FDB Insurance RAS Stage 5. Hell of the North Perhaps?

Howling winds, dark skies and pissing down rain. As if the stage profile wasn’t daunting enough, right? “Living the dream…”
The Irish Murphy and Gunn team and Zee Germans put it right in the gutter from the gun. By the time we reached the base of the first KOM the field was ripped to shreds. Cresting the second KOM a group of 40 was established, “These are the men of the RAS!” is transmitted through the P.A. of the lead car. After seeing cross eyed and wrestling over my bike trying to hang on for dear life, things finally settled and we all made the selection. The rain continued, the wind battered us and after a bit of a settling, attacks began again. A group of 6-5 established a few minute lead, and we were forced to set Thornton, Walters and I rode on the front, relentlessly with no help through the grueling tempo once again. It was just 3 of us, as we kept Jesse and Dom fresh for the final. narrow bumpy roads. While heading down the final KOM’s I found myself descending a 8ft. wide road at 80kph, pouring rain and urinating in my shorts as my bladder was about to explode otherwise. Walters was having trouble of his own yelling, “I can’t see a F&%# thing!!!” After the race he said on the downhill he couldn’t keep both his eyes open at the same time. The epic Memore Gap was upon us, Ireland’s most famous climb. Starting along the coast it turned inland and ascended wickedly at 18-26% for 3km!! NO JOKE. We set Jesse up nicely while the rest of us, still managed up it rather well considering our long effort on the front, seeing that we still made it over with most of the guys from our group. It was a bomber descent to the finish, where our nerves were left back at the hotel to keep up with the pace. We limited our losses today, to Jesse being down by 36sec. Not too bad considering the brutal stage, and small numbered roster team to keep things under control. I imagine we’ll rest well tonight, and tomorrow we’ll be switching to attack mode from defense mode, seeing the we are all healthy and fit and highly ambitious to win this race.
As K. Stockton our director would say, “Game on.”