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/

Sticky Bottle

A good article from the lads at Sticky Bottle

http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/ucds-anthony-walsh-ready-for-tilt-at-french-scene-doesnt-see-age-as-a-barrier/

Lenister team

I have had two outings with the Lenister (regional) representative squad in recent weeks. The first was a week of Kermesse racing in Belgium and second was a one day premier calender event, the Richmond GP, in the UK.

Ciaran has kindly written a report for the club website on Belgium so that saves me some typing. What follows are an example of his incoherent ramblings that I am forced to listen to at stage races around the country all season.




Three UCD riders made a week long trip to Belgium last week to try their hand at their Kermesse racing. Ciaran O Conluain was, as always, riding for UCD whilst Colm Cassidy and Anthony Walsh were honoured to be riding for both their college and their provence, Leinster.In the races they faced some of Belgiums top teams including riders for Omega-Pharma and Topsport. They also raced against many Irish riders based over there and the An Post boys Bennett and Lavery. Friend of UCD Eoghan “Galloper” also joined in the action and all the riders were cheered on by people who would cover the entire course at times such was the populartity of the racing there.

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The races were all approx 120km in length with laps varying from 5-9km. This meant you would get very used to the circuit and if one part of it didnt suit then it was always going to be a difficult day. One of the courses had 5 cobbled sections while another had a 140m ascending on each of the 11 laps (same as Howth each lap!). The main differences from Irish racing was the speed coming in and out of corners which showed that technique is a vital skill here. Also the lineouts out of the corners and the very narrow roads used meant it was often impossible to move up through the bunch and if you got caught in a bad spot then it was going to be a short day in the saddle. The weather was also very mixed with rain in almost every race.


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Richmond Premier Calender




I was part of the Lenister squad for the Richmond GP last weekend. The Richmond was the last race of premier calender season and would decide this years overall victor. The premier calender races are always a bit special. They have a great atmosphere about them. The Eurosport cameras and cycling media hang about the start looking to get some snaps of home town heros. This time around Russ Downing from Team Sky seemed to be getting a disproportionate amount of press.

The weekend didn't get off to get greatest of starts for me. I turned up at Dublin Port fashionably late. It turns out fashionably late isn't the best idea when you are using transport on a strict timetable. I scurried from one ferry terminal to the other in the hope of a solution to my missed boat. I managed to get a sailing with a different operator thirty minutes later but arrived in Hollyhead before the rest of the squad as I got the faster boat. One nil Walsh! I bumped into some of the Cycling Ireland staff who were headed to Denmark for the World Para-Cycling champs on the boat. They took the piss out of me something fierce for missing the early boat.

A long drive down to the race hotel. I couldn't wait to just crash out on my bed. You have to be kidding me - sharing a double bed. The glamour of cycling. We (me and James Davenport) made the best of a bad situation and had a decent nights sleep. I was the big spoon, in case you were wondering.

The race itself was very hilly. Probably the most undulating course I have ridden this season but it was nonetheless a top class, well designed race. Narrow roads, plenty of corners and climb after climb were the salient features of the parcours. The famed 'Butter Tub' climb came early in the race. It was about 5km long with an average gradient of ten per cent and it sucked as much as you'd imagine.

I missed a vital split with about thirty kilometers to go when a twenty five man group slipped off the front - never to be seen again. The race winner was Andy Tennat from Rapha Condor.

I sprinted up the final cobbled climb to the finish as part of a much depleted main bunch and exhaled a sigh of relief. It had been a long testing day and an even longer season. It's time to put the feet up for a few weeks and re-charge the batteries. It's been one hell of a season. From Kilmallock to Milwaukee and back!