Club Spin Report 21st July

By Brian Hayden

What a difference a couple of weeks makes, after my last outing when I completely imploded I made it out for last Saturdays spin on a proper summer’s morning.  A large group had turned out with a number of riders making a return for the Saturday morning spin after the interruption of family, holidays, work, etc.  A few of the l’Etape du Tour riders had returned from looking into the cold, wet, heartless soul of the Pyrenees with war stories that may seriously affect the numbers for next year’s outing.

A quick discussion and it was decided that we would head out west but stay together as one group for the first 10-15km and then split into the two normal groups, the touring group and the other one.  The spin wasn’t going to be an epic of many km but more of a chance to catch up with friends over 70-80km which suited me just fine.  Being lead by our route master Eamon we headed out towards Lucan, on to Celbridge where we stopped for a quick snack, then out around the Kildare roads coming back in around Lyons Estate and Newcastle and then home.

The spin had the feeling of the last a stage of Le Tour, a relaxed group out enjoying the sunshine with plenty of banter.  As I looked around the group I got the impression that a number of the riders also thought that the spin was like a stage of the Tour but for a different reason.  I believe they noticed that myself and Eamon portrayed the parts of Froome and Wiggins, Eamon was obviously the stronger rider as he rode tempo at the front of the bunch but there was no doubt who the real leader was.