The Final Nail in the Coffin - Malin 2 Mizen Day 2

Day 2 - Ballina to Kilrush

Despite today being the longest day of the three, the mood was surprisingly good at breakfast, the weather forecast was good, we had collectively decided to do the opposite of whatever direction the Tech Head gave us and we were to begin the day cycling through south Mayo and Connemara, some of the most scenic areas in the country.

The day started well, the legs were good, the roads were quiet, the scenery was amazing, life was great. A quick photo stop at Killary Harbour before we made our way to the lunch stop at Maam Cross. The group was buzzing, some members a little more so than others. Due to the narrow roads in Connemara and traffic picking up, we needed to single up from time to time to let traffic pass, this coupled with the good road surface and tailwind, led the hammer merchant and the "artist formally known as the road captain" to believe they were in an echelon at the Tour and proceeded to string the group at 45km/h in the run to Maam Cross. Some things never change! And being cursed from the back of the group was only spurring them on. 

The only respite, and a huge lift to the whole group, was on the side road, about 2 miles from the middle of nowhere, was Clonmel Triathlon clubmate John Griffin, stood on the side of the road cheering us on. Its hard to quantify the boost you get from such a simple gesture as this. With the group on a high, we sailed down to Maam Cross and a severe dressing down from the Farmer, who was less than pleased seeing the pace as high, presumably because he spends his time waiting for his bike to disintegrate and obviously hopes this happens at as slow a speed as possible. 

After making several promises to behave themselves and a belly full of sandwiches, the two boyos duly picked up where they left off and continued to drive the pace, it was no time until the group had reached Galway, which the group perceived as some sort of end point for todays spin, it was not even close. Another quick stop in Clarenbridge for jellies and coke and we ploughed on into north Clare, the miles were taking their toll, the conversations were shorter as was the mood, we stopped for cake in Ballyvaughan, the farmer was now at his wits end and hastily decided to abandon the food stop and make for corkscrew hill in what was obviously an attempt to give himself some breathing room for the climb, the group saw this however as an audacious attempt to breakaway and win the prize for coming home first that didn't exist. At this point, the actual foreign guys bike was actually disintegrating and was making such a racket, comparable to one of those wheezing ford transit vans thats about to lose its fan belt. Thus prompting continuous looking around from the group who thought we were holding up half of Clare!

We plugged on down the Burren, we were now heading for the coast which meant we were picking up that sea wind again, the light was getting low and so was the energy, the first few hours of the spin was tough, but this was different, the undulating terrain was preventing a rhythm and the miles in the legs were sapping the strength. We were supposed to meet the support van in Lahinch, or was it Milltown Mallbay, or were we meant to meet it at all? 

The group was now emotional and upon no sight of the van in Milltown Town, decided on an impromptu stop at a petrol station. Every form of sugar imaginable was consumed. The group was at its limits, the Blank Cheque was bonking, the Actual Foreign Guy was still plugging away but must have been in serious pain with his injuries, the Angry Man was emotionally angry, the Farmer was like a briar, the Shark was wrecked, the Hammer Merchant wasn't doing monster pulls on the front, the "artist formally known as the road captain" was swamping monster drinks. Things looked grim. We doubted we would make it before dark, this was without doubt the low point of the trip, but yet the group soldiered on, together, partly because we didn't really have a choice, but also because, lets face it, its the same as any other spin, nobody would have it said that they were the ones that gave up! 

The miles slowly ticked by, gels were shared, extra pulls were taken and as darkness hit, we rolled into Kilrush where we were greeted by the Sharks family who had made the trip from Mullinahone just to cheer us in, again, the lift that this gave the group was huge, that coupled with the thought of a shower, some food, a pint and bed, definitely perked up the mood!