Paul Griffin rode for the Giant-Kenda professional team in Asia and was a regular in the green of Ireland during what was a very long and prolific career.
By Brian Canty
Former Irish International Paul Griffin has backed Ciarán Power to deliver in next year’s An Post Rás – and even had thoughts himself about coming out of retirement to take part in the eight-day race.
The Tralee man finished with racing completely last year after a glittering career that spanned over two decades and though he said he’s sorely missing the competition that bike racing provides, he knows he’s doing the right thing by leaving the wheels where they are.
But he believes Power has the talent, and more importantly, the experience, to turn a few heads next May.
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“I think he can do well because of his talent and his work ethic,” explained Griffin.
“As well, there’s a group of us there around the same age; myself, (David) McCann, (Tommy) Evans, Davy O’Loughlin, Power, we all know what to do. You don’t make any mistakes, you know the training to do.
“It’s like a blueprint – you follow these steps, which sounds easy but these steps could be 15-18 hours a week and very specific stuff rolled into that, knowing when to introduce specific (sessions).
“You can get back to a high level pretty quickly, even if you’ve been out for a year – provided you don’t make any mistakes and you get the most out of every hour. Obviously Ciarán is going to be like that and I wouldn’t put it past him to be up there.
“There’s something about that generation; we were extremely dedicated cyclists, nearly to a fault because I'd say most of us even over trained at some point. It just shows how ambitious we were and obviously Ciarán still has that drive.”
On his own career, Griffin says his regrets are few. But that doesn’t mean he can get away from the sport he gave so much of his life to.
“I miss it a lot,” he confessed. “I’m constantly looking at results and following guys all the time to see how they’re doing.
“The passion is still there and the guys doing so well internationally, Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche, you could be watching the Vuelta or the Giro and you’d get a mad hunger for it again…so it is tough walking away from the competitive side of it, to be honest.”
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The former Rás stage winner who rode in France for years became a father for the first time this year and with a job that sees him work up to 50 hours some weeks, he knows the commitment is something he just couldn’t give any more.
“Ciarán was actually onto me to do the Rás with him next year and I thought about it over and over but I know myself that along with 50 hours a week I’d need to be committing 15 hours a week from now, on the bike, and that’s just training.
“At this moment, for the first time in 20 years I can’t do it. I could leave work at six in the evening and go out on the bike for two hours but the baby will be asleep when I come in and asleep when I’m going to work in the morning…I’ve given my life to it and I’ve no regrets because I was very dedicated and I sacrificed a lot but that’s one sacrifice too many.
“It’s one that I’m not willing to make at this stage of my life. It’d be a different story if I was in my 20’s but I wouldn’t give that commitment now.”
Famed for his own hard man’s style of racing, Griffin is adamant the Rás is not too hard for full-time working riders. And he even suggested that recent editions of the race have become more controlled and easier to survive in.
“ Funny enough, I found the 2010-12 Rásanna easier than say 10 years ago because they were more controlled.
“You were sitting in the bunch cruising along whereas years ago the shit was kicked out of you and you’d be living on your nerves – especially if you were a rider wanting to be top 5 or 10.
“Go back seven or eight years ago, you had to be right up the front because the group could split at any moment. The race was a bit more manic.
“The race now is a bit more controlled and there’s sections where the splits happen and you know where they’ll be by watching the wind or the climbs or a particularly hard bit of road.
“Go back a few years ago and it was totally unpredictable. The races at home should be longer though – more like the Elliott or the Hanlon. Bringing back the Classic League would be a great thing to do.
“Around 10 or 15 years ago, there were 10 classics a year. You won them, you got picked on an Irish team to go to England and do a Premier Calendar, it was like a stage of the Rás and you rode them five or six times a year and you were doing those races over big hills regularly, that was as good a training as you could do for the Rás.
“Now, we didn’t get to the Dan Martin level. But a lot of us got to a good level where there were Pro Conti teams looking for us and we were doing well internationally as well. We were going to UCI races on Irish teams winning jerseys and stages, so I don’t think it’s too hard, no.”
Despite that, Griffin admires riders looking to “follow a dream” and move to Belgium or France. But he warned that to do oneself justice, big wins must first be achieved at home.
“Number one, you can’t fault any guy for following a dream. If you have the time and you want to go abroad and race, why not? You only live once.
“But, the four races that roll off the tongue; Elliott, Hanlon, Rás Mumhan and the Tour of Ulster; I think if you’re not winning those or being extremely competitive, I think you’d want to ask yourself are you ready to go away.
“Guys that have won them down through the years and 98 per cent of them or so would be Irish internationals or that standard. You need to show you can race those distances and you’d want to be getting up in those races so as not to be getting disillusioned when you go out there.”
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