Ring of Kerry 2013

Frere Jacques

I did my training last year on a hybrid, you don't need anything fancy to get training or for the ring for that matter. I did borrow a race bike two weeks before and the light weight and 100psi tyres meant I was flying after that. Stick with the hybrid till June, fabulous training.

michael196

hans_moleman wrote: »

Cheers mate appreciate the tips. To be honest I kinda jumped in at the deep end today, but didn't anticipate it being as long as it was! I'll sleep well tonight :P

Will stick to the flat surfaces in the short term. Also I've been using a hybrid bike up to now. Looks like I should be forking out on a racing bike Was looking at the Carrera Virtuoso which I know isn't great but I can't justify yet spending a lot on a bike. Maybe in the next year or two if I stick with it Anyway presumably my times should improve if I switch to a racer and the hard work I've put in with the hybrid should pay dividends?

Are there links on here to cycling clubs I'm in Cork (City) if anyone knows any good ones. Cheers :cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MugZOAdoWjY2012 ROK, accompanying a mate who is not a full year round cyclist: a few notable do's and dontstypical pace of the ROK for Hans to get used to now: avoid knapsacks: 8-9 hours of a knapsack straining ur back and shoulders will not be pleasant.aviod anything on a carrier: get ur essentials into the jersey pockets , and an under saddle bag, thats it, no more. attcah the pump to the frame2 water bottles: fill up when possible everytime: keep well hydrated, ur muscles need water to keep working. proper cycling shorts: dash of sudocreme in touch areasfimgerless gloves : 8 -9 hours of skin contact on handle bars and ur hands will be in bits.keep strain on the chain all the time, no freewheeling especially down hills. take off the rain jacket as soon as rain stops, store under the jersey,aviod big rain jackets that dangle down towards pedals and reach out to passing bikes.

hans_moleman

michael196 wrote: »

no freewheeling especially down hills.

Appreciate the advice. Why no freewheeling down hills? It's my favourite part

There's a lovely stretch after Moll's Gap on the way the Killarney, 3 or 4 miles downhill. I coasted down there yesterday. Needed to give my knees a break.

Do people really do the ROK on hybrids? Everyone I see on the road are using racers? I'll do my training on the hybrid but I think I'll need to get a racer for this event

michael196

hans_moleman wrote: »

Appreciate the advice. Why no freewheeling down hills? It's my favourite part

There's a lovely stretch after Moll's Gap on the way the Killarney, 3 or 4 miles downhill. I coasted down there yesterday. Needed to give my knees a break.

Do people really do the ROK on hybrids? Everyone I see on the road are using racers? I'll do my training on the hybrid but I think I'll need to get a racer for this event

event light pedaling downhill will propel you hundreds of meters more than freewheeling, also will keep the heart rate up, for when u need to start pedalig again.

michael196

Cork Clubs :http://www.cyclingireland.ie/Home/Club-List.aspx

Axel Lamp

funnights74 wrote: »

AFAIK They register for you and pass onto you the relevant documentation. When you turn up in killarney on the eve/day of the cycle give them these details and you will receive your event number.

The Charity will send on your tag/number - they register you so no need for you to queue up the night before/that morning to register

merdock

hans_moleman wrote: »

Do people really do the ROK on hybrids? Everyone I see on the road are using racers? I'll do my training on the hybrid but I think I'll need to get a racer for this event

Believe it or not I've seen people doing it on high nellys, and there's stories of middle aged women on mountain bikes passing fellas on racers up Coomakista!!

meercat

merdock wrote: »

Believe it or not I've seen people doing it on high nellys,

took this photo last year

hes some man

merdock

meercat wrote: »

took this photo last year

hes some man

That's quality meercat

thesimpsons

I'm doing 70-90km on a weekly sunday cycle on a hybrid but I'll probably buy road bike before ROK if the finances permit. I regularly pass one of my clubmates on the hills who has fab road bike but doesn't seem to be able do hills at all. I'll do ROK on the hybrid if I have to - only cycling since last Sept (badly want to do ROK after hearing all the hype after it last year)

merdock

thesimpsons wrote: »

I'm doing 70-90km on a weekly sunday cycle on a hybrid but I'll probably buy road bike before ROK if the finances permit. I regularly pass one of my clubmates on the hills who has fab road bike but doesn't seem to be able do hills at all. I'll do ROK on the hybrid if I have to - only cycling since last Sept (badly want to do ROK after hearing all the hype after it last year)

It's a great day out, especially when the weather is good!

BailMeOut

hans_moleman wrote: »

Do people really do the ROK on hybrids? Everyone I see on the road are using racers? I'll do my training on the hybrid but I think I'll need to get a racer for this event

I did the ROK on a Trek 7.2 hybrid last year with my brother in law who was also on a hybrid and it was perfectly fine. We both replaced the tyres with 28mm Continental sporttracs which make a huge difference. Also recommend you install handle bar stem extensions as you need a different handling position to avoid pins and needles.

What type of hybrid do you have?

hans_moleman

thesimpsons

BailMeOut wrote: »

I did the ROK on a Trek 7.2 hybrid last year with my brother in law who was also on a hybrid and it was perfectly fine. We both replaced the tyres with 28mm Continental sporttracs which make a huge difference. Also recommend you install handle bar stem extensions as you need a different handling position to avoid pins and needles.

What type of hybrid do you have?

thats what I'm on

BailMeOut

thesimpsons wrote: »

thats what I'm on

I put these Continental Ultra Sport tyres on my 7.2 and they made a huge difference. Best EUR30 I ever spent on this bike.

I use the 28mm but I think you can get the 25mm to fit too.

PandyAndy

I'll be doing the ROK on this beast... should be fun. The Ferrari red should make me go faster though, I think.

ratracer

What is the best time to head off on the ring to avoid the crazy busy times or is there a good time? If i'm on the road for 06.30 will there still be crazy long tail backs of cyclists? I will be starting in Killarney, cos thats where the hotel is. Thanks

BailMeOut

ratracer wrote: »

What is the best time to head off on the ring to avoid the crazy busy times or is there a good time? If i'm on the road for 06.30 will there still be crazy long tail backs of cyclists? I will be starting in Killarney, cos thats where the hotel is. Thanks

We started at 7:30 and it was grand. I would find out when breakfast is severed at your hotel and take it from there. Our hotel started serving breakfast at 6:30 so we had a big feed, drove over to the race course and took about 15/20 mins checking our bikes and gear before setting off.

Hotel we stayed in did a cyclist breakfast starting at 6am too (cereal, fruit, oatmeal....)

ratracer

Thanks BailMeOut,

Hotel reckon they'll be serving breakfast from 6, so hope to be on the road by 7 and back having a cool down drink in Killarney by 4

Craig06

I'll be out early enough as well and hopefully be back in early to enjoy the atmosphere. Maybe squeeze in a massage somewhere after the cycle.

funnights74

ratracer wrote: »

What is the best time to head off on the ring to avoid the crazy busy times or is there a good time? If i'm on the road for 06.30 will there still be crazy long tail backs of cyclists? I will be starting in Killarney, cos thats where the hotel is. Thanks

Most hotels serve early breakfast on the day 6 or 6.30 will be very common but check before hand.We started at 7 ish last year, even then when we got to the foodstops there were many hundreds in food and porta loo queues. This year we will leave it a bit later and use garages and shops on the route, Sneem in particular is always chaotic, even getting a bike through there is quite a chore, and if i remember correctly there was a physio/injury facility set up there last year.
It's a great day but it can be fairly chaotic so take it handy and enjoy is our plan.:D

hans_moleman

Screw the porta loos I'll be using the side of the road :cool:

PandyAndy

Does anyone know what is the total elevation/climb of the ROK cycle? Just curious.

BailMeOut

PandyAndy wrote: »

Does anyone know what is the total elevation/climb of the ROK cycle? Just curious.

Here you go

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/517061

Roger Hassenforder

Craig06 wrote: »

I'll be out early enough as well and hopefully be back in early to enjoy the atmosphere. Maybe squeeze in a massage somewhere after the cycle.

squeeze in your massage in Kenmare before Molls at the stop. Sets you up nicely!

Tourman

merdock wrote: »

Believe it or not I've seen people doing it on high nellys, and there's stories of middle aged women on mountain bikes passing fellas on racers up Coomakista!!

Not stories. Fact. Happened me the 1st time I took part. Just to make me feel better the nice lady told me she had never overtaken someone on the hills before.

:

hans_moleman

How bad is Coomakista? Molls Gap will be a nightmare near the end :eek:

funnights74

Both easyish climbs. Once you're in any bit of decent condition at all there should be no problem. Both are around 3-4% in gradient with molls gap being slightly longer.

kingdomlad

Coomakista is very handy. Molls Gap isnt bad either, only you have 85 miles in the legs before you tackle it. I usually find the final run into Killarney fairly tough after you get down off Molls Gap and Ladies View. But at this stage, i am usually thinking about the well earned pint or 2 in The Gleneagle Hotel!!!

BailMeOut

hans_moleman wrote: »

How bad is Coomakista? Molls Gap will be a nightmare near the end :eek:

Neither live up to the hype. It is the Sneem to Kenmare section that's the hardest IMO. It is a soul destroying, long, boring section and seems like the sign posts with distances to Kenmare get further away the more you cycle.