Sean Nolan has spoken of his relief at recovering, quite quickly, from a bad crash caused when a trap was set on a trail he was riding on, and is now back to winning ways in the cyclocross discipline. The EvoPro Racing rider said he was frustrated to miss the end of the road season in Europe with his trade team, especially as they had ridden so many races against World Tour squads.
"The crash probably forced me to take a break and then when I started back in college that was a probably a bit easier with no real pressure," he said. "But, of course, I was disappointed to miss the end of the road season with EvoPro. All the lads had a class schedule with really big races, racing against the biggest teams."
Advertisement
However, he was now focused on Verge Cross this Sunday in Clonmel and was hoping to gain international selection later in the winter. But, mostly, he wanted to improve as a cyclocross rider, which he said was his main goal in the season ahead.
Last weekend he claimed victory in the opening round of the Leinster Cyclocross Series - in Oldcastle, Co Meath - following on from a more muted ride in his debut race of the new 2022-23 season. Nolan said while he "had a bad race and just wasn't myself" at McCrystal Park in Co Louth a couple of weeks ago, he was glad to be back feeling strong again last weekend in Oldcastle.
"I was able to open up a little bit of a gap on the first lap, between five and 10 seconds, and then was just able to chip away and get a few more seconds every technical section. And on the straights I could have a dig. I felt pretty comfortable and it was good to be back in the rhythm of it for cyclocross," he said.
That Nolan is racing at all is relief considering his crash back in July. The 20-year-old had come home from his base in Belgium to ride the XC MTB National Championships and was out limbering up on a trail in Townley Hall, near Slane, Co Meath, when he rode into the trap – a rope left stretched across the trail – and came off his bike.
He fractured his T11 and T12 vertebrae, at the bottom of his rib cage, as well as breaking four ribs and suffering a partially collapsed lung during the incident, which knocked him out briefly. The gardaí are investigating the incident and that inquiry is ongoing.
While Nolan was in hospital for a period he said his stay was very brief, and was really only required so medics could monitor his collapsed lung for a couple of days. Aside from that, his vertebrae were stable and his ribs simply needed time to heal.
Related News
"When I came out I was on a lot of medication for the first two weeks; a high dose of morphine and (other) really strong pain killers," he said. "It took me just over weeks before I sat on a bike for the first time, just around the house, and then after four weeks I was able to get back on the road; an hour here, and hour there.
"And I've just been building up since then and increasing the intensity. I was pretty comfortable but I found I'd lost a lot of strength in my core and that; obviously from the damage I had done. But I recovered really quickly. The doctor said it would be between six and eight weeks but just see how I got on."
However, Nolan said his age and level of fitness worked in his favour towards a faster recovery and that his injuries were not painful on the bike, even after only four weeks. He eased himself into it and his recovery continued apace, with no issues since then apart from a slightly sore back in races, which he believed was due to the everyday demands of cyclocross.
He rode his first race - winning the Meath road race championships - just seven weeks after his crash. Looking ahead now to the next few months, he said every time he had a break from college he planned to go to Europe - mainly Belgium and the Netherlands - to race, as he had done last year.
He is currently in his third year, of a four-year degree in biological and geographic sciences, in Maynooth University but would take his reading week breaks and holidays abroad; racing on the international scene with some studies added in.
The first trip would be at the end of this month and into November to do three UCI races, including one U23 World Cup. At home, this weekend's Verge Cross was also firmly in his sights as were the National Cyclocross Championships.
"I will have a team around me this year for support; some Belgian people and my dad and a few others to help at the races and it's great to have that support."
He was hopeful of securing selection again on the Irish team - for the Europeans in Belgium in November or Worlds in the Netherlands in January - having ridden the Worlds this year in the US.
