With just over one month to go before four Irish cyclists take on the world in the Olympic games, the nominated quartet of Robin Seymour, Ciaran Power, Deirdre Murphy and David McCann are concentrating on fine-tuning their preparations and honing their fitness.
Seven times national mountain bike champion Seymour will be able to better judge his prospects when he competes in this weekend's European Championships at Rhenen in the Netherlands.
Aiming for a top-20 placing in the Olympic games, Seymour is hoping for a similar result in a bigger field of riders on Sunday. "I would prefer if the course was muddy and technical rather than being on sand," he says, "but I am still hoping for a good ride."
Other Irish competitors at the championships will be Tarja Owens, who will participate in the senior women's race, under-23 contestant Colm Mullen and juniors Glen Kinning and Ollie Gray.
Ciaran Power is preparing for Sydney by competing in a series of Italian races with his Linda McCartney team, with the Coppa Bernocchi, the three-day Trofeo dello Scalatore and the Giro del Veneto to be tackled in the coming week.
Deirdre Murphy will prepare by riding a series of local and national events in the United States, culminating in the three-day Killington stage race from September 2nd to 4th.
David McCann, rode well in the the Tour of Guadeloupe last weekend where he finished 11th overall and won the eighth stage with a lone attack. The national champion's performance was upstaged somewhat by the sparkling ride of VC Perpignan team-mate Tommy Evans, who held the leader's yellow jersey, finished in the top 10 on several occasions and finished 4th overall.
McCann will continue his preparation by competing in French races until the end of the month.
Domestically, some of the big names clash in the three-day Ras Connachta in Mayo, which starts this evening. Leading the charge is the new 50-mile time trial champion Brian Kenneally, with Mark Scanlon, David O'Loughlin, Eugene Moriarty, Michael McNena and the new Leinster champion Paul Healion all aiming to plunder a chunk of the £2,000 prize fund.
Two of these, Scanlon and O'Loughlin, will return to their foreign clubs after the under-23 championships in Newry next weekend. The world under-23 championships and the securing of professional contracts will be their end-of-season goals.
Scanlon's manager Frank Quinn says he is "pretty confident that Mark will have a contract for next year", while O'Loughlin's prospects appear to hinge on his performances between now and the end of the season.
Scanlon is also keen to get back on track after the disruption caused by a broken elbow. The Brendan Campbell memorial race will take place on Sunday, rather than Saturday night as specified in the ICF calendar.
Also on Sunday, the Irish Veterans Cycling Association hold their "100 in eight", a century ride to be completed in eight hours.
