Stephen Roche Atlantic Challenge

harringtonp

What do you make of this email guys ?

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Hi all,
I am sending this to you as club secretaries and to all clubs in Clare
and would appreciate it if you would inform your club members.

The Stephen Roche Atlantic Challenge is on this Saturday at 10am in
Ennistymon and we would like to invite all Clare cyclists to cycle.

Cyclists can register at the Falls Hotel and Spa in Ennistymon, Friday
evening 6pm - 8pm and Saturday morning 7am - 9am.

We have over 1,000 cyclists and Saturday morning will be very busy, so
we would ask the local cyclists to register Friday evening if
possible. The registration will close at 9am on Saturday morning.

Our priority is safety. This is not a race. If you want to race please
do not attend. Last year we had cyclists who raced. This year we will
stop the lead car and remove these cyclists.

Last year we also had cyclists who joined in and deliberately
interfered with the cycle. This year all cyclist have a number and the
number is the entry to the feed zone. Any individual who deliberately
interfere's with the event will be reported to Cycling Ireland and the
Garda.

There are loads of photo opportunities so make sure you have a camera.

Stephen Roche will have the Hall of Fame trophy at the event.
Along with Maurizio Fondriest and Caroline Ryan we have other guest
cyclists cycling.

Please come along and enjoy the event.

Regards,
Alan Murphy

mossym

doing the cycle on saturday as well, but only registered sunday night, so didn't get that email.

i did the cycle last year, i don't remember anyone interfering, but the foodstop was a van with the door open on the side of the road, so not hard for anyone to rock up and grab food. i've no issue with them patrolling this. it's done on a lot of cycles.

the rest of it about racing? standard for a sportive in my experience. both for safety and reputation.


do you have a specific gripe?

fat bloke

Well if the roads aren't closed then they can't stop other people cycling the route. It might be bad form to mooch off an organised event but the Gardaí or CI can't do anything about it!!!

At what point does cycling quickly in company become "racing?

harringtonp

mossym wrote: »

do you have a specific gripe?

I found the racing paragraph quite off putting. What exactly does it mean in the context of a sportive...

mossym

fat bloke wrote: »

At what point does cycling quickly in company become "racing?

harringtonp wrote: »

I found the racing paragraph quite off putting. What exactly does it mean in the context of a sportive...

there will always be a fast bunch at every sportive that goes off at the front intent on doing it as quickly as possible. quite easy to see how this can then turn into a race. however, if you;re not one of these, then it's mainly a case of making your own time, and you won't have to worry about racing, unless you get competitive every time someone passes you out

fat bloke

Reminds me of the Lucan v's Phoenix park ranger argument. "Training" in the park is not allowed whereas "exercising" is fine and dandy.
:rolleyes:

ht9zni1gs28crp

At the Tour of Conamara last year there was a group from the North taking it incredibly serious, shouting up and overs, discussing lines, discussing times and avg speeds...

Bit of fun in my book....if you want to race go sign on any Sunday somewhere.....

Best things about sportives is the beer and curry afterwards!!!

Kerry Gooner

First time participant on Saturday, how would it compare with the ROK for craic and difficulty

mossym

Kerry Gooner wrote: »

First time participant on Saturday, how would it compare with the ROK for craic and difficulty

good craic, but it's more the regular cyclist than the rok would be.

course is fine, it's only 80k. two climbs are the cliffs and corkscrew, neither that hard.

last year was tough, but because of the savage wind that was blowing. if we get a nice day it'll rival the ROK for scenic beauty

greenspurs

Looking forward to this , always a good craic and a 'nice' route effortwise, and a ' spectacular' route for the eyes!!
I love cycling along the west coast ....

jamesd

Looking forward to this too, a group of us heading down from the club.

moonshadow

jamesd wrote: »

Looking forward to this too, a group of us heading down from the club.

No racing now !!!

ratracer

Obviously you weren't racing if it took you three years to catch up.....

jamesd

moonshadow wrote: »

No racing now !!!

Purely leisure love cycling down that part of the country.

Tifosi

Strange mail, I signed up a few weeks ago, received a mail this week, saying 3000 have signed up. Think they change the route direction as well, going up the Corkscrew, rather then down.

harringtonp

Tifosi wrote: »

Strange mail, I signed up a few weeks ago, received a mail this week, saying 3000 have signed up. Think they change the route direction as well, going up the Corkscrew, rather then down.

No they always went up it and to be honest it is far better to do it this way.

Remember registration was free with an optional donation to charity so anybody half thinking of doing it will sign up. There won't be 3000 but weather permitting I wouldn't be surprised if they break previous attendance records.

I'm biased because I live local but think its a great sportive and route.

dastardly00

harringtonp wrote: »

I'm biased because I live local but think its a great sportive and route.

Any suggestions for good places to park the car? The town will be pretty busy if weather is good and there are big numbers.

harringtonp

dastardly00 wrote: »

Any suggestions for good places to park the car? The town will be pretty busy if weather is good and there are big numbers.

See in the email there is an agreement with council not to charge in public places. There are always some spots in the church car park (over bridge and on lahinch road) and the road outside.

Other local spots are the Daktronics (previously Data Display and still what it is known as by most locals) carpark from which it is 1-2 mins on bike to the start and there are a few spots in Deerpark Industrial Estate (3-4 min to start on bike).

And on the road in from Ennis there a are a few spots on the left in the Motor tax office and health center carparks.

harringtonp

harringtonp wrote: »

See in the email there is an agreement with council not to charge in public places. There are always some spots in the church car park (over bridge and on lahinch road) and the road outside.

Other local spots are the Daktronics (previously Data Display and still what it is known as by most locals) carpark from which it is 1-2 mins on bike to the start and there are a few spots in Deerpark Industrial Estate (3-4 min to start on bike).

And on the road in from Ennis there a are a few spots on the left in the Motor tax office and health center carparks.

There are quite a few housing estates around as well, with all these suggestions just apply the usual common sense guidelines..... there is an enthuasiastic traffic warden workin in the town :-)

dastardly00

^^^^^^^
Thanks harringtonp