Well it’s been a long year that seems to have gone in the space of a few days. Bizarre feeling really. I have my last race on Sunday, a 32km TTT, which is part of the Belgium Topcompetition series. Then I’m off home with Dad in the trusty Volvo.  Going to be a bit strange going back but I’m looking forward to some good food, clean house and seeing my friends again!!.

September has been quite a fun month on the bike really. Matt’s old friend Tommy Nankervis came over from his American team and stayed with us while he rode the Pro-Kermesses. Was good having some more company than we were expecting because I think me and Matt would have gone mad had it been just me and him. The other guys had all gone home earlier in the month. Was a sad occasion; after living with someone for so long it is definitely a bit weird when they go. I ended up riding a few Pro Kermesses myself just for the fun. Was cool getting to ride with some big names in the pro peloton! I had a stage race in France the end of the month (Tour de Moselle) which was a 3 day, 4 stage race. Felt the strongest on the climbs I’ve been all season and there were some pretty big climbs in there! Turned round one corner and we went straight up what was like a never ending wall. Couldn’t help but say ‘ohh shit’ when I saw it! Ended up 60 overall in that and brecht from our team got 2 on the first stage and 6 overall so a good result for the team. Chilled out a bit after that race because I was pretty well shot. My cooking also reached new lows in the coming weeks after this race as well. Was just about to finish up making my pasta when the fan above the oven caught fire and exploded due to much fat in the fan! Full house power cut, flames, smoke and cue the panic! I spent a good amount of time running in circles yelling ever swear word under the sun. Before someone made the decision to call the fire brigade, get our valuable and get the hell outta there. The fire brigade arrived in time and put the thing out with only the cabinets above the oven and the ceiling across the kitchen destroyed. Big  relief. I was pretty devastated that dinner was wrecked to be honest but also a bit shaken up cause it was scary as!

I’m pretty proud of my season really. I didn’t achieve any wins or big stand out results but that was never in the plan. I put myself in a lot of different styles of racing, most of which didn’t really suit my best points as a rider but I definitely learnt a lot from those races and I feel I improved in those areas. I think most of all I just learnt how to look after myself on my own over here. I remember at the start of the year I was pretty stubborn in doing things my own way and Matt/Chris would always tell me to do things this way. I’d stick to my ways for a while before admitting defeat and quietly doing it the way they told me. Which was annoyingly always a quicker/easier way of doing things. There has been some good/funny times over here that I will remember for a long time. Been some moments where I have never laughed so hard in my life and then a week later I’d have laughed even harder and beaten the laughing record!

I’m pretty excited about next year now really. I’m super motivated for getting a good winter in then hitting the races in Belgium that I now have some knowledge about. Next years plan is different from this years one; I want to get some wins! I’m riding for the same team in the same house and I’m hoping the stability will benefit me. I’ve made some good friends over here this year and that has made me feel very at home, so I think that will also be a big help.

Well I’ll keep writing through the winter every now and again on how training goes and any funny stories provided by the myth, legend and hero that is Julie Dunne.

Thanks for reading and all the support I’ve had from my family and everyone back home. Would never have survived out here without you all!

Well it has been quite a while since I last wrote anything so apologies! Auntie Teresa is here to personally tell me off because I’m currently staying here at VeloVercors for a week. Been really good to be able to get a week of solid training in the mountains in before I head back to Belgium on the TGV for the rest of the season.

So since I last posted I’ve done a good bit of hard racing; Nationals, Dwars Door het Hageland, Tour de la Dordogne and the European Championships.

Rode pretty well at Hageland which was a uci 1.2 ranked race. Was 190k with 7 pretty hard finishing laps and I was doing a fair bit of suffering at times. Came in 78 so not to bad for my first crack at a UCI race in Belgium, was pretty knackered after but had 2 of my best mates over from home to watch me so they soon re-energised me! 

Dordogne was another hard race, very hilly (lot more than I expected) and a lot of good riders with the field mostly being made up of DN1 teams. First stage was nuts and a probably the most attacking i’ve seen all season, some real small roads highlighting this. One part we went down this real thin, pot holed road that must have been close to 20% and felt like I was going down a rollercoaster. Finished in bunch on that stage. Next day was 10km TT and I felt pretty good coming in 20 place. 3 stage was probably one of the better days i’ve had on a bike all season and I hung in right to the final climb where the bunch had thinned to about 50 riders. Was so close to hanging on going over top of climb but just missed out which was a shame because I’d have been good in the sprint. Got run over by chief comm’s car when I was 1km from top of climb, swinging at back of bunch as well haha! Just revved his engine and I felt him drive straight into the back of me!! Had to get a wheel change on descent and then pushed back by team car at 90km/h so as not to lose time for team classement! The last day for me was a real tough one, lots of long steep climbs and real hot weather. Pace started real high and was getting really lined out until a break went which was a bit of a relief. Then was quite a steady tempo in bunch for a while until we just started hitting climb after climb. On about 5 of these climbs the bunch really split up and I was hanging on somewhere didn’t really know where tbh. Road had just snaked for ages on descent so field had got really lined out then we went straight up this climb and I just didn’t have it to hang in there. Bit annoying but I felt I’d done well to hang in there until then. Seemed like everyone found it hard though as only 14 riders left in the front group by the finish and behind that it was all split to pieces!

After Dordogne finished we drove back after the stage through the night to Belgium, which was a very fun experience indeed! Then I had a day to unpack and pack before flying to Pescara for U23 European Champs. Where I was greated THE heat: was very hot weather. Was such a nice area we stayed in with typical Italian countryside and lots of hills! In the TT I was 47, nothing to write home about but after focusing a lot of my efforts on Belgium and the TTing taking a bit of a back seat its something to build on for next season where I will be trying to refocus on the time trials and prepare as best I can for each event. But for the time being it was great to be given the opportunity of participating in such a big competition. An opportunity I am very grateful for. The road race was always going to be tough, going up a 4km ish long climb then descending slightly before climbing again for what must have been about 2km. Then down a big descent and everyone does it all again… 12 times… happy days! Only 46 guys finished the race out of near 200 starters so you can imagine it was just a survival race and if you made it to the end you’ll be in for a good result. The first lap my legs really didn’t feel great and I was really suffering first time up climb. But after what must have been 20mins they seemed to come round and started feeling pretty good to be honest. Seemed to find a good rhythm and kept on hanging in there. After about 6 laps though the pace was real fast up the climb and I was swinging, once we hit 2 climb it was game over and I was in a smaller group of the back. After 8 laps we were pulled out so lasted 2/3 of race which isn’t too much of a disaster. I am hopeful that next year the Europeans will be somewhere flat though.

After Euros I had a mid-season rest, just 6 days off the bike resting up and relaxing in the house with the guys playing a bit too much gran turismo on ps2. Then I took TGV down to the Vercors on the Sunday which was so stress free compard to flying, was great. Just jumped on train and sat back and relaxed, 4 hours later I was in the cyclist paradise that is the Vercors with all my uncles and Dad, so was real good to see everyone as well. Have been getting some pretty hard training days in each day. So for the rest of season I’m going to stay in Belgium and keep myself to the kermesses and interclubs for the time being as I’d like to get some results before season finishes. Just feels like I’ve been doing big race after big race which is great of course and is the experience I need to progress but always nice to go hit the kermesses for a bit and try win some money. Pretty confident though that I will come away from the Alps with some top form.  Still got plenty of season left as looks like I won’t be going home till 15 October so plenty of time to try get a win. Had a bit of a tough training day today; dressed like it was going to rain full on leg warmers, overshoes, long sleeved thermal, long sleeve top and rain jacket up the back. Then 30mins into ride clouds parted and was blue sky and hot… I was dying up the climbs!!! Felt like such a frenchie.

Ah well that is conor’s blog done for another little while, sorry if I put so many exclamation marks in! Its a habit thats hard to kick.