Wicklow 200 2013

jimm

The route for next year is now up on the W200 website http://wicklow200.ie/2013/routes13.shtml

On MapMyRide also http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/copy/151364415/

Major change is that Sally Gap is out and Wicklow Gap is in. That should avoid a repeat of the "Attack of the Glencree Midges"

It's on June 9th and 201.8km in total.

buffalo

Up the Gap, but no Turlough Hill? pfffft!

Cookie_Monster

And it reaches the 200km this time.

Laragh to Hollywood is a great stretch, good to see it going over there.

jimm

buffalo wrote: »

Up the Gap, but no Turlough Hill? pfffft!

Nothing to stop you doing Turlough when you get to the top of WG.

Be a shame not to.

jimm

Just noticed that the W200 ventures into Co Carlow for the first time. I think the route last year went straight eastwards at the 83km point to the 114km point (on MMR)

Staying on the main R747 we reach Dunlavin, after which we enter virgin territory for the event, visiting Co. Carlow and Hacketstown briefly, before turning north onto the narrow L3209 at Crosssbridge ( 3 Km or so before Tinahely) and climbing gradually through Knockananna to once again rejoin the customary route of the past few years at Mullin crossroads.

kencoo

This is one of the best known and popular sportifis in ireland.... please please please sort out the food stops for 2013. I was a real disaster for 11 &12.

Ole Rodrigo

+ 1. Carlow and Hacketstown have some lovely roads. 1835 meters over 200 km doesn't seem much..

Darkglasses

Thinking about entering (probably the 100, but maybe I'll be fitter by then!)

How long do you generally have to decide?

Ole Rodrigo

You can decide on the day

lizzylad84

kencoo wrote: »

This is one of the best known and popular sportifis in ireland.... please please please sort out the food stops for 2013. I was a real disaster for 11 &12.

what happened in 2011/12?

Darkglasses

ror_74 wrote: »

You can decide on the day

Sorry, what I meant was how long do I have to decide whether I want to enter? In other words, how long will it take to sell out?

Ole Rodrigo

Cant say for sure - it was sold out up to a month/ 6 weeks before on this years event, IIRC. Probably your best bet is to enter the 200 ( 40euro before April 9th , 45 after until May 17th ) and if you want to switch to the 100 on the day you can.

Darkglasses

ror_74 wrote: »

Cant say for sure - it was sold out up to a month/ 6 weeks before on this years event, IIRC. Probably your best bet is to enter the 200 ( 40euro before April 9th , 45 after until May 17th ) and if you want to switch to the 100 on the day you can.

Grand, thanks very much. I really think I'm going to do it!

Ole Rodrigo

You should, it has its critics, but it is good to do at least once. I did it last year and enjoyed it.

How suitable is the 200 event for a newbie cyclist?

Cookie_Monster

Connor White Chair wrote: »

How suitable is the 200 event for a newbie cyclist?

I did it 6 months after taking up road biking in terrible conditions in 2011 and managed it in a pretty respectable time.
It's not easy but should be doable if you've done a few 100km+ rides in advance.

Otherwise stick with the 100km one.

smacl

Connor White Chair wrote: »

How suitable is the 200 event for a newbie cyclist?

I did the 100 first year cycling, and the 200 for the last couple of years. If you start building up distance over the winter, you'll know well enough closer to the time. There's been a number of threads covering training programs here if you do a search.

How difficult depends a lot on the weather on the day. Last year was great weather and a really pleasant extended day out. 2011 was wet, stormy and cold and IMHO a pretty serious endurance test.

smacl

kencoo wrote: »

.. please please please sort out the food stops for 2013

I think this year we should all start bombarding the WW200 forum with cake recipes.

One_Time

ror_74 wrote: »

1835 meters over 200 km doesn't seem much..

It does sound a bit low. According to ridewithgps (which I find usually agrees a bit better with my garmin) it's just over 3,000m...

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1945641

seamus

There's a ~100m difference between Kippure and Wicklow Gap so that 1835 figure seems about right. It's typically ~2,000m over 200km.

Bobby_Kennedy

Seems to be a mistake on the WW200 website - the 200 route goes through Kiltegan after Baltinglass, not Dunlavin..

lennymc

anyone up for doing the evil 200 the day before?

michael196

Darkglasses wrote: »

Grand, thanks very much. I really think I'm going to do it!

Expect to see u in the bulring so, when u are back in Wexford !!!!!

Hmmzis

lennymc wrote: »

anyone up for doing the evil 200 the day before?

Souds like fun. I have the WW200 pencilled in the calendar. Would be nice to get the approval for the Evil200.

Ole Rodrigo

lennymc wrote: »

anyone up for doing the evil 200 the day before?

Just the one lap ? :pac:

g0g

lennymc wrote: »

anyone up for doing the evil 200 the day before?

Love to give it another bash and actually
a) complete it; and
b) not end up in a hedge this time
Turlough Hill should be included and remove some of them crappy backroads in the earlier part of the day.

ford2600

Whatever happen to that elephant shaped tour of knockmealdowns?

lennymc wrote: »

anyone up for doing the evil 200 the day before?

michael196

ford2600 wrote: »

Whatever happen to that elephant shaped tour of knockmealdowns?

roads are definitly still there.

ford2600

You sure?
I cycled a section 2 weeks ago which had road closure owing to a section being washed away...
Between Clogheen and Araglin;)

michael196 wrote: »

roads are definitly still there.

mr spuckler

Connor White Chair wrote: »

How suitable is the 200 event for a newbie cyclist?

i did it 3 years ago after 3/4 months of training, none of that training was overly intense either. once you can do 120 / 130km in training you should be fine.

velo.2010

Might actually get around to doing this next year. Looks a better route too.

Slo_Rida

lennymc wrote: »

anyone up for doing the evil 200 the day before?

What's the evil200?

daragh_

lennymc wrote: »

anyone up for doing the evil 200 the day before?

G'wan then.

daragh_

Slo_Rida wrote: »

What's the evil200?

It's a low-key warm up for the W200. Gentle jaunt around the foothills.

seamus

Might consider the evil next year if we can get some more support crew.

I did say I wouldn't do the WW200 again. Tbh, the weather last year was so absolutely perfect that I don't think it can be matched again, so I'm going to be disappointed in all future WW200s.

michael196

Slo_Rida wrote: »

What's the evil200?

No SLO No !!!

lizzylad84

just out of curiosity, whats a respectable time for a relative novice cyclist to finish the 200k in?

victorcarrera

lizzylad84 wrote: »

just out of curiosity, whats a respectable time for a relative novice cyclist to finish the 200k in?

I would guess that most people of average weight on a racing bike are capable of getting themselves fit enough to do it in 8 to 10 hrs moving time.

smacl

lizzylad84 wrote: »

just out of curiosity, whats a respectable time for a relative novice cyclist to finish the 200k in?

First year I did it, it took me 11 hours start to finish, albeit on a heavy hybrid. About an hour of that would be breaks and queuing, so about 10 hours pedalling. I was about an hour faster on the road bike last year, but would tend to be slower on the bike than most.

michael196

Forget the time, your goal is to finish. then improve that time next year.

impossible to predict as only you know ur fitness.

t'bear

My first year having a bash at this, dont care how long it takes as long as I finish it with life and limb in tact.

smacl

michael196 wrote: »

Forget the time, your goal is to finish. then improve that time next year.

impossible to predict as only you know ur fitness.

And to enjoy it, its not a race*. Certainly a mistake to try and get a good time first time doing this type of challenge, as you could find yourself flagging before you've hit the tougher climbs.

* that's my excuse for crap times, and I'm sticking to it.

ASeoige

t'bear wrote: »

My first year having a bash at this, dont care how long it takes as long as I finish it with life and limb in tact.

Personally, I would get a couple of 100K sportives done first before attempting the 200K. Last year did the WW100 in 5.5 hrs, the SKT100 couple of months later in 2hrs 50 rolling. Both events so differently run. It does make you wonder what the WW organisers do with the money, a tin badge from China, crap food and can't even organise water at the Baltinglass stop last year. Not sure if there are introducing timing chips this year. GLWT. The SKT is way better run but it still represents a challenge I guess and I think there is a bit of a masochist in every cyclist..hehe:D

lizzylad84

where are the food stops located km wise?

michael196

key advice here:

forget queuing at the W200 foodstops. W200 is a pretty big event numbers wise. To wait in a queue for 30 minutes to recieve a limp sambo also as u cool down during the wait, is just not worth it.


What is highly recommended is to make ur stop in the same village as the main stop, get urself to a garage , buy a bit of food or coffee/ tea or to have with ur own food. then sit out in the summer sunshine, with the others and enjoy ur snack as u watch the ever increasing queue for the 'official' food stop.


smaller stops at the top of aughavannagh and glenmalure are not so crowded as , cyclists will arrive in dribbles only at that stage.

ASeoige

michael196 wrote: »

key advice here:

forget queuing at the W200 foodstops. W200 is a pretty big event numbers wise. To wait in a queue for 30 minutes to recieve a limp sambo also as u cool down during the wait, is just not worth it.


What is highly recommended is to make ur stop in the same village as the main stop, get urself to a garage , buy a bit of food or coffee/ tea or to have with ur own food. then sit out in the summer sunshine, with the others and enjoy ur snack as u watch the ever increasing queue for the 'official' food stop.


smaller stops at the top of aughavannagh and glenmalure are not so crowded as , cyclists will arrive in dribbles only at that stage.

+1 on that. I brought along my own sandwiches last year and after loading up on Carbs.....one triple sambo in foil cut into little pieces was plenty for the 100, plus it is food your accustomed to eating. The gels can be very hard on the stomach so I just add honey and salt into my bottles. Those way stay can get jammers. I love the break and chat but if you wait too long in a queque you can get lethargic and many more miles to go.:rolleyes: On the 200 the first stop is 80 k in at Baltinglass and on the 100 circa 45 km at Rathdrum. They seem along way away given that you pretty much into ascents before that.

ASeoige

A tenner in your pocket for the shops and you will be sorted.;) It makes sense to stop at Rathdrum because the only deceptive hill I found on the wicklow, (the rest pretty much known entity) was out from Avoca just after the rest stop, it seemed to go on forever and ever. It was supposed to be like approx 3km long but I was still climbing 10k later. I thought the bastard would never end...looool

Eamonnator

ASeoige wrote: »

A tenner in your pocket for the shops and you will be sorted.;) It makes sense to stop at Rathdrum because the only deceptive hill I found on the wicklow, (the rest pretty much known entity) was out from Avoca just after the rest stop, it seemed to go on forever and ever. It was supposed to be like approx 3km long but I was still climbing 10k later. I thought the bastard would never end...looool

That climb out of Avoca is actually 25Km. and the gradient is close to 20%.
It's a hoor.

smacl

Eamonnator wrote: »

That climb out of Avoca is actually 25Km. and the gradient is close to 20%.
It's a hoor.

Erm, actually from [url=http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=505730
]Avoca to the top its 4k[/url], with 152k of elevation gain, giving an average of 4%. I don't think it hits 10% at its steepest, but I'm open to correction.

Eamonnator

smacl wrote: »

Erm, actually from [url=http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=505730
]Avoca to the top its 4k[/url], with 152k of elevation gain, giving an average of 4%. I don't think it hits 10% at its steepest, but I'm open to correction.

No, no no. I've rechecked and that climb is 35K long and the gradient is 23%.

ASeoige

Eamonnator wrote: »

No, no no. I've rechecked and that climb is 35K long and the gradient is 23%.

Looooooooooool. I guess the story get longer in the retelling. I do not care what those charts say, all I know is that looking at my computer, and up until that point every other hill was pretty accurate at to distance/ gradients, Avoca just seemed to go on and on. :mad: