Ryan Sherlock's data, with power, for Boyne GP victory and 3rd place at Des Hanlon, Carlow

Ryan Sherlock's data from the Des Hanlon Memorial and the Boyne GP tell two very different stories. Seen here finishing 3rd in the Hanlon in Carlow last weekend (Photo: Sean Rowe)

Here’s an interesting insight into the kind of effort the country’s leading riders put into the races they compete in, and indeed a look into what they’re physically capable of.

The images below are from the on-bike computer – an SRM+ Garmin 800 – of Ryan Sherlock, one of the best riders in the country for the past few years.

He’s also a former national hill climb champion and won a hatful of national titles off road before focussing on road racing in recent years.

The data presented here is from the Boyne GP last month, which he won, and also from the Des Hanlon Memorial in Carlow last weekend where he was third.

The Des Hanlon is a much longer race with a lot of climbing. Sherlock spent some of his time attacking or driving groups forward and for other spells he was simply riding through in groups.

He finally escaped from a chase group with Paidi O’Brien and the duo caught all of the early breakaway apart from the unstoppable race winner Bryan McCrystal who survived to take a fantastic solo won. O’Brien beat Sherlock on the sprint for second place.

In the Boyne GP, Sherlock got clear in a two-man escape with Greg Swinand and the duo effectively two-up time trialled their way to fight it out for first and second, with Sherlock taking victory.

It meant his effort in the Boyne GP was much more measured and even when compared to the Des Hanlon where his attacks and the climbs on the course show great peaks in his power output.

In the Boyne GP after the initial attack, his data shows steady riding for a period of 2hrs 10mins with an average output of 350watts.

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The variations in power in the Hanlon are clear, as the attacks and counter attacks and climbs and descents made for the kind of surge and lull effort that takes much more from the body and is harder to recover from than steady riding.

Says Sherlock of the Des Hanlon effort: “The five minute maximum average power was on the second climb out of Castlecomer when leaving one chase and moving to the next; it was 450watts. The final two hours of it was 315watts average. But due to the up and down nature of the power output, it felt much more difficult than the final two hours of the Boyne GP.”