Saturday group take on the Sperrins

On Saturday 18^th May, a group of the hardiest cyclists known to man met at the Cornmill, Coalisland at 8am for a touring cycle round the Sperrins.  Unfortunately the weather was unseasonably bad; with heavy rain all day.  However, the weather wasn’t going to stop this lot, and equipped with their winter clothing, the group departed for Pomeroy.  After passing through Pomeroy, and then Carrickmore, the group hit their first obstacle of the day; puncture number one for poor Micky B who had just been welcomed back to the Saturday club run.  Thankfully, it wasn’t too long before the puncture was fixed, and the group were back on the road again.

It was Marty turn to have a bit of bad luck, taking a tumble coming into Omagh thanks to diesel saturated roads.  Marty was back on his feet in no time; it’ll take a bit more that diesel to stop this former Na Fianna full forward!  Once in Omagh, it was time for a well-deserved coffee break before tackling the gruelling climb up the Gortin Glens.  A handful of miles before the climb, there was more bad luck for Marty (it just was one of those days), whose chain broke.  However, between Marty and Paddy it was soon fixed and the group began the climb.  In the end, the climb came ‘easier’ than anticipated thanks to everyone working together and of course the noticeable increase in fitness that has been rapidly increasing over the last number of weeks.  Once over the climb, it was full speed ahead to Gortin, then Greencastle, and onto Creggan.  By this stage the skies had fully opened, but nothing that the group wasn’t used to, and in no time they were in Stewartstown.  Two men in particular were clearly still feeling strong by this stage, with Marty and Shane both powering up West Street in the big ring!  From Stewartstown it was back to base, with the group clocking 73 hard miles in tough conditions.

It was great to see everyone out on such a horrible day, and a special note has to go to our two lady cyclists; Sheena, and Vanessa, who never missed a turn all day.  The next touring run will be a tour of the four counties.  The date for this will be posted on the web shortly, or for more information call down to the club run next Saturday morning and speak to Paddy or one of the guys there.

Paddy.