Stamullen Weekend Races (16-18/04/2010) [was Stamullen Grand Prix....]

TPMAC

Yes, 35k is short, but its an opportunity for those with less endurance built up to make a break. What the course lacks in distance it makes up for in elevation!

Best of luck!

Chips Lovell

I did four laps last year and it wasn't fun.

Will Gaybo Howard be presiding over proceedings?

TPMAC

Thats the plan.

ryan_sherlock

I remember the Stramullen GP last year - it was tough. Our race split on the descent after the major climb.

On a side note - is there anyone able to give me a lift to Saturday's race (Dundrum Area)?

Mel and I where supposed to be racing in Germany this weekend but that goddam dust cloud wreaked that one - I'll do some road racing while Mel needs my car to take part in the WAR (http://www.wicklowadventurerace.com/).

shaungil

@ TPMAC what is the exact route for Sunday. out of Stamullen stright thru to cross roads and left up snowtown? Down into The Naul left then where? Thx

TPMAC

out of Stamullen stright thru to cross roads and left up snowtown? Down into The Naul left..............then straight on for about 2-3k & then 2nd left turn towards Stamullen, up a steady drag and then swing right at the top for Balscadden, (your now on the 2nd half of the Monie Nolan Saturday race circuit) and finally left back down the fast decent to Gormanstown.

T

bcmf

think this is it

Lumen

The Crunch got 2nd unplaced A4 in the Brendan Carroll Memorial.

Woohoo, result!

Beasty

Saw shaungil heading off for this one tonight, so hopefully he'll be reporting back later

shaungil

very fast race one particularly crap corner with a ton of gravel on the apex and adverse camber which I positioned myself wrong ofr on every lap.
Myself and Glenamddy arrived late no warm up but went with the plan of pushing hard. We only got 2 mins on A3's and 3 on A1/2's so knew on that course would be hard to stay away. We had some good up and overs going on in places but a few times lads just couldn't keep the pace and it knocked it off and you ended going rounfd and having to yell at them. I don't mind lads not being able to keepthe pace but just roll off and sit on the back. There were primes for each lap so if the Crunch is the Dundrum lad he won the first lap.

I told Staro to have a break and I'd lead him out for the second lap but when I led him out he didn't stick and I had a nice wheel came around and got the sprint. Hurrah another prize I might go pro soon;).

Lungs were burst aftert his though and took a while to get right, however I worked a bit too hard and we were caught 2 & 1/2 laps in. Speed wasn't outrageously fast I thought but I took a corner badly and ended up dropping a lot of place, maybe concentration too, maybe sore lungs, maybe no dinner maybe confidence of big bunch (only 92 in total though) Hung on till a 1/4 way thru 4th lap fought a while to get back and then just rolled home with a few others and did the 5 laps.
Fair play to the 2 lads 1st (Navan) and 2nd in A4 they always work hard so well deserved. Balscadden tomorrow and Stamullen Sunday hopefully. Off for a salt bath now.

Beasty

Good luck on today's race shaungil (and anyone else giving it a go)

shaungil

did race got 4 mins handidap met Lumen did some work but was a bit messy at times so needed to shout perhaps mixed ability. Lumen worked too hard I thought and old him. Sharp drag a break went by us like a train on 4th lap decimated us worked with Lumen for a lap main goup came through stuck with them. Last lap stayed till hill then cramped sat up.

handicaps are not really giving us a chance to stay away now (did Blorg run it for us;)) IMO apparetly pace last night was 28 mph so very diffcult to keep away fro that.

Great day cracking weather nice course good workout. Looking forward to tomorrow. Glenamaddy Staro and Raam all raccing too. Nice to meet you Lumen sorry for shouting when you were in pain but you did hold on so.......

Lumen

Thanks Shaun, you were a great help!

I was credited with 3rd A4. €20 for me! Woohoo! I'm not sure I actually was the 3rd A4, but I'll take it anyway until someone with a clue what happened can correct. Very confusing due to all the cats coming together.

Will post race report later.

Biro ran out whilst scribbling results, so only got:

Winner: Mark Dowling
2nd: Tim O'Reagan

Orwell placings:
Colm Ahern, 3rd A2.
Me, 3rd A4.

Caroline_ie

well done Lumen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bcmf

Chapeau Mr. Lumen

Lumen

As I sat down with my first ever competitive sports prize at the age of 35, Lumen Jnr said to me "Daddy, why did you not win?". So that's how it ended - there's just no pleasing some people. :rolleyes:

Due to transportation issues I had to drag the family along to Balscadden today. It's a great course to spectate as the laps are short and ends on a short hill. There's even a little grassy knoll to spectate from.

We watched the kids go round and then I lined up with the A4s in the senior handicapped race.

The pace was easy enough and I stayed near the front for the first couple of laps, trying to get a sense for the geography of the finish. There was a wily vet doing a good bit of work, and a couple of people were telling me to go easier - I'm not sure whether I was splitting the group (bad etiquette) or just doing too much.

Shaun was offering sage advice, telling me when to ease off and speculating (accurately) that there was no way we'd stay away.

The A3s came past at speed just before Stamullen village and as the road went up I tried to hang on but they were climbing too fast and I dropped off.

Having lost the A3s (or at least a break of them) Shaun pulled me round with another couple of A4s until the A1/2 lads caught up. I think they'd dragged a few A3s and A4s with them, but it was very difficult to tell due to the number of day licences. At this stage I think there was one main bunch of various cats with a break up the road.

I stayed with that bunch until the hills on the last lap (probably) and whilst Shaun was at me again to suffer more, my back was killing me and I didn't want to blow up. Ryan Sherlock was leading that bunch and I know exactly how fast he can climb.

So I plodded on behind another Orwell guy (sorry, name escapes me) and outsprinted him at the finish, having no idea whether I would be placed or not. I don't feel so bad as I had done enough work earlier in the race; he possibly let me have it.

After the finish I didn't need to dash off so I sat down with the organisers and tried (in vain) to identify riders in the camera footage. The technology is amazing but not much use when the photos are taken from side on but numbers are on our backs, but my shorts were an easy spot.

So it's probably a good idea to find out which side the camera is on and put your number on that side of your back, and if you finish anywhere near the placings best go up and give your number. (Sorry if this is common knowledge)

Not sure why there were no other boardsies there - it was the nicest race I've done this year, very safe and relaxed and a nice mix of terrain.

Stats: 49.3km, 1:19:02, 37.4kph, 457m ascent, 1193kJ, 252W (average), 267W (normalised).
Power peaks: 30s:484W, 1m:405W, 5m:296W, 10m:294W, 20m:269W, 60m:257W.

Four weeks since my last powermetered road race but the biggest numbers of the season my some margin. Could be a change of powermeter, or maybe you just need to go faster to win stuff? There's a thought.

Graph.

smithslist

Lumen wrote: »

So it's probably a good idea to find out which side the camera is on and put your number on that side of your back.

FYI: For Sundays race, numbers require to be on the right hand side of jersey.

Beasty

Lumen wrote: »

Thanks Shaun, you were a great help!

Bet he's not heard that for a while:D

Congratulations Lumen - looks like it's coming together nicely, particularly in light of your recent tonsilitis

shaungil

Well done Lumen you worked hard and desrerved a place I was convinced a few A4's had gone ahead in the main group or the split but possibly we burnt them off.

Last time I'll be encouraging you to hang on going up a hill. Lesson learnt for me there as I totally sat up on the last climb presuming there were lads ahead and was saving myself for tomorrow watched Lumen at the top of the hill about 30 yards ahead and thought "Nah can't be bothered" At least it was Lumen that got it though.

The Crunch

Well done John. The first of many!

Beasty

Results here

Chips Lovell

Lumen wrote: »

Lumen Jnr said to me "Daddy, why did you not win?".

Now that's pressure. On the upside, it's nice that he thinks you're so awesome he's surprised when you don't win everything.

niceonetom

Fair fcuking play, Lumen! Real actual points! Woop! A3 here you come.

Toblerone1978

It was a good to meet you Lumen (I was talking to you when you were trying to remember how to breath again after the race). You truely deserved it today, as there were only a few A4s willing to work with the handicap, and you were doing spades of work. A lot of sitting back on both the Friday evening and Saturday spin.

Anyway two great races organised by Stamullen CC. Well marshalled and did a great job of controlling the traffic. Courses were good, I particularly "enjoyed" the course this morning, which was more lumpy that last night (which was very flat) but no Comer type hills at the same time. The small tinge of a complaint would be that gravel could have easily been swept from two of the corners in last night race - a small complaint of a job well done by them.

My first time doing a handicapped race. No problem staying with A4s (and probably A3s), happy willing to do my bit upfront but once the A1 and A2s caught up with us, I didn't last a lap with them. Still very happy with my performance and knowing that I had the strength to do a bit and still stay with the A4s and A3s.

On a general note, should there be a larger handicap given to A4s, give them more incentive to work harder, rather than being 'smart' and just sitting on other lads' wheels, waiting to be caught by the A1 and A2s. Or is that just being race smart? As it was in both races so far, the A4s only got half way around the circuit before being caught. Maybe a five minute handicap would make it more interesting.

The Crunch

Toblerone1978 wrote: »

The small tinge of a complaint would be that gravel could have easily been swept from two of the corners in last night race - a small complaint of a job well done by them.

Hi, I got there early last night and did a few laps before the race. I saw one of the marshals sweeping the gravel from the two dodgy bends for all he was worth. He also swept up a lot of the gravel on the bumpy stretch in between those corners but there was just so much dust and gravel about it was impossible to totally clean the road. I know you weren't being hyper critical but I just thought I'd post that in case the marshal in question is reading!

Lumen

Attempting to get things together for today, here's an attempt at a summary...

Stamullen website wrote:

Sun: 18th April: Stamullen GP Races
A+, A1, A2 (one race)
A3 (separate race)
A4 (separate race)
Prizes: Race (1) - 1st 12 across line + 1st (12) unplaced A2’s.
1st (12) in A3 race
1st (6) in A4 race
Also races for U.12, U.14 and U.16’s.
Sign-On for all races - Gormanston College Leisure Centre from where all races will start.
All races will finish in Stamullen Village.
1st race to leave college at 12:30 sharp will be the A+, A1, A2 event.
2nd race to leave college @ 3 mins will be the A3’s
3rd race to leave college @ 2 mins will be the A4’s
Following @ 4 mins will be Under 16 race
U.14 and U.12 @ 5-mins.

GlennaMaddy wrote: »

I think this is the route. It includes Snowtown

TPMAC wrote: »

I'm with Stamullen RC so this is the skinny at the mo.

Sunday - Three seperate races for 1. A1/A2 together 2. A3 & 3. A4
Circuit is approx 11m/17.5k with 6 laps for A1/A2, 4 laps for A3, 2 laps for A4. She's hilly alright! Start 12.30pm sharp

TPMAC wrote: »

out of Stamullen stright thru to cross roads and left up snowtown? Down into The Naul left..............then straight on for about 2-3k & then 2nd left turn towards Stamullen, up a steady drag and then swing right at the top for Balscadden, (your now on the 2nd half of the Monie Nolan Saturday race circuit) and finally left back down the fast decent to Gormanstown.

I exported GlennaMaddy's MapMyRide route posted earlier and imported to RideWithGps. You can play with it here. Move cursor around on the elevation graph to identify grades and map position.



The major climb comes after a sharp left at a crossroads (Herbestown) outside Clinstown, and goes up to Harbourstown on the map, 95m climbing in 1.4km (7% average) including a 200m long dip half way up, so lets say 8% for 1.2km excluding that. This section should take about 5 minutes I reckon.

The worst gradient seems to be 13%, but only for about 200m

39x23 means 12.8kph @ 60rpm, which up a 13% gradient is about 400W (for me at 78kg clothed incl. bike) which is fine for the minute or two that bit will take.

So I might risk the 23 unless someone with knowledge of that climb can tell me that the gradient is actually much sharper than 13% for more than a few metres (all the above is theoretical, of course).

Caroline_ie

wimping heading out to cheer/watch ... and so i am not temped, I will not be cycling my road bike or wear my club gear.

Nietzschean

Caroline_ie wrote: »

wimping heading out to cheer/watch ... and so i am not temped, I will not be cycling my road bike or wear my club gear.

still timeeee grab the road bike!

shaungil

Lumen, I wouldn't overanalyse it too much as the hill is quite exposed in places and can have a tail wind also if someone attacks/goes faster you don't want to be undergeared. Also good old adrenalin should kick in as will having people scream at you to keep the wheel. First part of hill not too bad but does go nasty after the right but then evens out.

I'm not into stats gears etc so i'm not one for giving this advice however I'd say be prepared to suffer as no doubt the skinnies will attack second time up this hill.

Am bring the kids swimming to Gormo now so will stay up there afterwards to read paper for a couple of hours. Later and happy racing

blorg

I would expect you would be going up the 13% at more like 20km/h+

39x23 should be fine.

Whether it is even a small ring climb is more the question (although from the look of it I would suspect so.)

ryan_sherlock

Cruised around the course yesterday - 39.23 is more than enough. Hills are not very big either - probably something like 30 seconds - flat - 1 minute - flat - 1.5 minutes - descent...

Someone really needs to run a race in the Wicklow Mountains with some proper climbs. (Shay Elliot really only has one proper climb - S7 of this years RAS is a little better)

Lumen

A4 Results: Shaungil got 5th (I think). Nice one Shaun! I left before the other races had finished.

Niceonetom made a brave attempt to solo to victory but was swallowed up by the bunch a few metres before the line.

I pottered around staying out of trouble then got dropped on the climb on the second lap. Didn't feel up to catching the bunch but after recovering I put in a bit of effort with one or two other riders to get round in a decent time.

I probably should have suffered more to avoid getting dropped but it felt inevitable and I couldn't really be bothered.

Stats: 38.5km, 1:04:29, 35.9kph, 407m^, 170bpm, 937kJ, 242W (avg), 258W (norm).
Power peaks: 1m:386W, 2m:346W, 5m:302W, 10m:284W, 20m:260W, 30m:257W, 60m: 246W.

DirkVoodoo

Well, that didn't go as well as my dream last night (I won in that!).

After a brief warm up with Pat where we rode to the village and back to the school, we headed off. Initially I felt pretty good, the bunch was moving well, all very civilized and my legs were feeling good. Unfortunately on the first climb I was letting gaps open up, I heard a shout from El Tonto and went to close it down. I was going pretty well up the climb but where I thought it ended it only turned right and went up again. I was feeling my heart thump like a jackhammer and the power draining from my legs. A few people began passing me and I was falling off. On the descent I got in with a group and we started working to close down the gap, quickly joining the main bunch again.

Start of the second lap and I moved up a good bit, I was feeling warmed up but a small niggle in my lower right back was uncomfortable. It got worse on the climb when I had to push, and I ended up skipping down a few gears to try and spin but my speed dropped too much and I lost the bunch.

Lumen led myself and a lakeside wheelers guy back at a good pace, the two of them working well and me, embarassingly, hanging on. Whenever the road rose a little and I had to use my lower back muscles, I felt immediately uncomfortable. I know it's a poor excuse, but I'm annoyed because I felt I could have stayed with the bunch on a good day. Anyway, we lost the lakeside guy and picked up some other chap. He and Lumen were working well, Lumen doing a lot of the work at this stage and I told myself "hang in there until the finish and don't try anything!".

Alas, the 3rd man in our group made a jump at the motorway flyover and I grabbed his wheel. Downhill = no back trouble and he didn't really have the legs to get away (probably after all the cruising I had been doing while he and Lumen carried me home). He couldn't shake me and as we rounded the corner in the town he put the hammer down. Now, I don't know what happened. Maybe it was the clapping crowds, the sight of a small bump in the road or my own stupidity, but when I saw Lumen was no longer behind me I decided to sprint. Sprinting for nothing really, but also sprinting for the dream victory I enjoyed in my slumber.

Slightly ashamed of my performance, but I can't take anything away from the organization of the race which was top class. It nearly made me feel like a pro for a day.

Boring stats (no HR monitor on today): Avg speed - 35.1 Km/hr, Max speed - 67.2 km/hr, distance - 37.8 km.

bcmf

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

.

Slightly ashamed of my performance,

never be ashamed of racing. Its a tough circuit and many people wimped out of it. Chapeau for even giving it a go and even better -finishing

Slideshowbob

Any results please????

zzzzzzzz

Slideshowbob wrote: »

Any results please????

@irishcycling wrote:

Adam Armstrong wins Stamullen GP in 2-up sprint from Paul Griffin

.

serendip

Photos from today's races: http://www.flickr.com/photos/95914046@N00/sets/72157623882466290/

Some boardsies in there, I know.

Caroline_ie

Was a good race to watch. Tonto. Neetch and Niceonetom cycled out so I decided to blorg along* ( follow on the fixie ) - The few different races were great as there was a continuous flow of racers passing the finish line.

Well done to all!!!!!

Caroline_ie

@MrSkeffington were you in a breakaway on the 1st lap? I am pretty sure that was your name that was called on the speakers...

Lumen

Caroline_ie wrote: »

@MrSkeffington were you in a breakaway on the 1st lap? I am pretty sure that was your name that was called on the speakers...

I saw him in a bunch at one stage. What's that about? He must be ill.

Lumen

Ah, so Shaungil got 6th officially. That's a point, right?

Except that under rules from last year, races under 40km (which this was) only get points for 1-2-3. Is it different for A4 races? I can't work it out. Perhaps since the top six listed are listed on IrishCycling they all get points?

10th for Skeff.

That's all the boardsie names I recognise.

Diarmuid

Nice wheels, not sure if I've seen them before?

blorg

Superlav got third in A3

sy

Diarmuid wrote: »

Nice wheels, not sure if I've seen them before?

Yeah, those Gigantex rims have no Soul (terrible I know)

Well done Lumen on your race yesterday. Only catching up on my reading. Also shaungil

@ Dirk, well done today and hope the back is ok

Looking forward to reading about niceonetom's brave attempt at victory

Lumen

Diarmuid wrote: »

Nice wheels, not sure if I've seen them before?

I think he was trying to avoid the withering stare of my moose knuckle. Those Orwell shorts can't come soon enough.

sean_d

Fairly quiet one for me in the A4s, my first road race of the season.
Went hard on the climb both laps and made the selection, but brought back both times
Thought we'd stay away on the 2nd lap in a group of ~15, but the bunch must have chased pretty hard to get back on.
All in all, pretty uneventful, did plenty of work, just a pity the hill was neutralised by the long drag back to the finish

Lumen

sean_d wrote: »

Went hard on the climb both laps and made the selection, but brought back both times Thought we'd stay away on the 2nd lap in a group of ~15, but the bunch must have chased pretty hard to get back on.

I'm not really sure what happened to the bunch on the second lap climb. From where I was riding I guessed that the bunch was pretty small after the second hill (compared to the number of starters), more like a large break, and the pic of the finish doesn't look too crowded.



What was the size of the bunch you were in coming over the flyover?

Diarmuid

That lad in the white and green band (on the left) made the break in Carlow too.

niceonetom

sy wrote: »

Looking forward to reading about niceonetom's brave silly attempt at victory

Note to self: you are not a motorbike.

That was a great race though - really, really challenging course with barely an inch of level ground, a few fast sections and a pretty good surface. Only two laps for us, but that felt like enough afterwards. The guys doing 4 or even, god help them, 6 must be in bits this evening.

The race was dictated by the eventual winner; Bohermeen man. He attacked pretty hard on the climb on both laps but given that the climb is only about 1/4 of the way into the lap he couldn't maintain his gap all the way back to Stamullen. He did force those behind him to work together though, and when only a group of about 10 formed a bunch after the drop into Ballyboughal the second time, I thought we might all stay away to contest it amongst ourselves. Those who took longer to get up the hill took less time to get down it though so on the back of the circuit the group swelled, and when the Bohermeen rider that had gotten away was taken back with about 10km to go the pace dropped further.

I didn't like the way we were being joined by so many guys who had struggled on the hill but would bury me in a sprint so I did my best to stay near the front but get some recovery. It's a testament to how hard the race felt that the "recovery" I felt was when my HR was a mere 170 rather than pegged in the 180s.

In the final quarter of the race there were a few tentative attempts to get off the front, including one from a Stamullen vet who I think is known to you, sy, and he nearly got a good gap simply because I think the younger guys didn't think he possibly be as fast as he is. They did respond eventually though and he was retaken. Then a couple more half breaks. The weak attacks, and weak responses they elicited from the bunch, made me think there were a fair few tired legs there and perhaps, just perhaps, they might not react in time if I went for a longish one with 100% commitment. I thought I'd go with about 1000m to go, but I judged it wrong and actually went for it with about 2000m still ahead, using the up-slope of the M1 flyover. Silly. But I gave it everything and did actually pull out a bit of a gap (I think - I wasn't looking back much). With 300m to go I was still on my own and was daring to think that I might, just might hang on. Then I heard a rider in my wheel - I knew it was Bohermeen before even looking. He went past me and I crumpled. NOTHING left. I thought I might still have a chance of second. Or third. No. I went from third to twentysomethingth in the last 30m. So it goes.

So, lesson learned. I still feel it was a very good day's work for me. Looking at my stats now, it's amazing how much deeper I can dig in a race situation.

shaungil

v happy camper here in NCD. Prime on Friday and 6th today (thought 5th butt hey). 35EUr for the missus to treat herself as I deserted her for three races.

Was really going out today with nothing to lose and planning to domestique for Glenamaddy Staro and Raam. No show from Raam Staro punctured on first lap. Sat on until hill near back went up at own pace heard some Orwell lads shoting about not dropping wheels alright and then one guy stopped in the middle of the road did kock me abit. Went my own pace the whole way and picked off afew bodies towards the top worked hard down the hill and caught the break/ big group easily enough.
Lumen was quite prominent and I thought looked like he was doing too much. Lumen?

Second alp same deal stayed at the back and own pace but had a looma rund me near the top and shouted to a few lads I knew to stick together. Navan guy and Glena maddy and then we caught maybe the Crunch and some other. We buried ourselve, well I felt I did anyway and made it back by Balscadden was a real good groupetta effort and was delighted to make it back cos I'd say we were 40 secs back. Front group I thought should have been working harder cos 2 of the eight of chasing placed. Really enjoyed the chase was savage hard and really suffered but we got them.

Had a nice roll home to the finish (which I know quite well) thre were few breaks but I had no legs to chase so sat on bided my time. Winner went at perfect spot that we's looked at earlier and fair play he stayed away. I sat on a wheel I knew would do well but had gone early before, and when a few guys left I shouted at him to go, whether he heard me (I know his name) or was going anyway I don't know. Great lead out nice line perfect tempo I did an okay line on the sprint but ended veering to my left when I should have kept straight and might have made a place or two. Overall delighted great grupetta work and what cycling is about. Chewed on the handle bars to make it back was patient. Learning more all the time and loving the A4 group cos plenty of lads willing to work. Hopefully no grading points have no interest in being upgraded.
Easy few weeks now back to Swords league and maybe a Tuesday night i Park or a track meet. Will see how things pan out.

Mr Skeff nice to meet you well done today.