Aged 36 years and with two young children and a full time job as a garda, Eve McCrystal says she's still learning and has her eyes set firmly on Rio in 2016 (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan)
After an incident-packed stage 2 at An Post Rás na mBan, Eve McCrystal has demonstrated her progress under the tutelage of coach Neil Delahaye by putting in some very strong and versatile riding on the third day of competition.
Riding with the national team this week, the Dundalk woman has come into this race on the back of a season based around the paracycling programme.
She piloted Katie George Dunlevy to a silver medal in the road race the World Championships in the US last month and seems to have benefitted hugely from her involvement with that programme and with national coach Delahaye.
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McCrystal followed up a very decent 9th place on the stage 3 time trial over 8km yesterday morning with 4th in last night’s circuit race in Ballyalla.
But it is perhaps her stage 2 experience that will live longest in her memory of the action so far in Co Clare.
Having finished in the bunch on Wednesday evening’s opener, the following day was, in her own words, “a bit of a disaster”.
“I punctured at the bottom of the cat 3 climb after 18km. There was a good few punctures at that stage so I was standing at the side of the road for a few minutes. I had to time trial my way back on; it probably took me around 20kms or so.”
McCrystal putting in some serious effort despite her strapped up leg; powering her way into the top 10 on the 8km stage 3 TT (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan)
Battling on her own, she passed a few groups on the road and managed to get onto the back of the cavalcade, working her way through the cars and back into the bunch once more.
After a period of recovery, she was pleased with how she travelled up the cat 1 climb, only losing a matter of seconds on the leaders before getting back to them without incident immediately the descent kicked in.
“Then we were coming into a village coming off the climb, up to a right hand turn and you could say I overshot the runway,” she laughs.
“As it was turning right, I went straight on. I didn’t hit anything; that was just episode number two for me. I eventually got back on and I had a problem with my brakes because I was after getting a spare wheel when I punctured.
“So I was back at a car getting my brakes looked at and I managed to get tangled with the car and hit the deck. I got back on and got medical attention on the road while I was rolling.
“The intention was to get back on again. I tried my best but my leg wasn’t firing on all cylinders. I could see them in front of me, but they were too far; I was a while on the ground back the road.”
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With her national squad team mates; McCrystal, far left, on the start line of last night's stage 4 in Ballyalla (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan)
With a grazed and badly swollen bottom left leg, McCrystal got patched up at stage end and after a rest overnight got stuck into action again yesterday.
While relatively pleased with her TT ride, she felt she could have gone a bit better, saying she was probably still a bit “shook” and sore from her crash.
In last evening’s 45km speedfest in Ballyalla, McCrystal played her role in the repeated efforts of the Irish team to attack and put the field under pressure.
While she spent three stints off the front on her own – on laps 3, 5 and 7 of 10 – she was reeled in each time, with a bunch sprint deciding the outcome.
“I knew coming into the last left hand turn to be up the front. And when Fiona Meade kicked I picked her wheel; I just went for it.
“I was disappointed not to at least get the third spot, but we were active all day. We’re still learning; I didn’t think I could sprint but I got fourth.”
A 36-year-old mother of two children aged 5 and 6 years who also works full time as a Garda member, McCrystal is a sister of top Irish rider Bryan McCrystal (Aquablue) and seems to be growing as a rider despite juggling a busy schedule and being well into her 30s.
With two cat 1 ascents set for today’s stage 5, McCrystal said she would focus on riding smart in the hope of getting over the climbs, though she felt her climbing had improved of late.
“Neill Delahaye has brought me on, he’s been fantastic. I’m a completely different rider than I was this time last year; 100 per cent.”
And she cites reaching the Paralympics in Rio in 2016 as her big goal.
“We’ve a bit if fine tuning to do, but we’ve still two years to get it done and hopefully we’ll get it done.”
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