Swords Sportive Nxt Sun

cdaly_

Oh, and with this coming up on Sunday, was this morning the wrong time to drop my bars by another 6mm? Felt pretty OK this morning but will I be sufficiently used to the posture by then?

RobFowl wrote:

2. All participants must obey rules of the road.

Damn! That's me screwed then...

kennyb3

RobFowl wrote: »

2. All participants must obey rules of the road.

ah so thats why we stop at lights on a saturday morning.

You doing both sat and sunday btw?

Zorba

RobFowl wrote: »

All welcome, the only stipulations are

1. Helmets are compulsory
2. All participants must obey rules of the road.

Thanks Rob that's my question answered.

Ryder

is this a tough spin? Good etape prep? With work, have missed all the wicklow sportives this year

alfalad

Ryder wrote: »

is this a tough spin? Good etape prep? With work, have missed all the wicklow sportives this year

There are no hills of any note to be honest and I doubt you will need to leave the big ring. One or two sharp burst of a hundred yards but otherwise gentle slopes.

So sounds perfect for me!

cdaly_

Weather's not looking too good for this at the mo.

http://www.met.ie wrote:

The heavy rain will gradually clear the east of the country during Sunday morning and will give way to more showery outbreaks of rain as well as some sunny spells. It will be cooler on Sunday with highest temperatures of 16 to 19 degrees in northwesterly breezes.

It seems likely that this may hang around the east coast for some time and it could be pretty heavy at times. Rain jacket and glasses I guess?...

kennyb3

cdaly_ wrote: »

Weather's not looking too good for this at the mo.



It seems likely that this may hang around the east coast for some time and it could be pretty heavy at times. Rain jacket and glasses I guess?...

well cant be worse than last saturday anyway. only 5 turned up for the club spin, although that may have to do with the RAS as well, unfortunately i was one of them tools:).

just sounds like some good old fashioned irish weather

RobFowl

kennyb3 wrote: »

well cant be worse than last saturday anyway. only 5 turned up for the club spin, although that may have to do with the RAS as well, unfortunately i was one of them tools:).

just sounds like some good old fashioned irish weather

Went for a run in that down in Gorey and got absolutely sodden. Thought it was down for the day but it dried up once the race started !

km991148

ok, dug out my cheap aldi jacket and got more energy bars than can be carried (no other way to get through this..!) and off to try remove my race blades from the commuter.. note to anyone wanting to go for this and not sure..dont worry I will last or there abouts decked out in aldi gear.. so there will be somone slower/ looking worse.. call it a public service...

furiousox

km991148 wrote: »

ok, dug out my cheap aldi jacket and got more energy bars than can be carried (no other way to get through this..!) and off to try remove my race blades from the commuter.. note to anyone wanting to go for this and not sure..dont worry I will last or there abouts decked out in aldi gear.. so there will be somone slower/ looking worse.. call it a public service...

Good man, I'll be on your back wheel!

RobFowl

Is beer and BBQ the best way to prepare ?

Hoegaargen BTW very Belgian and very nice

km991148

probably as good as pizza and a selection of random beers (on a james boags now, can highly recommend it):D

furiousox

Had cider, red wine and sambuca last night...not ideal preparation.
Headache, no bike and no beer today.

cdaly_

Looking forward to it...

Raam wrote: »

Last year the roll out pace was nice and handy. It picked after lunch when the groups split for the different routes. Dunno how the 80km one panned out, but the 140km route had a few splits in it.

I reckon I'll be in the third split on the 140km run. You know, the 'oh crap I should have gone for the 80k' split...

mfdc

Just home and stripped off from the 100km, oh man I have never been so wet in my life. We were gonna do the 160 but at the food stop decided we needed to get home ASAP. Pity about the weather, would have been a great route with good weather, but what can you do eh.

Big thanks to the swords guy (ryaner told me it was Raam?) who put in a lot of work to get us back from the food stop in record time. Didn't get the chance to thank you at the end as you went off a different exit at the Fingallians roundabout!

Total for the day: 104km
Time: 3:26:05

It's kind of obvious where I clung onto that wheel for dear life

furiousox

5 layers on and still got soaked to the skin!! :mad:
Nice route though, woulda been a great spin in the dry.
I got a stitch in my side near Newgrange so I lost the small group I was with.
Between the rain and the pain in my side the temptation was too much as I passed my gaff in Drogheda.
Swung in and abandoned at 60k.

"Disappointed"

Raam

mfdc wrote: »

Just home and stripped off from the 100km, oh man I have never been so wet in my life. We were gonna do the 160 but at the food stop decided we needed to get home ASAP. Pity about the weather, would have been a great route with good weather, but what can you do eh.

Big thanks to the swords guy (ryaner told me it was Raam?) who put in a lot of work to get us back from the food stop in record time. Didn't get the chance to thank you at the end as you went off a different exit at the Fingallians roundabout!

Total for the day: 104km
Time: 3:26:05

It's kind of obvious where I clung onto that wheel for dear life

Yeah that was me, nice to meet you. We had a good pace going there. I was freezing, much like everyone else, so the only way to warm up was to drill it.

Did anyone else see Paul Kimmage there?

midonogh

Raam wrote: »

Yeah that was me, nice to meet you. We had a good pace going there. I was freezing, much like everyone else, so the only way to warm up was to drill it.

Did anyone else see Paul Kimmage there?

Yep, he was sitting beside us at the tea stop. I hadn't a notion till the lads told me.

Plomber

Big thank you to the organizers .. Great event, friendly well organized good sandwiches.

Weather put me off the the longer route.. Don't know who I was with on the way back , group of five , one turned off close to home at least one in club gear and a tall chap in confidis gear on a nice LOOK bike , but thanks for setting a good pace, kept me warm

Thanks again, no doubt see most in Wicklow next week

Nietzschean

much like everyone else abandoned after food and headed home, 140km in the end.... just in time too, started to bucket down in a heavy shower just as i got in(and left Dirk to finish his trip home in it!)

Caroline_ie

153km for me. Chickened out at the food stop like the others, knowing I still had to cycle back home.

The rain felt strangely nice on my legs though, it was warm ... I quite liked it ...

Saw Paul Kimmage at the finish as well.

Now I'll spend the rest of the day vegging.

Diarmuid

Sounds like a well organised event, the rain put me off (yeah I know). Still sitting here waiting for it to clear for a spin, met.ie you've failed me again!

DirkVoodoo

Good event, nice the way they kept it all together until the feed stop, well done to the swords guys who were marshalling each junction as they rode along with the main bunch. The pace was pretty relaxed, no hammerfests due to the weather, nice change from last week. I didn't really have the legs for anything other than a leisurely jaunt.

Good of the hotel to let in a bunch of soaked cyclists, I managed to spray some kid with water as I waved at Raam. Saw Bikerbhoy and bcmf (sorry to jet off like that, was looking for the orwell rider to find out where the others had gone!). I think I saw Robfowl, maybe, riding a very nice Noah?

I was pretty miserable for most of the day, I hadn't really dressed for anything other than a light drizzle.

Beasty

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I was pretty miserable for most of the day, I hadn't really dressed for anything other than a light drizzle.

That was light drizzle by Fingal standards, you bunch of wimps:D

Unfortunately I couldn't make it as I was watching telly in charge of the kids

Saw a few on their way through Skerries this afternoon, just as it was starting to dry up!

Well done to everyone doing this today in what may be described as less than ideal conditions

Good foresight (or maybe just good local knowledge) by RobFowl if he did bring Noah's Ark with him. Anyway, it should at least put back this summer's hosepipe bans back a day or so

cdaly_

Woo! First spin > 70km for me in about 30 years. Ended up at 125km.

Serious crowd on the roll out. Not used to spinning with such a big bunch (or indeed any bunch) and having to stay off the aerobars put my thumbs under pressure. Gotta learn how to ride the bars properly too.

I seemed to keep drifting back the bunch on the first stretch so, when I spotted Nietzschean's arse boards shorts whizz by up the group, I figured I should consider moving on up. It wasn't until after Ratoath that I made my move. Passed about 20 riders and pulled in. 10 minutes of chat and BANG! 'Ooh, that sounds like a blowout.' 'Oh crap, it's me...'. Pulled in and watched the bunch whizz by. Scooped up by the broomwagon and had a 3km repair session. Sidewall gone on the tyre so fitted a spare courtesy of Swords CC (thank you) and was dropped by the roadside just as the tail end of the bunch rounded a corner and disappeared (don't they drop you back where you were in the bunch?). That was pretty much the last I saw of them before tea.

Head down and pushed on until, courtesy of road works traffic lights, I caught up with a few.

After tea, everyone seemed to be bailing. I set out with a group of 6 but they turned off for Skerries just past Laytown so I ended up solo. Pushed on, passing a number of soloists until I spotted a group off in the distance somewhere around Julianstown. I managed to chase them down in Balbriggan (well chuffed with that) and found Caroline_ie, Neitzschean and a Tom or two (tom toms?). Hopped on with them for the rest of the way back.

Nice to meet you all etc.

125km, avg 27.5, max 57.8

Thank goodness for bank holidays. I have tomorrow to learn to walk again...

furiousox wrote:

5 layers on and still got soaked to the skin!!

Interesting. One layer of Gore 'Windstopper' jacket and I was dry as a bone under it. Everything else was sodden tho...

furiousox

nike vest
ls baselayer
altura ss jersey
altura night vision jacket
altura gilet

All soaked through despite the outer layers being wind/rain proof!

cdaly_

Jeez! You must have been sweating under that lot...

bcmf

Soaked. Absolutley fookin soaked.but loved every min of it.door to door 100km (according to Rob Fowls puter as mine just didn't want to work in the rain.
After the feed brought a few on a short cut across laytown estuary. Just wanted to get home.

@Dirk....no problem for shooting off. I was virtually home anyway.

@cdaly....I think the puncture wagon turfed you out as they turfed me in. A quick tube change and got turfed out again to chase and get caught at those temp lights.

DirkVoodoo

cdaly_ wrote: »

... and a Tom or two (tom toms?).

two Dirks you mean. Often copied, never equaled.

km991148

back showered and beer in hand after a good spin, shame about weather.. but where are we again? Was happy overall, but spent too long having sandwiches at the t stop.. kept a good 27kph* ave until then, then cruised back with a few (those in the photo for the fingal..?)

Thanks again to the organisers, my first proper event and thought it was great!

(* good for me.. I havent trained much at all, but lost the main group around newbridge after munching through about 5 different bars to keep up for that long!)

jimm

Like previous posters I bailed out after Julianstown also, and headed back to base with Tom, Caroline, Dirk, Nietzschean and cdaly (sorry cd, didn't know you were a Boardsie so didn't introduce myself properly but chatted a while. I was in the soaking Italian team kit!). Good Boards turnout today too.

Well run event with excellent food stops in Bettystown and again at the finish. Top marks as Dirk said, to the guys marshalling the junctions. They must have waited till everyone was through before racing to the front of the bunch to be ready for the next junction. Human motorbikes, the pair of them.

Pity about the weather though, but Swords CC did promise us car parking, tea stop and showers (and we certainly got plenty of those. )

157.8km
06:16:51 cycling time
25.12 avg

Thanks again Swords.

ROK ON

Just to sicken ye guys. Kerry had a lovely scorching day today. Got a nice tan. Wore two layers (ss top and sunscreen:D).
It is fantatsic to cycle in the sun.

Chips Lovell

Bailed in Rathoath. Was totally over-optimistic about the weather forecast and didn't wear enough, so ended up freezing cold. Had to hammer home to try to warm up. Still got 80km in, so not a total waste of a day.

robs1

what a great day.i cant believe what we got for a tenner.the pace was just right and it didnt matter about the rain.took the short route home and got in a good group and shared the front with another guy(didnt get his name)and we went in a good pace.i live in swords so didnt take long to get home for a hot shower. my distance was 114km in 3hr 49min and was so happy with that.once again great day well done to all involved

cdaly_

el tonto wrote: »

Bailed in Rathoath.

Ah, so that was you who nearly led the back half of the bunch off the wrong exit from the Ratoath roundabout. Nearly went sliding in the gravel correcting course...

treborm

Very good event considering , did the 100km 30kph avg switched to auto pilot after food stop just wanted to get home. Very good atmosphere considering the weather. Top marks to the two guys acting like motor bikes, maybe they had engines like Cancellara. Saw Paul kimmage looked quite small, always thought he was taller.
This has the potential to turn into a top sportive.

bcmf

I think a huge thanks is due to the Bettystown Court Hotel as it they must have had a massive pain in their hole when we arrived and made a complete mess of their foyer and dining area but still served us coffee and sambos.

Caroline_ie

bcmf wrote: »

I think a huge thanks is due to the Bettystown Court Hotel as it they must have had a massive pain in their hole when we arrived and made a complete mess of their foyer and dining area but still served us coffee and sambos.

lol all of their diners will probably end with a wet bum for the next few days

petethedrummer

ROK ON wrote: »

Just to sicken ye guys. Kerry had a lovely scorching day today. Got a nice tan. Wore two layers (ss top and sunscreen:D).
It is fantatsic to cycle in the sun.

I was in Kerry too. Got a bit of sunburn.

Bikerbhoy

Well well wot a spin that was but enjoyable all the same. We did the full route Kinda shame more didn't do it but understandable at the same time. Thanks to Swords CC for another great event

km991148

I thought everyone was off for the full route - hence I stayed on at the hotel for more sandwiches!

How many went the full distance then?

Bikerbhoy

[QUOTE=km991148

How many went the full distance then?[/QUOTE]

Hard to say really there was 3 of us and one other guy took the right turn for the long route and then a group of about 10 - 12 hammered past us and that was it for the day saw no one else at all.... and actually weather did get slightly better after turn off too..... so it wasnt as bad as it could have been

Turbulent Bill

Took the forum's advice and went for this, delighted I did it. 80km option turned into 105km due to the route change, but still got around ok. Couldn't hold the main group after 20-30km so worked with a group of 6 or 7 to the tea stop and then back to Fingallians (with km991148 I think?), more leisurely pace. No timing but averaged 25/26kmph at a guess.

Saw a few Boards jerseys, might be able to stick the pace next time for a chat!

Thanks to Swords for the organisation and the friendly event, lots of people willing to help and give advice. Got saturated, but only really noticeable at the tea stop. Bettystown Hotel must now have a new water feature in their dining room...

Chips Lovell

cdaly_ wrote: »

Ah, so that was you who nearly led the back half of the bunch off the wrong exit from the Ratoath roundabout. Nearly went sliding in the gravel correcting course...

Whoops. Sorry about that. Didn't think anyone would follow me.

km991148

Not bad, as I say I though everyone was up for the 160 (even with the weather) and felt a little guilty for not even trying it.. but glad I didnt. After returning to swords I had another 18kms to do and those nearly killed me (although I did have a pint at the club which wouldnt have helped..)

@bill,

were you on the boardman? I pretty much came into the t stop on my own (had been since those temp lights)? did you come in with the same group we left with?

cdaly_

el tonto wrote:

Whoops. Sorry about that. Didn't think anyone would follow me.

Nah, nobody did. Plenty big bunch streaming off at the next exit to follow...

Turbulent Bill wrote:

worked with a group of 6 or 7 to the tea stop

I think I was with that group for the last 20km after the temp lights. Was on a Giant with a rackbag and in black and yellow jersey...

Turbulent Bill

km991148 wrote: »

@bill,

were you on the boardman? I pretty much came into the t stop on my own (had been since those temp lights)? did you come in with the same group we left with?

I was on the black BeOne with the Crud RoadRacer mudguards (which worked great) and the Aldi rain jacket (which didn't!). Came and left with pretty much the same group. I made the mistake of going to the front at the top of the hill, just before the temp lights, and opened up a huge gap on the descent. Would have been a great overtaking move had I actually meant it...

DeviantD

Thanks for a brilliant day and well done to all involved from Swords CC. I really enjoyed the day and as previous posters have said we got alot for the €10 entry.
Lost my sun glasses in the Hotel and had to put up with the rain in the eyes for the rest of the short spin home.

Hi CDaly, i was chatting to you just before you got the puncture, red bike with bright blue rain jacket. Nice to see you again.

Thanks again and i will definatly join the Swords CC on some of the other outings.

km991148

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

I was on the black BeOne with the Crud RoadRacer mudguards (which worked great) and the Aldi rain jacket (which didn't!). Came and left with pretty much the same group. I made the mistake of going to the front at the top of the hill, just before the temp lights, and opened up a huge gap on the descent. Would have been a great overtaking move had I actually meant it...

ahh.. yep.. didnt mean to try dropping you when I went to the front - I caught a downhill and couldnt stop peddling as I got a bad cramp!
By the time I met up with you guys I was done in and not much chatting goin on!
You were training for a charity run in a few weeks or something?

Also on the subject of aldi jackets - mine was great but a few degrees warmer it waould have been like wearing a sauna!