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Time for a New Adventure
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Mountain Biking – Hike-a-Bike
We got into the community hall and grabbed our kit bags for transition. We changed out of our wet clothes and hit the astroturf for a 20 minute sleep. Sleeping for 20 minutes is a very strange sensation – I found that I was half awake because I could hear what was going on around me but also half sleeping. When I woke up I was never really sure whether I had slept or not but I pretty confident that I had. We went back into the hall, sat down and John chatted through out options – at this stage it was milling rain outside.
Option 1: Hit for the Comeraghs and knock off two or three checkpoints but it was going to be a long long slog as we knew exactly where that first checkpoint was and we were going to have to earn it. I’m think that it was around 3 or 4pm at this stage. So if we hit the Comeraghs we were going to have to do the next hike a bike section in the dark though we were pretty confident that the next hike a bike stage wasn’t going to be as tough as the last.
Option 2: Leave the Comeraghs, get another 20 – 30 minutes of sleep, get plenty of food and drink into us and hit out on the hike a bike stage straight away. We would be on the Galtees the following morning in daylight, we could do the optional orienteering stage in the Galtees and the orienteering stage in Ballyhoura to try and recoup the points lost on the Comeraghs.
After a bit of debate, we decided that we would forfeit the Comeraghs so we gathered ourselves to hit out on the bikes again. I was so torn as I had really been looking forward to the two hikes as that’s what I’m strongest at but it was the right decision.
Out the gap we went and up the road looking for a track to the left. Up the road, down the road, up the road and back down the road again but the track on the left was nowhere to be seen. We’d no choice but to continue up the road and cut across fields and rivers and come at the checkpoint from the back end. We went through fields filled with cows and hiked the bikes up through more heather until we eventually found the checkpoint. On we continued up through more heather, crossing over fences and back over fences to get on to the best track. At this point my arms were shot, I couldn’t lift the bike two inches off the ground so the guys were really good to lift the dang thing over and back and over and back the top of each fence for me. We eventually met a rough track that we were able to semi cycle on and before long we were at our second check point on this section – a cross with a gate. It turned out to be the Holy Year Cross (and shrine) at the top of Cnoc a Chomortais overlooking Clonmel. It was a strange one because on that exact day a year ago Frank and I took a siesta at this exact location before dropping down to Clonmel. Even stranger … a year ago to the day we had crossed the Galtees as part of the Fei Sheehy challenge, a challenge to cross the Comeraghs, the Galtees and the Knockmealdowns on consecutive days beginning the Friday of the bank holiday weekend.
We had a nice cycle down off this mountain though I hiked it a wee bit of the way because the ground was a bit too steep for my sensible head. It was starting to rain a little bit but nothing we couldn’t handle. Next on the checkpoint list was a castle in a forest somewhere. This took a little bit of searching about but we eventually found it. The dibber was under an arch inside the castle ….. the arch was a lot higher than I could reach so we had a bit of a stretch and push and lift type thing going on to get my arm to reach it
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Next up was a river crossing and up a very steep forest track. Hello hike-a-bike again. The guys remembered this as they had all done the Nire Valley Drop (a mountain bike race) last year. On we pushed and pushed. On the way up this we were passed by Team Halti (second place overall). They were still cycling up the mountain – those people are machines – I was looking at them in complete disbelief. They were very kind as to tell us that we had taken a slight detour and a longer path up the mountain (we had a giggle at that) and that they too couldn’t find the track to the first checkpoint so had to go around the long way too. It turned out that the track we were looking for was there but the farmer who had originally granted access to it changed his mind and blocked the access. All teams were given the points for that checkpoint but I’m not sure if we were given extra time to complete the course to compensate for having spent so long getting that checkpoint but it’s most likely we did.
As far as I remember it was beginning to get dark and we were on a road looking for a viaduct or train tracks. After a bit of toing and froing we found the gap in the ditch to get us access to the checkpoint. We found a little note telling us that the checkpoint was through the train tunnel. It was a nice cycle through the tunnel.
Next thing I knew we were cycling into a village called Newcastle. We were having bets as to whether Newcastle would have a chipper. Chips would have been very welcome break from the oaty bars, chocolate bars and other goodies we were eating. The first place we met was a pub with some people outside so we stopped to ask them if there was a chipper anywhere close by. Unfortunately there wasn’t but they said that we could get a cup of tea in the pub while asking lots of questions about what was going on and why there were so many cyclists passing through the village. The guys proceeded to tell them while I went inside for tea and crisps. Picture the scene ….. small village pub (McNultys), and I mean small, full of mostly men, girl with wet dirty clothes, florescent jacket, dirty bib, cycling helmet with torch still on walks into pub ….. all I could hear was, ha ha ha it’s Chris Froome, ha ha ha. The bar lady was super nice and made me teas and gave me taytos while I got surrounded by people and faced the Spanish inquisition. The locals had seen the kayaks stacked nearby and had wondered what was going on. Yet again, they couldn’t wrap their heads around what we were doing but they were so nice and the whole thing really lifted the mood – it didn’t help that I was getting my days mixed up and wasn’t able to distinguish between yesterday and today. Another team joined us and we had great craic with the locals. They told us that if they’d know we were passing through that they’d have had teas and sandwiches ready for us but unfortunately we couldn’t have forewarned them. It turns out that McNultys is in Co. South Tipperary but across the road is Waterford so technically, as one of the locals put it ‘you can take a s**t in South Tipp and take a p**s in Waterford’.
Onwards and ….. what’s that?? ….. yup UPWARDS. It wasn’t long before we were hiking the bike again, up a steep grassy path though to be fair nothing could have been as tough as the hike a bike on Friday morning. Our next checkpoint (I think) was a big round tower somewhere in a forest. This must have been the middle of the night as it was very dark and we were getting quite tired. We made a mistake with our navigation in the forest then, mainly from lack of sleep, and ended up zooming down a hill for about 2km, oh what fun it was but oh how bad we felt when we realised we had to go back up to the top. I was nodding off on the bike at this point and I knew I couldn’t face that climb without some shut eye so I asked if we could sleep for a bit. We took 20 minutes on the forest floor. Again, I woke but I wasn’t really sure if I had slept of not. One of the ARSEs didn’t take this sleep as he was feeling ok and went off in search of the correct road to take. When he came back he knew exactly where we should have been and where we should go. I should point out at this stage that John was doing all the navigation and he was doing an absolutely stellar job. I kept asking how he was coping and he said that concentrating on the navigation was helping to distract him from any physical pain that he might otherwise have felt. Hats off to the guy – I was just about holding myself together and I was only following the pack.
That climb to get us back to where we should have been was brutal, it kept going on and on and on and on but I was determined to stay on the bike so I put it in the lowest gear and just kept peddling until we eventually reached the top. This was followed by a very fast and very fun descent on the other side. As we rolled into another village with everyone tucked up fast asleep, Frank, who hadn’t taken the 20 minutes earlier was feeling it so we decided to hunker down in a church yard for 20 minutes. I heard bikes whizzing by during this time but I was sure that I slept, maybe I was half conscious. The next thing I remember is rocking into the village hall for transition before hitting for the Galtees – it was bright at this point, maybe 10 or 11 o clock.
I quickly changed my clothes and dried my feet, strapped them up so that they were ready for my hiking boots – all while sitting on the floor. I leaned back to get something out of my bag and next thing I know, I’m waking up maybe 40 minutes later. I must have closed my eyes and passed out in some weird position on the floor – John and Bryan spotted me and took the opportunity to take a nap too but Frank ended up spending the time drying some of his clothes that had gotten wet in his bag.
Galtees Hike
We headed out and hopped onto the bike for the 5km bike to Kings Yard. Cycling in hiking boots is one thing but cycling with nothing between you and the saddle but a flimsy pair of hiking pants after you’ve been on the bike for nearly two days is …… um …….. raw!!!! Ouch ouch ouch ocuh all the way to Kings Yard but at the same time I was grinning from ear to ear to be heading on the mountains especially when the sun was out
Oh how I love hiking, I love it, I love it, I love it. I love the burning feeling in your legs and I love feeling the sweat roll down my face from pushing hard up an ascent. I could keep climbing all day long We knocked off the first checkpoint on a tree beside a house followed by an ascent of Galtymore. On the way down while I was waiting for the guys I sat on a rock and put my head back to rest a bit. Some normal hiking folk making their way up to Galtymore asked if I was tired. I said I was and they asked where we had come from …. It’s over 50 hours since we set off and I was really tired so of course my response was ‘Waterford’. The look of confusion on the poor mans face until I explained what we were up to. He said he wouldn’t complain for the rest of his 12km hike and wished us well on our way We hit the next checkpoint at a concrete shed and then onto a big tree with a checkpoint. There was plenty of climbing involved in all of this. We really enjoyed this hike and took plenty of time to soak it all up. Each of us got a few blisters and had to attend to them but overall we did good. Down to Kings yard and we took some time to have a cuppa and a ham sandwich that were available from the little shed. On the bikes for the 5km back to the community hall (ouch ouch ouch ouch).
After a quick change of clothes and a replenish of our food we were off for the last 35ish km biking before reaching Ballyhoura yehaaaawwwwwwwww ☺ ☺ Oh how happy I was
Mountain Bike
Every farmer in whatever county we were in must have been spreading slurry on Saturday evening. I couldn’t understand why they weren’t at mass – the smell brought with it sweet memories of being home on the farm. At this stage I had no idea where we were, I was just aiming for Ballyhoura. This was pretty uneventful but I was feeling pretty rubbish. I’d lost all of my energy, I was firing chocolate bars into myself with the hope of reviving myself but it was doing nothing but making me queasy. I’d nothing left to give on the big climbs bar small gears and spinning, keep on spinning. I eventually stopped eating and started to drink lots …… this helped and after an hour or two I got my energy back so I tried to manage it from here with little bites of food, lots of water and a dextrose tablet here and there.
We had a good laugh on this section – our stops to put on and off clothes and get lights out were getting slower and slower so we christened them faffing sessions. How long could we make a faffing session last
At 10 o' clock, as promised, it started to lash rain and I mean lash rain. We were hiking a bike up a forest track at this point and were close enough to Ballyhoura …. I think. My poor tushy was red raw and I was finding it hard to sit on the saddle if there were any bumps on the road. We rocked into Ballyhoura, dibbed and the guys mentioned doing the brown trail. I was looking at them in a bit of shock because I was worried about holding my concentration on the green trail let alone the brown trail. After a bit of discussion we decided on the green as it was slippy, I’m rubbish on the technical stuff and we figured it would leave us enough time for the orienteering and the 12km jaunt back to the finish.
To say that I had a deadmans grip on the handlebars all the way around the Green trail is an understatement. My hands were fashioned into claws when we finished It took a hell of a lot of concentration and energy to get around the trail – with a bike light and head torch you still only have a limited view in front of you so you can’t see and therefore prepare for every twist and turn that’s coming up. I stayed on the bike for 95% of it but it knocked the stuffing out of me. I was dam glad to have it over with. The guys packed up the bikes while I headed into the bathroom. I was wearing a cycling bib over my base layer so every time I needed to use the bathroom, I had to remove the three tops I had on. As we got further and further into the race, this process got slower and slower especially this time as I was really sore and all my gear was wet. I felt like sh*t inside in that bathroom but I heard girls chatting and passing around anti-chaffing cream so I asked for some and we had a bit of a natter and I felt good again. Talk about a physical and emotional roller-coaster.
5km Orienteering
We had to pick off four checkpoints in this section which we did with little hassle. We dibbed in and the marshal pointed us in the direction of home telling us that all we had to do was follow the arrows. I very stupidly asked of the 12km home was on roads and she laughed, she laughed very loudly. That said it all.
12km Home Run
We were in super high spirits on the road home, nattering about the different stages and how we all felt. It felt so so good to know that this was our last stage. I asked Frank the time and he said 3 o’ clock so I figured we’d be home and dry by 5am, maybe 6am. We took a turn off the road and onto track. Note: this was all done is heavy rain. The track was nothing but a slippy, slidey and muddy mess and it went on and on and on some more. It went uphill and down a little and up some more – it was relentless. Again I started to think of how sadistic Ivan must be. We had been through so much and now on the home straight when we were all super happy, the joy was starting to slide. At the same time I was having some fun with my sleep monsters. I was laughing out loud telling the guys about all the hikers that were dancing around us There were also some castles and lots of vans and cars. The ferns were squirrels and dinosaurs …. nothing was as it seemed. It was amazing.
This last section was having a serious effect on people. We passed one team and one of their members was an emotional mess, they were being comforted by others on the team. I wondered how they were going to make it all the way home.
At this point, the couple of sleeps that Frank missed came back to haunt us. He was having worse hallucinations, seeing a guy smoking and hearing people following him but the rest of us were oblivious to it. The next thing we knew, we were missing him. Panic stations. How do you find someone in the dark, cover all roads and not split everyone up. There were lots of turns off the main track that did confuse plenty of people in their sleep deprived state and we figured that he had wandered off down one of them. I stayed where we were while the two guys set off running in two different directions and promised to only travel for 10 minutes before turning back. After 20 minutes they returned but there was no sign. We were getting very worried at this stage thinking that maybe he had fallen asleep in a ditch. The guys headed out again and came back again to no avail.
We looked at the map and tried to figure out the route he would most likely have taken and decided that the three us would take that in the hope of finding him … if not we would continue to the finish and hope that he was there. We had no other option and no problem breaking into the trot for this. The guys were a little ahead of me but I could still see them and their lights.
Their lights stopped moving and I could see a car up ahead. It was parked at the entrance to a wooded track, the lights were off but I could hear the engine running. I figured maybe Frank was there. As I got closer the guys were at the back of it waiting for me. I got to it and looked in the window to see the very pale faces of two men, one an older man and one maybe 18 years old. They were slumped in their seats and passed out. I continued on to the guys and noticed lots of stuff on the ground behind the car including a drum of petrol and tubes and pipes. It only took me a second to swing into action, I was taking my bag off my back to get my phone out to ring emergency services while banging on the windows. They didn’t wake up so I tried the doors and one of them opened. The two men woke in a panic and the older one quickly started protesting that they had a flat tyre and that was all. I was so relieved but also shaken though I’d say they were as shaken as I was. The image of them asleep will never leave me. I don’t know if they had been in the pub or not but they must have stopped, taken everything out of the boot and left the engine running to warm themselves. Back to our missing ARSE.
We were only about 2km from the finish at this stage so we started running again in the hope of finding Frank, all the while my heart was in my mouth after what just happened and with worry over Frank. We got to the finish and he wasn’t there. There was nothing we could do but wait, wait and worry and hope that he was ok. About 5 or 10 minutes later, Frank rocked in. He’d become disorientated and taken a different track. It was some reunion and we were all so so happy to have him back and know that he was safe. Talk about a dramatic finish. Team picture done and in to have a shower and some breakie
Despite our dramatic finish, it was an epic adventure. I look back and think of all the different things we did and I wonder how we tacked them onto each other, how was it physically possible to keep going for that length of time. I did so many things for the first time, I swam in the ocean, I mountain biked in the dark, I did the trails in Ballyhoura and I slept in church yards. It was an amazing experience and I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of ARSEs to have done it with, John was top notch on the navigation, Bryan hauled my ass in the water, lifted my bike over more ditches and hedges than I can count and provided a joke exactly when it was needed and Frank was always full of encouragement. Ivan threw it all at us and he deserves a massive thank you for putting it up to us as do his family and team. The marshals were always there with a smile and a few words of encouragement. It was an amazing feat they pulled off transporting our gear and bikes to exactly the right locations.
My feet and calves were swollen on Sunday but they’ve gone down now and I’m surprisingly physically fine. I’m still tired and in a bit of a daze as I continue to process it all. I’ve thought about nothing in bed at night bar the Beast and I’ve woken up each night in a trance thinking that I’m still out there. It was an emotional and physical roller-coaster, I've never been through anything like it before but the lows always pass and the highs are so great they more than make up for the lows.
Do I like adventure racing and will I do it again, hell yea 0 -
Jeemie Macs - Neady. Words fail to express admiration for you and all the other competitors.
It's past midnight and my kids will be up in a few hours, and here I am still reading your reports.
Thanks Nop, here's the final installment, I hope it lives up to expectationsWe had that very same discussion about Ivan being sadistic!!
It makes us masochistic though by enabling him to choose tougher and tougher courses he will get worse the better we get!!
Ha ha god knows what he'll throw at us next yearI keep trying to visualise 25m and thinking noooooo. But the hike a bike sounds worse.
The best thing about the hike-a-bike was that walking up the Galtees without a bike was a piece of cakeSweet baby Jesus, are you ok? That's some challenge.
I survived physically .... I'm still pulling myself together emotionallyI want to hear about the Comeraghs!!! Waiting (im)patiently.+1!
Your wish is my command. I hope you enjoy 0 -
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Fantastic report, Neady... unbelievable stuff. I startled the person next to me by exclaiming 'Oh No' when you first lost Frank, then got to the bit about the car... not to mention the hallucinations and the bar scene (wait, was that real?
).
Kudos to you and the team on your achievement. Really brilliant.0 -
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Great report there. Jaysus that's some adventure ye had on the last walk home!!
Well done, and glad to hear you'll be back for more
Thanks Enduro, who knew it could all go very nearly so wrong with only 2km to go.
A massive massive well done to you and team Get No Sleep, you guys did Ireland proud and give the rest of us a team to look to for inspiration. Absolutely amazing achievement 0 -
Your next team has to be called 'Wheres Frank?'
I love the sound of all the interaction you had with bemused locals. Thats the kind of thing that makes these races memorable, youll forget the pain, but youll never forget the poor sleepy guys in the car!
Ha ha ha Thanks Oryx, I'll propose that name to the ARSEs at our next outing
You're so right, you forget about the hills you had to cycle up and the tough times you go through but you always remember those funny moments with other teams and with random people along the way if we didn't make time for chatting to people like that, these races would be a lot less fun 0 -
It took three go's but I have finally finished reading it. :pac:
What an epic effort and super report, full of raw drama but also great humor - and what a team is Team ARSE! Well done to all of you. Unreal.
Thanks so much Nop It was an adventure that had absolutely everything thrown in and I tried my best to get that across in the report. I just noticed though that I'm really lacking a timeline, locations and checkpoint numbers but this is truly because I had no idea where I was, what time it was (I left my watch in my bag after TA1 because I didn't want to know the time anymore) and I was just trusting the guys with regards to the checkpoints, happy out just keeping up with them 0 -
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Fantastic report, Neady... unbelievable stuff. I startled the person next to me by exclaiming 'Oh No' when you first lost Frank, then got to the bit about the car... not to mention the hallucinations and the bar scene (wait, was that real?).
Kudos to you and the team on your achievement. Really brilliant.
Thanks Anna, it was like living through a thriller novel
I'm sure the bar scene was real (goes to google McNultys)
It was an epic race and I can't wait for the next one 0 -
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Señor Fancy Pants wrote: »Well done Neady!
That was a great read, I could almost feel the pain you must have been in!
Great job!!!!
Thanks Senor
Looking forward to reading your report next year 0 -
Fantastic report! What an incredible adventure! Two questions - were the kayaks for one person each, or two people each? And, is there something magical about 20 minutes of sleep?? Meaning, why did you folks always set out to sleep for 20 minutes and not some other amount of time?
Well done to you and your teammates. I cannot even imagine what it takes to pull off such a challenging physical and emotional journey. And you guys did it!
Thanks so much DD
I'm sorry, I left out vital info. because I make the silly assumption that people know this stuff but I'd never have known it until I got into all of this. The kayaks were two person sit on tops so even when I was stretching myself, Bryan behind me was still keeping us moving.
I'm not fully up on the whole sleep thing but as far as I remember 20 minute naps mean that you are getting non-REM sleep. It's not a deep sleep, it's easier to wake up from but you're still refreshed and it's enough to kill the sleep monsters. Anything longer than 20 minutes, particularly longer than 90 minutes is REM sleep, it's much deeper and probably more difficult to wake up from.
I did find that I bolted up from our short naps in the church yards but I was a lot more groggy and sleepy after waking up from my 40 minute nap in the community hall so there is probably some truth in it.0 -
martyboy48 wrote: »Just catching up around here..
Well done on tackling such an event. Sounds amazing... And nuts
Great report, really had my heart going with that car scene :eek:
Well done again..
Thanks Marthboy, it was every bit as amazing and and fun as I had hoped Loved every minute of it 0 -
Monday - Wednesday, August 3rd - 5th
Rest, sleep and report writing but mostly sleep
Oh and dress shopping, had a wedding on Friday and had left it on the long finger. I couldn't have gone dress shopping while preparing for the Beast
Thursday August 6th
4.22miles, 40:45, 9:35/mi
Decided to test the legs to see if they still operated. They do though still a bit tender.
Friday August 7th
Lots and lots of dancing at a wedding, does that count as training?
Saturday August 8th
Streets of Galway 8km - PB: 38:04
Himself signed me up for this but then bailed on me to watch the Mayo match boo hoo.
I left my watch at home and figured I'd do this by feel because my legs were still a bit tender and I was still digesting the enormous breakfast I'd had at the hotel in Westport that morning - I'm a hotels nightmare guest, I eat everything. I absolutely loved this run, the streets were lined with lots of people and there was a great atmosphere running through the streets of Galway I felt good throughout the run and kept on passing people as I watched the km markers - I even made sure to high five the kids on the way to the finish line. I was delighted to cross the line with 39 something on the clock but was over the moon to get a text later in the evening with a time of 38:04, a PB and the best time I've run an 8km in this year whoop whoop
Sunday
6.10miles recovery run, 58:09, 9:32/mi
Oh how I loved loved loved this run. Had no route in mind, just took to the streets at 9 o clock, just as it was getting dark. I ran along the prom listening to music and absolutely got lost in the moment. Felt oh so good going to bed and psyched for Monday morning.
Monday AM
60:00 on the Wattbike, 30.77km
Was looking forward to this but my legs were stiff when I got on the bike so I kept the gears mostly low and just kept spinning.
I got to work and decided it was time to commit to something so I signed up for the DCM. I've 11 weeks to get my ass is gear for it so I've downloaded a novice plan which I will probably follow quite loosely as I've a few cycles and other events that I want to do between now and then. The road from here to DCM will be about having fun and enjoying training, my A race is done so it's fun fun fun from here on in. My goal for DCM is to finish it, I don't have a time in mind (ok somewhere in the back of mind I'm hoping for a sub 4:30) but I'll be happy if I get around it and enjoy the atmosphere and get the marathon monkey off my back 0 -
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