Hugely proud of our wee club today after a brilliant turn out at the Dromara Hilly, one of the oldest and toughest sportives on the calendar. Even more impressive were the smiles, especially from the four first timers on the long route and the three brave first timers taking on the 85k route which takes on three of the hardest climbs in Northern Ireland!
Hilly veterans know it isn't the big name hills that get you, it's the mass of small hills and drags between them which make recovery impossible. The seven of us tackling the 125k hit the Cornmill with the front 30 riders, mainly as a tactic to keep safe and avoid the fallers. Once over that we split a bit, but Nitemare was on angelic form and did a great job of guiding the strong men round the twisting route.
In Leitrim we regrouped and once fed, hit the road again with a new friend Liam. We stuck together until Fofanny School Rd, but were within sight of each other over Spelga. Comrade was on a flyer, but a poorly timed puncture meant me and then Sean were able to catch him. They were loving the route in that twisted kinda suffering way cyclists have and proved the competitive spirit was still strong when we lit it up on the run in.
Nitemare and the Beast rode home, while the rest of us ate our pasta and took the lazy (smart) option to get home, but not before checking up with Melissa, Mary and David who had tackled the 85k - it follows the same route to Leitrim tackling the Cornmill, Dree Hill and Windy Gap. Huge respect to them for finishing such a tough event - really well done!
Finally a big thanks to Dromara Cycling Club. The helpers, marshals, motorbike outriders, photographers and facilities were all brilliant - a great example of a club sportive done to a really high level. Hopefully we'll see some of the same faces (and asses) at the Tour of the Glens in three weeks.
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