Hello and welcome to the DCU Cycling Club!
Sorry about the long post, but it'll explain all that is going on!
First of all thanks for joining and, this is our 5th year back and after the successes last year lets make it a good one!
So, down to business! My name is Greg and I'm the treasurer of the club and ex chairperson, I've been a DH and XC mountain biker for years, but made the transition to the track a few years ago. I've also been known to do the odd bit of Triathlon, and cyclocross just because I don't get enough pain. The rest of the committee is made up off a mix of roadies, mountain bikers, triathletes and fixed gear freaks:
Diarmuid O Cronin - aka Dermo : Chairperson (Roadie and track rider)
Mick McCarthy : Secretary (Roadie soon to be cross rider)
Mick Maher : Pro Officer (XC MTB)
Mick Dever :Webmaster (Dirt Jumper / Lycra sucks believer)
_The Club:_
The club is now in its 5th year and still going strong. Last year we hosted the most successful cyclocross round of the super cross cup, and this year we have been given the honour of hosting the National Cyclocross Championships in January of 2010. We also hosted the cyclocross intervarsities last year, where we won the mens team event.
The initial idea of the club was to get a group of riders who are interested in racing competitively in the MTB and road scene as well as catering for recreational riders and people who want to compete in the more specific disciplines like track and triathlon........oh I may have forgotten to mention the beer which happens every now and again. However since then we have won multiple intervarsity titles, had members race at world intervarsity level, and compete and win at both national and international level. For a relatively young club we have a high race pedegrie, even though deep down we are a mongrel of several different clubs from around the country :)
Training and trips:_
Each week you should be getting a mail from the club, this will have a list of the activities that the club is planning for the week on it. These will in general be either MTB spins, road spins, tri training sessions or whatever else is going on in the club that week (races, drinking sessions, and so on). We are going to try and alternate the organised weekend spins between mountain and road each weekend. This will allow those of us who like to do both, to do both! The intensity of the spins will depend on who turns up on the day, later into the semester we will start to have harder specific spins, and easier relaxed spins. But don't worry the pace will always be that of the slowest rider...unless were sprinting....or going downhill very fast.
A rule of thumb for all club spins *you must *wear a bike helmet. THIS IS NOT AN OPTION. If you are on a club MTB spin you need to have a lid and be aware that you are likely to crash at some point. Simple. For all MTB, road racing, track racing, and triathlon events you also must have a helmet this is to comply with Cycling Ireland regulations, and, if you do take a spill on a session, its less to worry about and you'll have to wear one racing anyway's.
Roadies
With no lack of roads to train on this wont be an issue for the roadies or tri heads in the club. Spins from the college, either the back of the Hub, or from the front of Spar, will be going on every Wednesday while we still have the light, and longer spins will be being organised for the weekends over the coming months. Local spins to the college include laps of the Boot Inn course, laps in the Phoenix Park, spins out in Skerries and Howth direction. Other weekend spins will be organised to the likes of the Dublin and Wicklow mountains. In order to make these spins a bit easier, if you have a car and a bike rack could you send me a mail if you are willing to do a bit of driving. Come the summer we will be looking to enter the club members in races and hopefully get in on some interclub racing too. Also the intervarsity road races provide a great pre season test, and we will be going so you have a target for all that winter training.
Mountain Bikers and cross riders
Same as with the roadies, the plan is to run a major trip every second weekend. These trips for the start will be going from DCU out to the likes of Howth and St Anne's park. These spins will be good for those ppl who are new to mountain biking and those who just wanta quick spin. Trips will be getting organised to the likes of Three-rock, Ballinstoe and Wicklow, but transport for these trips is kinda dependent on the situation with grants and who is free on the day. So if you have a car and a bike rack, send me a mail so we can organise trips that little easier. Cyclocross training is being held on a Tuesday night out in Knocklyon and people should be cycling out to it most weeks. All you need is a cross bike or a MTB and a willingness to run about in the mud.
Track
To any track riders out there I say welcome. Plans for the winter include trips to Manchester velodrome and some recreational grass track racing as well as some real track racing to be arranged for the new year, with the possibility of some intervarsity action going on too. I'll be training at the Dublin track over the winter (weather permitting) so you are all more than welcome. Some of us will also be training, and racing, in Manchester in the winter league so if you're interested in this get in contact with me ASAP. For those who have never ridden a fixie before, its not scary, it's fantastic. Nothing wrong with one gear, no brakes, and no free-wheel. It's perfectly safe...mostly.
In general
If you or a few others feel like just going for a spin. Do it. Use twitter account, meet up for rides and get out there. We will always try to run as many trips and events as we can but if you guys feel like a spin in the middle of the week go for it! The easiest way to organise this is....
The website and forum:
Website http://dcucyclingclub.blogspot.com/ is where we will be updating all the info for the club. This is currently under construction and we will hope to get it up and running within the next week or so. So keep checking in. Keep an eye on the Twitter feed, this will be the easiest way to update on spins, get other people to come for spins, and to just shout out random things. http://twitter.com/DCUcyclingclub is the address, and just type @DCUcyclingclub to post to it. Try to keep it vaguely sensible its not going to be monitored 24/7
At this stage I think I have typed enough so I'll leave it with,
Thanks,
Greg
--
"Ride it like you stole it'
Sorry about the long post, but it'll explain all that is going on!
First of all thanks for joining and, this is our 5th year back and after the successes last year lets make it a good one!
So, down to business! My name is Greg and I'm the treasurer of the club and ex chairperson, I've been a DH and XC mountain biker for years, but made the transition to the track a few years ago. I've also been known to do the odd bit of Triathlon, and cyclocross just because I don't get enough pain. The rest of the committee is made up off a mix of roadies, mountain bikers, triathletes and fixed gear freaks:
Diarmuid O Cronin - aka Dermo : Chairperson (Roadie and track rider)
Mick McCarthy : Secretary (Roadie soon to be cross rider)
Mick Maher : Pro Officer (XC MTB)
Mick Dever :Webmaster (Dirt Jumper / Lycra sucks believer)
_The Club:_
The club is now in its 5th year and still going strong. Last year we hosted the most successful cyclocross round of the super cross cup, and this year we have been given the honour of hosting the National Cyclocross Championships in January of 2010. We also hosted the cyclocross intervarsities last year, where we won the mens team event.
The initial idea of the club was to get a group of riders who are interested in racing competitively in the MTB and road scene as well as catering for recreational riders and people who want to compete in the more specific disciplines like track and triathlon........oh I may have forgotten to mention the beer which happens every now and again. However since then we have won multiple intervarsity titles, had members race at world intervarsity level, and compete and win at both national and international level. For a relatively young club we have a high race pedegrie, even though deep down we are a mongrel of several different clubs from around the country :)
Training and trips:_
Each week you should be getting a mail from the club, this will have a list of the activities that the club is planning for the week on it. These will in general be either MTB spins, road spins, tri training sessions or whatever else is going on in the club that week (races, drinking sessions, and so on). We are going to try and alternate the organised weekend spins between mountain and road each weekend. This will allow those of us who like to do both, to do both! The intensity of the spins will depend on who turns up on the day, later into the semester we will start to have harder specific spins, and easier relaxed spins. But don't worry the pace will always be that of the slowest rider...unless were sprinting....or going downhill very fast.
A rule of thumb for all club spins *you must *wear a bike helmet. THIS IS NOT AN OPTION. If you are on a club MTB spin you need to have a lid and be aware that you are likely to crash at some point. Simple. For all MTB, road racing, track racing, and triathlon events you also must have a helmet this is to comply with Cycling Ireland regulations, and, if you do take a spill on a session, its less to worry about and you'll have to wear one racing anyway's.
Roadies
With no lack of roads to train on this wont be an issue for the roadies or tri heads in the club. Spins from the college, either the back of the Hub, or from the front of Spar, will be going on every Wednesday while we still have the light, and longer spins will be being organised for the weekends over the coming months. Local spins to the college include laps of the Boot Inn course, laps in the Phoenix Park, spins out in Skerries and Howth direction. Other weekend spins will be organised to the likes of the Dublin and Wicklow mountains. In order to make these spins a bit easier, if you have a car and a bike rack could you send me a mail if you are willing to do a bit of driving. Come the summer we will be looking to enter the club members in races and hopefully get in on some interclub racing too. Also the intervarsity road races provide a great pre season test, and we will be going so you have a target for all that winter training.
Mountain Bikers and cross riders
Same as with the roadies, the plan is to run a major trip every second weekend. These trips for the start will be going from DCU out to the likes of Howth and St Anne's park. These spins will be good for those ppl who are new to mountain biking and those who just wanta quick spin. Trips will be getting organised to the likes of Three-rock, Ballinstoe and Wicklow, but transport for these trips is kinda dependent on the situation with grants and who is free on the day. So if you have a car and a bike rack, send me a mail so we can organise trips that little easier. Cyclocross training is being held on a Tuesday night out in Knocklyon and people should be cycling out to it most weeks. All you need is a cross bike or a MTB and a willingness to run about in the mud.
Track
To any track riders out there I say welcome. Plans for the winter include trips to Manchester velodrome and some recreational grass track racing as well as some real track racing to be arranged for the new year, with the possibility of some intervarsity action going on too. I'll be training at the Dublin track over the winter (weather permitting) so you are all more than welcome. Some of us will also be training, and racing, in Manchester in the winter league so if you're interested in this get in contact with me ASAP. For those who have never ridden a fixie before, its not scary, it's fantastic. Nothing wrong with one gear, no brakes, and no free-wheel. It's perfectly safe...mostly.
In general
If you or a few others feel like just going for a spin. Do it. Use twitter account, meet up for rides and get out there. We will always try to run as many trips and events as we can but if you guys feel like a spin in the middle of the week go for it! The easiest way to organise this is....
The website and forum:
Website http://dcucyclingclub.blogspot.com/ is where we will be updating all the info for the club. This is currently under construction and we will hope to get it up and running within the next week or so. So keep checking in. Keep an eye on the Twitter feed, this will be the easiest way to update on spins, get other people to come for spins, and to just shout out random things. http://twitter.com/DCUcyclingclub is the address, and just type @DCUcyclingclub to post to it. Try to keep it vaguely sensible its not going to be monitored 24/7
At this stage I think I have typed enough so I'll leave it with,
Thanks,
Greg
--
"Ride it like you stole it'
I became a member there last week on clubs and socs day,
ReplyDeleteI havent been added to the mailing list yet..
Didnt know about any of the outings so far!
Any chance of one of your email address, so i can send you on mine..
Cheers!