Interview from Brian Canty and Sticky Bottle. Thanks lads!! Former UCD CC rider, Anthony Walsh has put his bad luck of 2012 behind him in signing a new one-year deal with the American team Astellas Oncology. Initially the team was a small outfit, but with a significant cash injection and some of the top riders from the States and Canada coming on board, plans are at an advanced stage to have the team ride some of the biggest races on the US calendar next year. Walsh, a 29-year-old barrister from Clontarf, Dublin, is part of those plans having impressed in several races in Canada. “The races we’ll be doing are all pretty much Rás level races, most of them are UCI races too,” he told stickybottle. “They’ll have the big US teams going to most of them, the likes of Philip Deignan’s Unitedhealthcare team, Jelly Belly, Kenda and those boys.” He said the new deal had followed recent periods of competing in Canada. “I raced there a couple of times last season because my girlfriend’s Canadian. I had a bad crash racing in France with the Apoge Super U team. I broke my scapula, collar bone and a couple of ribs and coming back from that I was training hard, I had good form. I wanted to ride the Rás but it was just too soon.” “I came out here (Canada) instead and I won a big enough race called the Ontario Cup in Niagara. That kind of put me on the map and then I had a second crash and broke my scaphoid (bone in the wrist) out at the Stephen Roche crit just before the nationals.” “So I came back out here again and got another good result (5th) in Windsor in a big race there called Tour de Vi Italia. After that I got talking to a guy and he was asking me what my plans were for next season. He said there was meant to be a team with a big budget coming along and would I be interested. I said we’d stay in contact because I wasn’t sure what I was doing at the time so it stemmed from there.” Though he subsequently had offers from teams in the UK as well as the option of going back to France; with his girlfriend from Toronto and some of his family living there he was sold on the idea of relocating across the Atlantic. “I had a couple of stressful weeks trying to decide would I take that route of going to the UK. I got a feeling from speaking to the manager here though. It’s the same with anything, you get a feeling within a couple of minutes if they want you or not and this team made me feel really comfortable. They’re even hiring a buddy of mine to be soigneur to help me fit in.” “But don’t get me wrong, France was brilliant, I really loved it out there and I couldn’t recommend the team highly enough for any Irish lads. They really treated us like family. After the first time I crashed in February, the guys in the team had me staying in their houses with their families and wouldn’t even hear of me going back to the apartment on my own.” “They really pulled out all the stops for me and it was a tough decision not to go back because they’ve a super star line-up and have signed some great riders; some of the best riders from around the area.” “But the language is a big issue over there. My French got better from being there but I think you’d need three or four years. I was doing French classes over there and I was trying to learn as much as I could but it’s very difficult to get the intricacies.” “What you’d learn in the classroom and how the lads talk is very, very different. So without another English speaker for next year, it would have been very difficult and that was a factor in my decision to come to Canada.” He will live in Canada in 2013 and will travel to the US for races. His new team is based in Chicago. For the next number of months Walsh will alternate between Spain and Ireland where he’s hopeful of a big winter of training before the team convenes early next year for some training blocks in Carolina and Florida. One thing Walsh did stipulate with his new contract was that he would be released to ride the An Post Rás in May; that’s assuming the team don’t get an invite and he rides with them. It’s a race that has always held a special appeal for him. “I was gutted to have missed out this year but it just came too soon after my crash”, he said. “But I’ll be targeting GC in that next year. I did a good ride there before, 23rd overall in 2011. And maybe I can target the top 10 if I’m really on form.”

Update

I am still suffering with my broken hand so it still isn't too easy to type. This past weekend saw a return to racing for me, albeit in a cast. I am at home in Ireland recovering so I took part in the Ballinrobe 2 day stage race. I managed a stage win, bringing the win total to four so far this season and wound up second on GC. I've one more race in Ireland coming up this weekend before heading off to Canada for a couple of races to wrap up August. September is a busy enough month for me - back racing in France. Calender hasn't been confirmed yet for October but I'll likely continue racing into October since it has been such an injury hit season.

Mondello Park Win

The following post is courtesy of www.stickybottle.com

Former UCD CC rider Anthony Walsh has shown he is back to form after suffering a serious crash riding with his French team earlier in the year, coming home alone to take the win at Mondello Park in Co Kildare last night, Tuesday. Walsh took that victory, the latest of the Bike Worx Series on the Mondello track, just ahead of Brian Ahern (DTC Orwell Wheelers) and Kenneth Conlon (Naas CC) after the 77-strong starting field splintered during some fast racing in near perfect conditions. Following a better than expected season in 2011, Walsh decided to put his career as a barrister on hold to give at least one season over to full time racing in France. The 28-year-old was hoping to improve on his 23rd GC result in the An Post Ras of 2011 and push towards a top ten this time around. However, having made the move to his new Apoge Super U team based in the small medieval town of Pons, near Cognac he crashed during his first stage race of the year and suffered a broken scapula, collarbone and two ribs. He has since made a full recovery, and during a block of racing in Canada he won a big event there last month. That coupled with his win last night indicate his form has not deserted him and he should now be set up for a productive latter half of the season.

Ontario Cup Win

The following post is courtesy of www.realdealracing.com

Irish Anthony Walsh was a guest rider for our squad this past weekend and man was he a welcome guest. Just to finish the elite mens race at Niagara is something to proud of. The big win is our first of the year but there are many more to come for our 1-2 squad. Anthony is here for another week so we will get to enjoy this incredible rider as a team mate for one more race until he is back in August. Next weekend look for Anthony and the rest of the boys at the Dandelion GP!!

It's been a while

I haven't been too great at updating the blog in a while. I do, however have a good reason. A broken hand has been making typing difficult. A new blog is on the way......

It's all part of the game

I'm training hard, hitting the numbers and making sacrifices. The sacrifices are worth it because I’m making gains. My form is as good as it’s ever been, I have over-come the language barrier and settled in with my new team in France very well. It’s the opening stage race of the season (Bassor de Basque) and the season ahead is filled with possibilities. Targets which seemed implausible are beginning to seem realistic and distance dreams and aspirations are coming into focus. A winter of hard training and clean living is paying off.



The course today is hilly. Everyone knows the importance of good position into the major climb of the day. The race can be won or lost at this point. Many scenarios play in my head as we approach the climb but I never consider the twist of fate which awaits. I am nestled into my team-mates wheel as we jostle for position when my senses are overloaded with the unmistakable sounds and smells of an impending crash. I reach for the brakes but it’s too late. Boom! Head over heels I go. My landing is inauspicious – upside down and on my back. Instinct tells me to get back up and get into the race. I try to move but something is different this time.



It’s hard to know what to feel when you crash. You hear so many well wishing clichés – its part of the game, it happens, bones will heal, etc. Initially there is an out poring of sympathy from family, friends and well wishers. The first few weeks after the crash were very painful. I had limited mobility, poor morale and an unspecified period of convalescence.


Broken Scapula, Collar Bone and a two Ribs.


Once the initial pain subsided and the prognosis was clearer what was harder to deal with than the legacy of injuries was the thought of re-building fitness that took months to build, only for it to be destroyed in an instant. But as the cliché goes – ‘re-build we must’.

The recovery period, thus far, has been extremely tedious. My first sessions back were with one arm in a sling, in an adapted upright position, indoors and less than thirty minutes in duration. Each day I’ve progressed and I hope to resume full road training in the next couple of weeks.

The enforced layoff has meant I need to re-evaluate my goals for the season. The Ras was a major target for me before but now I will either skip it completely or ride it as preparation for races later in the season. The French season runs for longer than the domestic one so I have plenty of time to re-build fitness and make my 2012 season one to remember – for the right reasons.

The French Experience - Part Deux

A friend sent me a text message saying ‘living the dream’. It rattled me a little. I was having a bad day. As yet the English speaking members of the team haven’t arrived. I have some sort of virus. I am staying alone in a pretty basic apartment. Training spins at home are full of good natured banter with great friends – here those relationships are still being built. The honeymoon phase has definitely worn off. The days are long when your only task is a training session and they are even longer if it happens to be a rest day or heaven forbid you’re sick. France is a lonely place when you’re sick and craving nothing more than some home comforts.



In one of my quite moments (I have quite a few over here) I began to think about why riders find it difficult to base themselves abroad.

You’re living on an absolute shoe string budget. It’s not a massively glamorous life. You make do with the living subsidy providing by the club and have little or no spare cash for luxuries such as coffee stops.



The language barrier is immense. Although I am doing my best to pick up the language as fast as I can - it’s difficult. Obviously the early stages are hardest. With a reduced ability to communicate forming friendships and bonds is especially difficult.

Also beyond the obvious day to day communication and conversational issues, what is also missed is positive re-enforcement. I began cycling with my friends. During these days training goals were simply – to beat your buddy to the top of the local hill. Training was being rewarded with constant validation from your peers. The language barrier removes that daily validation and I think its one of the obstacles that makes being based abroad so difficult for Irish riders.

Also it never helps you settle when you have a lunatic French neighbour who likes to pump music out in the middle of the night. What’s the French for ‘I’m going to break your legs if you play music after 1am again’?

I am sitting here compiling this list and all of a sudden. Ding dong. Ring on the door bell. Bonjour Anthony. Les nouvelles velo sont arrives. A new bike and some new kit – just the thing I needed to cheer me up from my sickness induced despondent state. Maybe like the text said I am living the dream, lets hope I don’t wake to a French reality. Things will get easier, in one sense, this weekend when racing begins. I’m looking forward to it.



Bassor Basque – bring it on!!

http://www.directvelo.com/ is a decent French site for checking up on the French racing calendar, results etc.

The French Experience - Part Une

I am beginning to settle into life in France. I am based in a small town called Pons. Pons is a picturesque medieval town which is best known for its proximity to Congac. In my short time here I have found the locals to be extremely welcoming. The town embodies values common in rural communities around Ireland. The community are fanatical about cycling, it’s their GAA. All local businesses are represented on the team (Apoge Super U) jersey and there exists a passion for the sport evident from the number of volunteers working within the club.

Although I only arrived a week ago, I am settling into a routine which is slowly being instilled by management. We rise early, disappearing into the French country side. My daily ride differs from what I have become accustomed too – cars horns have been replaced by cries of ‘allez’ and suburbia has been exchanged for an expanding vista. Those not familiar with racing abroad wonder about the language barrier but on the bike no such barrier exits. The universal language of cycling transcends such barriers. We have been learning the language since we began cycling and it is etched indelibly into our psyche. Visual prompts replace words and we have honed the ability to interpret the posture of team mates, to analyse the way their bodies move and adjust our responses accordingly.

I have logged over eight thousand kilometres in my base period which began in late September. The winter break left an initial lethargy which took a couple of weeks to dissipate. The recipe this winter was simple - high volume and relatively low intensity. Now, only two weeks away from my season opener, Essor Basque, the focus of my sessions has changed. Since arriving in France I have begun to add some intensity into my sessions. My body is shocked as the steady four hour ride it has become accustomed to is interspersed with periods of up to twenty minutes riding at threshold. Training is beginning to replicate the demands of racing with increasing specificity as the season draws closer.

I am not sure what my French experience will hold but I know when I roll up to the start line that I have prepared well. I have continually been disciplined, abstained and foregone – all in the name of cycling performance. I know this journey will have many highs and lows but first impressions are all positive. Let the racing begin!

Media

I have been a big fan of SportsTagId since the company began trading and I hope they have a successful expansion in 2012.

Check out their website. Thanks for the shout-out boys!

http://www.sportstagid.com/2011/11/18/sportstagids-1st-intl-cyclist-lands-professional-contract/