An Post Meath Heritage Cycle Tour 25/7/10

Possedion

signed up for the 40K

austinbyrne21

Wingman2010 wrote: »

I'm thinking about doing the 100k. Can you sign up on the day once you arrive fairly early?

Yea, you can register on the morning between 7am and 8am I think. Also, it cost slightly more, think €45 compared to €30.

Ant

As a native of the bog-lands of Meath - though unfamiliar with most of this route - I had this event pencilled in as my sportive for 2010. Unfortunately, I broke my collarbone 4 weeks ago while out on a training cycle where I had hoped to break my 100km distance limit. Unfortunately, according to the doctors, I won't be back on the bike for at least another 4 weeks so I'll just have to wait until next year's event. :-(

Anyhow, I just thought I'd wish the best of luck to ye all and hope ye get the right weather.

austinbyrne21

Thanks Ant, looking forward to it. Sorry to hear about the injury.

juratelle

I'm in!
My second 100k. Hope I'll do better this time Anyway, to reach finish is the most important aim

See you!

strummer_ie

juratelle wrote: »

I'm in!
My second 100k. Hope I'll do better this time Anyway, to reach finish is the most important aim

See you!

Me too, lucky number 3 :D
Looks a bit flatter than the last 2 I did, so hope to have some fuel in the tank for the last few k !!

juratelle

strummer_ie wrote: »

Me too, lucky number 3 :D
Looks a bit flatter than the last 2 I did, so hope to have some fuel in the tank for the last few k !!

strummer, were you one of bronze cyclists in Tour of Louth? For some reason I think I already met you there

strummer_ie

juratelle wrote: »

strummer, were you one of bronze cyclists in Tour of Louth? For some reason I think I already met you there

haha, yes I was. Nothing that looks as tough as Jenkinstown hill in this one at least
Good luck, might see ya on the start line !

Fredo

It was my second time doing the An Post Tour of Meath. I really enjoyed it. The 100 Km was in fact 110km. Very good turn out: 1600 cyclists.
Very well signed posted, good marshalls, plenty of food, water ... at the food stops. And nice goodies at the end plus sandwiches, and coffee in Trim castle afterwards. Can't fault the organisers.
On the down side, I'm seriously pissed off at cyclists throwing their bar and gel wrappers on the road. Respect the country!

fran oconnor

Fredo wrote: »

It was my second time doing the An Post Tour of Meath. I really enjoyed it. The 100 Km was in fact 110km. Very good turn out: 1600 cyclists.
Very well signed, good marshalls, plenty of food, water ... at the food stops. And nice goodies at the end plus sandwiches, and coffee in Trim castle afterwards. Can't fault the organisers.
On the down side, I'm seriously pissed off at cyclists throwing their bar and gel wrappers on the road. Respect the country!

seen the rubbish myself and it drove me mad also, there's know need for it ffs,there where plenty of bins at the food stops..I agree with your good points also I thought it was a very well ran event.although my hands are still rattling from the road surface's..

Fredo

quote <my hands are still rattling from the road surface's>
or the lack of it in some areas

CarlosK

Just finished my 1st sportive... opted for the 112km (not 100km) route and its was enough for me. Definitely couldn't have handled the 160km. I agree that the organisation was excellent throughout the whole day. I'll definitely be doing it again. Some of the descents around Tara and Newgrange were scary though. Not only bad surfaces but a lot of people with shag all bike handling skills (I include myself in that), and one descent that ended at a t-junction complete with a serious amount of gravel. Didnt see anyone coming off the bike here, but Im sure someone did before the day was out.

Myself and another boardsie found ourselves stranded and alone for about 40km - the head wind was tough to work through and the surfacing on the roads didnt help either. Just when the legs were almost gone, Lakeside Wheelers and Inisfree Wheelers came to the rescue. We latched onto the group and they took us home for the last 35km... so a big shout out to all involved in the rescue mission, was greatly appreciated and it was a joy to join in the group.

Roll on the next one. Must check the calendar for more before the year is out.

CarlosK

Another point... I saw 2 blokes on a tandem... not sure what distance they were doing, but fair play to them. Does anyone know how they got on?

Thinfin

I just did my first sportive! Meath 100k (112k). Really enjoyed it, feel great! I thought the marshalling was excellent as I dont know the area at all. Hope to do many more!

vektarman

Nice to meet up with Carlosk and Austinbyrne, well done you guys on your first sportive, chatted to jawgap as well.

Good sportive and well organised, good marshalling and signposting, as other posters mentioned a lot of junk thrown away, including drinks bottles, glasses and even the laminated emergency contact numbers cards!! Maybe people were trying to lighten the load as got got closer to the finish:rolleyes:

tawfeeredux

Just back from the 160km. Harder than I thought it would be, just haven't maintained the mileage since the W200.

Around Tara Hill, got into a good group headed by some lads from Navan & after a toilet break caught up with a bigger group with a few guys from Bohermeen CC to roll into Kells. From there on though, I ended up on my own. Ended up finishing in 5 & half hours on the nose, had to time trial the last 15km to get my avg speed up to 29kph. Legs felt really sore afterwards.

Some rough road surfaces alright, but generally speaking I thought it was a nice cycling route. Marshalls were excellent, though I think someone was missing at one particularly dangerous junction, turning left onto a main road from a steep downhill (in the first 50km I think, not sure of the location). All in all, a very good event, think I'll have a go at the Sean Kelly Tour next.

estariol

no excuse for dropping the gel and bar wrappers!
The surfaces were awful never seen so much gravel in my life and how many feckin junctions were there really hard to keep any sort of rhythm going. Certainly agree that the organisation, food stops and marshalling were excellent! the 160 was actually 165, spotted what I assume is the new boards kit....eugh!

stevemcf

Carlos, you and other Boardsie caught me just near the end (yellow top, blue underneath), I really enjoyed my own first "sportive" but my body seriously aches.

Agree that gravel was a big issue and that downward T juntion was nasty. All facilities excellent and very well run.

Steve (South Clare Wheelers)

paulieb2006

Fredo wrote: »

On the down side, I'm seriously pissed off at cyclists throwing their bar and gel wrappers on the road. Respect the country!

Wholeheartedly agree Fredo. Its disgusting the amount of rubbish that was thrown around.
Also nearly every downhill section ended right at the bottom with a T-Junction. Way too much gravel on the bends, was nearly taken out on the first corner out of Trim. A road-sweeper would have been handy for a couple of hours to clean up the junctions.
While I am at it why do the organizers insist on bringing us onto roads that we prob wouldn't bring our car on. Some of the surfaces were terrible, also roads with 2 foot wide sections of grass in the middle WTF.
Organization was top class though, Food, Water, no bother getting it at any stage and a big thanks to all the marshals manning the junctions. To the Gardai as well, something strange about a guard shouting "Keep her Lit" as he stops traffic to let you pass through a Junction.
5hr58min32sec for the 166k. Id say I was getting looks going through Trim at the finish, sprinting to the finish to try and dip under the 6hr mark.
Well done to everybody............

JRant

Really enjoyed todays event, have done a few of these events and the An Post events are much better organised than all the others. An awful lot of road surfaces were really awful and the descent off tara hill was almost cyclo/cross but cant blame the organizer's for that.

Meet lots of great people out there today and got into some really good groups with the Cú Chulainn lads and later with some of the oriel lads. There was a lot of rubbish been thrown around but my main gripe today is the serious lack off etiquette on the the roads these days, lads just refusing to give the shout as the tear past( arggggh ) and when i was in small groups lads just sitting on your wheel for km after km and when it comes there turn to do a turn they just bugger off and leave you there( not cool ).

Anyway well done to everyone today and looking forward to the Waterford event already.

at1withmyself

Well this was the 3rd one of the An Post series for me this year and the hardest for me. I expected it to be easier so had only done 1 spin since the Burren Challenge and also made the mistake of not eating breakfast. Was fine till the fist stop but really suffered from Kells to Oldcastle. Was ok then till the end but was about 30 min off the tie I hoped for!

As mentioned already the condition of the road was terrible and made it tough to get a flow going. I thought it was a mistake letting the 100 and 160 cyclist off together as there was too many people together when it went onto the country lanes/roads but from what I seen there was no accidents but a lot of punctures as it was difficult to see pot holes due to the numbers. Some of the downhills were fast and dangerous with 9% gradients but that made them fun, hope everyone got down them ok.

I also thought the stop in oldcastle was pretty miserable, nothing against the team working there but there could have been a few more options other then tea and sandwiches. The other stops were well stocked.

Good atmosphere at the end which was nice to come back to and I really appreciated the popcorn!

I think it's come up before but the medals where a bit stupid in my opinion, maybe for the kids but not neccessary for adults. Money could have gone towards bottles or a better T-shirt.

All in all I enjoyed the day, the marshals and volunteers where all in good form and while nothing can be done about the roads I hope they consider a 15 minute gap between the two groups next time.

On the rubbish issue, I know some of the bottles were coming out of cages due to the road surface so that might account for some but still no excuse for the gel wrapers, most people have pockets to carry rubbish till the next stop!

Time - 6 hrs
Distance - 168 km
Avg - 27.6 km/hr
Ascend - 1503 m

seanie500

are there actual results at all with individual times? cant see anything on this

fran oconnor

seanie500 wrote: »

are there actual results at all with individual times? cant see anything on this

there wouldnt be i dont think,because you dont clock out at the end..

Jawgap

Did the 160 and really enjoyed it - time take was just under 5:50.

Met Vektarman, FlynnR, Zorba and Cheguedara and benefitted from the Chain Gang's lead out train for a few km.

Would agree with everything said on roads and wrappers - my own moment of truth came when descending from Loughcrew and trying to make up some time I flew round one of the sharper bends to find a car pretty much blocking the entire laneway. I only managed to stop by cycling onto the ditch! I'd certainly question the wisdom of using that road again - the climb up to it was great, the surface was some of the best of the day, but given it's also used by tour buses etc going up to the cairn, it's probably not a good idea to have a bunch of cyclists descending it at the same time.

Marshalling and food was excellent - plenty of both.

Saw only one accident - coming into Athboy there was a chap bleeding badly and being attended to by a couple of Guards while some others were pulling his bike out of the ditch - not sure what happened though.

Great day and I appreciated the medal - how else can you persuade your kids that you won!!!:)

fago

Some of the roads were dodgy.
If they had a taken a circuit which had gone Trim -> Summerhill -> Dunboyne -> Tara there would have been much better roads. A wider circuit of meath rather than taking in north meath.


Got round in 5.30, went round with 2 lads from chaingang.cc after the 70km food stop. Ran out of water so last 10 miles were a struggle.

bbosco

I had signed up for the 160 but my lack of mileage really told and I bailed onto the 100 in the end. I think I've been out on the bike only 3 or 4 times in the last 3 or 4 months.
As mentioned above, it was excellently marshalled, especially closed-roads roll out. Food stops were fine. I completely forgot to pick up my cert/medal at the end (I was tempted away by the smells of the market) so I can't comment on that.
One thing grated with me and that was the Cycleways stand blaring Lady feckin Gaga at 7.30 in the morning. You could hear it all the way from car park entrance, ten minutes' walk away. I can't imagine what the residents of the houses just across the street made of it. I was sitting in the hotel reception waiting for someone and the poor receptionist spent the entire time taking calls from guests complaining about the noise. I heard the staff talking about how they had asked the Cycleways people to turn it down but they had refused. Bizarrely, the Gardai drove past it a couple of times and didn't seem to think anything needed to be done. Anyway, a minor point in the general scheme of things.

Oh, also I saw a couple of guys in the new Boards kit. Looks very well.....good job to all who helped design it.

shamwari

fago wrote: »

Some of the roads were dodgy.
If they had a taken a circuit which had gone Trim -> Summerhill -> Dunboyne -> Tara there would have been much better roads.

Unfortunately I couldn't make it at all yesterday :o:o

However I agree about the roads above as I cycled them the week before last on a run from Swords to Killucan in Westmeath. The Summerhill road in particular is in excellent condition.

CheGuedara

Put down the 160km myself yesterday - I'd be inclined to agree with most of what has been posted already as reviews of the event.

For what I think most expected to be a relatively easy 160km it definitely had enough to keep one on their toes/pedals and frequently brakes!
The route was definitely something different:

Little hills. So many little hills. Coming at you one after the other, all day long. Different to looking into a route with a small set of large named ascents but definitely an equal match for effort when trying to put in a good time. And drumlins near the end - LC geography made them sound like little lumps left behind after the ice age - they're soooo not, they're proper wee kicker hills, bewarned!!

Road surfaces that were shocking for the most part - Noel Dempsey, hang your head in shame, you should take lessons from Jackie Healy-Rae, he could give you a master class on how to get roads sorted!! I won't be complaining as loudly about Kerry roads for some time to come

The amount of junctions was phenomenal - I couldn't guess how many we passed through yesterday but I would bet that the total number of junctions exceeds the total of all the other An Post rides combined :eek: Gravel going through some of them made for some very interesting last minute line changes to make sure the bike was kept rubber side down though!!

The marshalling was great with all but two junctions (IIRC) over the 160km covered over the course of the day (one of which was a very fast descent into a T junction with a main road - serious potential for accidents at that one.) Didn't see anything in the way of a lead marshalls car or broomwagon at any stage but having the contact numbers sheet probably made them redundant for the better part (tell that to the guy who I passed at ~125km with a cracked frame though!). Also the roads were practically empty of motor vehicles which was 1. amazing and 2. great!

The food stops were grand. The water stop a little early and chaotic (riders all over the road!) but food stop was OK with sandwiches and coffee/tea for the hoards that arrived in, along with dynamite chocolate cake FTW! Saw the energy product wrappers along the road as we got to towards the end of the day - shameful, people need to get a clue and put the wrappers into their pockets. Yes they might be sticky but they'll be washing the jersey anyway FFS!

Great meeting the boardsies en route too - nice to meet ye guys The new kit looks well, but then again so does the original - I'm gonna sit on the fence as to which is nicer I think. We had our new kit out on the road for it's first outing as well, think it looks well all in all.

The cycle was quite scenic all in all - was possibly working too hard to see the 'heritage' en route but glad to have done it and ticked it off the list. The medal and Tshirt were nice to get but definitely the popcorn and cereal bar were well appreciated (read as inhaled) when I got back to the car!

Covered the 166km in 5h49, Avg 28.4kph - not a bad day in the saddle (certainly happier with my performance than last week).

Next up on the Chain Gang CC menu - Orwell Wheelers Randonee, Aug 15th -looks like a nice one

austinbyrne21

As a first sportive everything was new so I've no basis for comparison. But I really enjoyed it. Middle section was very tough as there were just 2 of us from the 50km point to the 87km mark. Then hung onto the back of a club were we tried to help out as much as we could. CarlosK even managed to do his bit up the front for a while, I could only manage helping out around the middle of the group. It's incredible how much easier it is cycling in a group, I'll never get used to the difference.

Have to say, never noticed the rubbish being thrown around the roads but was probably in too much pain to notice.

+1 on the chocolate cake! And I don't really have a sweet tooth but that was just the ticket at that stage.

And it was great to get talking to vektarman at both the water stop and also, very brief, at the end.

And last point, first them Meathies screw us over in the Leinster Final, then they add on 12km to a 100km cycle! I have my limits Meathies, I have my limits!;)

kphelan

Well Done to everyone who took part in the Meath Tour yesterday!
Next Date for the Diaries is ..........
Sunday 29th August - The Sean Kelly Tour of Waterford

Remember Pre-Registration only before FRIDAY 20th AUGUST
Follow us on FACEBOOK

Jmcmen

Jawgap wrote: »

Did the 160 and really enjoyed it - time take was just under 5:50.

Met Vektarman, FlynnR, Zorba and Cheguedara and benefitted from the Chain Gang's lead out train for a few km.

Would agree with everything said on roads and wrappers - my own moment of truth came when descending from Loughcrew and trying to make up some time I flew round one of the sharper bends to find a car pretty much blocking the entire laneway. I only managed to stop by cycling onto the ditch! I'd certainly question the wisdom of using that road again - the climb up to it was great, the surface was some of the best of the day, but given it's also used by tour buses etc going up to the cairn, it's probably not a good idea to have a bunch of cyclists descending it at the same time.

Marshalling and food was excellent - plenty of both.

Saw only one accident - coming into Athboy there was a chap bleeding badly and being attended to by a couple of Guards while some others were pulling his bike out of the ditch - not sure what happened though.

Great day and I appreciated the medal - how else can you persuade your kids that you won!!!:)

Long time reader, first time poster. Hello to all.

That was me being mopped up. I was giving it shoe nearly being home. I was under 5hrs for the 150km I had done and was really happy with my day on the saddle.
I hit a mound that wasn't marked and took flight breaking my fall with my face.
Helmet cracked, had to get eyebrow and ear stitched back together. Could of been alot worse though.

Just wanted to say a big thank you to the marshells, Garda, Ambulance crew, a fantastic Doctor and Nurse in Drogheda Hospital and the 3 maybe 4lads(bit hazy at that point) who seen the spill and stopped; they were top blokes.

Also appologies to the Boardsie who was number 566(Again memory not the best) who I think I was driving demented with my heart rate monitor that I couldn't mute.

Must say it was a great day out up to that point, Well organised but some suspect roads alright.

Jawgap

It looked pretty nasty - but it's good to hear you're (relatively) ok.

We couldn't figure out what happened to you - so we decided you must have touched wheels with someone!

Given the state of the roads, it's a wonder there weren't many more spills, especially on the gravel.

Jawgap

CheGuedara wrote: »

Little hills. So many little hills. Coming at you one after the other, all day long. Different to looking into a route with a small set of large named ascents but definitely an equal match for effort when trying to put in a good time. And drumlins near the end - LC geography made them sound like little lumps left behind after the ice age - they're soooo not, they're proper wee kicker hills, bewarned!!

Yes, those bloody hills - I went to bed dreaming of drumlins - I was getting seriously pissed off at one stage - steep enough to have you fishing around for the right gear and then you were at the top before you had a chance to get a nice rhythm - then down and up again for the same thing.

austinbyrne21

Jmcmen wrote: »

...had to get eyebrow and ear stitched back together...

Jesus pal, that sounds pretty epic as injuries go. Hope you're alright! Were abouts did it happen if you can remember?;)

Oh, and welcome!

Hell of a 1st post.

Jmcmen

austinbyrne21 wrote: »

Jesus pal, that sounds pretty epic as injuries go. Hope you're alright! Were abouts did it happen if you can remember?;)

Oh, and welcome!

Hell of a 1st post.

About 6 over the eye and 2 at the top of my ear where the helmet strap caught it.

Happened just before Athboy i thinks.

Was annoyed not to finish but what can you do.

You have a good spin yesterday?

Jmcmen

Jawgap wrote: »

It looked pretty nasty - but it's good to hear you're (relatively) ok.

We couldn't figure out what happened to you - so we decided you must have touched wheels with someone!

Given the state of the roads, it's a wonder there weren't many more spills, especially on the gravel.

To be honest I'm not 100% on the exact casue but thats all i can think of.

Those hills on the 60km loop were a nightmare, was tougher than i expected. It was continuous up and down and you couldn't get a pace going at all.

Jawgap

I think it happened just NW of the N52 - I think that was the last big junction with a significant Garda presence on it.

austinbyrne21

Jmcmen wrote: »

You have a good spin yesterday?

Sure did. And surprisingly, my legs are still my friends today. Thought they wouldn't want to know me! Looking into doing more now.

Zorba

Some pics of the tour of meath here

http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_5091.shtml

will post my wee report later.

tawfeeredux

Zorba wrote: »

Some pics of the tour of meath here

http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_5091.shtml

will post my wee report later.

Thanks for the pics Zorba, think i can see myself in the background of one of them.

Anyone know what time the first of the 160km participants were home in?

RO 06

joe barr arrived in 4hrs 45 mins but he is an exception.just a training spin for his race across America.Heard the mc say 5 hrs gone and nobody else in from the 160

Zorba

RO 06 wrote: »

joe barr arrived in 4hrs 45 mins but he is an exception.just a training spin for his race across America.Heard the mc say 5 hrs gone and nobody else in from the 160

Wow that is some time, no wonder we only seen him for the first 5 odd k !

tawfeeredux wrote: »

Thanks for the pics Zorba, think i can see myself in the background of one of them.

Anyone know what time the first of the 160km participants were home in?

Your welcome tawfeeredux, my friends finished in the first group think they must have finished in just over 5 hr mark. I managed to get myself into the second and third pic, (i'm the one with the boards jersey)

I was with the first group most of the day till we hit the last big climb of the day around the 110k mark, don't ask me the name but i do remember there was grass in the middle and i distinctly remember dying a thousand deaths all the way up thinking i'm not gonna be able to finish the 160k feeling this bad !

Anyway needless to say i'd no chance of catching the leading group so was on my own more or less for 10 odd k then caught up with another friend of mine and we rode to the finish together. We stopped with 10k to go for a much needed bottle of coke then about 3 k from the end we were caught by a group of 4 which we latched onto. Ended up 166k according to my computer average speed was 31.something k and my computer's time said 5hrs 25 whereas my friends said 5hrs 22 so i'm going with his time

Have to agree with the state of some of the roads i was lucky and missed most of the potholes but then again i stayed up near the front all day.

As for people dropping wrappers well there's just no excuse for it we all have plenty of pockets in our jerseys and a little wrapper isn't gonna weigh u down much. Actually think someone in my group lost their phone at one stage, looked like they were trying to take food out of their pocket and out their phone came too but they just kept going.

Met vektarman at the food stop, we didn't have much time to chat and met Jawgap at the end, nice to put faces to names. Thought there would've been more boardsies out on the day though.

Anyway despite the pain i really enjoyed the day looking forward to Sean Kelly next, big congrats to the Gardai, volunteers and the organisers who done a great job on the day, now if i could just find out what Joe Barr had for breakfast......................

CarlosK

stevemcf wrote: »

Carlos, you and other Boardsie caught me just near the end (yellow top, blue underneath), I really enjoyed my own first "sportive" but my body seriously aches.

Agree that gravel was a big issue and that downward T juntion was nasty. All facilities excellent and very well run.

Steve (South Clare Wheelers)

Hi Steve, cant say I remember you... sorry bout that... At that stage the head was down and chasing a bunch all in yellow and blue (being their club kit), just keeping in with them till the end. We were also keeping an eye out for potholes and cars zooming past us. But like yourself it was my 1st sportive, feel great after it and will definitely do more.

Benbecul97

Bit late posting this but anway...

Took on the 160km (167.48km according to my bike computer!). First time I took on such a distance (previous longest was 115km) and that extra 50km ish is certainly a big difference - I was flagging at the 130km mark.

But I wasn't helped by the fact that I took a tumble on the start of the steep decent after Loughcrew at around the 115km mark (nearly had a heart attack going up Loughcrew!). Front wheel went from under me on loose gravel and surface water and I went straight into the ditch! Thankfully, I only got minor grazing/cuts to my leg. There is often a stone wall buried behind those ditches so it could have been a lot worse. And there was an ambulance already at the scene attending to someone that went into the ditch just opposite to where I crashed! Big thanks to those 2 ambulance personnel. They patched us up and sent us on our way. We were at the tail of the field at this stage. The broomwagon asked if we wanted to complete our spin and we both did. The ambulance personnel met us again at the end and they were happy for us that we managed to finish it - and so were we!

It was my first time doing one of the An Post cycles and I must say that while I found the course tough and challenging I found it not as enjoyable as the Croi cycle (Tour de Lough Corrib) that I did in May. For me, there was far less friendly banter among the cyclists. They were alot more serious on this An Post and not as friendly. Alot seemed to be jostling for position but its not a race! If they want to race then enter a race!

I thought the marshalling was very good but was much less impressed with the food stops. At the Kells food stop there was a queue out the door for hot drinks and then when you got the hot drink there was no milk!! They didnt seem to have learned from the earlier An Post events this year where participation was up in huge numbers.

For the sake of the folks taking on the Waterford and Cork cycles in the next 2 months heres hoping that they are aware of and plan for the very likely increase in numbers.

And here's a few pics of the day from the SportActive folks that were snapping during the day - see the three links near the top of this page.
http://www.sportactive.net/index.php?option=com_mydyngallery&Itemid=60&lang=en