The delight on the face of Stephen Byrne winning in Bohermeen in the early 1990s perfectly captures what the bike and his club meant to him. He has sadly died aged 42-years.
A well known road rider and talented sprinter in his day, Dubliner Stephen Byrne has sadly passed away after losing his battle with cancer.
The 42-year-old married father of one was a lifelong member of the Dublin Wheelers club and while he raced in its colours nationally for years he was perhaps best known on the Leinster scene.
An accomplished rider through the youth and junior ranks, Stephen won his first senior races in his first year out of the juniors. He went on to enjoy victories in the Phoenix Park on the old two-miler course and at other venues that suited strong riders with a good kick such as Bohermeen in Co Meath.
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He also excelled in races like the now defunct Tour of Fingal, organised by his own club, where he enjoyed many great rides.
Stephen grew up in Portmarnock in north Dublin, one of four children – three boys and one girl - of Paddy and Eileen. Indeed, it was through his father that he was introduced to the sport he loved.
When Stephen married wife Suzanne they settled not far from his childhood home, putting down roots in Donabate. It was in that village, at St Patrick’s Church, that his funeral mass was concelebrated this morning.
Stephen was then laid to rest in Donabate cemetery, with standing room only in the church and a large group of mourners also attending his burial.
The congregation this morning included friends and neighbours from Portmarnock and Donabate, and countless faces from the cycling world, with members of his beloved Dublin Wheelers out in force.
Mourners were told of a man who lived his final days knowing his illness was beating him but who faced death with bravery; worrying not for himself but only for Suzanne and their 7-year-old son Ryan.
Stephen’s father Paddy, who still races in the IVCA events as a member of Dublin Wheelers and is a former member of Lorraine CC, recited the poem Death is nothing at all by Henry Scott Holland in memory of his son.
Stephen’s younger brother David described him as “my inspiration”.
“He will always be my hero; he will live in my memory forever,” he told mourners.
Two of the best: Davy Garland (left) passed away last year while Stephen Byrne was laid to rest today; both lives claimed by cancer. They are seen here at the Dublin Wheelers 75th anniversary celebration.
But it was his brother Paul, who raced with Stephen in the wheelers for years and has competed himself of late, who addressed those present on behalf of the family and spoke so well about what Stephen had meant to them.
“Stephen’s first love was the bike,” he said.
“His second love was the Dublin Wheelers. But his true love was his wife Suzanne and their lovely son Ryan.
“I suppose you could say most brothers have a bond. But me and Stephen had one common, real bond and that was the bike.
“We spent many hours cycling the back hills of Wicklow; not deep in conversation, mostly deeply suffering. It’s a tough sport.
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“We didn’t have to say a lot to each other on those spins. We’d be going up and down the hills on those Wicklow Mountains on many of Jimmy Lally’s magical mystery tours. We’d just look at each other and be thinking; ‘where in the name of God is he taking us now’.
“Despite for maybe the next day or two barely being able to walk down the stairs and get back on our bikes and go to work, Stephen would be the first to get home from work, and on a cold winter’s night with the lights on the bike he’d go out around Howth Hill. That was his dedication to the sport.
“He was also a very determined young lad. There’s an old story about when he first decided to join the wheelers as a 14 or 15-year-old; and Stephen was small for his age.
“He turned up at Rutland Place to go on the club run and a couple of lads said to him ‘Jeze, do you know where we’re going today?’
“But he stuck it out and from that day on he was a wheeler. Not long after that he said to me ‘they’re a fine group of lads’ and I soon joined the wheelers after him.”
Dublin Wheelers 'Men of the Rás' 1996, left to right: Lenny Carrigan, Ken Knorgrove, Stephen Byrne, Conor Lally and Dave Garland.
Paul said that Stephen’s love for the sport, and especially his club, endured to the time of his death on Wednesday.
“He was loyal to the wheelers to the end. He kept every jersey he ever owned, even going back to the 1980s,” he told the several hundred mourners.
“We’d have many conversations about going to this club, to that club, for different ambitions we might have. But Stephen was determined that whatever ambitions he might have, it would be in a wheelers jersey.
“I was always in awe of him as a cyclist, no more than in 1992 when as a first year senior he won one of the famous, no longer existing, park gallops. He beat a lot of top guys that day.
“I remember him telling me about it with so much pride in his voice, especially when one of the top cyclists in the country John Sheehan came over to him afterwards and congratulated him on his win.
“He was dedicated, determined and loyal. But he could also be quiet in his own way. And I think at the end, that’s the way he wanted it; quiet and peaceful and under his own terms.
“I didn’t think I’d get through today, but I can feel Stephen standing over me and he’s going: ‘Paul, come one, around the corner and push it one more time’.
“All I know now is that he’s joined his fellow Dublin Wheelers, Davy (Garland) and John (Sweeney). I’m sure the roads are smooth and pot hole free. I’m sure the tea-stops are plentiful and they’re admiring each others Colnago, Pinarello or Bianchi bikes.”
Dave Garland, with whom Stephen rode the Rás in 1996, died last year from the same disease that has now claimed Stephen’s life. John Sweeney, who like Dave and Stephen was one of the stalwart members of the wheelers, died in a car crash in the late 1990s.
Some of us on stickybottle had the great privilege of soldiering with Stephen; often in the gutter but sometimes up the road and on a rare few occasions taking victory. Always honest and tough on the bike, he was a gentleman off it.
May he rest in peace.
(Many thanks to Brian Carolan and John Heery from the Dublin Wheelers for the photographs used in this piece)
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