gaelforce west 20/8/2011

hardCopy

3 stars (average)

former wrote: »

Hi,

I can't find this stuff. Can you post a link or more specific info. Thanks.

Here you go:
http://planetxireland.com/blog

Mr Freeze

3 stars (average)

On Gaelforce's Facebook page, about an hour ago they posted the following, hope this helps the few here looking for a place.

Anyone looking for accommodation, these guys have been in touch and still have some- Western Homes and Holidays

Bridge Street
Westport, Co. Mayo
098-50212

finlma wrote: »

Forecast for Saturday is wet and with all the rain this week its going to be fairly much a mud bath. Wouldn't like to be heading out in the last waves - the paths will be dug up.

It isn't far off a mud bath at the moment to be honest.

finlma wrote: »

Just noticed that the first aid kit is no longer on the list of mandatory kit.

That's odd, I would have thought that was one of the most important parts of the mandatory kit.

Peterx

nice info from Padraig there..

Straight up is quickest *if* you still have something in the tank otherwise definitely 100% take the path up.
Getting across the wet energy sapping bog at the start of the Croagh Patrick run will inform your decision - ie - if you walking across that runnable boggy ground you should be taking the path!

Taking the direct route down is the riskier faster option and ONLY justifiable if you are chasing a victory of some kind and have bouncy legs
ie : the race, beating your mates, your time from last year..et cetera..

trinewbie

Some good pointers there alright - fair play to Padraig.
Im assuming training wheels and gatorskins or similar are the way forward for everyone?

Peterx

It's a risk/reward decision which wil be informed by your weight and riding style.
Whatever about the wheels the tyres should almost definitely be tougher than racing tyres so gatorskins or equivalent.

If I actually owned racing wheels I'd be tempted to use them but I don't so the decision is easier for me..

Nem_e

Hi Guy's

I've a question I hope people who are familiar with the reek can help.

Last year I went up the path and had planned on taking the direct route down, unfortunately I was so focused on my foot work by the time I looked up to my right to take the direct line down I had gone too far so kept going and took the path back down (17mins).

This year again I’m hoping to take the direct line down, anybody got any pointers on when is the best point to cut direct for the bikes once you come down the cone? (Garmin routes would be good)

Rew

3 stars (average)

Im using Gatorskins on my MTB (don't have the luxury of 2 bikes). What PSI do people generally pump theirs to? I commute on mine and I've had a few pinch flats (one yesterday) with the tiers up at 80 psi.

TheTubes

4 stars (good)

Rew wrote: »

Im using Gatorskins on my MTB (don't have the luxury of 2 bikes). What PSI do people generally pump theirs to? I commute on mine and I've had a few pinch flats (one yesterday) with the tiers up at 80 psi.

Is there a recommended psi range on the outside of your tyre?

former

4 stars (good)

Enduro wrote: »

meanwhile, returning to the subject of GFW itself...

On shoe choice, I would agree that trail shoes are the best choice... but not hard-core mountain running shoes. There is a lot of road and trail in the race as well as the more gnarly stuff, so some compromising has to be done (My personal choice would be Columbia Ravenous for this race)

I was wondering, given all the rain there has been, whether this is still your advice? I was going to have a look at course on Friday and and make up my mind then - I have an old pair of innov8's I could use.

Rew

3 stars (average)

TheTubes wrote: »

Is there a recommended psi range on the outside of your tyre?

Yeah I think its 80-95 off the top of my head

Peterx

former wrote: »

I was wondering, given all the rain there has been, whether this is still your advice? I was going to have a look at course on Friday and and make up my mind then - I have an old pair of innov8's I could use.

Not to pre-empt Enduro's response but I wore the Ravenous for a 2.5 hour bog trot on Sunday and they were very slippy on the wet grass - on the other hand there is very little wet wicklow bog grass in Mayo

I was going to wear the ravenous for GF6 as they were ideal in the CLEC but now am probably going to use the inov8 Roclite 295 if it very wet. If it dries up a little I'll go with the Ravenous as they have more comfort for the road sections.
The other good shoe is the Salomon Speedcross 2 but it has not as much stability control as the ravenous due to it's higher and narrower heel section, it does however have better grip when new then other shoes (apart from the inov8 x-talon 225 which is probably too lightweight for all the road in this race)

Rusty Rothar

anyone know if they will be sending out registration e-mails this week? Cant remember if they did last year and dont have my original e-mail when I registered a while back

Ignore!! Just checked my e-mails and there it was waving at me!!

Rew

3 stars (average)

I'm in the 5.30am (7am at the start line) wave if any other boardies are in the same one be sure and say hello, ill be in a blue and black Orcca top.

Rew

3 stars (average)

Rusty Rothar wrote: »

anyone know if they will be sending out registration e-mails this week? Cant remember if they did last year and dont have my original e-mail when I registered a while back

I got an email from them this morning detailing the registration process and saying Race numbers will be available tomorrow night.

Mr Freeze

3 stars (average)

They sent an email with all the registration and race details this morning.

Mr Freeze

3 stars (average)

Rew wrote: »

I'm in the 5.30am (7am at the start line) wave if any other boardies are in the same one be sure and say hello, ill be in a blue and black Orcca top.

Same wave. Look for Blue/Black/Yellow Westport Covey Wheeler tops, there will be a few of us.

thehamo

3 stars (average)

Just out for my last cycle. Windy and rainy 32km loop around howth head. Legs feel good after it. Nerves are kinda kickin in now.

Anyone in the 7.30 wave?

Rusty Rothar

Was just going to wear a pair of normal runners, they did fine for me last year but the weather was decent, starting to worry a bit though for this saturday from looking at the forecast.

Anyone using normal runners or would it just be damn near impossible with normal running shoes? Do you think it would be worth getting a cheap pair of trail runners at this late stage?

former

4 stars (good)

thehamo wrote: »

Just out for my last cycle. Windy and rainy 32km loop around howth head. Legs feel good after it. Nerves are kinda kickin in now.

Anyone in the 7.30 wave?

I'm in the 7:30 wave too. I think there's a bunch of guards doing it for charity in the wave as well. There's an hilarious quote from Enda Kenny near the start of the forum about them.

triadventure

Invested in a pair of solamon for this years GF sick of slipping and had a lot of falls during the connemara rough diamond first cross country section said thats enough and decided to go with them. They are comfortable not for long road runs but comming down Croagh Patrick espically on grassy surfaces they are excellent i slipped a couple of times last year wearing runners this year on a few practices runs down CP no problems very assured grip.

Rew

3 stars (average)

former wrote: »

I'm in the 7:30 wave too. I think there's a bunch of guards doing it for charity in the wave as well. There's an hilarious quote from Enda Kenny near the start of the forum about them.

That's the 5.30am (7:00 am leaving the beach) wave

mdlb

4 stars (good)

salomon crossmax for me this weekend....

will these have enough grip????

not much choice at this stage anyway and will surely be a big improvement from my normal road runners last year!!!

latest check on the met website shows no rain for sat....fingers crossed!

Enduro

earsandasmile wrote: »

From what I can gather, GF Extreme will consist of the same initial run, hop into a kayak and head west along the fjord to a point on the northern shoreline. Then up Mweelrea before cycling to Croagh Patrick and continuing to Westport as per GF. The lady I spoke to, also mentioned a possible navigation aspect to the event too.
I was in touch with the organisers recently enquiring about the 24hour cycle challenge and had they any plans on running a event similar to the one they ran in 2010. Sadly they aren't.:(

Double shoite! Shame the 24 hour cycle isn't happening. It was a great event. The GF extreme sounds about as extreme as tiddlywinks Just a slightly longer version of GF.

Enduro

former wrote: »

Put some toilet roll in the bag - you'll be glad of it if you need it!

Possibly the most useful piece of advice in the entire thread

Enduro

Peterx wrote: »

It's a risk/reward decision which wil be informed by your weight and riding style.
Whatever about the wheels the tyres should almost definitely be tougher than racing tyres so gatorskins or equivalent.

If I actually owned racing wheels I'd be tempted to use them but I don't so the decision is easier for me..

+1 ... I'd say Peter and myself have 2 of the least snazzy bikes in field! Makes for very easy decision making. And I'd definitely put emphasis on riding style... it should be the biggest determining factor in how you tackle the GF course and what equipment you should use.

Enduro

Rusty Rothar wrote: »

Was just going to wear a pair of normal runners, they did fine for me last year but the weather was decent, starting to worry a bit though for this saturday from looking at the forecast.

Anyone using normal runners or would it just be damn near impossible with normal running shoes? Do you think it would be worth getting a cheap pair of trail runners at this late stage?

You could do it in normal runners. You'll have to be more careful on grassy/boggy ground, particularly when descending. Should be fine for roads, tracks and stoney ground though.

A good pair of trail runners are well worth having if you're going to be doing more off-road running. Not worth the expense if GF is a one-off though.

Peterx

Enduro wrote: »

+1 ... I'd say Peter and myself have 2 of the least snazzy bikes in field! Makes for very easy decision making. And I'd definitely put emphasis on riding style... it should be the biggest determining factor in how you tackle the GF course and what equipment you should use.

In fairness my bike is carbon framed with a 10 spd dura ace gruppo and hardy wheels- not exactly a knobbly mountain bike

djpm

Rusty Rothar wrote: »

Was just going to wear a pair of normal runners, they did fine for me last year but the weather was decent, starting to worry a bit though for this saturday from looking at the forecast.

Anyone using normal runners or would it just be damn near impossible with normal running shoes? Do you think it would be worth getting a cheap pair of trail runners at this late stage?

I've done it in normal runners 3 times, had new salomons 2 years ago (can't remember which model), literally went over on my ankles 6 times (4 left, 2 right, if I remember correctly!). You don't have time to break in new shoes at this stage. As an aside, my salomons are waterproof, which means when water gets in (and it will) it can't get out. So you end up carrying a load of extra weight on each foot. Squelch... Slightly injured and very little training done, but if I go ahead and do it on Saturday I'll use runners again. At least when they get wet the water drains out.

Rusty Rothar

Enduro wrote: »

You could do it in normal runners. You'll have to be more careful on grassy/boggy ground, particularly when descending. Should be fine for roads, tracks and stoney ground though.

A good pair of trail runners are well worth having if you're going to be doing more off-road running. Not worth the expense if GF is a one-off though.

Cheers, I'll stick with the runners so and if anything goes wrong I'll blame you!

Will probably do it next year again so will definitely look into trail runners more than four days before the race

dubrich

Rusty Rothar wrote: »

Cheers, I'll stick with the runners so and if anything goes wrong I'll blame you!

Will probably do it next year again so will definitely look into trail runners more than four days before the race

I bought a pair of HiTec trail runners recently and they destroyed my legs on a roadrun. I was thinking then just to wear an old pair of Nikes but they could be too wrecked after first run. Then started thinking about leaving the HiTecs at the bikes and wearing them for the rest of the race and leaving the Nikes with someone... this seems to be in the grey area of legality though as said above. Will decide on the day, but I looks like I'll stick with the Nikes for the whole race. Not ideal though.