A Year in the life of North Tipperary Wheelers Cycling Club

By Eoin Dillon

2022 was the year when we thankfully escaped the Covid years’ restrictions and returned to normal cycling. That 5km limit had us literally cycling in what seemed like ever decreasing circles!

North Tipperary Wheelers, or NTW for short, are the oldest established Cycling Club in the Nenagh area, and, as far as we can tell, the largest. We are a Cycling Club – not a Racing Club, not a Leisure Club, and always have been. We’ve a wide range of members, of different abilities, both male and female, and of different ages, but all enjoying the fitness, fun and friendship that comes with Club cycling.

The ethos of Cycling Clubs’ can differ – some of the more competitive Clubs have a ‘sink or swim’ ethos. That’s not us, we look after one and other’s backs. If a member is momentarily struggling, we’ll wait up for them at the next crossroads. If he’s really having a bad day, someone will generally fall back, and help them along until we get back to base.

We’ve 54 members on the books, but the numbers actually active at any of time will always be significantly lower. Active membership will vary with circumstances, with members stepping in or out as work/study commitments change, family responsibilities vary over time, or illness occurs.

On any given Sunday morning, we could have anything ranging from 6 to 16 members in one of our groups, but typically we’ll have about 10-12. That’s perfect, allowing as it does a fair spread of the load, without the group becoming unwieldy on the road. Mind you, if we were a GAA or soccer club, we’d have probably been long ago kicked out of any half-decent league, on the grounds of not being able to consistently field a full team.

But then cycling is a different sport, a different discipline. It doesn’t require a team of a certain number. You can happily go out by yourself, get exercise, clear the mind, see the countryside around you at a proper pace, and generally enjoy yourself. Or better still, go out with a mate.

Or join a Cycling Club and enjoy the benefits of group cycling. And here I get slightly technical and try to explain the concept of ‘drafting’, which is key to group cycling. Put simply, the lead cyclist in a line of cyclists will break the air resistance, forming a partial vacuum (draft) for the closely following-on cyclists to exploit. Estimates vary, but as a rule of thumb, the following cyclists have to put in 30% less effort than the lead cyclists. That energy conservation is very significant.

Ever wonder how that group passed you at speed, without seeming to break a sweat? Drafting. How a group manage a spin of 100kms at an average speed of 30kph on a Sunday morning. Drafting. At the highest levels, if you’re ever watching a stage of the Tour de France on the TV, it explains how the peloton, will almost invariably reel in the breakaway group. More efficient energy usage allows for higher speeds/longer distances.

Our Club routine consists of a Sunday morning spin (all year round, weather permitting), and shorter 60-70kms spins on Tuesday and Thursday evenings (during the Summer time). The Sunday spin can vary between 70kms and 100+kms, depending on the time of year. This year, our main group quickly came up to speed (fitness) and we were doing 30kph on most spins. But within any group there will be varying abilities, and everyone wants a group speed that they themselves are comfortable with.

In my experience an average speed of 30kph will accommodate cyclists comfortable at 27kph at one end of the scale and 33kph at the other end (+/- 10%). Ideally, everyone will take an even turn at the front for around 4-5 minutes, and then get a break, benefiting from drafting, as they make their way back down the ‘chain’ and back up again. In practise, the stronger cyclists will do more time in total up front, and the less strong will spend longer at the back of the group. That’s generally understood and accepted, and no problem.

Notwithstanding this speed tolerance, it’s in the nature of things that the typical club will seek to organise itself into different speed groups. Say one group at 23kph, another at say 28kph, and yet another at 30+kph, thereby accommodating members with different ability levels. Such ‘stepped’ groups allow members to work their way up the ladder, or take a temporary step back, due to a fall-off in fitness levels or coming back after illness. You need to be in the correct group for you to properly enjoy your cycling.

I’ve personally experienced both ends of it. It’s no fun getting ‘beaten up’ by a group that’s inherently faster than you on a continuous basis. You lose motivation and avoid that particular group in future. On the other hand, it’s very, very frustrating to have to cycle with a significantly slower group, where you can’t cycle at a natural pace.

But organising such a structured different groups approach takes numbers. You need sufficient numbers in each of the separate groups to make it work. Some Clubs have the numbers, others don’t. By and large, all Cycling clubs are looking for numbers/recruits, and we’re no different. Our main group is at an average 30kms pace, and we’ve a sizeable Leisure Touring Group (23kms average). We’d love to fill that speed gap! And while we’re at it, we’d also like to have more ladies in our Club.

Anyway, back to our Sunday morning spin. The group will meet up at 9.00am and agree a route. Sometimes that route is known only to a select few. In North Tipperary, we’ve a great selection of flat and climbing routes, and our chosen routes will usually incorporate both. Mind you, I painfully remember a particularly hilly route that was selected this year. By the time we were finished climbing, there was a collective tendency to inflict grievous bodily harm on whoever chose the route, but he was keeping his head well down! But thankfully, that was the exception. As we work along, alternating cycling partners, there’s a lot of talk and banter. And usually about half-way, there will be a good coffee-shop. This provides a welcome physical and mental break, and the opportunity for more craic.

The main variables on any spin are punctures, cars, and dogs. Not that we’ve ever had an actual car accident or bite, but at the same time you can’t just doze off. But we’ve definitely had punctures – lots of them.

Puncture - There’s hardly a spin when somebody doesn’t get a puncture. Nobody is ever left in the lurch. A working group will spontaneously form to solve the problem, and, if you’re lucky, the puncture will have occurred just when you needed a quick break. As a last resort, there’s the ultimate repair kit – your mobile phone. Usually, to ring your helpful partner to pick you up if you’ve a serious mechanical, but I’ve known a case where a new member, cycling on her own, successfully repaired her puncture courtesy of a YouTube clip!

Cars - Most drivers are very respectful of the cycling group in front of them, and probably holding them up. From their viewpoint, we’re probably something of a pain, but we’re always aware of traffic behind, and will try to let them overtake when safe to do so. But safe doesn’t mean hugging the kerb on a narrow stretch of local road. Doing so only invites the car into too close proximity with the cyclists.

As I said, most car drivers are good drivers and patient, but, having said all that, there’s hardly a Sunday goes by, but some driver doesn’t overtake us ‘on the blind’, putting everyone at risk. But, fingers crossed, we’ve had no accidents in any number of years.

Dogs - There are lazy dogs, indifferent dogs, great big ugly brutes, but thankfully well secured. There are the dogs that dash about madly, barking their heads off, pawing the air. All behind closed gates. We know the gate is closed. And the dog knows the gate is closed. It’s all for show. They’re a bit like that ‘Bark before Bite’ party in the Dail. And then you get the small, aggressive dogs and an open gate. They are the kamikazes of the road. They will launch themselves on the group, getting under wheels, threatening both their own lives and that of the cyclists. Fortunately for all concerned, they’re a dying breed.

YEAR GONE BY

So, what did we do in 2022? Our members attended quite a number of sportives and local fund-raising events during the year, as well as participating in the Limerick League. We had a very successful weekend away in the Beara Peninsula. This followed on from our own version of the Ring of Kerry the previous year.

Since I’ve been with the Club, we’ve also had a Mizen-to-Malin tour, and a weekend away in Donegal. Some of the lads went to Mallorca for a few days. Another member had a few days in Girona, Spain, which is apparently cycling Nirvana. And, finally, our Leisure Touring group did an annual stage in their Wild Atlantic Way series. And, lest we forget, we staged our own Tour de Lough Derg in May, and hosted the National Time Trials later in the year.

The Tour de Lough Derg is our annual sportive, benefitting both the Club and local charities. We hadn’t run it for a couple of years due to Covid, and, in the meantime, had lost a lot of expertise, as previous Committee members had left. There are a lot of moving pieces associated with such events, none of them obvious (until they go wrong). Fortunately, with a lot of hard work, the Club pulled it off, and we’d a very successful Tour.

We followed that up later in the year with hosting Cycling Ireland’s National Time Trials. The demands on us were different to the Tour, but a lot riskier if things went wrong. With significant help from both Tipperary County Council and the local business sector, we successfully pulled it off, and discovered a hitherto unsuspected networking capability.

On the downside, the Committee were so tired after these events that we forget to organise the usual Club Quiz Night and Club Dinner. That’s for 2023.

To round out the year, when we hit the winter season, we spend less time on the road, but still try to keep our fitness levels up. Some members go Mountain biking, but the majority will go to spinning sessions, or take part in indoor cycling. Spinning can be tough going, but there’s always the very social aspect of it.

COACHING

The Club are considering running a series of coaching sessions early in 2023, subject to demand. These coaching sessions will be aimed at beginner to intermediate cyclists, and will be both class-based and on the road, supervised by experienced cyclists. We will look at having separate sessions for both male and female cyclists, numbers permitting.

If anyone has an interest in joining our Club as a coach or a member, you’ll find contact details on our website, www.northtippwheelers.com. Alternatively, you can directly contact Chairperson Liam Callaghan 0876322618 or Secretary, Gerry McGarry 0876177759.