am going to the clinic this week to finally get tests done. Bloody irish health care ... took them 3 and a half months to get me in, messing up my summer season. ( that's another excise for me to be crap )

Back on Monday

TOI starts today!

For me anyway --- I am on my way to meet the press staff at the airport. We have a lot to prepare today ... I am not sure 'what', but eh, I like surprises. I will try and keep this place updated while I am on the tour. I have been awaiting this for a while. I am glad it's shorter this year, so I am not off my bike for that long. I had to get out yesterday after work for 2 hours for my cycling fix in order to survive around so much cycling without being able to cycle. I am supposed to drive home in a Tour of Ireland car today. I was thinking of visiting all my cycling friends with it to show off :)
Anyway ... I better get myself to the bus stop and grab a cuppa on the way because the day is going to be long.

Wish me good luck!

I hate obnoctious french people

Especially the ones I am currently living with. He brought back 2 eastern European ladies last night. I think they're staying for a couple of days. Anyway ... I am preparing to move house ( can't wait ) so I am trying to get all my washing done, and that means I have 2 loads drying in the kitchen at one go. I also had 1 load piled up on a chain in the kitchen. I come home to a disgusting smell of deep fired fresh fish ... you know the small smelly fishes, probably sardines of the like, and of course my clean clothes also got a nice small to them now. I am so pissed off it's not even funny. I am trying to see if the smell goes my putting all 3 loads in the garden, but really I think I am having to rewash everything again.

My blood is boiling with rage right ... I even ate all the chocolate ...

Can't climb

I have recently reached and passed the 1000km mark this year on my bike. ( remember I only started again in February after injuries ) - I am seeing my body remodelling itself, which i am very happy with, the mood is up, the metabolism is picking up, my speed is improving, my heart rate is really good however ... I can't climb a hill for to save my life. And it's not as if i am not trying. I go up them, at threshold between 166 and 172bpm, nice and easy, breathing ok, and once I've reached the top, my heard rate goes right back down in a matter of seconds... but ... I can't pull myself up a hill, i am slow as hell, always was, but you'd think by now I would be a little faster. I think my average speed on a hill is 9km/h, which is utter crap. All my cycling mates have to wait for me at the top. I have the lightest bike, I may have a few lbs to lose ( about 8 to 10max ) but I have seen heavier female riders go up a hill faster than me.

Tom and I spent Friday night re adjusting my position on the bikes, after i realised it was all wrong. Cleats were too close to my toes, the seat was too high and too far back, handles bars too high after the change of everything else. I did notice i was able to push more effectively, however, I started feeling muscle pain in the inside lower thigh, as if I was using a brand new muscle.

I am not giving up Oh No ... I will get faster, I will never be the fastest, but I will be able to pick up eventually. I manage to keep up very well on flat and i am getting less and less nervous on descents, which I used to go mad on before my crash.

I hope the boys don't lose patience as I try and get better ...

Ice Ice Baby ....

Alright... I have decided to start writing again, despite my obvious lack of style... I am not much of a writer.

I have been pretty quiet with my cycling lately due to injuries. I broke my wrist the last weekend of November during an icy spin. 6 of us ended up on our bums, me and Tom finished up at the hospital with injuries ... and I got a nice cast on for almost 8 weeks. It only came off 2 weeks ago.

I was a bit lazy during that time, I turbo’d a little, walked lot, but probably not enough to keep my weight down. I gained about 3 kg.

I have been back on the bike for a couple of weeks now. I haven’t been cycling the road bike just yet though, just the fixie for now. All is going quite well, I have lost 1 kg, I am feeling a little more energetic, I also go to the gym after work to gain some muscle back, and I am meeting with the new personal trainer next week for a few tips. If all goes well, I will have lost the nasty last stone I want to lose for the summertime spins up the mountains.

This article is very interesting although quite depressing to me ...

This winter has been pretty nasty with us cyclists lately, and this week was probably the worst of them all, with snow and ice ... all over. The Irish have NO IDEA how to deal with extrem’ish weather like this. I used to live in Canada ... and they should teach the Irish a lesson or two on snow management...so it doesn’t become a National State of Emergency like right now.

Anyway, I will try to keep this blog alive ...

The Alpes for my Bday

I should have written a new entry sooner, but I was busy ... nursing wounds and stomach flu's and trying to cycle before night fall ... but it was quite tough.
I turned 29 on Oct 2nd and what would be better than a spin ... up the Alpes! Ivan, mark, Tom, Al and I managed to rent a Chalet in Bourg d'oisans in the French Alps, at the bottom of Alpes d'huez for 5 days.

The Alpes, my 1st time and i was blown away by the scenery. Just mind blowing, amazing, great superb and all these words that I can spell properly right now because ... I'll tell you later.

The Alpes D'Huez, to me was the unclimbable. I never thought I, of all people could cycle it ... I am a sprinter after all ( yes it does sound good to say that, to imagine that's a good enough excuse ) I am not an experienced cyclist, I have no testosterone, and I am lazy b**** who hates pain. My time: around 1:40 ... My personal best :) We reached the top in a snow storm and I decided to head straight down back to the chalet as my hands were starting to freeze. Al followed and lent me his gloves, what a gentleman ... Tom, Mark and Ivan continued on and came home to a nice fire and tea.
The Galibier, the highest Col in Europe ... for those who consider it as a col, as I heard there are much debate on that subject. I was going at an easy pace. and the view was just ... cyclist heaven. I was starting be get sick, but I didn't know it yet ...
The boys!!! The cool kids Vs Mark.

There are so many things I'd like to write about this trip, like for example, that it was best cycling trip ever, but really, it was my 1st one / or that I wish I had been in a better mood, but I had a stomach flu and more problems haunting me from back home ...

I am not in a mood for writing as, the 1st day I get back on my road bike after the stomach flu and the alpes, I crashed and I am now suffering from massive knee road rash and a broken thumb ... which really stinks ...

I am off to try and get rid of the break hoods on my fixie and add another one ... or maybe I'll just go to bed.

New Fixie!

My new fixie!

A 2009 Giant Bowery. I love you fixie!

Bikes Mechanics ...

My bedroom is the new local bike workshop ... 2 bikes were dismounted there yesterday, I was trying to fix a couple of buckled wheels just a second ago but got frustrated and moved to project "remove and clean cassettes off all sets of wheels I own" ... however that also became a pain in the bum when I was not strong enough to undo the bloody cassette off the Roval Fusee ...

Tomorrow, project 'Let's build that new fixie ... again' should also take place in the workshop ... I am lucky enough to have a large room ( that's actually the biggest room in the house) ... also equipped with an ensuite bathroom I just repainted today after work as well ... ( right now I have both white paint and grease all over me ... )



Yesterday I set up the iPod that Al gave me. All my newer CDs are in my car at the garage, so i was only able to upload the few albums I had on my PC not updated from a couple of years. I was amazed to find some of my favourites tracks ... I know it's not very Rock & Roll, but Sting's Mercury Falling has to be one of the greatest albums that I had in there, just because it reminded me so many things. It was released in 1996, I was 17 years old ... this album is a true 'Winter' CD', a truly deep album , with aerial sounds and beautiful lyrics ... it's about the winter turning to spring, the rebirth of love, life, nature. I am not a music critic, the only I can say is that I listen to the album twice in a row today in work ...

I can't wait for the weekend and the cycling .. as usual, hoping to cycling a few hundred Ks :)

And the Girly paragraph of the day: OH MY GOD Trinny and Suzannah are in Dublin ... I wonder if they know about Blanchardstown Shopping centre ... I think they'd give up and hang themselves ...

... I hate waiting

Maybe I should have updated the blog earlier about this, but I was a 3rd party in this car/bikes incident, we got money for 3 new bikes, and my car is also being fixed as we speak. Al already got himself a 2008 Specialized Langster and is now has the nickname of 'Last year's Tom' or ' TKTOMM ... ( hehe sorry mate ), Tom ordered himself a new Cannondale Capo CAAD5 2008 which he should get this friday ( fingers crossed ) and I have order the new Giant Bowery 2009 that's just out tomorrow!!!! So we are all pretty pleased... My little car is at the garage for now and I am being given a rental, a Opel Corsa, brand new and it feels great to drive!! the only thing is that I have nowherer to drive the car to ... hehehe
Now ... I want my new bike!!!!!

Sunday Spin

Sunday spin! Al, Tom and moi, 142km, SallyGap, Kippure, Rounwood ... lots of talking, lots of remembering our fixies ... even thought my fixie's life was a short one ... the James Dean of bikes ... Good spin! These guys helped us along the way :

We got Spotted on 3 different occasions along the spin thanks to our boards jerseys.

F*** Off Galway Sept 08

Once upon a time in Dublin, Tom, Al and Caroline decided to take a Fixie trip to Galway:

They packed up the bikes and the bags in the Caromobile and headest West ... Braving 12 km of floods and roundabouts, M50, and Red lights ... until ...

Depressed and sad ... we headed back home, with dead bikes and a broken car ...

Ice cream and shoe shopping afternoon was the only way to make us feel better ...

Tea and ... no Rock and Roll

September has kicked in ... and I need to get mudguards. I had to drive into work this morning to avoid getting wet for a work photo we are supposed to have taken today. Rain doesn't really scare me though on any other day I would have cycled in. I'm afraid I'm becoming old ... My 29th is fast approaching, ending all my dreams of becoming a rock star and touring the world with my bass guitar .... I miss those days when anything was possible ...no ESB bill, no car down payments... all I am looking forward to when I get home nowadays is a nice cup of tea ( remind me I am out of milk ).

Here is the recipe of a nice cup of tea.

1/ Use Barry's as Lyon's doesn't make good tea ( yes bog standard tea bag tea )
2/ Boil you kettle and pour you water in your mug, on the tea bag ( do not Re-boil water!! Use new water each time)
3/ Use a spoon to stir the tea bag up and down the mug in a dipping motion
4/ Repeat 13 or 14 times
5/ DO NOT SQUEEZE THE BAG
6/ Add a bit of milk and sugar according to your tastes
7/ You can serve your tea accompanied with Fig rolls or biscuits of your choice.

This tea recipe is a family tradition that has been passed on to me from an older generation ... not my own family though ... someone else's family...

Sorry I had to do a tea post ... as my blog is also about tea. I will be sampling different bikkies over the winter as well, and maybe some different tea shop in Ireland. I will start the 1st ever Tea Shop Star rating ( not sure if I'll write a book about it just yet :P )

Oh dear ... I am still suffering from Post ToI depression ...

* Here is a photo of my 1st ever fixie ( above )

Withdrawal ...

I am in serious Tour of Ireland withdrawal at the moment. I pedal in my sleep, dream of running to the finish to get the results from the tour referees ... and, I can’t get that HQ STAFF pass off my neck. I was still very happy yesterday and this morning, but tonight it has started to hit me hard. Went for a short spin with a couple of my cycling buddies ...which felt great, but right now I am just depressed and I just want to get out on my bike again... I don’t even know what to type... I need a weekend away with my bike... somewhere else than Dublin, to breathe some new air and cycle different hills...

On my flight back to Dublin, I was sitting beside Magnus Backstedt from team Garmin Chipolte, whom I had been tracking all week to check how massive he was... ( on that picture I was on my tippy toes ). We talked about everything and anything and I can tell you, he reads Cycling Weekly too! He mentioned that the ToI roads weren’t great and that even if for us, the views looked amazing, the only things these guys were looking at were the arrows pointing which direction to take on the road. “Ah yes Magnus, these shitty roads are ours and these are the conditions we have to cycle in over here ... and we never complain” ... or do we.

On the topic of food “ Magnus, what do you eat after a cycle?” ... “High Protein Drinks and eat more proteins after”. Which is probably better than a pizza or some Chinese curry chips... ( yes lads, this is directed to you ). Made me think that my weekly training egg white sandwiches that I stopped eating when I ran out ketchup were not bad after all... I think I will get more ketchup tomorrow.

On a complete different topic ... my winter training has started today... and that means: lights, reflective vests, Low calorie weekdays food to get rid of the stubborn 10 lbs I have left to lose ... and I will (as soon as I come back from Alpe Dhuez) go for morning swims and cycles before work + gym after work! ... I am determined, I think ...

Last day of the Tour Of Ireland

I am at the hotel lobby right now, feeling a bit blue and depressed. Today is the last day of the tour of Ireland and I am flying home at 7:30pm.

This has been the best experience I have ever had, the best week, I have ever lived and ... if you thought I was a cycling nut then, well now I am even worse. Life on tour is quite unique, staff, teams, volunteers seem to all stick together, we all have breakfast, dinner together, drinks at the bar, chats in the hotel lobby, with our tags around our necks, and great big dark circles around our eyes ... I think I haven't slept more than 5 hours since I started the tour.

I was having breakfast in the restaurant this morning, trying to look at what the riders were having for breakfast. They eat anything and everything, in large quantity, from coco pops to muesli, pasta, bread fruits.

I haven't found the courage to ask them for an autograph just yet... I don't really want to be seen as a 'groupie'. Today though, as it is my last day I will try and get my race manual signed...

Legends ...

Wednesday was stage 2 of the tour of Ireland, from finishing in Loughrea co. Galway. I travelled straight to the finish line, from Thurles ... long long long ride. We drove in the convoy going to the start with a Police escort some of the way. I am really loving the sightseeing as much as the Press Officer Job. This is such a wonderful country we all live in! Set up the press office, ran to finished, couldn’t take photos this time around I had to run back to the office with the fresh results. Cav won ... not a surprise. Greet the journos, give out results, run from one place to another to get more info, make tea, buy papers, cut papers ...
After work, I just about made it to the Press Dinner organized by Failte Ireland. All the press was there ( not that many, just about 28 people, including David Duffield, Phil Ligget, Paul Sherwen, Dave the announcer from Colorado, my boss Gerry and Amanda, a couple of an post people, Jimmy Maggee whom Irish audience will know from his TV sports commentaries, the Photographers. Everyone was there.

On our way to the restaurant that was about 20k from Galway, me and Amanda had to drive with David Duffied and Dave the announcer. Duffield may be a legend, but he is a real pain in the backside as a co pilot... especially when he has been drinking most of the day. Poor Amanda was driving and Duffield was going mental, panicking about the way we were going, telling us it was the wrong way, making us turn back, when we knew exactly where we were going. Me and Dave the announcer were trying out best to calm him down ... but he still made us stop 3 times.... Yes legends can also be pains in the bum.

Caroline does the Tour of Ireland

I never though I'd ever live to experience such a Buzz: Being part of the organization of the tour of Ireland. I got a cab into the hotel, straight to the race HQ: 'here are your race tshirt's', Straight to work in the press room to get the badges ready, print some race info, get it all nice and ready for the press people... Was in there until 2PM, starving to death sucking on free mints, waiting to be given a break. I had to mind the fort while the Boss was out with some TV people. Once I was freed to get fed, as I was almost dead under the table from hunger, I headed to the bar where ... I had a toasted ham & Cheese sandwich and tea ... 11quid ... for that price I ate the decorative salad too. It was good tea though I was to say, I was not disappointed.

Oh yea I need to mention my little episode with David Duffield. Here he comes, in the press office: 'Hello, how are you', I am introduced to him by the boss. And I have the great idea to ask Dufield if I can get a photo with him, and I pull up my my camera phone. He agrees and says it would be great to do it properly, there in the corner, with the poster in the back, and then, he pulls up a chair and says I have to sit in his lap ... I went red. The boss, obviously was laughing ... and spent the whole evening telling everyone how David Duffield got me to sit on his lap ... *me=cringing* ...

The press conference in the afternoon was pretty quiet, O'loughlin, Martin, and Penotti, and Martin's bike. I had to set yo the press office which involved a lot of running ...I am really tired now ... early start. I have to get up at 6 ... What a great week off work I am having!

Oh yeah, Sean Kelly like lots of salt in his food, or it could have been pepper, either way, he was shaking that shaker like mad...

* Blogger isn't letting me post more photos right now, I will add some new ones tomorrow evening :)

Fixie!!!

Got it last thursday and I love it!! Put it together with the help of my cycling buddy Tom (**thanks**) ... well I only assembled the handle bars and the bottle cage ... This thing is amazing to ride. Went on a nice spin with it last friday and I had a blast! I can wait for the end of the tour of Ireland to cycle it again ... and again ...


* I have since got rid of the reflectors

'Caution Cyclists'

Yes ... I have experienced life after death... about 4 times. Just back from the Sean Kelly Tour of Waterford, a pleasant little 160km stroll in the Comeragh mountains in Waterford. Looks like heaven, hurts like hell. A few of us were there for event: Ivan, Mark, Peter, Laura, Mike and 72oo (whose name I cannot remember just now ) plus a few more.
So, yes, Seskin Hill is a torture, but once you get up there, you realise, it's actually not "that" bad ( I did curse a few times going up it ). Laura, me, Mike, and 72oo stayed together during the 160k ( thank you guys!) ... There were tears, laughter and hallucinations ... 'is there a water stop, yes, no, is that the end of that $$%£&^ hill, where are all the sandwiches gone ...? Every 30k, I wanted to take the short cut back home ... I am happy I didn't. These hills were tough, but the sight was amazing, and that was such a great reward! My time on the saddle 7:12 ... Maybe next year, I'll do it on the fixie!
With the help of Mark, we managed to get us boardsies with Sean Kelly the Man Himself in a photo ( After the event, so we all look tired )!!!
Anyway, amazing climbs, great descents, wonderful scenery, friendly sheep !!! I hope you like the photos!!

Fakenger ... me? No way ...

When a women is feeling a bit low and blue, she buys a pair of 300quid shoes ... Me ... I just bought a fixie ... go figure. I swear though I am a woman!!!!

This is it there, a Giant Bowery ( awaiting delivery ). All my cycling buddies are getting them at the moment ... the fixie extravaganza among Dublin's road cyclists. There is a rule though: Do not attempt to look like a messenger... the only thing I want to change on mine is the Saddle and the bar tape ... to make it look more 'me' ... but people don't think I should ... as always I can't make up my mind.

I'd like some brown Brooks handlebar tape and a Charge saddle in brown leather too. OR some army green handlebar tape and a black saddle ...