We have some talented people here at the Galway Cycle and a few of them have put pen to paper over the years to try and describe the ethos of the cycle and the craic of the weekend!
Here is a selection of just a few of them!
A Galway Cyclist
If you can rise at 5am to cycle to the west,
Just know that this will be your body’s toughest test.
If you jump upon the saddle and blend in with best,
Just know that you will need those extra socks and thermal vest.
If you can cycle through the rain,
But keep that smile upon your face,
If you can hide all of the pain,
But keep the unrelenting pace.
If you can land in Galway city aching everywhere,
To cheers, tears, heartfelt hugs and a well deserved fanfare.
If you can stay up on your feet when it feels too much to bare,
And sing and shout and celebrate, just shows how much you care!
If you can dress as Willy Wonka,
Or attempt to sing some songs,
If you don’t care you look a plonka,
Because you’re helping right some wrongs.
If you can stay out partying until the early morn,
And still get on that saddle at the freezing break of dawn.
If you can keep on pedaling though looking quite forlorn,
Tears streaming down your face and your spirit almost torn.
If you can keep on fighting,
And make it to the end,
Through the wind that keeps on biting,
You’ll be a Galway Cyclist my friend!
– Leanne Haggerty
That GC Thing
And now that all is said and done,
the miles complete, the distance run
we look back along the way we sped
and know we’ve lots more done than said
‘Cos words can simply not explain,
A simple verse cannot contain
That GC thing we’ve come to know,
to love, and share and cherish so.
You hear it in some wit’s wisecrack,
feel a helping hand upon the back.
see the crowds out training, week on week,
taste a salty tear run down your cheek.
When the road seems long and getting longer
That GC thing comes helping stronger,
You rest assured, though you’re in trouble
You’re still within the GC bubble.
Each rapid stretch, each slow incline,
I’ve got your back, you’ve got mine
There’s nowt they wouldn’t do for you,
Your GC comrades, two by two.
The support you know is always there,
Collectors with their loud fanfare,
Pedal though it’s hard to bear,
Unbridled joy inside Eyre Square.
A day collecting, smiling bright,
A sea of orange, red or white,
Talents shown and laughter shared,
Stories told and then compared.
And later on in Monroe’s live,
Spirits high and legs revived
We learn the struggles we help to ease
and know the juice was worth the squeeze.
Friends ask to help them comprehend,
“You’ll know when you’ve been there, my friend”
Then with friendships fed and banter drawn,
An hour of sleep, we leave at dawn.
Turn backs upon Atlantic foam,
knuckle down, we’re pedalling home.
Through biting wind, or snow or rain,
we heed the call, don’t mind the pain,
And within a year a new refrain,
a familiar tune though different strain,
And two by two we’ll ride again
for that GC thing we can’t explain
– Anonymous
Choose the GC!
Choose a president,
choose a charity,
choose a bike,
choose training cycles,
choose cleats, fall off, get back on, fall off again,
choose more training cycles, feel the nerves,
choose setting off at 6.30am with 213 people, grit your teeth going uphill, reap the reward of going downhill,
choose a new friend every few kilometres,
choose lucozade, lucozade and more bloody lucozade,
choose arriving in Eyre square to tears and laughs and heartfelt hugs,
choose dancing the night away on aching legs,
choose shaking buckets, singing songs and painting faces, dress as wonder woman, a smurf, a monkey, raise over €122,000,
choose not to sleep,
choose pushing your body past its limits, take a ride in a ambulance, recover and get back on,
choose making yourself proud,
choose making the best of friends and memories that will last a lifetime,
choose a feeling that you’ll find nowhere else,
choose Galway Cycle for the best time of your life!
– Leanne Haggerty