C4SC Awareness Tour 2017 is nearly here!!

Another great local event with North Tipp Wheelers annual NTW Le Tour de Lough Derg today. There are no shortcuts or shorter distances on the clockwise circle of Lough Derg but still everyone completed the120km route arriving back in the Lakeside Hotel in Killaloe with smiling faces. Portroe Hill did separate the gang out a bit but it was a nice testing route. Great to see the newer members taking on the course and achieving their longest distances to date. Well done to everyone - real progression going on week by week.

Next week sees our Awareness Tour 2017 (Cycle 4 Sick Children) taking place and we are looking forward to meeting and greeting our neighbouring friends and clubs to celebrate our event. With proceeds going 100% to Enable Ireland here in Limerick, we are hoping a great day out for everyone. With a flatish 75km or a hillier 120km route available, there’s something for everyone. Register on the day at Raw Cycles Limerick

With the massive popularity of cycling for health and fitness as well as for general commuting, it’s sad that the road infrastructure and driver attitude hasn’t caught up with the needs of cyclists. 2 club members suffered incidents this week that necessitated visits to A&E, one on a training spin was hit from behind, the second was commuting to work when a car pulled out from side road. Aside from these two incidents, cyclists are regularly having so many near misses and encountering bad attitudes. Both our cyclists will make good recovery but it shouldn’t be happening with the regularity it is. This past Saturday, the leisure group were cycling home from Bunratty and were in on the hard shoulder when a tractor pulling a trailer overtook us aggressively beeping continuously before swerving in onto the hard shoulder briefly and then continuing on his way. Please, you cannot be careful enough. Be sensible, wear high viz jacket or bright colours, lights front and back even in the daylight a motorist will be able to see the lights and hopefully recognise the need for extra vigilance. If you do have a fall it’s a good idea to replace the helmet – they are designed to take the force but their protection could be impaired after a bang. It’s one of the cheapest items to replace but probably the most valuable piece of cycling equipment you own.