Tour of Louth - Sun June 27th 2010

LCD

If your are planning on attending on Sunday could you please enter ASAP so we know what numbers to cater for on Sunday.

Look forward to seeing you all there!

petethedrummer

petethedrummer wrote: »

unfortunately its not on the route. Its a couple of miles away.

Just need to correct myself. The route does take in the magic hill. dur.

Zorba

If i sign up for this online do i still have to sign on before the start in Dundalk ?

The tax man

To hell with the knee,I'm in. Loved this last year and if bcmf doesn't get a gold this year,at least I want to be around to see it kick off.:D

bcmf

I know it seems like am making up excuses already but I am not 100% sure whether I can do this*. Work,Money, bills kinda thing...... Can we sign on the day or do we NEED to pre-enter?










* I know 12mnths of bloody whinging and I may not even be able too take part.

LCD

We will be taking entries on the day but REALLY want people to enter on line so we know what numbers are dealing with.

If you do enter online still just need you to sign on that morning, so we know how many we have on the road.

Thanks

kennyb3

LCD wrote: »

We will be taking entries on the day but REALLY want people to enter on line so we know what numbers are dealing with.

If you do enter online still just need you to sign on that morning, so we know how many we have on the road.

Thanks

Is there anyway i could give my entry to someone else (can PM you my full name and address) as im injured now and wont be using it.

LCD

Yeah can swap an entry, is contact details on www.touroflouth.com

The tax man

bcmf wrote: »

I know it seems like am making up excuses already but I am not 100% sure whether I can do this*. Work,Money, bills kinda thing...... Can we sign on the day or do we NEED to pre-enter?










* I know 12mnths of bloody whinging fighting for justice and I may not even be able too take part.

FYP.:D

bcmf

I like it Mr. Tax Man. Fighting for Justice for the Tour of Louth 3


There was 3 of us wasn't there!?!

cdaly_

So, did Baldoyle -> Greystones -> Glasnevin -> Baldoyle solo today. 87km in 3h35, avg 24.7kph, max 65.5kph (descent into Greystones...). Hardly gold standard...


Mind you, that did include a 3-hour visit...

furiousox

Any shower facilities at this one?

Guybrush T

LCD wrote: »

We will be taking entries on the day but REALLY want people to enter on line so we know what numbers are dealing with.

If you do enter online still just need you to sign on that morning, so we know how many we have on the road.

Thanks

Should we have got anything in the post? Race number, route description etc? I sent 20 quid to some mob called run Ireland but have only got an E-mail.

penexpers

Finally got around to signing up. Dreaming of gold but I haven't been too well this week so not sure how much I have in the tank.

twinsen

I am signed too, looking for silver medal

cdaly_

Guybrush T wrote: »

Should we have got anything in the post? Race number, route description etc? I sent 20 quid to some mob called run Ireland but have only got an E-mail.

That's all I got too. I printed it out to bring on the day...

RobFowl

cdaly_ wrote: »

That's all I got too. I printed it out to bring on the day...

+1

Zorba

Just tried to sign up for this and it's telling me submissions are closed, guess i'll just have to sign up on the morning.

LCD

Showers are available after the event.
No nothing was sent out.
Yeah will take entries on the day

juratelle

I'm in. And will bring another person with me, so +2. We'll sign up in the morning tho. See you there!
Will go for bronze only, but there has to be a start for everybody at some stage

baap86

juratelle wrote: »

I'm in. And will bring another person with me, so +2. We'll sign up in the morning tho. See you there!
Will go for bronze only, but there has to be a start for everybody at some stage

Jaysus I was beginning to think I was gonna be the only Bronzer there!

juratelle

baap86 wrote: »

Jaysus I was beginning to think I was gonna be the only Bronzer there!

3 of us

bcmf

tell ya what if it is as humid on sun as it is today there will have to be a re-evaluation of the estimated fluid intake.

furiousox

So anyway I was thinking of sporting this combo on Sunday while chasing my bronze medal......too much?

cdaly_

baap86 wrote: »

Jaysus I was beginning to think I was gonna be the only Bronzer there!

No, it's just that the rest are _claiming_ to be going for silver/gold but will end up getting bronze. You're just being sensible from the start...

bcmf wrote: »

tell ya what if it is as humid on sun as it is today there will have to be a re-evaluation of the estimated fluid intake.

You don't lose any fluids on a day like that. You carry them all around soaked into your jersey...

el tel

Will Boardsies be wearing boards kit or be going incognito?

DirkVoodoo

I'm a little unsure now about doing this, really don't want to miss England v Germany. I suppose that is just more motivation to get around quickly.

furiousox

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I'm a little unsure now about doing this, really don't want to miss England v Germany./QUOTE]

penexpers

el tel wrote: »

Will Boardsies be wearing boards kit or be going incognito?

I'll be in my boards.ie jersey, might be in the shorts too.

petethedrummer

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I'm a little unsure now about doing this, really don't want to miss England v Germany. I suppose that is just more motivation to get around quickly.

Hmmm, what would MC Hammer do?

bcmf

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I'm a little unsure now about doing this, really don't want to miss England v Germany. I suppose that is just more motivation to get around quickly.

Mr. Voodoo
roll out at 10am. 3hrs 20 to complete brings you to 13.20. 20mns arsing around at the finish brings you to 13.40. APPROX 1hr-1hr 20 to get back to the Southside leaves you at 14.40-14.50. Loadsa time

RobFowl

bcmf wrote: »

Mr. Voodoo
roll out at 10am. 3hrs 20 to complete brings you to 13.20. 20mns arsing around at the finish brings you to 13.40. APPROX 1hr-1hr 20 to get back to the Southside leaves you at 14.40-14.50. Loadsa time

I take it you're in BCMF

penexpers

bcmf wrote: »

Mr. Voodoo
roll out at 10am. 3hrs 20 to complete brings you to 13.20. 20mns arsing around at the finish brings you to 13.40. APPROX 1hr-1hr 20 to get back to the Southside leaves you at 14.40-14.50. Loadsa time

I hear they have drinking establishments with television sets in Dundalk.

RobFowl

penexpers wrote: »

I hear they have drinking establishments with television sets in Dundalk.

I believe you're thinking of Newry and Drogheda.

Dundalk I believe is a "dry" town where all spare time is spent watching comely maidens dancing at crossroads.

bcmf

RobFowl wrote: »

I take it you're in BCMF

hate to tempt fate but looking good so far....even cleaned the bike and washed my handlebar tape in anticipation. we need to work out 'logistics'

RobFowl

bcmf wrote: »

hate to tempt fate but looking good so far....even cleaned the bike and washed my handlebar tape in anticipation. we need to work out 'logistics'

Gold bar tape I hope

bcmf

dear god no. gold bar tape with white bars and black stem !!

LCD

penexpers wrote: »

I hear they have drinking establishments with television sets in Dundalk.

This is a complete lie! We are all dedicated athletes here in Dundalk, not only do we not drink we don't even have time to watch TV as we are too busy training or recovering from training!:)

furiousox

bcmf wrote: »

dear god no. gold bar tape with white bars and black stem !!

It'll go well with your medal!

furiousox

LCD wrote: »

This is a complete lie! We are all dedicated athletes here in Dundalk, not only do we not drink we don't even have time to watch TV as we are too busy training or recovering from training!:)

......and listening to The Corrs......:P

barrabus

I Can give lift from Dublin if anyone in need.

AstraMonti

What a hammerfest! More to come later, I did it in 3:14mins with an average of 31.7 kms/h and a gold medal . Very happy with my self especially for the last 30kms that mysteriously my legs came back to life. Most of the these kms myself and a swords guy were leading a 20people group who were too lazy to come infront, if he is here, good job lad! Seems that I am slowly getting back in form. I saw a lot of boardies, Dirk (ofc :P), Taxman, Blowfish, bcmf, el tel, penexpers, peter(?), and a couple more that I can't remember now (apologies!). Was good fun, especially the heavy heavy rain after the climb lol.

RobFowl

AstraMonti wrote: »

What a hammerfest! More to come later, I did it in 3:14mins with an average of 31.7 kms/h and a gold medal . Very happy with my self especially for the last 30kms that mysteriously my legs came back to life. Most of the these kms myself and a swords guy were leading a 20people group who were too lazy to come infront, if he is here, good job lad! Seems that I am slowly getting back in form. I saw a lot of boardies, Dirk (ofc :P), Taxman, Blowfish, bcmf, el tel, penexpers, peter(?), and a couple more that I can't remember now (apologies!). Was good fun, especially the heavy heavy rain after the climb lol.

Twas I .

I curse those wheelsuckers as well ............

Well done BTW though with 20k to go we wouldn't make it

cdaly_

I think they fell off and ran away with a canoeist...

Met a couple of boardsies before the off. Blowfish, Astramonti, DirkVoodoo, Godihatedehills, ElTel, Penexprs and probably more. 15 minutes later I got to watch them disappear into the distance and that was the last I saw of most of them.

We rolled out for about 4km to the official start (nice pace of about 35kph) and then were split into gold / silver / bronze groups for the start (naturally I was in the gold group). Started out at 10.20. Clock doesn't stop so must be home by 13.40. Pace jumped up to about 40kph almost instantly. I put in the effort but found myself drifting backwards every time we met an upward-sloping bit of road. Still, I hung on for a bit before I ended up solo for a while.

A roundabout slowed a small group in front so I managed to chase them down (yay aerobars) and latch on. Pushed on for a bit and managed to hook up with another group of 5 or so including Astramonti and Godihatedehills.

With a group of 11 or 12 we got a rotation going and pushed the speed up to 40 and better at times. Scary riding in a close group (only my second time) so close to wheels in front (had a few wheel overlaps to learn to deal with smoothly). At one point somebody crashed and dropped out with a buckled wheel.

Regrouped and went on. I managed to put in my share of the work though I did notice the speed dropping a bit when I was at the front. Godihatedehills and another rider put in a lot of pace picking up work dragging the rest of us along. We lost another rider to a blowout somewhere south of Dundalk. Pace for the first 50km was about 35kph.

Then we hit the hill. Bang. I struggled manfully up in 30x28 while watching the rest of the group float feather-like upwards. Needless to say that was the last I saw of them.

I managed to maintain about 10kph up the hill with 2 stop-and-gasp-for-breath minutes on the way while getting passed by the front of the silver group. Finally got to the top and got moving again until - Bugger! More hill! Struggled on up and this-time-finally got to the top. Nope, not stopping, straight into the descent...

And the rain started... It had been lovely up to this, decent bit of cloud about to keep it a bit cooler, something of a southerly wind helping as we headed north. Now a shower pissed down on me, Big lumps of raindrops with some hail (though that may just have been 60kph raindrops). Aw bugger. Can't do the descent flat out though that may have been just as well 'cos I don't know that road. Made it down to the bottom with about 3 others as the rain cleared and we turned south...

Straight back into the same bloody shower! Pushed on in a semblance of a group though we broke up after not too long so I ended up solo for a while. Met up with a few and a group formed but the pace wasn't going to get me home in time so I broke out and went solo.

Pretty much solo for the rest of the way. Aerobars made a big difference there. Started doing my calculations. I had lost about 5kph of pace on the hills so I was down around 30 - 31 kph. Worked out I had 22km to go with about 50 min to do it so I was pushing on. As I went on, the recalculations did also. Looking good (but only just). I needed about 27kph and was managing about 29-30. Funny though, the signs for Dundalk generally said about 2km more than I calculated but I put that down to the bypass rather than the centre.

Around the last 10km things started to get sore. Regular shifting of position on the saddle. 5km to go and I had 12 minutes left. Fair enough, 25kph is doable. Still managing 28-29kph. Finally the bypass came in sight. Got to the roundabout with 1km to go and 4 minutes. Turned left and smacked into a stiff headwind. OW!.. Pushed on, head down, embracing the pain and the 100km ticked over with 1 min to go.

Yes! I had done it! Now where's me medal?...

Sh1t! Where's the finish? I remember more bypass than this on the way out? I remember resetting the computer at the start. Oh bugger! That was before the rollout but I'm sure I reset it again at the real start didn't I? Oh no, couldn't be!...

So I fought the stiff headwind own the bypass for another 4km and rolled across the finish at 13.50. 3h30 for an average of 28.8kph and a max of 60.8kph.

Clutching my silver medal I downed 2 cups of coke, 1 cup of tea and a handful of fruit cake. Not a boardsie in sight except for Blowfish who had to wait 'cos his gear was in my car...

Now I know I was correct in my decision regarding the WW200 - Feck no, I'm no climber...

Grand fun all the same.

Things I learned today:

1. A frozen bidon takes about 3 hours to thaw (luckily I had taken them out of the freezer at 07.00)
2. More aero is drier (relatively speaking) when you're descending in the pissings of rain...

penexpers

Bronze for me. Had a bad mechanical up the mountains and had to wait for my lovely wife to bring a spanner to get sorted. Thought the stretch from Omeath inwards was a killer with the wind. Nearly gave up many times a long there ( I was flying solo at that stage ). Great day overall. Will be back next year. On to Kerry next week

keano007

AstraMonti wrote: »

What a hammerfest! More to come later, I did it in 3:14mins with an average of 31.7 kms/h and a gold medal . Very happy with my self especially for the last 30kms that mysteriously my legs came back to life. Most of the these kms myself and a swords guy were leading a 20people group who were too lazy to come infront, if he is here, good job lad! Seems that I am slowly getting back in form. I saw a lot of boardies, Dirk (ofc :P), Taxman, Blowfish, bcmf, el tel, penexpers, peter(?), and a couple more that I can't remember now (apologies!). Was good fun, especially the heavy heavy rain after the climb lol.

I came in at 3:13mins so I persume I was also in this group you apparently lead all the way. I don't think this is such a fair comment unless you were ahead of the group because I certainly suffered VERY MUCH when i took my turn at the front.

But then again maybe we weren't in the same group.

Blowfish

That was fun . The group at the front averaged about 42km/h up until the hill. I've no idea how I stuck with them at that pace, never mind taking a turn at the front a few times. I've only been in a proper group ride the once before and despite spotting some dodgy cycling, the pace we were able to do is making me tempted to join a club.

The hill itself split everyone up completely, I somehow ended up on my own for the next 10k. Ended up in a group of 4 eventually which helped for the next bit, but with 25k to go, I ended up dropping 2 of them and the third was struggling a bit, so left me at the front for the majority of the rest of it.

Still, rolled home in 2h 50, which I'm pretty happy with considering it was only my second sportive.

AstraMonti

Sorry keano I didn't want to sound like a twat or a hero, apologies for that, I was quite edgy at that point and was doing math at my head how much we need to push to be on time. I was in a Boards jersey and Rob was in a swords one and I as said myself and him shared most of the load in the front, there was a guy with a blue planetx who tried to help and another with a clear rain jacket that took his turn close to the end before the left turn. I don't remember anyone else, maybe Rob can help, so apologies again.

baap86

My first ever sportive and my first group cycle. Met someone else who is doing the Dublin - Paris cycle and as we knew we were going to be horrendously slow, we decided to concentrate on time in the saddle instead of speed. (in 3 weeks time we'll be doing 100km+ per day for 5 straight days). We took a leisurely pace and came in 5 hours after setting off. I reckon i coulda done it in 4 but was slowing so my companion could keep up. On a plus, I made it 'almost' all the way up the hill. Am i chuffed with myself? Yes I am!!
However, i may have to be surgically removed from this sofa and I may never move again.

rigal

@keano - I think you might have been in the same group as me. I caught up with a gang of about 12 or so about 25kms from home and we all worked well together with everyone putting the effort in.

This was my second sportive, did the WW100 a few weeks back, and I had a great day out. I started with the Gold group but soon knew that 40kmph+ was too quick for me. Ended up in a group of four for the first 30kms and then two fell behind. Myself and the other guy worked seriously hard and thankfully formed a bigger group when we caught up with his club mates on the way into Dundalk. The quick silver group caught us in Dundalk and I stayed with them up the hill but had to stop in Carlingford for liquids. Happy to say I dug deep as I spent about 15 kms in no-mans land and finally caught up with a group. Finished in 3:17 so delighted to get the gold medal. Looking forward to ROK now..:)