Tour de Kilkenny 2013 - Saturday August Bank Holiday weekend

goose06

great day lads thanks for everything, love the buff saves me buying one.

DD Mikasa

DD Mikasa wrote: »

The Woodstock climb out of Inistoige. Am on a revenge mission with that this year. Does anyone have the distance and gradient for that or even a profile?

Revenge complete. Dare I say I was actually comfortable going up there. By the big turn last year there was already alarm bells going off, this time I was still comfortable and breathing normally. Some lad even commented that "you're good on hills". The lost stone and a half fairly tells.

Great day out. Better buzz doing this than the ROK for me. that middle section is a great challenge. It'll be the 160k next year!

Thanks to everyone involved in the organising.

Seweryn

Just a quick thank you to all Organisers and people involved in the preparation of the Tour de Kilkenny. It must be one of the top cyclosportives in the country.

Can't put too many words, as I am barely on my feet, due to having very little sleep last night (just back from holidays). Had really nice ride, despite the weather. Thank you all that I met today, I enjoyed every chat with the Guys on the route. Hope you had a great time as well .

DirkVoodoo

Typically brilliant, marble city cyclers and all the volunteers should take a bow. The organisation, the profile stickers, melon, burgers, marshals, everything is well thought out and thoroughly appreciated. Everyone who rides a bike should get out, enjoy the route and support the event. The only disappointment was I didn't get to meet sr. Assumpta who I haven't' seen in years.

Met derealbadger (animal and poster boy for how cycling is good for everyone!), mb Lacey, tax man, the good captain, toblerone1978 and another MCC boardsie (lovely guy, can't remember name).

Great day, think my longest (or one of them) spin this year and aside from being over geared I felt OK. Hopefully will up the mileage after this.

JOHN_70

Great event - my second time doing it and it is definitely the best 160km sportive i've done. Thanks to all those involved.

Haldir

Chapeau to Marble City Cyclers on another impressive Tour. Naas CC were out in numbers and enjoyed both the 110km and 160km routes. Well done to all involved, a lot of work goes into organising these events and its nice to see it paying off with a large turnout and the charities reaping the financial benefit.

ashleey

The kind reviews will be much appreciated by the team after all their hard effort.

I am feeling really guilty for not being around to help out due to family holidays. I even had to go out on a cycle and upload to strava as proof.

Hope the weather held out.

Seweryn

ashleey wrote: »

Hope the weather held out.

Not really. It was just slightly better than last year. Very heavy rain in Kilmanagh, got soaked through completely.

Hope the holidays go well for you and the Family .

Mugser

Great, very challenging, 163k:P A big well done to the organisers, good marshalling, good sinage, good grub.

ashleey

Seweryn wrote: »

Not really. It was just slightly better than last year. Very heavy rain in Kilmanagh, got soaked through completely.

Hope the holidays go well for you and the Family .

Kilmanagh in the rain? Now that's a proper test. Especially from that direction and after 140k. Must have split the groups up!

borntobike

Well done to the organisers and friendly volunteers. The 160K was a real good test. This has the potential to get bigger and bigger going forward. 2025M of climbing!

Mugser

borntobike wrote: »

2025M of climbing!

Actually now that you mention the amount of meters of climbing, my strada data, which was taken from my garmin 510 unit, showed me doing over 2800m of climbing as opposed to other club members clocking about 1000m less than that Must stick a post in the garmin forum and see what comes back.

Seweryn

Mugser wrote: »

Actually now that you mention the amount of meters of climbing, my strada data, which was taken from my garmin 510 unit, showed me doing over 2800m of climbing as opposed to other club members clocking about 1000m less than that Must stick a post in the garmin forum and see what comes back.

That is interesting. Let us know the outcome. I did 2,192m on the day in total, but on the 160km route only - 2,067m.

derealbadger

my edge 810 had it as 1882m

Buzwaldo

Good day out. Got a bit burned by the early pace to goresbridge, over 35 kph average for the first hour! Too rich for my legs, so fell off the back and was more comfortable thereafter in a more 'sensible' group. (Spoke to some pf the stronger MCC lads after - said they did the 160 in 29 kph average!) Weather held up fairly well, esp for those on 110.
Saw a few boards jersies and chatted briefly with Dirk Voodoo - nice to put a face to a (prolific) poster. Sound guy, even if I feel a bit of a fraud as frequent lurker and infrequent poster.
Low point was the guy who had a 'simple' accident on the bridge in Bennettsbridge and ended up in an ambulance. Fair play to the US tourists who were behind him when it happened and directed traffic for about 45 mins.
Anyway event getting bigger and better and fair play to those on the committee who organised it (did pitifully nothing this year myself).

funnights74

I have done the 110 Km for the last 2 years, same bike, same computer. A garmin 700 Last year elevation gain 1.051 Mtrs. This year 1.254 Mtrs. 200 Meter difference.

borntobike

Mugser wrote: »

Actually now that you mention the amount of meters of climbing, my strada data, which was taken from my garmin 510 unit, showed me doing over 2800m of climbing as opposed to other club members clocking about 1000m less than that Must stick a post in the garmin forum and see what comes back.

I used a 510 as well which is even more bizarre!

andy69

funnights74 wrote: »

I have done the 110 Km for the last 2 years, same bike, same computer. A garmin 700 Last year elevation gain 1.051 Mtrs. This year 1.254 Mtrs. 200 Meter difference.

My figures are gone mad too - did the 110 as well (3rd year doing it....great day out by the way, well done to all in MCC!!), and this year I clocked 1306m climbing, last year only 737m!!!
Garmin 500 edge, same computer each time.

Doesn't it work somehow on air pressure or something for calculations, or is that just for the gradient as you're going along? seem to remember something in the manual, the one time I did scan through it

funnights74

funnights74 wrote: »

I have done the 110 Km for the last 2 years, same bike, same computer. A garmin 700 Last year elevation gain 1.051 Mtrs. This year 1.254 Mtrs. 200 Meter difference.

There was a software update around easter time and it's definitely being misbehaving since, I posted an enquiry on the feedback option on the garmin site but zilch.
I know they can lose signal under heavy foliage bit ffs 200 metres . I wasn't in the amazon rain forest.

Mugser

funnights74 wrote: »

There was a software update around easter time and it's definitely being misbehaving since, I posted an enquiry on the feedback option on the garmin site but zilch.
I know they can lose signal under heavy foliage bit ffs 200 metres . I wasn't in the amazon rain forest.

I wonder did the fact that I took the computer off the bike at the food stop and stuck it in my pocket make the difference..? And now that I think about it, it did flash up a notice that it had lost GPS signal inside the school.

derealbadger

Mugser wrote: »

I wonder did the fact that I took the computer off the bike at the food stop and stuck it in my pocket make the difference..? And now that I think about it, it did flash up a notice that it had lost GPS signal inside the school.

were you the guy on the roof of the school that might have been it

Bikerbhoy

funnights74 wrote: »

I have done the 110 Km for the last 2 years, same bike, same computer. A garmin 700 Last year elevation gain 1.051 Mtrs. This year 1.254 Mtrs. 200 Meter difference.

We re sinking .....

Mugser

derealbadger wrote: »

were you the guy on the roof of the school that might have been it

Busted!! :D Cos the concrete & tarmac play havoc on the shoe cleats.:P:P

The tax man

Thanks to Marble CC for another great day on the bike.Great marshaling and food stops as always. Good to meet Seweryn and catch up with DirkVoodoo and Captain H.:)

btw my Garmin 705 clocked 1,345m in elevation for the 110km route.

Captain Havoc

Thanks to everyone that showed up on the day and well done. I'll be putting up an "official" thank you at a later stage. The final figure of entries was 767, which is our biggest yet. We are delighted at reading all the comments here and keep them coming, as we do take what's written here into consideration (there's 4 boardsies on our committee).

I'm going to tell you about my Tour de Kilkenny. The first stage of planning this year's tour, started about a week after last year's, while everything is still fresh we have a review meeting about the good and the bad, which we dig up when we start to organise the tour proper about ten months later. Meeting are had, people are met and jobs are dished out. My own job was to mark and sign the route and after the a bit of shuffling around, on the day I would be driving the broomwagon which was very kindly given to us by Wall's Cycles in Kilkenny for the day. The weather was against us for the road painting and the last of it was done at midnight the day before, having started on Monday, if the weather had of been on our side, we would have been finished on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Going into the event, you never know for sure what's going to happen, I'm confident but still nervous, you know what can go wrong at these events. Once 9am comes, there's a relief as there isn't much you can do now, all the preparation and hard work is done and it's down to the cyclists and God from here. I know there's still the work to be done by everyone in their places but this isn't the first tour for most of the crew, so we've confidence in everyone's ability.

As we have to pick up the broomwagon at 9am on the morning, I decide the easiest and quickest way to get it, would be to cycle down town as getting through all the cyclists would be a task and also getting into Kilkenny at 9am is never the easiest. Before the off, I've given a guy a skewer, a back wheel, pumped up quite a few tyres and changed someone's pedals. I go get the van, Wall's have put a few tubes, chains, tyres etc... in the back. I meet the back marker at Goresbridge and I stop up the road to sort the van out.

I get a call to go to Copenagh as someone was a tangled chain, I see a guy descending, he's not pedaling, I'm thinking this could be my man, I give him a couple of beeps but he waves me through. I pass him but something doesn't seem right so I pull in front of a gateway to house. I ask the guy if he called about a tangled chain, he didn't but says he has a slow puncture, there wasn't a whole lot in the back wheel. I'm changing the tube when your man that owns the house comes out, "got a puncture? I've had a few them in me day. Is there an event on?" I tell him what's going on, he tells me "I did a bit of cycling myself back in the day, I rode the Rás in '57, '58 and '59 with my cousin", he told me his and his cousin's names but I can't remember them now, I stayed chatting to him for a bit. It was a bit random to break down outside the house of a man of the rás. No sign of the guy with the tangled chain.

Another call, this time a chain tangled on Woodstock, before Thomastown I see guy in off the road changing a tube, I come to a stop and reverse back to him, I change the tube but it goes bang, so I just give him the front wheel I had in the van and I stayed and repaired his. I got to Thomastown and explain to the waterstop who the back markers are, grab some supplies so I can give them to people who need them. On the way to Inistioge I see a guy pumping up his wheel, so again I pull in and finish the job for him. Another call, someone wants to be swept up at the top of Woodstock, I explain to HQ that they should text me as I've now got 16 voicemails. Missed calls, ringing them back, no answer. I get to the top of the climb and a guy has a broken spoke, so I give him the back wheel which I had in the van, only problem is that, it's not mine but someone else has mine. The guy who I gave the front wheel to comes at this point and we swap them back.

Heading towards Listerlin, I explain to the motorbike marshal who the back marker is. Phone call, mechanical in Listerlin, phone call, someone wants to abandon before Listerlin, it took me a while to find him. By the time we get to Listerlin, there's no mechanical. We fill the van with stuff to be brought back to the rugby club, wasn't on the plan but as I'm heading that way. The original plan was that I would stay behind the last person on the 160 and take down the signs but it didn't work out, meh. I go and tell the marshals in Mullinavat to head on and I bring the abandonee back to the rugby club. I get a chance to horse down a burger. It was nice to meet the non KK boardsies at the end, coastwatch, the tax man and Dirk (I saw another boards jersey but didn't get a chance to say hi) I pick up one more DNF and a couple of more punctures and I'm done. Passing Bennetsbridge, I got a giggle as there were four or five bikes outside a pub, I wondered if they went in to get shelter, I wonder if they finished the tour?

At the end, the guy who's wheel I gave away calls me to do the swap over, I explain to him that a cookie monster has his wheel and do my best to reasure him, while I'm reasurring him the cookie monster comes in, finds me and gives me back the wheel, also my skewer arrives back (I wasn't too worried about this). So everyone has their gear back.

I enjoyed the day in the van, going around helping out. I didn't realise how much work I did until I got home and my girlfriend remarked on the bang off me. We had a few well earned scoops that night and we hope that next year we can make the tour better.

A few of you were wondering about the guy in Bennetsbridge, I believe he broke his arm but I've no further news. He lives in Kilkenny and he had been going out on our beginners spins for the last few weeks. We hope that he is OK and we will be in contact with him soon.

Congratulations on reading all that, you should get a job doing something that requires a good attention span.

The tax man

Jeez that was some day CH. I understand now why you had to dash while at the rugby club. Passed the cyclist on the bridge,hope his injuries aren't too serious and he's back on the bike soon.

Again, well done on running a great day,enjoyed the pain.:D

Seweryn

The tax man wrote: »

Thanks to Marble CC for another great day on the bike.Great marshaling and food stops as always. Good to meet Seweryn and catch up with DirkVoodoo and Captain H.:).

All pleasure was on my side, Tax Man. Nice to meet you in person and thank you for pacing us up . Hope you enjoyed the day to the end.

Captain Havoc wrote: »

...I'm going to tell you about my Tour de Kilkenny...

Well done Captain, respect! Thanks to people like you, the Event was a great success. Congratulations!

phkk

Well done Captain Havoc and to MCC for organising what sounds like, another outstanding and successful Tour of KK. I really enjoyed reading your account of the day, gives a great insight into the operational side of huge event like this.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to cycle the tour this year- we had Baby Boy on Monday so hadn't the energy! Next year, I've promised myself to do the 110km at least and I'll bring afew guys with me hopefully. I saw quite afew cyclists heading in the Ballycallan Rd on Saturday evening as I was tearing into town to get few bits for the Babs. It was lashing at the time and I wanted to roll down the window and shout "well done!" to them but thought they mightn't appreciate it or think I was being too condescending doing it. I really got the urge to get back on the bike seeing all the cyclists. I know how tough Kilmanagh Hill is and to do that at the end of a gruelling 160km is no mean feat. I'm more a lurker on this site than a contributor but really enjoy reading about the tour. I think it's absolutely fantastic for Kilkenny and you can all be very proud of your work. I'm ashamed to say I've only been up on the bike 4times this year but can't wait to get back in the saddle now, the racing saddle wink wink!!

at1withmyself

Didn't participate in the event myself but sounds like a tough spin so hopefully I'll try it next year as never rode in Kilkenny.

Anyway the reason for my post is the garmin comments as I had the same issue and it was caused by the rain as there is a tiny sensor on the rear of my 800 which a rain drop can block causing incorrect readings and hills appearing where there was none. One of the reasons this happens is that the sensor is left open. After some internet research apparently a bag or cover on the device prevents this. I bought one of the covers but have yet to try it out as I haven't cycled in the rain since buying it but hopefully it works:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/garmin-edge-800-silicone-case/rp-prod58832

Alternatively a sandwich bag is supposed to also do the trick.

Hope this helps.....

dogsears

Captain Havoc and all others who were part of the organisation of a super day - every aspect of the organisation was excellent throughout (although if you could try to reduce the number of downpours next year please - otherwise the weather was great thanks!)

On your own particular task - marking the junctions - absolutely wonderful job, I was with the bunch for the first half of the 160 km but solo for most of the rest and never had the faintest doubt as to where to go at any of the many junctions. (I did miss one about 5 k from home when the heavens let loose a drenching of biblical proportions and I just didn't see it. However the job you'd done was so good that when I got to another junction and saw no blue writing, I knew I was wrong, retraced steps and found my error, duly marked in blue - only cost about 2 k).

On the ascent numbers, my Garmin said 1837m.

Hadn't done this before due to other Bank Holiday commitments but will definitely be trying to work it into the calendar in future years and to convince others to come up from Cork with me.

borntobike

Great description of an event from the organisers point of view.

MB Lacey

That was TOUGH!
Thankyou to all the organisers and volunteers for making the event itself an 'event' - big thanks to the burger just off the grill at the end, you tasted amazing.

But those hills! I was one of the many who had to stop and take a breather on the second bad hill, I was getting dizzy and just dont have any hill legs yet - too many spins around Meath.
Saw one guy on the hill before the food stop getting sick.
Lots of comments about how this was harder than the ROK because at least with the ROK you got some flats..
:rolleyes:

Obviously though from comments here saying the route was 'enjoyable', it's just about getting fitness up and hill legs primed.
Hats off to all who did the 160k - you are top of your league.

Cycling through Thomastown was beautiful, a lot of the scenery was stunning, especially at the top of the first big climb.

Had some nice chats with people along the way, saw a cyclist wearing a boards jersey effortlessly glide past everyone on one of the climbs at the start - turned out to be Dirkvoodoo! Saw another Boardsie at the food stop but didn't manage to say hi.
4½ hours it took me, much slower than last week but I didn't feel as tired and had no numb bum from the saddle.
Just aswell, I've another 100k in Wicklow this wknd and the wknd after I'm doing a 100k in the Yorkshire Dales

Thankfully we got rain. I was overheating again plus I had put my waterproof overshoes on at the start, which I felt ridiculous wearing for the first 70k, but they finally came into use for most of the last 40k.
Thanks again to Captain (were you the guy wearing an mcc jersey, beard and pumping a woman's tyres with a 'secret' track pump at the start?) the volunteers at the food stops, the excellent marshals and the blue can of spraypaint.
All in all a great day.

hightower1969

What a great spin. The hills were tough but enjoyable. Great the weather held up most of the day. Thanks to all marshalls, volunteers at foodstops in Thomastown, at school and in rugby club. Certs and burger were great to finish off the day. The marshalls did a great job and the road markings really helpfull. Looking forward to next year and seeing the photos. The guys from Trim CC

Captain Havoc

Yes, that was me with the secret track pump.

nordicb

1st of all, thanks to organizers, everything went flawlessly throughout the 160k for me, even though marshaling has ended past 100k. The 100/160 split next after the food stop made it very tempting to do 100k instead Same as many, I think the route was unexpectedly tough and challenging, the rain has got me completely unprepared for it - the start was so cunningly sunny and clear! Completely drained, soaked... but very happy at the end! Not sure I welcomed that last hill at 150k Didn't stay for the BBQ unfortunately as my stomach wasn't really happy after countless bananas and energy stuff, but is a nice touch by the organizers sure.

Thanks again to organizers and those in front sheltering me from the wind now and then!

Garmin500 reported elevation of 2023m and 163.3km distance, running firmware 3.2.

DirkVoodoo

I think it's worth noting for anyone looking to "compare" sportives that amazing and all as the TdeKK is, some of the roads can be quite jarring. Even if they are flats, this can really sap the legs and the speed, so comparing elevations/distances doesn't always work.

Still, I think everyone should do this one, you can see the effort and the love that has gone into every part of it. This is a sportive that was created by cyclists for cyclists.

I really enjoyed the day out, brought a friend along who had only done 55km before and while it slowed up towards the end, he was really impressed with his first sportive. I had to keep telling him at the BBQ that unfortunately they are not all like this!

golfhead

Thanks to all involved in organising a great day on Saturday – I know events like this don’t happen on their own and without a huge amount of work in the days, weeks and months before the cycle. From start to finish, it was fantastic.

Found Saturday so much tougher than the An Post Trim Heritage cycle the previous weekend.

Was quite comfortable for the first 50k up to the water stop but then really struggled for the next 20k up to the food stop. Had to get off the bike a few times and walk up the steeper hills and really struggled to maintain any rhythm. As a result, I ended up doing most of this section on my own which didn’t help.

Doing the Tour de Kildare and the Sean Kelly Heritage 100K cycle over the next while – at least they can’t be as tough as the T de K !!!!!.

andy69

Hi guys, just wondering if there any photos being posted online somewhere from the event?
I saw the 36 from the foodstop alright, but thought I saw a few photographers on Woodstock? Just wondering if they might have uploaded them somewhere maybe?

thanks,
andy

DirkVoodoo

andy69 wrote: »

Hi guys, just wondering if there any photos being posted online somewhere from the event?
I saw the 36 from the foodstop alright, but thought I saw a few photographers on Woodstock? Just wondering if they might have uploaded them somewhere maybe?

thanks,
andy

There does seem to be a shortage alright...hopefully more will appear in the next few days. I definitely remember getting snapped (that's the only reason I do these things...vanity!)

Captain Havoc

Here

Here

Here

and

Here

Thanks to JMM Cards for the last three.

funnights74

Captain Havoc wrote: »

Here

Here

Here

and

Here

Thanks to JMM Cards for the last three.[/quote

Finally found one of myself at a sportive. Thanks jmm Cards.