A perennial bridesmaid by his own admission, Mike Storan takes his fourth win in 18 years. The Clare native said it was the sweetest of all his victories because of the manner in which he did it (Photo: www.jimmymcelroy.com – follow Jimmy on Facebook and Twitter.)
Mike Storan proved a popular winner of the inaugural Fitscience GP in Ballina yesterday, beating David Nugent of Seven Springs to the line after a gruelling 120-kilometre race.
Indeed, the riders faced gusting winds and sleet for much of the afternoon and by the finish there could be no denying the strongest man won.
Storan readily accepts he’s often been the bridesmaid in his near two-decade racing career but yesterday he knew he was on a good day from an early stage.
“I was quietly confident; I’ve been preparing for this race for a while,” he said afterwards.
Advertisement
A larger than expected crowd signed on, with Storan making the near three-hour journey from his home in Limerick.
“Today’s win began last week,” he said.
“I was testing my legs last week in Loughrea to see where I was and I knew I had good sensations.
“I definitely trained a bit differently this year and it was Simon (Walsh of Fitscience) giving me advice.
“I started to cut out junk miles and instead go out and do specific stuff. I never did that before.
“I used go out and happily piss around for three hours whereas now I go out and do what I have to do for two hours; get my efforts in and that’s it.
“I have to say a lot is down to (my fiancé) Rachel as well; she’s been a huge influence on getting me right.
Eoghan Clifford leads the winning breakaway yesterday from David Nugent and Mike Storan. This is just one of a spectacular set of photos captured by Jimmy McElroy of the race passing through some spectacular countryside. You can see the full set by clicking here.
“She makes me do stretches and yoga; I had bad flexibility for a long time and was never doing anything to sort it out.
“But she’s been making me do stuff every week now and she reminds me all the time.
“She always says ‘leave it all out on the road; don’t be coming home here giving out saying you didn’t do well when I know by looking at you, you didn’t give it 100 per cent’.
“Today was a day I knew I could give 100 per cent and it was a race that suited me; windy and lumpy.
“It was one of those days where I was thinking after 60km how I could win.”
As usual, the bunch started like scalded cats with attacks firing off the front into a gale-force wind.
“I had to mark everything and go in several different moves,” said Storan of the early exchanges.
“Once we got into the break we all settled into a good rhythm.
“It was tough because we couldn’t take our hands off the handlebars; I didn’t eat or drink for 50 miles the wind was so strong.
“But I knew I was getting stronger as the race went on and I took the KOH, that’s when I started riding hard.”
The break featured Storan’s two teammates Cale Coen and Jason Prendergast as well as Eoghan Clifford (Galway Bay CC), Chris Troy (Ballina CC) and David Nugent (Seven Springs).
A chase group races along the Atlantic coast; an absolutely spectacular backdrop (Photo: www.jimmymcelroy.com – follow Jimmy on Facebook and Twitter.)
Related News
However, thanks to a strong dig by Clifford; Coen and Prendergast would be distanced on the exposed Atlantic Coast while Troy also dropped back.
At the 75k mark Storan and Nugent dropped Clifford on the KOH at Ballycastle; Storan taking the prize on offer there.
“We got a time gap of 40 seconds to a group and I started thinking should I wait for them to come across or should I throw caution to the wind and just gun it,” said the eventual winner.
“I said to myself, ‘feck it I’m going to go for it’ and I started bringing the pace back up again. I knew if I was doing 43 or 44k it’d be hard to bring back.”
Two riders who were making serious inroads to the two up front were Gareth McCormack (Castlebar CC) and Derek Joyce (Galway Bay CC). Joyce in particular was flying and would get to within 30 seconds of the front of the race.
But Storan held out and easily won the sprint against a gallant Nugent.
“Winning doesn’t come easy for me,” he said.
“This is my eighteenth year racing and I’ve had four wins. I’ve been there or thereabouts in a lot of races but winning is special.
“I’m at the stage where I have to pick races where I think I can do well in.
“I can’t compete with some guys with work and getting married this year; I’m trying to juggle what time I have off to train smartly and pick races I think I can have some sort of an impact in.
Storan has at times been overshadowed by team mate Paddy Clarke, but his win on a very tough day shows he is good enough to win testing races (Photo: Sean Rowe)
“So I think today’s win was probably the sweetest of all my four wins because I felt good all day and it was nice to win for the team and Simon and Derek (Bowyer of Fitscience).
“The other races I was probably more shocked to win and I’ve had seconds in so many races...”
Storan said his plan now is to race the full season and hopefully add another win to his palmares.
“I’m going to take it as it comes; I work every second Sunday (in Shannon Airport) but I’ve a few Sundays booked off so I’m going to try and race as many as I can.
“I’d like to get another win this year, that’d be brilliant.
“I’d like to win a race in Munster. I’ll be doing the Rás Mumhan for the sixteenth time this year so I’m not getting younger.”
Part of Storan’s longevity is down to the fact that the bike, he said, was always just for fun.
“Since I took it up in 1997 or 1998 I’ve raced every year; I’ve never taken a break. I’ve always had a licence and raced for most of the year.
“What keeps me going is I’ve never taken it too seriously.
“So when things didn’t go well I was always able to cope much easier than say if I did a massive winter and things go wrong.
“That’s when fellas disappear and I’ve seen plenty who have disappeared from overtraining.
“I’ve always done enough to get by but never done so much to let it take over my life too much. I love the bike but I know when enough is enough.”
Topics
