Meath man Bill Moore takes the final Rás stage of 2005; a victory he says changed his mentality and his whole life from that day forward.
Bill Moore was one of the last county riders to win a stage of the Rás; taking a memorable final day in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, in 2005.
He’s currently living happily in New Zealand with his wife, running a farm as big as a small country and has no plans to race in Ireland.
Here, he talks to stickybottle about those last few kilometres 10 years ago; about the feeling of crossing the line in first place and how it changed his life forever.
Moore held aloft by members of his club, Stamullen. On the far left in the blue T-shirt is Gabriel Howard. Moore says he and wife Kay supported him every step of the way from the time he started cycling in 1988 and that he was delighted to win a stage in the colours of the club the Howards have given so much to.
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By Bill Moore
I was in great form at the time of that Rás. I had been training, racing and living in South Africa and I knew I could sprint.
Also, the extra conditioning I had from proper preparation and training made me confident I could do something if I positioned myself correctly.
The stage in the Phoenix Park was always pretty fast and there were lots of tired riders that day; a lot of men were just thinking of getting to the end.
So when we were told there were three laps to go, the pace was fairly intense with lots of pushing, shoving, elbowing; normal enough for the end of a stage.
I wasn’t afraid to give my share either; I worked myself into a great place just in the sweet spot and kept moving as the waves were coming.
And with one lap to go I nearly came down and questioned myself on whether it was worth it.
Everything seemed to slow down in my mind as we turned the corner before the finish for the last lap.
I said to myself, ‘you have trained your ass off, given up everything for this, you’re not quitting now’.
So I said it’d be better to crash than just finish; knowing I gave up. All or nothing.
Moore recalls his win very clearly but admits his memory of that night are not quite as good.
But I stayed upright. I took some risks but maintained my position.
Heading down into the last corner I was in a great spot; I’d noted the wind and it was coming across the finishing straight but slightly tailwind.
I then thought ‘I’ll have a go just as we straighten up - kick before everyone’.
I remember going around the corner at the bottom of the finishing straight and suddenly the road opened up.
I didn’t touch the brakes and we were doing almost 40mph when I hit the afterburner.
I kicked as hard as I could for as long as I could in the 14 sprocket and then into the 11 and kept pounding down hard.
It’s a long way from the corner to the finish line but when I looked back with 150 meters to go I saw I was clear by a full bike length.
At that point I got extra strength and kept sprinting. At 100 meters to go I started thinking of how to celebrate.
It was the clearest, calmest moment.
I could hear the others breathing down my neck, I could hear the noise of the tires on the road, the commentators voice; people screaming, shouting, clapping.
Julian Winn was the first to put his hand on me and congratulate me.
Moore, centre, riding in South Africa in January 2005, just four months before the Rás that he said completely changed his life.
I was overjoyed; in sheer disbelief. I remember saying out loud; ‘I did it! I did it! I won a stage in the Rás’.
It was simply a dream come true. Every disappointment in my cycling life had been banished by this one moment.
It was worth it.
I rode around to the finish with my Stamullen RC teammates, I was in disbelief, overjoyed, thankful; tears streaming down my face but laughing.
I thought of all the people who have supported me; Gabriel Howard has probably driven me more than 50,000 miles to and from races and I felt I owed it to him and Kay, his wife.
It’s the reason I’d never left the club because quite simply they have been better to me than anyone can ever imagine.
I just remember Gabriel crying; he had supported me since 1988 when I first took up cycling and he absolutely loves the Rás.
Anyone who knows him knows he lives for cycling.
I was just so happy that I was with Stamullen when I won and with those lads; Craig Sweetman, Simon Mulvaney and my brother Robert.
That night we all went to a celebration dinner that the club holds every time we did the Rás. It was electric.
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Riding on the Irish team in France in the late 1990s. Left to right: Paul Griffin, Michéal Fitzgerald, Moore, Ciaran Power and Michael McNena.
Everyone was in great form, it’s a moment I’ll never forget. You cannot explain it or recreate it, it was special.
Winning the stage was definitely a great sense of relief. I gave myself two years to achieve it. I always knew in my heart I had it in me.
That’s all well and good but that won’t get it done. It won’t just happen; you have to prepare yourself, mentally as much as physically.
You have to have your goal and think about it every day; live it, and breathe it.
I did; I went to South Africa and raced August until November. I took three weeks off then got 10,000km in before the end of February.
I was happy when I had achieved my goal, so I set different goals.
I’d ridden the Rás 10 times. I was never going to win or podium so with that I looked at different things.
The beauty of riding in South Africa is the variety and difficulty of events there. I would strongly advise anyone wishing to improve their cycling to go there. They have awesome, world class facilities.
I had always been able to perform on very little training (or so I thought). I never trained much/enough; 5 to 6 hours per week with racing at weekends.
So I decided enough was enough. I quit work and went to chase my dream.
Getting sorted out after a mechanical by back-up man Gerry Beggs in the 2005 FBD Rás.
I said, ‘I have been guilty of putting others in front of myself’ and it wasn’t making me happy.
I was sick of working 50-60 hours a week trying to train and being disappointed.
I took a look at my life and decided two years was not a lot of time in the run of things and whatever you truly look for manifests itself, so why the fuck not.?
That moment changed my life, in so many ways. I started living for myself and not trying to please others. Everything changed for the better from there.
The Rás win changed my life in so many ways.
It made me believe in myself unconditionally. It’s given me the confidence to achieve even bigger goals, personally and financially.
At the time it seemed like a big sacrifice; stopping working and taking a chance.
There is so much that can go wrong. But in hindsight I should have done it 10 years earlier.
I have no regrets but I should have backed myself when I was in my early twenties.
I think I reached a point and a realization later in life that time was running out and life would move on.
Always a very lean athlete, Moore has continued with sport in New Zealand; taking in running along with the bike.
For anyone out there with a goal; you have got to believe in yourself, no matter how hard it gets.
It doesn’t matter when you succeed; you will be stronger for your entire life afterwards.
I’ve been very lucky to team with some of the greatest Irish riders; Paul Slane, Phil Cassidy, Ciarán Power, Paul Griffin and David Mccann.
And what I learned from them is they were always 110 per cent people. They gave everything and I admired that.
Not one of them ever came back saying they could have given more. Luck played a part but sheer will and determination were as much a part of it as anything else.
I look back on the experience racing in South Africa before the 2005 Rás as the best time of my life.
Chris Froome, Peter and Martin Veltis, Darly Impey and so many others raced in South Africa during that period.
It was exciting, different, life-changing. I also met my wife there and from there my life has been changed in so many positive ways.
Taking a chance and backing myself not only led to that Rás stage win but gave me confidence to achieve my goals.
Now, I do quite a bit of running and triathlon but I’m way too busy now running a large scale farm to even think of racing back in Ireland. But I’m working on the next goal….
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