FEBRUARY 2020

1st in age category, 4th overall

236.9 miles in 12 hours

Where do I even start with this race? To say that it did not go to plan would be an understatement. 

A few days before the start line the race director announced a course change. The finishing 3.7-mile loop of the 24-hr circuit was no longer on the iconic Sebring racetrack. Instead it would be on a 3.5-mile road loop adjacent to the racetrack. This changed the possibility of reaching 500-miles in 24-hours as the racetrack is much faster, plus it flows to enhance speed. The road loop had significant turns and the surface left much to be desired. The consensus among the riders, no one would reach 500-miles in 2020.

I had to begin a mind-set change immediately, which is a difficult thing to do when you’ve spent months and months preparing for and visualizing a totally different race. Obstacle #1.

Obstacle #2 appeared with Jill contracting a viral infection the day before we travelled. It started with an extremely sore throat. She did everything she could to quarantine herself, but the inevitable happened. The day before the race obstacle #3 appeared.  I felt the first signs in my throat but kept it quiet so everyone would maintain focus on the race. 

Race day – I managed the first 100 miles at the front. The impact of the virus started to show on the second stage of the race, the 11-mile loop. From about 6-hours onwards my fever would come and go along with my power. My throat got so sore it became hard to eat. I would have two awful laps and then 2 good laps. Nothing was consistent except the knowledge that 24-hours like this was simply not on the cards.

It’s a difficult thing to pivot mid-race. I rode a lap allowing my mind to accept the conversation that needed to happen with my team. I stopped with Jill mid-lap and admitted for the first time that I had the virus and what the impact was on performance. 

Under pressure, we weighed our 3 options – DNF, continue with the 24-hrs knowing there would be collateral health damage or pivot quickly to the 12-hour.

I had ridden to maximum all day, which meant my accumulated mileage put me in contention for the 12-hour. Decision made. We pivoted quickly with the race organizers and I adjusted speed knowing that I had 90-mins left.

It was enough to win my age category and place 4th overall. Not my best 12-hour result but given my health and given that my early speed was calculated on a 24-hour race, I’ll take it!

It’s a disappointing start to the season. I’m a great believer in allowing disappointment for a limited time period. I took 24-hours and then started to turn my mind to our next race, Race Across Italy. We always say, ‘refocus, recalibrate and get the bike moving forward as quickly as possible’ and that’s exactly what’ll we’ll do.

More photos

JULY 2020

New World Record set from the most northerly point in Ireland, Malin Head, to the most southerly point, Mizen head, and back.

1187.69 kilometres in 44 hours, 15 minutes, breaking the existing record (held by Joe) by 4 hours, 23 minutes, 47 seconds.

Maiden Voyage – Spiegel, Diablo

As the magnitude of the pandemic came to light in the spring, one by one our 2020 races  cancelled – Race Across Italy, Race Across the West, Race Around Ireland.

We collectively locked down.

In that lockdown, the essence of our season, Reaching Further with title sponsor White’s Oats, still shone brightly. We just didn’t know how or where it would lead us.

Well in July, as soon as travel restrictions lifted, it lead us back to that iconic Irish start line on the most northerly tip of Ireland, Malin Head.

Our goal was to put the record under 48 hours. 

Our secondary goal was to put the SPIEGEL Diablo, a bike that I had been gifted by Ted Spiegel, under extreme race conditions to see what it was really made of. This was significant given my history with Colnago.

World Ultra-Cycling Records follow very tight guidelines around start times. Once the application goes in with a start date and time you are limited to a period of 24-hours ,on either side, to aim for the best weather window.

True to form the weather forecast was dire – extremely high, gusty winds and heavy rainfall with weather fronts coming in fast and fierce over the 48-hour period of the record attempt.

A decision was made within the team to cancel as you simply can’t race the competitor known as ‘time’ under such bad conditions, because of course ‘time’ doesn’t feel the wind or the rain.

But all that preparation and all that form would be lost and my body and soul desperately needed to race. I couldn’t accept the cancellation. Things in my life were coalescing to drive me to that start line, throw caution into the head wind and just GO. 

We reinstated and the team assembled. These were nervous times but we gathered ourselves and we headed to the start line.

What happened in the next 44 hours and 15 minutes was a personal performance that I know I can never replicate. 

Maybe it was the privilege of being able to race after lockdown. Maybe it was the all too familiar conditions being against me, trying to disrupt and hold me back. 

All I can say is that standing on Malin Head with a 40mph roaring wind in my face I descended into a very quiet place inside and made a firm decision to reach further than I ever had before, to trust that at my very best the performance of a lifetime was there for the taking.

I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t there to fight the wind, the rain or the circumstances but none of the above was going to disrupt who I am and what I do.

Don’t get me wrong it was hard. Every mile was hard but hard is a feeling just like wet and cold. I got myself above those feelings yet stayed firmly in my body and mind. I could hear my heart beating. I could feel my legs moving. My vision of the road was wide. My mind was still.

It was a flow state like no other and it lasted and lasted and lasted. I was free. Free of everything that was holding me back. 

I knew the team was rock solid behind me, even though there were some new players in the mix, and together we made our way south, reaching Mizen Head in a record breaking 22 hours and 20 minutes.

We had a short stop for a clothing change and warm food and headed north again. Yes there was a tail wind but the wind was stormy, coming in huge gusts and you must have enough strength to ride with it. Heading into the second night became a real challenge.

There was massive debris on the road. We kept moving. At one point during the second night sleep deprivation became severe and I had to focus and work my way through each minute of forward. Still we kept moving.

Because we were using a live GPS tracking system people could come out onto the road and show support. They came out in droves. In my flow state I was hyper-aware of families, kids in fancy dress with signposts to Malin Head cheering. People at all times of day and night taking the time to come out in foul weather to show support buoyed me.

Malin Head was a sight to behold. Seeing Eamonn and Hughie with arms outstretched to receive the bike was both welcome and sad. The ride, the race was done, for now.

The return leg from Mizan Head to Malin Head was done in 21 hours and 55 minutes giving a total race time, including stops, of 44 hours and 15 minutes. We smashed that record.

Every single mile was done on the SPIEGEL Diablo, a bike worthy of the extreme conditions. It was aero when it needed to be, aggressive when it needed to be, always comfortable, reliable and just a joy to ride. I was delighted to have such a mammoth maiden run on it.

What made this performance so special? I think it was a unique mixture of self-belief , the abiding flow state and the level of support within the team and people along the route. I found myself riding for anyone and everyone who has ever felt that things were against them, I found myself riding as it to say to each and every one...keep pushing on…do not let internal or external circumstances define you…..reach further…believe…you can do this.

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OCTOBER 2020

New World Record set from the most westerly point in Ireland, Slea Head, Co. Kerry, to the most easterly point, Wicklow Lighthouse, Co. Wicklow, and back again. 

776 kilometres in 28 hours, 24 minutes, with over 18,000 feet of climbing.

We had attempted to come up with an innovative race in late summer that would meet COVID restrictions, however it fell through at the last minute so once again we were challenged to find a way to reach further. Maybe this was the year to hold all records in all directions on the island of Ireland?

I did the East-West record in 2019 and suspected there was a better route. I also wanted to lay down a record for both directions. Yes, it was looking like this was a year where reaching further meant holding all records in all directions.

Having ended in the magnificent and magical Slea Head, Co. Kerry last year I thought it would be a more favorable place to start and finish. I was right.

Eamonn stepped into the role of route maker. He and I worked closely, discussing options and deciding to choose a slightly longer route but on main roads for faster road surface. Jill and I recced most of it in Sept to confirm and Oct 10-11th on World Porridge Day nonetheless, we were good to go.

It’s exciting to race on a new route, the unexpected is always just around the corner.

We were fortunate enough to start in a significant westerly and I didn’t hang around. I pinned the pace early and kept it there for 12 hours and 35 minutes across the country. I started on the SPIEGEL Diablo and made one bike change, to the Teschner, on a fast time-trail section. This lasted a mere 6 miles, turns out the comfortable aero position on the Diablo is hard to beat.

The nature of this course is quiet accumulation. It’s lumpy the whole way across with some definitive steep, long sections of climbing the closer you get to the Wicklow hills. What was now becoming clear as I made my way to the east coast was the toll the day’s speed was taking combined with the fact that at Wicklow Lighthouse I was going to turn around and do that section immediately in reverse all over again.

The East-West time of 15 hours and 49 minutes reflects this cumulative toll. The cost of speed in the tailwind had to be paid. I suffered keeping the bike moving with ease and speed. For a long time my mind was turbulent, which is never a good thing. A turbulent mind cannot carry consistent speed. Eventually I accepted a speed I knew I could sustain. Slower than I would have liked but consistency and sustainability are the only two qualities that matters when it comes to going the distance.

The morning hours helped, as did some choice words of support from the team. The closer I got to Slea Head the more my spirits lifted. I started to notice the beauty around me, the impressive canopy of brightly colored autumn leaves bridging the road through much of the middle section.

Crossing back into The Kingdom was the panacea I needed. I could smell the sea air again.

The run in to Slea Head has to be experienced to be believed. The narrow road along the cliff edge is built for a spectacularly fast finish. I could hear the banter in the cars through my earpiece and I could sense the fun the crew was having. In another race this would not have worked for me but on this particular one it did.

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A very special mention to the crew on this particular race – Eamonn Diver, Hughie Gallagher, Gerard Callaghan, Noel Cusack, Gavan Connolly and Jill plus the WUCA officials Andrew and Jamie Agnew, a special group of people indeed. 

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We couldn’t have worked better together and I don’t think I’ve laughed as much on a race….thank you.