Eoin McCarthy, leading, came home from Belgium for the Rás but was forced out with illness. Having regrouped since then and trained well, he is looking forward to a better second half of the season.
Having based himself in Belgium with the Terra Footwear team for 2013, Eoin McCarthy has had a rough and tumble year to date. He's ridden well in many races in the first portion of the season but seen his An Post Rás wiped out after falling ill just before the race and limping through the first few stages before pulling out. However, he's also represented Ireland in the U23 Nations Cup this year and is hopeful of a strong second half to the season and riding for Ireland again as he tells us in this, his latest, dispatch.
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The last month or so has, yet again, been crazy. A roller-coaster of emotions. A lot of good times, but a lot of bad ones. Again.
It would be nice if things could just come together for once. I'm seeing constant self improvements but no reward, yet! But hey, I guess it's part of life and learning...
There's quite a lot to report on so I'll just briefly run over how the last months have gone. On the weekend of the 10th-12th May, I got the call up to ride Tour du Loiret three day stage race in France. My preparation wasn't the best as I spent a few days bed-bound on the lead up with illness. It just about cleared up for the start of the tour.
As a team we had a really strong presence in the race and with three guys in the breakaway on the first stage we were poised for a good result on the general classification.
The last stage was one I won't forget.
Armee de Terre were leading the overall and we wanted a sprint, so once the breakaway went away after roughly 30km, Joel and I rode the front with two of the Armee riders to control the race and slowly but surely reel the breakaway back in.
Around 125km later at 6km to go I was zapped, but my job was done. The breakaway had been caught. Unfortunately Tom had some mechanical issues but all in all I was happy that I had a consistent race, it was a real experience - I was 24th overall. Turns out we had a nice finish to the tour with second overall.
I got back to Belgium after Loiret and I was very confident I would be as close to 100 per cent as possible for the An Post Rás.
After a massage with my coach on Tuesday morning I was riding home, all was going well until I hit the deck. "Boom!"
I was a victim of some brand new road paint. I rode an hour back to the house all bloodied up, shook and incredibly disappointed. Things could only get better, right?
Turns out I was wrong. Things went from bad to worse. Luggage handlers at Brussels airport were on strike so I had to miss my flight, stay in Brussels overnight and fly from Charleroi the next morning at 6am. Inconvenient!
Yet more was to come. At Charleroi airport I started to feel sick and ended up spending the hour before my flight puking in the toilets. It continued on the plane, and when I got home diarrhoea joined in and accompanied the puking right up to and through my Rás experience.
I am still convinced to this day that someone or something, somewhere did not want me to take to the start line in Dunboyne.
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But I was there and that was the main thing. I had good legs and they got me through the first two days without too much trouble but after stage 2 disaster struck, hard!
It was physically impossible to eat that evening and I was puking through the night. After seeing the race doctor I was diagnosed with gastroenteritis. The morning of stage 3 I woke up feeling terrible.
Stage 3 of the Rás was the single hardest day I've ever had to spend on my bike so far. From the start I was struggling, it was the worst feeling in the world.
I was watching the race play out from the rear end of the peloton, knowing I should be up there in the business end of things mixing it up. It was certainly not what I planned to do.
After two hours or so I found myself slipping further and further back until I was eventually on my own waiting for the grupetto. It was so hard to take. I've never felt so disheartened and disappointed during a bike race.
The next day I felt better - better for a normal day without a UCI event. I was wiped out. After 40km on stage 4 I had to make the smart, but heartbreaking, decision to abandon the race. The rest of my season could have been in jeopardy - it was time to call it a day.
A massive thank you to all at Team DMG-VisitNenagh.ie for looking after me so well through the Rás. Such a pity I couldn't give the race my best shot. There was blood, sweat and even tears - I gave my all and it was incredibly disappointing to leave the race. The team showed me huge support, really top guys!
After my disastrous Rás and awful run of bad luck I took five days off to recover and gather my thoughts before I flew back to Belgium and got straight back into the thick of things.
My first ride after my break was the Gullegem pro kermesse where Phillipe Gilbert and Tom Boonen, to name a few, took to the start.
Then was the Heistse Pijl a few days later, another pro race with top names such as Boonen and his OPQS team. Due to the circumstances of the previous weeks these races didn't go well for me - or as well as I would have liked.
It was time to change things.
I'd been to see my coach Luc as soon as I got back and we started building up to where I am now. I did three to four solid weeks of training including kermesse races and the National Championships. The races have been good; my condition is improving all the time, all I am missing now is some really nice results.
After a very rough and difficult first half of the year, I now plan to get back racing frequently coming off a month of quality training.
I've managed to keep myself on the straight and narrow and I'm optimistic to make things change! In the coming months we have a number of Tours to aim for, and I will even be pulling on the green jersey of Ireland again. Fingers crossed for a good second half...
Cheers
Eoin
