Update part 1 - Post Nationals local racing

A week after the Road Nationals in June I finally graduated, putting an end (for now!) to my academic commitments. So yes, I'm a Dr. now - no, not that kind of doctor, not a REAL doctor as some people may say... Anyhow, it was great to graduate and finish that chapter of my life.

Instead of taking a well-deserved break after the nationals I did some local racing: I won a Corkagh Park Ladies crit as the freshly crowned road champ.

Racing in Corkagh Park - Photo Credit: Brendan Culleton

I also tried my luck in the Stephen Roche GP - mainly because I could show my dad what racing is all about (the first time he's watched me racing!) and because it is a crit and I really started liking crit style racing since my experience in the US and because it was just down the road from where I live. I was still tired from the weekend's racing, and racing against the men was just turning out to be too much. I started off in the A3 group and was able to stay with them for a couple of laps. But the course with only three corners and the two long straights did not play into my favours. I did well in the courners, but I couldn't keep up with the lads in the long straights. Eventually I got dropped and pulled out even though I was still ahead of the A1 and A2s, but my legs just said no.

I also started the Mullingar GP on a horrendous day with pouring rain, low temps and a super strong wind. I let a few people go in the race before attacking numerous times myself to get away as did Fran Meehan and eventually Fran and I got away and made it across to Fiona Guihen and Anne Dalton. We worked well together from then on, Fiona got dropped and then, about 10km from the finish I punctured. So I had to wait for neutral service which was behind the bunch who were several minutes behind us - race over for me.

After the disaster of a race in Mullingar I got sick with a stomach bug. I should really have taken it as a sign, because in hindsight I could just see how tiredness had been building up since the start of the season what with all that travelling and racing all over the world. But no, instead of taking it easy, Mel kept trucking on. I kept on training (on the indoor trainer, to be close to the toilet) and even stupidly enough thought I could try and race the Eddie Tobin Memorial men's A1/A2 race in Bunclody. Deep down I knew that I wasn't well enough to race, but somehow I'm very good at ignoring these things. However, even riding to the start of the race I felt something was horribly wrong and I knew within the first few minutes of the race that I had to stop. Note to self - don't start racing when you're sick.