November usually marks the time of year when competitive riders start to dust down the bikes and start the long road back to race fitness.
From what we've gathered in recent weeks, October has been a month of excessive amounts of indulgence. And this lot aren't ones to buck that trend.
Recovery, after all, cannot begin until we eat and drink...
Here's what a selection of the country's riders have been up to the last month.
David Brennan
Club: Castlebar CC
Age: 28
Category: A1
When did you stop training?: “I stopped training after crashing in a club race at the start of September. It was the second last lap of the last race of the year and I had to take about seven weeks off with a back injury but I’m getting back gently into it now.
Advertisement
When will you start again?: “I hope to be fully back into structured training within the next fortnight.”
What things do you like to do in the off-season? “I don't get up to anything extraordinary during this time of year. I go away for few weekends and generally enjoy the flexibility of not following a specific structured training schedule.”
Ciara Doogan
Age: 17 . I'll be a second-year junior in 2016.
Club: Errigal CC
When did you stop training?: “After the world junior road race championships in Richmond, US at the end of September.”
When will you start again?: “I've just started back up again.”
What things do you like to do in the off-season? “I just started a physiotherapy degree in UCD so I’ve been busy with that but generally I just like to relax.”
Sam Bennett
Age: 25
Team: Bora-Argon 18
When did you stop training?: “I stopped riding my bike on the 11th of October after Paris Tours.”
Related News
When did you start again?: “I started again today. I came from some of the best form I’ve ever had to being out of breath after a 1 hour easy spin!”
What things do you like to do in the off-season?: “Hide away from all my responsibilities and stresses of trying to dig out results.
“I like to try and hide away but it doesn’t happen. I like to eat a LOT of what I can’t during the season.
“I also went on holiday, eventually. Thomas Cook cancelled my holidays a few days before my original plan so I had to opt for a plan B. I also like to catch up with some people.”
David Hamilton
Club: North Down CC
Age: 25
Category: A1
When did you stop training?: “Proper training stopped after the An Post Rás as I crashed on day 3 and wrecked my ribs. I never really recovered from that so I was kidding myself for a while afterwards trying to race when they weren't right.”
When did you start again?: “Training started properly 1st November.”
What things do you like to do in the off-season?: “Off-season consists of many nights on the booze (too many, in fact) and just general flapping about doing things I've to keep to minimal when the racing season starts. I need a goal to work towards so when there's no goal I go a bit mad.”
David McCarthy
Age: 21
Category: A1
When did you stop training?: “I stopped training on the 1st of September. I took a full month off everything.”
When will you start training for next season?: “I started back the 1st of October.”
What things do you like to do in the off-season?: “Live life like a normal person for a while; go out, meet friends, do all the stuff I can't do when I'm training. I've a good group of friends from Fermoy that I barely see throughout the year so I spend as much time with them as I can.”
Topics
