Noel & Kieran Hammond Memorial Races, Sunday May 16 2010

Chips Lovell

Sign on at Roundwood GAA club from 9:30.

Under 12/14/16 starting at 10:45;
A1/A2 starting at 11:30, run over 5 laps/93km;
A3 starting at 11:35, run over 4 laps/76km;
A4 starting at 11:40, run over 3 laps/59km.

Circuit is here

Lumen

Gutted I can't do this one. Good luck!

DirkVoodoo

I think I might give this one a go, seeing as it is pretty close.

Chips Lovell

Hmmmm, 40km from my house. Wondering whether to cycle or blag a lift.

DirkVoodoo

Cycle! I can meet you for most of it.

Does anyone feel like a pre-race spin tomorrow then? Say 60km or so?

EDIT: Maybe head to Roundwood, check out the route, grab a coffee in Avoca or something and head home?

Chips Lovell

Ok, I'll cycle out with you.

May be on for a short one tomorrow if I don't have to go car shopping. But going out to Roundwood and around the course is a bit long.

ROK ON

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Cycle! I can meet you for most of it.

Does anyone feel like a pre-race spin tomorrow then? Say 60km or so?

EDIT: Maybe head to Roundwood, check out the route, grab a coffee in Avoca or something and head home?

Avoca. Right. Be honest DV. You're milf watching again :-)

DirkVoodoo

ROK ON wrote: »

Avoca. Right. Be honest DV. You're milf watching again :-)

Ha, no. But there was a pretty good looking girl in there last time, I reckon turning up in lycra with El Assos by my side is a sure fire way to get a number.

Muller_1

I heard a rumor that that circuit had changed to the Tomriland, Ballyduff X roads loop due to bad surface on Calowhill. But not sure if true. Would anyone from Orwell know?

blorg

Was speaking to the Orwell secretary 30 minutes ago: he asked me to relay that the circuit has not changed.

Diarmuid

I think this is what the circuit will look like in full for the A4s. Looks rough

DirkVoodoo

Maybe Planet X could confirm, but this looks suspiciously like the circuit Sorrento use for racing, which back a few months ago was in absolute tatters in some parts.

Need confirmation though.

Planet X

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Maybe Planet X could confirm, but this looks suspiciously like the circuit Sorrento use for racing, which back a few months ago was in absolute tatters in some parts.

Need confirmation though.

Nah. This circuit nearly goes down to the N11 it seems.



.....or spins along it a tad?

keno111

anybody tell me the course for the A1 / A2 race?

blorg

keno111 wrote: »

anybody tell me the course for the A1 / A2 race?

I think it is the same as linked in the first post, just more laps.

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/ireland/roundwood/128127298788510916

A1/A2 5 laps/93km

keno111

thanks for that

smithslist

any results on this????

DirkVoodoo

Pat (from Joe Daly's) came 3rd, Diarmuid came 5th (A4)
Blorg came 8th, aidan.offbeat came 18th (A3)

I'm pretty sure I saw Mr.Skeffington go up for a prize too, as did Ryan Sherlock.

zzzzzzzz

smithslist wrote: »

any results on this????

Paul Griffin won the A race

smithslist

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Pat (from Joe Daly's) came 3rd, Diarmuid came 5th (A4)
Blorg came 8th, aidan.offbeat came 18th (A3)

I'm pretty sure I saw Mr.Skeffington go up for a prize too, as did Ryan Sherlock.

Congrats to all, wat happened Blorg?? Though it would be his type of race.....hills, hills and more hills

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

Paul Griffin won the A race

He has been knocking on the door for a victory the last few weeks, getting alot of podium places.

DirkVoodoo

smithslist wrote: »

Congrats to all, wat happened Blorg?? Though it would be his type of race.....hills, hills and more hills

I think he says he is carrying too much muscle or something?

blorg

Skeffington was first A2.
Sherlock came 4th in the A1/2 race.

The Crunch

Fair play Ivan. Great result.

blorg

Tough race and my memory may be unreliable but as I recall-

Around the last lap there was a break away with three riders in it led by Superlav. Brain is fried, I actually saw when the originally got off and the decision moment weighed but I didn't chase, thought it would come back. The actual break was earlier I think, on the second, but we kept them in sight all along.

Bunch is doing no work, I was on front and there was no real effort to chase. After an extreme effort to hide and not exert myself I tried to bridge to the break; I got off the bunch handily enough but despite killing myself just couldn't get over to them. I almost made it on the N11 onramp but in retrospect if it wasn't made there it wasn't going to happen. He tells me after they turned up the gas.

I gave up on the N11. Tried the grab-the-cables TT position but it hurt my wrists. Looked back and there was the bunch. As I was sucked back Aidan made a break. I would like to say I tried to block the chase but my contribution was mainly in trying to stay alive and holding a wheel but not actively chasing.

Superlav who posts here occasionally was leading the break (he tends to do this) and got second. He tells me he parted company with the other two in the break on the final climb but was caught on the line by a chasing group.

A chase went just before the hill on the last lap that I didn't see it as I was fecked and falling off the back into the hedges. Guy from Murphy J Lyons was involved; I had been on his wheel trying to do no work while he decryed this- he got sixth.

blorg

Meant to add, I got over the hill intact and thought we were going for fourth, didn't realise there were more away. So on the final run in was cagy and waited until someone else went- I was up front with a frustrated Darragh (Lucan) for a bit and justifably so but with about 500m to go Darragh from EPIC gave it a lash and I managed to just about get round him on the corner and sprint past him by approximately 50mm. For eighth! Still, my first A3 placing.

niceonetom

Well done lads! Sounds like a tough one.

I'm a bit sorry I didn't head out for it myself, but I would have been shelled out on the first rise I reckon. Too many km yesterday and too far to go the start. Ah well.

madrichie

Once the A4 lead car tooted its horn to notify that the race had started it was balls to the wall right to the end of the race.

About 15 to 20 regrouped after descent on the first lap and 3 or 4 guys kept the pace high. As we got to the climb proper the pace pushed up another notch and on the climb the 4 guys just cycled away.

On the second (and last) lap after the descent, about 6 of us (along with Diarmuid who was a man on a mission today!) got organised and we attempted to bridge back to the leaders who were about a minute ahead. But despite our best efforts we did not get them before the climb. And at this point my legs gave up. I lost contact with the chasing group - they were never more than 20 seconds ahead of me, but it might well have been an hour - I wasn't going to get back to them.

Defo the hardest road race I've done this year - there was no letup

Diarmuid

Tough race for sure.

It was fast from the go. The first descent strung the pack out and loads of gaps opened up. Had to work hard to get back on but we were all together by the N11. Got into a good spot near the front for the start of the climb and tried to keep the pace high on the climb to drop a few riders and to hope against any attacks. However three guys (incl Pat from Orwell) put the hammer down about 2k from the top and there was no way I could go with them. However they only had about 30sec at the top. Unfortunately as seems to be the trend in the A4s, the front group works well and the chasing group doesn't.

The start of the next lap was fast with a few of us trying to do the work but too many sitting on killed any enthusiasm. I didn't suffer as badly on the climb in the second lap and hitting the corner onto the main road I was in a good position in the group of about 8. Things seems to slow up about there so I popped off the front. Two came to me but once I caught sight of the lake I knew the line was coming up so gave it everything. No idea what was going on behind me but I took the last corner leading (the chase group) and one rider passed me on the line.

Nice to get a few points, there was no way I could have stayed with the leading group so happy enough with my placing. Looking forward to the next hilly one. It was the toughest race this season for me, definitely harder than the Des Hanlon (Carlow). Something like 20mins spent over 300W (which is a lot for me)

Suckin on a gel

And another boardsie(madrichie) in full flight


Took the photos from Facebook. Hope the photographer doesn't mind (let me know if you do). Cool to have had someone following us and taking pics!

And of course the coolest bit was getting presented with my prize money

Lumen

Fantastic reading, congrats to all on the victories and placings.

The thought of the lead riders in A4 "just cycling away" on a hill from madrichie (who creamed everyone on the boardsie hillcimb a few weeks ago) is both depressing and encouraging.

Having done a fair few of these races this year, there seems to be a huge variation is the quality of the fields. Perhaps some of it is due to the fast riders targetting the more prestigous/interesting races, but I reckon just turning up to as many races as possible (blunderbus strategy?) gives a good chance of scraping some points together.

@Diarmuid: some week for you! Would you mind attaching or PM'ng your power file? I'd be interested in having a poke around.

madrichie

Lumen wrote: »

The thought of the lead riders in A4 "just cycling away" on a hill from madrichie (who creamed everyone on the boardsie hillcimb a few weeks ago) is both depressing and encouraging.

Ha, there was not fear of me setting any climbing records yesterday - I think my body was in shock from the pace being set!

Who won the A4 race - was it the Bohernabreena lad? He looked like he meant business from the start.

jimbo28

was very tough race alright.

one of those races that u had to have some nerve for the descents too. the boherman lad won it out, he's been lookin dangerous for a good few weeks now and did exactly the same thing in stamullen a few weeks ago, think he has secured an upgrade for himself after yesterday. as a few said its a pity we could not get more together at the front of the race to try and pull them back..................but thats racing! personally i thought it was quite a fast race and to be honest found it hard to keep speed on some of the flat sections, i felt a bit more at home on the hill. jumped with guy from orwell at the bottom turn of the descent but got caught before the line by the chase. good race and fair play to the breakaway, they really seemed to work together to stay away.

Diarmuid

jimbo28 wrote: »

jumped with guy from orwell at the bottom turn of the descent but got caught before the line by the chase. good race and fair play to the breakaway, they really seemed to work together to stay away.

that would be me I guess , no idea what was going on behind me at that stage though...

@Lumen, I'll upload the power file later

jimbo28

i was the guy with the columbia strip on.....think i was chatting to u on the climb?

superlav

A3 race went exactly as Blorg described.

Jumped on the off ramp from the N11 on second lap and two other guys came with me. Figured with the twisty nature of the roads, if we could get out of sight the bunch might 'forget' about us.
Thought the game was up on the N11 on the last (3rd) lap as the bunch seemed to be closing , but we decided to give it one more push (again at the N11 off ramp), and somehow manged to stay clear. On the climb my two break partners were spent so I decided to have a go myself. Got clear but apparently behind me 3 more riders had got out of the bunch and were coming up fast. I was holding them at about 50 meters, and still had the lead after getting over the last hump and starting the short descent to the the finish. Legs were absolutley gone however, and when I tried to sprint was cramping on both up and down stroke. One rider came round me about 20 meters from the line. I was expecting to be swallowed up, but didn't happen and managed to hang on for 2nd.

All in all, delighted with 2nd, but frustrated to be caught on the line after being away for 25km.

Murph100

Well done to Paul Griffin, even more so as it aint exactly his home turf.

columbus_66

The A1\A2 race had a very fast start, I was doing over 60kmph before the descent! On the N11 there were some big attacks and anyone who wanted to race went up the road and the rest of us just looked at them. A few lads left it late to jump across and came back to us on the hill. I think the hill took a lot of people by surprise and there wasn't much of a bunch left after the 1st lap. We rode steady around and fast up the hill for the rest of the race and on the 5th lap there was some attacking as there were A2 prizes left. I was left behind but happy to have a final workout before the Ras and I was nursing a cold so that's my excuse!

Diarmuid

jimbo28 wrote: »

i was the guy with the columbia strip on.....think i was chatting to u on the climb?

yep...

Mikey b

Thought i'd give the boards thing a whirl.

Yes race yesterday was tough going, glad it was only 3 times up that hill. Lots of strong riders in A3, it's hard to get up there and place at the end of a tough course like that. Well done to those who did.

Mike

Diarmuid

Here you go Lumen (it's a csv renamed to upload it). Very high intensity

100Suns

blorg wrote: »

Tough race and my memory may be unreliable but as I recall-



A chase went just before the hill on the last lap that I didn't see it as I was fecked and falling off the back into the hedges. Guy from Murphy J Lyons was involved; I had been on his wheel trying to do no work while he decryed this- he got sixth.

Thanks Blorg-yiz nearly took me out with yeer antics but I can excuse it under the circumstances. In fairness I wouldn't have made it up with the remnants of the bunch the third time if I hadn't passed you coz you were behind me shouting like you were herdin cats trying to stay in my wheel and get me back onto the one in front.

Great result to everyone who placed. I know I had nothing left for a big finale rolling up to the line. Superlav was right-out of sight out of mind. I think most left in bunch were concentrating on survival-I was in hiding conserving energy hoping there might be some scraps. Felt bad for not working but knew on the day I didn't have it.

shaungil

results on Irishcycling updated.

http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_4880.shtml

Noel Hammond A1 A2 Race

1. Paul Griffin Earl of Desmond Tralee
2. Mark Dowling Engraveit Cycleways
3. Conor McConvey AN POST
4. Ryan Sherlock MAD
5. Niall Delahaye USHER IRC
6. Pat Clarke Castlebar
7. Stephen Halpin Rodeo
8. Tim O'Regan Engraveit Cycleways

A2
1. Gareth Enright Murphey Surveyors
2. David Walsh Wexford Wheelers
3. Wes Murphy Dublin Wheelers
4. Con O'Crualaoich Wexford Wheelers
5. Phil Finegan Engraveit Cycleways
6. Chris Coyle Castlebar

Kieran Hammond A3 Race
1. Greg Dempsey Barrow Wheelers
2. Colm Laverty Navan RC
3. Peter Buggle Rocky Mountain
4. Conor O'Shea Killorglin
5. Alan Cody St Tiernans CC
6. Oriol Carbo HJ Lyons
7. Nick Cosgrove South County Dublin
8. Ivan McAvinchy Dunrum TC Orwell

A4 Race
1. Chris Reilly Bohermeen
2. Simon Lambert Wexford Wheelers
3. Pat Conlon Dundrum TC Orwell
4. Rob MGee Bray Wheelers
5. Diurmuid Collins Dundrum TC Orwell
6. Eoin Ryan Swords McNally

ryan_sherlock

Bit of a report pulled from my blog (www.ryansherlock.com)

I hadn't planned on racing at the weekend – two long rides, one on the mountain bike, one on the road bike was planned – a weekend away from racing. As it happened on Saturday evening, the temptation was too much – the course seemed to be pretty hilly and with only seven days to the start of the RAS, I knew there would be a good turnout of riders fine tuning their form.

The A1/A2 combined race started on some rolling roads that led to the start of our lap and a very fast descent. The course was a ride out to a lap we cover five times – basically, a long fast descent, some windy rolling roads and then a reasonably long (for Ireland) climb with a few steeper sections. From the start, I stayed in the first few riders to stay out of trouble. Along the bottom of the course, a few attempts were made at escape and I covered anything I felt was dangerous and let one or two smaller ones (with less 'firepower') go. As we hit the climb for the first time it all came together – Niall Delahaye and Conor McConvey made a bit of a go but towards the top they were caught again – it was at this point I decided to have a go – I put the head down and pushed for a few minutes with only Niall coming with me. We stayed away for three quarters of a lap until ten more riders (all the suspects I would expect) bridged across to us. That was the end of the peleton for the day. We were a strong group and worked reasonably well, some skipping turns etc... but mostly good. There were a few attacks and digs as we went around but nothing major.

On the penultimate climb, fireworks went off with Conor and Niall setting a blistering attack, that was neutralized, then it was the turn of myself and Paul Griffin and Mark Dowling, cracks where appearing and over the top of the climb, Conor and Paul led just five of us as a group over. We rode pretty well for the lap but got caught by the chasing seven at the base of the last climb. Mark Dowling attacked on the climb early and got a gap but I didn't worry – despite the group being larger again, it was myself, Conor, Paul and Niall that moved ahead catching Mark and splitting the group again – it was the same five of us off the front. With a quick descent to get the gap and then some cagey riding (need more experience at this) we got the straight for the sprint – I finished fourth of our group of five.

My only gripe about the race and organization (and it really was a very well run event, and one that I will definitely be back at) was that there were no markers for how long it was to the finish. A simple “1 KM” or even “500 M” sign would have worked...

* * *

Some of the vital statistics:
Time 2:25
Avg Power (inc zeros): 317W
Normalized Power: 357W
Max Speed: 79kmph

100Suns

Does anyone have stats on the length and average gradient on the Hill? Both seemed to increase exponentially on each lap. I was expecting to pass monuments to dead astronauts third time up.

ryan_sherlock

From the last (small) descent to the top it is 3.4km with an average of 4% (compare to Giro where they are climb 14km+ at 10%!). It is a little tougher because it pitches up a bit towards the top, never really more than 8.5% though.

100Suns

I'm taking on the Marmotte in 6 weeks 4 days so that's encouraging, thanks. Must check Wiggle to see if they have an affordable pair of climbing legs. I suspect the returns policy won't apply to those babies after Marmotte.

blorg

100Suns wrote: »

I'm taking on the Marmotte in 6 weeks 4 days so that's encouraging, thanks. Must check Wiggle to see if they have an affordable pair of climbing legs. I suspect the returns policy won't apply to those babies after Marmotte.

At least on the Marmotte you can take it at your own pace (and you really need to pace yourself.) Racing up a hill is a very different thing to climbing in a sportive. I'll be doing the Marmotte myself along with the rest of the Trophée d'Oisans, it is a great but very hard day on the bike.

ryan_sherlock

100Suns wrote: »

I'm taking on the Marmotte in 6 weeks 4 days so that's encouraging, thanks.

I would hope that you would hit the climbs on the Marmotte at a more comfortable speed!

Also, it is good to know how your various climbs rack up against what you will have to do in your target event. The Cruagh climb would be much more apt (only about 3-4 times too short).

giannip

Diarmuid wrote: »

Unfortunately as seems to be the trend in the A4s, the front group works well and the chasing group doesn't.

The start of the next lap was fast with a few of us trying to do the work but too many sitting on killed any enthusiasm.

I would have been one of those. Sorry but I had a club man up the road in the break.

shaungil

Unfortunately as seems to be the trend in the A4s, the front group works well and the chasing group doesn't.

The start of the next lap was fast with a few of us trying to do the work but too many sitting on killed any enthusiasm.

In Stamullen we had a good chase group and I thought the leaders should have worked harder, possibly the lead group was bigger though.

blorg

giannip wrote: »

I would have been one of those. Sorry but I had a club man up the road in the break.

No need to apologise, you don't chase a clubmate in the break, you are not a Swords rider.

shaungil

Meoowww I thought only us Swords lads were allowed to slag each other off about this.
I've made a concerted effort to stamp this out this year and have only seen one occurence so far. Any further sightings to be reported to me.