Orwell Sportive 2010 August 15th

tawfeeredux

velo.2010 wrote: »

I joined up with Aussie Chris initially then two other lads joined us and we made good progress along rolling roads.... As we got into suburban areas, I was a good lad and tried to obey traffic lights but the other lads kept going.

The two other lads mite have been myself & Eoin (Vacansoleil & Sky jerseys). I may have been responsible for the traffic-light breaking - I usually always obey them, but was suffering & just wanted to finish up & go home.

manwithaplan wrote: »

The problem I had was that I was getting pain in my mid back and I couldn't take deep breaths (I can still feel it now in back and ribs). This slowed me down a lot on the rolling roads and I didn't really recover until near Enniskerry.

hey manwithaplan, nice chatting to you on the descent from sally Gap, sorry to hear about your back problems. Just wondering, when you made the adjustments from your bike-fit, did you do it all in one go? I think there was a thread on here recently about bike-fitting where people were suggesting that you gradually adjust the set-up, as your body will adapt better to small increments in saddle/bar height, etc. Just a thought...

Planet X wrote: »

Rathdrum to Roundwood. Little ring big ring little ring big ring little ring big ring little ring big ring...............................


.........little ring big ring little ring big ring........

Arragh, just leave it in the big ring & grit your teeth man:D


This was my 4th sportive in the last 4 weeks, but my first time back in the Wicklow hills since the W200, so it was a lot tougher than I would have hoped.

Day didn't start great when I went over the handlebars on the climb out of Enniskerry. My pump came loose from the frame bracket, got wedged between the front wheel & fork, stopping the wheel stone-dead & flipping me over the top. Have to thank all who stopped to see if I was ok (which aside from from bruising on my hands I was), & to the guy who retrieved my water bottle as it rolled down the hill! Front wheel was stuck so had to wait for broomwagon which wasn't long in arriving & Stephen(?) helped me wrench it free. Thankfully no immediately apparent damage done to bike either so kept going.

Soon noticed however that on the steeper sections, my gears were slipping, especially in the larger sprockets. Stopped to adjust my handlebars which had been knocked out of place by the fall, & thought that might sort out the gears too as I figured the cable tension would have been affected, but gears kept slipping. Not nice on the Wall.

Kept going anyway, passed an Orwell lady going up Djouce who had stopped in Enniskerry, she seemed happy to see me back on the bike - thanks Orwell lady!

Meet manwithaplan (there is no plan apparently!) coming down from the Sally Gap, discussed the Dubs prospects for next week. Got to the Shay Elliott climb & foolishly decided to stay with a guy from Orwell who hammered his way all the way up. I barely hung on until he eased off a bit towards the top & I managed to get alongside him for a bit before the descent. Chatted with him for a bit until the food-stop & he gave me plenty of encouragement to have a go at the racing for next season.

All sportives should have carrot cake at food stops. Should be part of UCI rules or something.

From there to Sandyford, it was hard. Legs were sore, the effort up Shay Elliott was really telling. Eventually grouped up with a couple of guys (Eoin in the Team Sky, and a lad in a blue jersey who I was talking to in the clubhouse but whose name escapes me now). Then met Chris from Oz, and a guy in a Caisse D'Epargne (velo.2010 I think) & from there to the end it was tough.

Encountered a mad MTB'er around Kilternan who shot past us with a flat back tire even though we were fairly trucking along, we caught him again & he did a few stints with us til we got to Lambs Cross where he turned off. Did a good bit at the front & Chris & Eoin thanked me at the end for it, but I honestly had to as I was struggling to hold their wheels when they went ahead. dunno was it tiredness or my concentration being off after the fall or what.

Anyway, sat down to dinner, which was very impressive. For a second I thought we may have accidentally walked in on a conference set-up, but no, it was for the hardy cyclists.

Overall, a tough but enjoyable day out. Well done to the marshals & to the ladies and gents in the support vehicles. Will definitely try to be back next year:).

tawfeeredux

lafors wrote: »

...we waited at the food stop for one lad who missed the turn after shay elliott and went up to the top of slieve mann and then realised he went the wrong way

that's one hell of a wrong turn!

manwithaplan

tawfeeredux wrote: »

hey manwithaplan, nice chatting to you on the descent from sally Gap, sorry to hear about your back problems. Just wondering, when you made the adjustments from your bike-fit, did you do it all in one go? I think there was a thread on here recently about bike-fitting where people were suggesting that you gradually adjust the set-up, as your body will adapt better to small increments in saddle/bar height, etc. Just a thought...

Nice talking to you too - good to meet a fellow GAA enthusiast. I followed you up the Shay Elliott and was near enough to you and the Orwell guy at the top (there was a guy in a Rabobank jersey between us) but you descended away from me. You're probably right about the bike fit. In fairness, today's gig was a bit extreme for the first run after a set up change. Possibly should have stopped and made a few adjustments. I felt great up to the food stop with plenty of power so I'll leave it as it is for the moment as I won't be doing anything comparable for a while.

I'm not surprised you were one of the early finishers - well done.

Edit: Looking at the photos - it wasn't you I was behind at the top of the SE - you must have floated away into the ether by then!

FrankGrimes

Quality event and another great day to be out on a bike - some pretty the beautiful scenery along the way looking its best due to the sunshine. Great photos Straatvark! If you have shots focusing on the scenery, I'd love to see them.

Fair play to Orwell - I thought it was a very well run event: great marshalling and signage, quality tucker at the food stop and the end, and all managed with a smile on the face. Good people.

First 30k I was dropping back a few times to wait for my mate to see if he could get back on after it strung out on the first hill, like me he was having back pains. I got taken out coming down from a header in a match on Wednesday and didn't think I'd make this event. I was in serious pain from 30km to the waterstop at 42km: lower back core strength was non-existent and it was the closest in living memory I've come to putting a foot down on a climb and I was sure I'd be turning right at Sally Gap and heading home. Pride was both severely dented but also the only thing keeping me going and I also didn't want to disgrace the boards.ie jersey!

Don't know what where them Powerbar pixies came from, but I sure like their pixie juice: with stretches and energy drink in me, I got my legs back on the Sally Gap and blemmed it to Shay Elliott and I felt great going up it and reeled in a fair few: thought I was going to make it up unpassed, only for polaris to zoom by at a cracking pace.

As manwithaplan said, me him and polaris got a tidy group going out of the food stop, and we broke the back of that horrible road home quite well, till polaris' started using his nitros up the side of Djouce. No doubt about it: polaris is one to watch, great climber and plenty of power on the rolling terrain to boot.

Home in 5:13 rolling at 26.2kph with 40mins stopped - would've snatched your arm off for that if offerred it 30km in. 230w avg, 260w normalized. Was interested to see peak one hour was 267w avg with 300w normalized: really shows how unrelenting the terrain was.

Fair play to niceonetom for taking the sprint, good man! One of these days I hope to be around at the business-end to at least witness the action...

Gotta say, the smaller size group made for a much friendlier atmosphere than major sportives with plenty of chats along the way. If I do get time to join a club, it'd be hard to look beyond Orwell.

Quote of the day = Lumen pulling in at side of road just before The Wall with what looked like a dropped chain: "F**king SRMA b*ll*x". You could tell he loves it really though!

lafors wrote: »

Was in the last group to finish, we waited at the food stop for one lad who missed the turn after shay elliott and went up to the top of slieve mann and then realised he went the wrong way

That was my mate - he's seeing the funny side now but I'd say he was pretty miffed at the time, particularly given it was his first time up it and that side of Slieve Mann is a wench! Fair play for waiting for him lafors.

brayblue24

Great day well organised by Orwell. Very helpful marshalling to keep momentum going. I started to cramp after the food stop and couldn't get out of the saddle so got dropped by my oppo and a few more. Did the last 40km on my tod but got into a nice (if not particularly fast) ryhthm. Had to get out of the saddle just before Powerscourt House and both legs seized up from top to bottom. 5 minutes later and away again. Myself and Spyderski were almost creamed by a car coming out of Powerscourt House. Most people in Enniskerry heard the expletives hurled at him. Was happy to reach the Kilternan Hotel (scene of plenty of debauchery in the early 90s) as it was all downhill after that. Glad I wore the new Garda CC kit as the white was perfect for today's weather.

Well done Orwell, I'll be back next year.

chakattack

brayblue24 wrote: »

Great day well organised by Orwell. Very helpful marshalling to keep momentum going. I started to cramp after the food stop and couldn't get out of the saddle so got dropped by my oppo and a few more. Did the last 40km on my tod but got into a nice (if not particularly fast) ryhthm. Had to get out of the saddle just before Powerscourt House and both legs seized up from top to bottom. 5 minutes later and away again. Myself and Spyderski were almost creamed by a car coming out of Powerscourt House. Most people in Enniskerry heard the expletives hurled at him. Was happy to reach the Kilternan Hotel (scene of plenty of debauchery in the early 90s) as it was all downhill after that. Glad I wore the new Garda CC kit as the white was perfect for today's weather.

Well done Orwell, I'll be back next year.

My heart went out to you knowing that you had to work this evening.

I was eating and snoozing

brayblue24

chakattack wrote: »

My heart went out to you knowing that you had to work this evening.

I was eating and snoozing

I'd say it did alright. Left work just a tad early though. Well done, I believe you finished with my oppo. Good to meet you again.


**sorry for the duplicate post above. Don't know how that happened**

Beasty

brayblue24 wrote: »

**sorry for the duplicate post above. Don't know how that happened**

I have deleted the duplicate

You can delete your own posts - just go into the edit post option and there's a "delete post" option

Beasty

lafors

FrankGrimes wrote: »

That was my mate - he's seeing the funny side now but I'd say he was pretty miffed at the time, particularly given it was his first time up it and that side of Slieve Mann is a wench! Fair play for waiting for him lafors.

I think its thanks to him, I was going to give up at the food stop my back was in bits but one of the marshals persuaded me to do my back exercises while we were waiting on him, then he kept the push going the whole way home.

Legs are grand today, bit annoyed as I know I could have pushed harder if it weren't for my back. 6 days to recover and on to the Etape Hibernia. Anyone know what the climbing will be like on that? Comparable this event?

Straatvark

FrankGrimes wrote: »

Quality event and another great day to be out on a bike - some pretty the beautiful scenery along the way looking its best due to the sunshine. Great photos Straatvark! If you have shots focusing on the scenery, I'd love to see them.

Thanks Frank

Unfortunately there was not time to do landscapes - but at several places I wish I could stop & spend some time with a tripod - Sallygap is breathtaking this time of the year

neris

seems like there was few idiots in cars around yesterday. i was near the end of the group and at the lunch stop some idiot in an audi came flying by and was the screech off bike brakes a second later, thankfully they werent taken off the bikes

Caroline_ie

The cakes were nice, I only had a piece of cheese cake at the food stop and a cup of tea, I think I should have had more but I miraculously made it to the end and dropped my gel while attempting to eat it on the decent from Djouce on the way back... (note to self not to eat gel while descending )

The end meal was a bit over the top, and there was no tea !! I only had a bit of cold pasta and bread ... I am not good at eating a big hot meal straight after a long spin.

I would have just prefered barm brack and tea at the end of the cycle tbh.

The Orwell touring group were brilliant though, must get out with them more often.

It was a great day out. I still hate climbing. Great to see you all again

By the way niceonetom won it.

niceonetom

FrankGrimes wrote: »

Quote of the day = Lumen pulling in at side of road just before The Wall with what looked like a dropped chain: "F**king SRMA b*ll*x".

Followed by many cries from surrounding riders: "He's Sclecked his chain! Attack!!!"

godihatedehills

I'm delighted to read all the positive feedback. One thing I realised from this sportive is that when you know those involved you realise a little bit more how much effort goes into organising it. Thanks to all the Orwell crowd who took their day out to marshall, man the (wonderful) foodstops, take photos and even hand out orange segments.

I thought the gruelling route, the fab weather and no less than FOUR types of cake made for a brilliant day. I had forgotten how sociable a good sportive can be. Great to catch up with loads of boardsies, including Lukester who I thought had fallen off the face of the earth

Also, anyone who did it as their first sportive, wow, just wow, because it was a killer!

manwithaplan

My quote of the day was when Polaris' tyre disintegrated on the way up to Glencree. He had no choice but to stop fairly suddenly, which prompted a few grumbles from those forced to take evasive action. His tube then blew out, making a loud bang. Some guy passing said "there was no need to shoot the f****r".

Lumen

niceonetom wrote: »

Followed by many cries from surrounding riders: "He's Sclecked his chain! Attack!!!"

Was dropping my chain all day yesterday. I am the worlds laziest bike mechanic.

Thanks to whoever it was who pulled me up the road as I vainly tried various combinations of cadence and lever fiddling.

la calera

There is always going to be idiot Sunday drivers around Wicklow on a Sunday - not sure why Orwell picked a Sunday over Saturday to hold the event. But it was a great day out. Thoroughly enjoyed it - apart from the hills :eek:

Really good food at the food stop (but would have liked a few more bananas and power bars along the way). Food at finish was great – beef stroganoff or chicken curry, lots of salads, bread - eat as much or little as you wanted, you can't complain at that!!

Orwell members and marshalls were really helpful and encouraging even if one poor cyclist did get sent up the Shay Elliot (thank God it wasn't me as my legs were shot at that point). Well done to all who worked at it.

Esroh

lafors wrote: »

6 days to recover and on to the Etape Hibernia. Anyone know what the climbing will be like on that? Comparable this event?

Nothing in Clare compares to the climbs you did

lukester

godihatedehills wrote: »

including Lukester who I thought had fallen off the face of the earth

Nah, just life away from cycling got very busy for a few months there Also had to shelve my nascent racing ambitions for a bit, which made me sad.

Forgot to say, I was envying Lumen's pure sugar nutrition strategy at one point yesterday. I felt seriously queasy after lunch- my own damn fault, just couldn't resist the carrot cake on top of a sandwich. Diet of a fly FTW.

polariz

This was my first event and what a great one to start with! Very well organised, marshalling at all the right spots, plenty of nice food during and after and a nice bunch of people along the way. The carrot cake was lovely but lets be honest manwithaplan, it's all about the icing

I thought I was going to be back home by ten when I had a major blow out approaching Glencree, my tube and then tyre exploding in spectacular fashion so a big big thank you to the first line support team for attempting to bundle me into the car, reassuring me I would have much better craic anyway and then to John in the broomwagon who came shortly after and just gave me a new wheel to minimise my lost time... 10 mins maybe. I really didn't want to do the course on my tod so I tried to push on to catch up but didn't see a soul till I arrived at "The Wall" which thankfully did it's job, forcing people to slow down for me and woke my sleepy legs up as well. It was all good from there on in with Wicklow looking it's very best on what was a savage day..

Back to base in : 05:10:02, Avg Speed: 25.5 km/h, Max Speed: 65.1 km/h, Elevation Gain: 1,895 m

Cheers for the comments Frank Grimes but as I think I said to you, I don't think it takes much power to get my skinny carcase up a hill This was my tester for the Sean Kelly which I was a bit apprehensive about but by all accounts I should be grand so really looking forward to that now. See you there!

Oh, almost forgot, after doing 130 around wicklow and still in one piece, would you believe it, I got knocked of my bike on Dame street on the way home! This fecker didn't look, didn't indicate and turned in on me up at the castle.. "You couldn't have beaten me from the lights" being his defence!? "Well here I am lying on the ground so I guess I did, you f*cking idiot" being mine. Annoyed but unharmed, in hindsight, maybe I should have just taken that lift I was offered

+1 for the "No need to shoot the f**ker" quote of the day

Ghosty669

la calera wrote: »

There is always going to be idiot Sunday drivers around Wicklow on a Sunday - not sure why Orwell picked a Sunday over Saturday to hold the event. But it was a great day out. Thoroughly enjoyed it - apart from the hills :eek:

Really good food at the food stop (but would have liked a few more bananas and power bars along the way). Food at finish was great – beef stroganoff or chicken curry, lots of salads, bread - eat as much or little as you wanted, you can't complain at that!!

Orwell members and marshalls were really helpful and encouraging even if one poor cyclist did get sent up the Shay Elliot (thank God it wasn't me as my legs were shot at that point). Well done to all who worked at it.

Hey la calera, the reason we picked the Saturday was that we were hoping that the roads might be quieter than a Saturday but its something we can think about next year.

Ghosty669

Caroline_ie wrote: »

The cakes were nice, I only had a piece of cheese cake at the food stop and a cup of tea, I think I should have had more but I miraculously made it to the end and dropped my gel while attempting to eat it on the decent from Djouce on the way back... (note to self not to eat gel while descending )

The end meal was a bit over the top, and there was no tea !! I only had a bit of cold pasta and bread ... I am not good at eating a big hot meal straight after a long spin.

I would have just prefered barm brack and tea at the end of the cycle tbh.

The Orwell touring group were brilliant though, must get out with them more often.

It was a great day out. I still hate climbing. Great to see you all again

By the way niceonetom won it.

Sorry for the lack of tea and coffee at the end folks. We only realised that after about half of the riders had come through so quickly tried to sort that out. It's something we have down on to improve for next year along with having more water available on the tables.

Regarding the meal, Caroline : I'll make sure that I'll have some barm brack ready just for ya!

DirkVoodoo

Very enjoyable Sportive!

Was with Levitronix for the day, chatting about cars for the most part. I think the best part was heading up Lugalla, which normally is my least favourite approach to the Sally Gap but the weather and views were spectacular.

The food stop was really well done, but the mix of cheesecake and coke was tough on my stomach. Actually, I never drink coke when cycling and I think this was not the day to try it out. Of course, some people took the art of experimentation to new and crazy places.

From the feedstop we were joined by Lukester and Lumen so the rest of the day was pretty enjoyable. We weren't going super fast, just enjoying the day out (despite a few attacks from Lumen on the back roads into Roundwood).

Overall, if I may give it a rating and a slight critique (out of ten):

Route: 10
Food: 9 (tea and cake at finish trumps spicy hot curry)
Marshalling: 10
Facilities: 10

Best of luck with it next year, I can see it being very popular!

Me and Levitronix heading up Shay Elliot:



EDIT: Followed by this one of Lumen (the stealth bomber) getting the jump on myself and Lukester at the line:

levitronix

Last 400meters of every climb , click click -dirkvodoo attcks me :mad:

Planet X

Going up "The Wall" with Cadex (Swords)




Going up "The Wall"




Top of Elliott,

Leroy42

Yeah, it was a great day, well organised event.

Really liked the idea of the neutralised and mass rolling start, certainly added a sense of occasion to it and got everybody in the mood. I think this is a big thing lacking from the W200 for example.

Longest cycle since July so really struggled once we hit SE, thank god for the food stop. Don't normally spend too much time at the stops but needed 20 minutes just to stop the cramps. Spent the whole 50k home trying to stave off one cramp or the other, luckily the main climbs were behind us but it still hurt!

The grub laid on was fantastic, something for everyone. Chilled coke (a personal fav) water, tea/coffee, sandwiches and even cake!!My funeral won't be as well catered:D

Weather always makes or breaks an event like this, and it really played it's part.

Well done to Orwell for such a great event. Already looking forward to putting this in the calender for next year.

On the 'wall' first time to do this hill and not exactly rushing back for a second bite!!!

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velo.2010

Just looking at those pics again. Reminds me that myself and Patrick O'Brien fairly flew up 'The Wall'. Shame the photographer focused in on just him(though he was wearing Orwell gear)and I'm reduced to being cropped. Touch of the 'Jan Ullrich slightly wonky jaw breathing' about me.:eek:

manwithaplan

polariz wrote: »

Oh, almost forgot, after doing 130 around wicklow and still in one piece, would you believe it, I got knocked of my bike on Dame street on the way home!

You must have found a tyre from somewhere so!

ROK ON

la calera wrote: »

Food at finish was great – beef stroganoff or chicken curry, lots of salads, bread - eat as much or little as you wanted, you can't complain at that!!

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Food: 9 (tea and cake at finish trumps spicy hot curry)

Curry at a finish. Cant think of a nicer way to finish a hard 150k. Sounds like a good event.

buffalo

Leroy42 wrote: »

Yeah, it was a great day, well organised event.

Really liked the idea of the neutralised and mass rolling start, certainly added a sense of occasion to it and got everybody in the mood. I think this is a big thing lacking from the W200 for example.

But the W200 had ~2,000 participants, compared to maybe ~150 for this. I agree, it was a great way to kick off, but 2,000 cyclists in a group would not be pleasant!



Very happy with this moment - leading the way up the wall. I can't not brag.