What to Expect
Winter Training
A typical year of cycling in Westport Covey Wheelers starts with winter training. This involves Wednesday spinning classes and weekend cycles. For some additional fitness, especially for club racers, there may be some circuit training too.
Spinning classes take place on Wednesdays when it is too dark to cycle during the winter months. These spin classes are on Wednesday nights in Scoil Phadraig, Altamont Street, Westport at 7 pm and again at 8 pm.
Several groups, from beginners to competition racers, leave from the clock each Sunday morning at about 09.00 am. The routes vary each week and usually takes about 2 or 3 hours.
A typical week of winter training…
In early Spring, to escape the cold and wet, and have some uninterrupted solid training, there are usually organised trips abroad for club members. The usual locations are Spain, Majorca, France, Italy or Portugal. These locations provide fantastic cycle routes with plenty of mountain to conquer all in very agreeable climates.
Cycling Season Proper
When the evening light arrives after St. Patrick’s weekend, the Wednesday evening cycle commences until September. This is usually a trip to Louisburgh and back (about 40km) and again all cycling abilities are catered for.
March sees the real start to the racing season. Club, county, provincial and national races take place. Check the training and Events tab above to see what’s on. The Westport Covey, Mayo and Connacht Leagues start abount this time and run right through the summer. Most are handicapped races so everyone has a chance to win.
2014 will see Westport Covey CC host a new format 2 day/3 stage race on St. Patrick’s weekend in additional to the Westportif and Criterium later in the summer.
Our club league…
There is no better way to improve your cycling than to join a cycling club.
Do not be afraid! Westport Covey wheelers CC caters for all abilities. Members of our club take part in many other sports such as adventure and triathlon racing. Cycling performance improves hugely when you are active in a cycling club. Events such as Gaelforce, Sea2Summit, Triathlon and Ironman all involve cycling (in addition to running, swimming or kayaking) and Westport Cycling Club members perform very well in all these events.
With the ever increasing number of off road trails available, mountain biking is also becoming very popular in the club.
Endurance events are also a part of the clubs calendar. Examples include club members taking part in record attempts from Mizen Head in Cork to Malin Head in Donegal, a distance of about 385miles completed in 18hours and 53 minutes. Two members of the club, were part of the “An Post Team Connacht” that took part in the Race Around Ireland. This is an endurance event of mammoth proportions. It involves racing round the clock for 1350 miles, through 22 counties and 75,500 feet of climbing.
If racing is not your thing then leisure cycling will surely suit you. There are several leisure events or “Sportifs” organised up and down the country throughout the year, including our own the “Westportif“. These can vary from 40 km to 200 km and usually involve fantastic scenery and great food stops.
October is a quiet month and a lot of resting is done during this time!
It’s not all cycling in Westport Covey Wheelers Cycling Club. During the year we also do some hill walking. This keeps all the other muscles that you have been neglecting in trim.
There have even been end of season social nights reported too!