Lakeside Wheelers heading West on Saturday

Forget the Tour de Finea, the Giro D’Athboy and all those other events that clog up the cycling calendar. This is the real thing! The annual Into the West Cycle Challenge in aid of breast cancer research heads for Galway on Saturday and all those who are taking part should be ready for action when the riders will set off for the City of the Tribes. It’s a great cycling event and helps to raise lots of cash for a very worthy cause.I really like the fact too that several newcomers to the club will be taking up the challenge and so let’s wish them well. There will be five groups leaving from the Mullingar Park Hotel with the first group scheduled to depart at 9am. Sign on opens at 8am and all riders are asked to be there at least 45 minutes before their scheduled start. Organiser in chief, Joe Duffy tells me that he will be contacting everyone in the next few days with details of the trip.The evenings are definitely beginning to shorten and it won’t be long before the after-work spins are just a fond memory. I recall one particularly pleasant trip on a Wednesday evening a few weeks back with Tom Shaw at the helm which took in a few miles along the canal path and, for me, embodied all that is good about summer cycling - the less than frantic pace, the company of friends, the warm air and the chance to clear the mind after the working day.Sunday spins, on the other hand, are more about clearing the mind after a night out. On Sunday I remembered that Arthur Dempsey, leader of the C Group, was away and I had promised to step into his cleats. The turnout at ORS was good and so I was grateful to Liam Whelan and Tom Shaw who offered to lead some of the C Group cyclists in an effort to keep the group sizes down. Three separate C Groups headed off in the general direction of Ballivor.There was no sign of Conor Isdell to lead the B Group so I don’t know what they got up to. I’m pretty sure the A mob had a good spin though - they went hurtling past the window of Mother Hubbard’s in a very businesslike fashion as we were enjoying our tea and toast. Liam Whelan’s group joined us at Mother Hubbard’s and I asked him if he knew what had become of Tom Shaw’s lot.Tom himself later reported that he was leading a group when the Bell Ranger Mk. 2, with the eponymous George at the controls, developed technical difficulties (a spoke came loose!) and was forced to divert. They hope to have the Bell Ranger Mk. 2 restored to roadworthiness in time for the Galway spin this weekend - a good outcome to what looked like being a tricky situation at one point!Great to see Liz Hoctor back after her sojourn in Australia! Welcome home Liz. Out on the road I spoke to a few riders who had participated in the Seán Kelly tour in Carrick-On-Suir last weekend.I hear that it was a tough but rewarding day in the saddle and, for the record, the Wheelers who completed the course were Joe Duffy, Shay O’Toole, Noel Kennedy, Pairic Devine, Conor Isdell, Dermot Hogan, Mark Monaghan, Karl Moran, Paddy Gorman, Darragh Caffrey, Ken Mulligan and Paul Murtagh.Just time to tell you that the club racing fraternity have had yet another hugely successful weekend, this time at the two-day event in Charleville, Co. Cork. Steve Franzoni won the Saturday stage with John Murray in 4th place. Peter Rimmer, Robbie Kenny and Dave Fagan were also well placed. Sunday’s time trial saw Steve finish in 4th with Dave Fagan in 8th which meant that Steve had the honour of wearing the leader’s yellow jersey in the final race.Eventually he finished a great 4th overall, with John Murray in 11th. The Wheelers took first team place overall, thanks to strong showings by all concerned - a fantastic way to sign off this year’s racing season. Not to be outdone Stuart Cox and Kieran Coffey were in Gorey. Stuart managed a very impressive 5th place in his category with Kieran coming home comfortably placed in the bunch.