The An Post Rás is Ireland's biggest stage race and attracts a very international field every year. For some home-based riders it's the pinnacle of the season and for more, it's the biggest event they can ever realistically aspire to compete in. But is it really worth it?
It’s that time of the year when riders start to really ramp up the winter training and thoughts of racing start to emerge on the horizon.
You’re convinced you have what it takes to compete with anyone this year after a flawless few months on the turbo trainer.
And you decide that maybe it’s time to do the Rás for the first time.
But before you commit to this mammoth challenge, before you tell herself there’ll be no more nights out until May, before you shell out €5,000 on the new bike that’ll get you to Skerries after eight days, ask yourself is it really worth it.
Advertisement
Here are seven things that will happen you if you’re planning to do the Rás for the first time…
It will cost you financially
To do the Rás takes a financial commitment from you, be it the training camps in the lead-up, the equipment like bikes and wheels, the actual race entry, the accommodation for the week and the associated costs like petrol and food.
There will also likely be physical therapy bills, tubs of protein and boxes of gels, gym membership, ntry fees for Sunday races and all that goes with that, the time off work for the week of the Rás.
Some teams get generous sponsorship that funds for all of the above , many get some financial assistance and others get none at all.
Can you afford this and do you really want to do it?
You will suffer like you’ve never suffered before
The Rás speeds and distances are comparable with some WorldTour stage races so don’t fool yourself into thinking it will be anything other than very difficult.
First timers might have superb fitness and even results to suggest they can do something but things like bunch craft and knowing how to ride echelons and lineouts are hard to teach when the crosswind hits and a top team from abroad decide to put the hammer down.
The Rás is absolute torture and nobody who has done it can say it was anything else.
You will risk getting seriously injured
Crashes happen in every race. They even happen in training. Hell, they happen to some guys and girls on recovery days where the coach instructed not to ride faster than 15 kph.
They also happen in the Rás and there is nothing worse than hearing that unmistakable sound of a carbon frame snapping in half and an almighty screech of brakes.
Related News
Actually, there is something worse; being the rider(s) whose frame has just snapped and a chainring stabs you into the back.
Cue, more time out of work and more money lost….
Your love affair with cycling might end, terminally
In extreme cases, riders have finished the Rás and been left with nothing but painful memories and shattered dreams.
And many, many saddle sores. It can turn cyclists off the sport for weeks, months or in some cases, forever.
Some riders, of course, come out screaming and blitz every man in sight the following week but for others it’s the end of an era.
Imagine how you'd feel after losing 40 minutes to a bunch led home by a man like Francesca Reda in the above photo?
Reda was thrown off the race last year for receiving an illegal tow from a car while a month later he tested positive for EPO at the Italian national championships.
You will probably do nothing in the race
Count the number of county riders who have won stages in the last 10 years. Actually, make that 20 years...
Count the number who have even challenged for a stage or a high stage placing in the last decade.
How many have finished in the top 20 on GC or even got into a break that contested the finish (NOT the bunch)? Very, very, very few.
For some, the Rás is a race to make the time limit. The again, if you battle hard and finish you'll be a Man of the Rás and for many that is a massive life goal.
You’ll cringe when people call you a man of the Rás
Yep, if you make it to the finish you’ll get your few minutes on stage and you’ll get a few claps too but it all feels so inappropriate because you finished in the grupetto on 5 of the 8 days.
Often, there are at least three races going on during the Rás; the race for the yellow jersey, the race for respectability and the race just to stay in the race.
You’d better be prepared to be in the last race on more than a few occasions – but as Timmy Barry pointed out in an article he penned last year, please don’t sprint for 156th place when you’ve lost 38 minutes already that day….
Unless you have some serious hitters in your team like the 2008 Meath/MyHome.ie team (above) of Aidan Crowley, Eugene Moriarty, double-stage winner Brian Kenneally, Scott McDonald and Stephen O’Sullivan had, then prepare to go home empty-handed.
