The Shay Elliot Memorial

Well.....The Shay Elliot Memorial didn't go to plan last Sunday.

I had problems from the very start with my rear mech. SRAM make some of the worst products I have ever used. Despite the mechanicals problems I managed to sneak off into a small group going up the main climb of the day. We had six in the group and were closing in on Irvine and Gallagher (who got 6th & 7th) - we were, however, in no danger of actually catching the winning move. The gap was coming down nicely when I realised I didn't recogise the roads, never a good sign when you know the course. I put my temporary amnesia down to low sugar levels or the taste of blood in my mouth after the climb but no. We had gone the wrong the way.

I am not entirely sure who was to blame and blame doesn't do much good anyway. We went from having a couple of minutes gap on the main bunch to having a one minute deficit. For no other reason than to hurt our legs some more we kept chasing until we re-gained contact with the bunch which thirty minutes previously we had fled.

Can I take any positives from the race? - yes! The race turned out to be a good 140km training session and the UCD lads (including Ras guest riders) were strong at the weekend.

I am looking forward to the Ras starting this Sunday and hopefully UCD are well placed for the county prizes.