A few questions on the etape hibernia

smacl

Myself and my sister have entered in the etape hiberia this august, having enjoyed the Wicklow 100 earlier in the year, and looking to progress. Having re-read the rules, I noticed the following;

No bicycle, tandem or other machine, conventional or otherwise, is permitted to have unconventional handlebars including triathlon bars, aero bars, clip-ons, prayer bars, and cow bars. Neither is Spinachi type bars permitted. However, ATB bar ends are permitted on mountain bikes.

Now my bike is a Kellys Neos hybrid, and my sisters is a Dawes (not a racer) though she may borrow a proper road bike for the event. Does the Neos have unconventional handlbars as described above?

Cyclists must adhere to the minimum average speed of 14mph. Cyclists falling behind this will be given the option of returning to Ennis in the sweep vehicle or can complete the course on open roads, having handed in their timing chip and race number to the sweep vehicle.

So given 84 miles (have these guys not heard we use kilometres in this country?) you have to finish the course in 6 hours. I did 115k through sally gap, blessington, wicklow gap yesterday (see route attached), with in a pretty woeful 6hr20min, albeit getting lost and having to check the map a few times. Now I reckon the extra climbs should make up for the 20k difference in distance, but I probably still need to up the speed to complete in time. Any tips for getting that tiny bit of extra pace over another 4 weeks of training? Just looking to complete in time and comfort, nothing fancy, and don't want to ditch the Neos.

TinyExplosions

The bikes will be grand, nothing wrong with the bars on them -it's more to deal with Time Trial type setups, which can be dangerous when used in a bunch.

As for the speed, I suspect you may be fine -if you get in with a group, you'll be pulled along a lit faster than you realise... either way, give it a go and see how you get on!

Lumen

smacl wrote: »

Any tips for getting that tiny bit of extra pace over another 4 weeks of training?

Practice eating on the bike.

Energy comes from: muscle/liver glygogen, fat burning, food. The first two can't be trained much over a short period, but if you neglect the last you'll bonk, which is the thing most likely to cause you to fail.

smacl

Lumen wrote: »

Practice eating on the bike.

Energy comes from: muscle/liver glygogen, fat burning, food. The first two can't be trained much over a short period, but if you neglect the last you'll bonk, which is the thing most likely to cause you to fail.

Heh, had to look up wikipedia for the meaning of bonk in this context. Can't see the missus being too pleased if i tried to explain to her that my slow time was down to bonking en-route, sportive or not

Been drinking mostly water and eating snickers bars and bananas to date, changing to isotonic sports drinks and energy bars should keep the glycogen levels ok. Might try the same route on better fuel this weekend.

Joxer_S

They had stated that the minimum speed was 14mph, and somewhere else had stated that it was 13mph, so I emailed them for confirmation about it and they told me, no, it's ...

13.5mph!