Cuchulainn Cycling Club were hosting this years Leinster Time Trial and Road Race Championships. I raced both the TT and road race last year so knew the course quite well. This year would be different as the road race would have an additional two laps.
I picked up a pastry on the drive to race HQ (it was delicious). The weather looked glum and cloudy but I hoped the rain would hold off. As we got to the course we drove through the first round about and up the long steady climb to race HQ. As my TT time approached it started bucketing down so it was time to put on my jacket. I started my warm up and was lucky to have an awning to shelter under otherwise I would have gotten drenched.
It looked like the rain wasn’t going to say ciao. Coat on I headed over to the start line. I’m still adapting to the longer time trials so I didn’t want to spend all of my beans early. In hindsight I definitely could have pushed harder. When I finished the time trial I continued on to the round about to see what it would be like for the road race. I didn’t have to do much to cool down as it was pretty cold already but I got back to race HQ and hopped on the rollers anyway.
I’m glad that it brightened up for the road race. It was nice and warm and I didn’t have to wear my jacket. We had a separate race to the boys and it was a rolling start. There were five of us and four were left once we got to the second round about. We started pushing on the climb and our group of four split in half. I managed to get away with Emer and worked to open up the gap. After a few laps Emer and I caught up to the group of boys and took a rest for a few minutes. Once we had around a lap to go we got off the front of the bunch. It came down to a gruelling, ascending sprint finish. I crossed the line in second behind Emer.
Happy to stand on the top step for the 2023 Leinster TT and Road Race. Thanks to Cuchulainn Cycling Club and Cycling Leinster for a fantastic days racing.