Frank O’Rourke Memorial 2014

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Wexford

John Dempsey takes on A4 racing!

Report by John

“Mick was fairly battered afterwards, looked like he’d be tender for a while and probably has a few days of picking bits of road from himself for his troubles. He says the bike is ok though so that’s the important thing
Fair play Patsy, sounds like you had the best day of us all. Mick pointed out your back to me before the start as you rode past to get started, sure next time.
I was happy with my first A4 race and was able to largely hold my own without lighting the race up. There were no real attacks launched from the A4’s, but instead the pace rocketed up at various points instead as the group surged and came back. The blatant disregard for the rules of the road by many was shocking, especially after a few near misses, pinch points, and even crashes, some of these fools made great candidates for the Darwin Awards. As a result I spent a lot of the time watching other lads to ensure that they didn’t bring me down, thankfully I was never in any real danger.
A4 racing is tough though, you’d think you’d be good and strong, but this race wasn’t easy. There were several lads shelled out the back alright, but the guys up front were well able to drive it. I had kept to the front of middle in the bunch all day staying out of trouble from behind, and as a result didn’t even see Mick’s crash. But at the start of the final lap I got my gearing wrong for the long climb and drifted back through the bunch, dangling off the end at one stage. I felt strong though and along with another lad we had just made back contact when there was another crash in the A4’s that we had to tiptoe around. The bunch were gone and we never remade contact with them. Hooked up with Phil Skelton after this though and we picked up another few lads to ride out the full of the race and come in not too far behind the winners.
I would have loved to have stayed with the bunch till the finish, and without the final crash I may well have done. Hopefully I’ll get another chance to lash round the Gorey circuit this Tuesday, and with some more training I can give the Sam and Betty Darcy memorial race in Gorey a decent shot at the end of the month (so long as this baby doesn’t come first )
Phil Skelton did a great job minding me today, thanks for all the advice and help. He did fairly freak out a few of the others lads in our mini peloton on the final lap though as he was using his fists to physically beat the cramp out of his legs, roaring like a bull while he doing it :shock: never missed a beat though and finished strong with the rest of us. 50 years old apparently, and strong as an ox.
A good race, real eye opener, hopefully there might be a few more from the club out for Gorey at the end of May.”