Visit Nenagh Classic April 19th 2015

inc21

Travelling down for that one. Have any of you Strava link for the A4 route by any chance?

They'r website is good with the map and all but it's not that great map.

markusz

http://www.strava.com/activities/130037310

inc21

markusz wrote: »

http://www.strava.com/activities/130037310

Good man, thank you!

Solobally8

This year it's a bit longer than the one linked by markusz, there is an extra bit heading towards Birdhill

inc21

is "Birdhill" the flat part of the lap :rolleyes:?

jinkypolly

Yes the course is 13km longer than the one linked.
Here's a ridewithgps version of the route.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7365488

inc21

it will be a tough one!

Morrisseeee

It looks like the A3 is slightly different than last year's edition aswell, is there another climb after Birdhill (1.6km @ 4%) ? or are they going a little further up the road ?

jinkypolly

A3 Route (unless it's changed in the last week or so)
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7365954

Hi Ho

Sticklybottle says says there's a couple of climbs up to 16%. Are these on the A4 route - are they long?

Solobally8

Hi Ho wrote: »

Sticklybottle says says there's a couple of climbs up to 16%. Are these on the A4 route - are they long?

If you check the link jinkypolly posted it shows the elevation profile. Says the climb up Dolla is an average of 2.2%. Don't worry the A4s are going nowhere near the horrible climbs

Morrisseeee

Ah yes, Chapel Hill and it hits 21% :eek:
/I may have to consider a different cassette !

danceswithwolf

Is there parking around the sign on or any official car park?

Also, does the A4 start at 10.30 or 11 Im getting mixed signals!

mossym

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Ah yes, Chapel Hill and it hits 21% :eek:
/I may have to consider a different cassette !

it's not that bad. i know strava says it's steep but it's never seemed as bad as 21%.

Irish Raven

Fair play to nenagh whom organised a great race. Brilliant route, and very well marshalled!!

In the a4 race the nenagh boys to there credit drove the bus from the hotel gate....pace was the fastest I've ever raced... Made the huge peloton less dangerous, although one guy took a face plant...I think someone got a puncture and decided it best to stop suddenly in middle of group....

Irish Raven

One thing that really annoyed me today, which I thought had left the peloton.... If lads can take a gel or bar out of their pocket, surely they can put it back in, lads throwing rubbish all o over place....that's a disgrace and can't be tolerated...we ain't in the Tour de France!!

danceswithwolf

Irish Raven wrote: »

One thing that really annoyed me today, which I thought had left the peloton.... If lads can take a gel or bar out of their pocket, surely they can put it back in, lads throwing rubbish all o over place....that's a disgrace and can't be tolerated...we ain't in the Tour de France!!

True, pretty shocked seeing it! One of the culprits was the loudest with his instructions to other riders too!

FrankGrimes

If anyone found a red Garmin Edge 500, please let me know! Thanks to Nenagh, great buzz about the place today.

Morrisseeee

mossym wrote: »

it's not that bad. i know strava says it's steep but it's never seemed as bad as 21%.

It was enough to cause mayhem in the group.

It's some route, I'd love to have the legs to do it justice. Fair play to the marshals all along the different routes, without them there's no race.

mossym

Morrisseeee wrote: »

It was enough to cause mayhem in the group.

It's some route, I'd love to have the legs to do it justice. Fair play to the marshals all along the different routes, without them there's no race.

was trying to get you thinking positively before the event:)

it's steep, but not 21% steep, in a group though it's a different matter

NCW13

mossym wrote: »

was trying to get you thinking positively before the event:)

it's steep, but not 21% steep, in a group though it's a different matter

Seems to have been two different standards applied to route marshalling yesterday. I was following the women's race and ended up following a group of 12 or so good riders who lost contact on the main climb and were about 3 mins down on the leaders. As there was no lead vehicle (nothing unusual in that with a dropped bunch) I moved out in front of the group to act as lead car. The ambulance stayed behind the group and one other following car would regularly appear to check in on one of their riders. No problems, everyone experienced and knew what was happening. Primary issue was to get the group home safely. At two junctions there were no stewards. None. Additionally the route markings indicated we should take a right turn at one point. Not only did I take the turn but the Ambulance crew and the other car that was present also took the turn. It was marked as KOH 20k. Something felt wrong so I turned back to the main road, some riders followed, three didn't. Plenty of confusion. A few k's up the road we meet some marshals and I stopped and explained that there were unmarshalled corners. (My decision to do a U Turn was correct). Response was 'what am I supposed to do about it'. I politely suggested letting the lead cars know. In fairness the steward said he would. Shortly afterwards we came across the crash in the women's main bunch which looked pretty bad. I stopped and informed the commissaire that several of the women were possibly on the wrong circuit and that there were no stewards on at least two busy junctions. I dropped back into the race and went ahead as lead car again for the final 10k.

I organise enough races so am not coming at this from a position of ignorance. I also understand that finding stewards is not easy. But this is the second year this happened at the Women's race in Nenagh. I read all the praise the event gets, and rightly so, it's not easy closing off a town.

But this was an overly complicated circuit that was designed to break a race to pieces. If you use a circuit like this, you must ensure stewards stay on each corner and that signage is adequate. In both instances this race fell way below standard.

The sight of several women stopping to let oncoming traffic come down a narrow road tells you enough about the circuit.

markusz

NCW13 wrote: »

Seems to have been two different standards applied to route marshalling yesterday. I was following the women's race and ended up following a group of 12 or so good riders who lost contact on the main climb and were about 3 mins down on the leaders. As there was no lead vehicle (nothing unusual in that with a dropped bunch) I moved out in front of the group to act as lead car. The ambulance stayed behind the group and one other following car would regularly appear to check in on one of their riders. No problems, everyone experienced and knew what was happening. Primary issue was to get the group home safely. At two junctions there were no stewards. None. Additionally the route markings indicated we should take a right turn at one point. Not only did I take the turn but the Ambulance crew and the other car that was present also took the turn. It was marked as KOH 20k. Something felt wrong so I turned back to the main road, some riders followed, three didn't. Plenty of confusion. A few k's up the road we meet some marshals and I stopped and explained that there were unmarshalled corners. (My decision to do a U Turn was correct). Response was 'what am I supposed to do about it'. I politely suggested letting the lead cars know. In fairness the steward said he would. Shortly afterwards we came across the crash in the women's main bunch which looked pretty bad. I stopped and informed the commissaire that several of the women were possibly on the wrong circuit and that there were no stewards on at least two busy junctions. I dropped back into the race and went ahead as lead car again for the final 10k.

I organise enough races so am not coming at this from a position of ignorance. I also understand that finding stewards is not easy. But this is the second year this happened at the Women's race in Nenagh. I read all the praise the event gets, and rightly so, it's not easy closing off a town.

But this was an overly complicated circuit that was designed to break a race to pieces. If you use a circuit like this, you must ensure stewards stay on each corner and that signage is adequate. In both instances this race fell way below standard.

The sight of several women stopping to let oncoming traffic come down a narrow road tells you enough about the circuit.

bad form alright... its hard enough to get ladies to race and then the likes of that happens.

Sunshine Rider

I enjoyed the race it was a good course, compared to some circuits i have raced on and will definitely be back next year. i raced in the A4 race which finished just after 1 pm yet for anybody that placed besides the top 3 had to wait until half five to collect their prize, i thought that was bad form as a lot of lad have families and long distances to drive. Surely they could have got the riders up on stage and presented them prizes while the other races were going on. There was also some confusion with the commissionaires telling people to come back at half three to collect their prize. it may be a small thing but left a sour taste in peoples mouths that had to wait around.The wife won't be letting them out next week. That was my only gripe from a cracking days racing.

Pierce2015

Irish Raven wrote: »

One thing that really annoyed me today, which I thought had left the peloton.... If lads can take a gel or bar out of their pocket, surely they can put it back in, lads throwing rubbish all o over place....that's a disgrace and can't be tolerated...we ain't in the Tour de France!!

Normally I would agree 100% but when lads are cycling along at over 40kmph with elevated HR's sometimes the safest thing is to throw the wrapper. I have very little tolerance for people littering in general and help pick litter in my local area but would prefer to throw away a gel wrapper than bring down riders in a race trying to get it back in a jersey pocket

ericzeking

Pierce2015 wrote: »

Normally I would agree 100% but when lads are cycling along at over 40kmph with elevated HR's sometimes the safest thing is to throw the wrapper. I have very little tolerance for people littering in general and help pick litter in my local area but would prefer to throw away a gel wrapper than bring down riders in a race trying to get it back in a jersey pocket

You managed to get it out at 40kph with an elevated heart rate?

inc21

Pierce2015 wrote: »

Normally I would agree 100% but when lads are cycling along at over 40kmph with elevated HR's sometimes the safest thing is to throw the wrapper. I have very little tolerance for people littering in general and help pick litter in my local area but would prefer to throw away a gel wrapper than bring down riders in a race trying to get it back in a jersey pocket

you need to choose safe place to do so. If this is a problem for some lads then big pack is no place for them.
Nice smooth straight road with no bends or downhill bits is the place to go digging in your pockets.

Hi Ho

Pierce2015 wrote: »

Normally I would agree 100% but when lads are cycling along at over 40kmph with elevated HR's sometimes the safest thing is to throw the wrapper. I have very little tolerance for people littering in general and help pick litter in my local area but would prefer to throw away a gel wrapper than bring down riders in a race trying to get it back in a jersey pocket

Stick it up under your jersey. If you take it out you can put it back.

Pierce2015

Fair points lads, I was just making mine was all

Hi Ho

NCW13 wrote: »

Seems to have been two different standards applied to route marshalling yesterday. I was following the women's race and ended up following a group of 12 or so good riders who lost contact on the main climb and were about 3 mins down on the leaders. As there was no lead vehicle (nothing unusual in that with a dropped bunch) I moved out in front of the group to act as lead car. The ambulance stayed behind the group and one other following car would regularly appear to check in on one of their riders. No problems, everyone experienced and knew what was happening. Primary issue was to get the group home safely. At two junctions there were no stewards. None. Additionally the route markings indicated we should take a right turn at one point. Not only did I take the turn but the Ambulance crew and the other car that was present also took the turn. It was marked as KOH 20k. Something felt wrong so I turned back to the main road, some riders followed, three didn't. Plenty of confusion. A few k's up the road we meet some marshals and I stopped and explained that there were unmarshalled corners. (My decision to do a U Turn was correct). Response was 'what am I supposed to do about it'. I politely suggested letting the lead cars know. In fairness the steward said he would. Shortly afterwards we came across the crash in the women's main bunch which looked pretty bad. I stopped and informed the commissaire that several of the women were possibly on the wrong circuit and that there were no stewards on at least two busy junctions. I dropped back into the race and went ahead as lead car again for the final 10k.

I organise enough races so am not coming at this from a position of ignorance. I also understand that finding stewards is not easy. But this is the second year this happened at the Women's race in Nenagh. I read all the praise the event gets, and rightly so, it's not easy closing off a town.

But this was an overly complicated circuit that was designed to break a race to pieces. If you use a circuit like this, you must ensure stewards stay on each corner and that signage is adequate. In both instances this race fell way below standard.

The sight of several women stopping to let oncoming traffic come down a narrow road tells you enough about the circuit.

I was surprised at how convoluted the routes were - I thought on the day that it must have been very logistically challenging to marshall all the routes. The more complex they are - and with different routes - I suppose there is a much greater chance of mistakes.

It was a great event so hard to criticise. But another thing was lack of info for the general public at the finish. There were various races coming through but the public had no idea what was happening - I was in club gear and at least three or four bye sanders asked me which group was in which race etc. - there was race info coming across on Twitter but not to the public at the event.

Also, the marshals at the end seemed to be from a security company and didn't seem to know much about bike-racing. A couple of hairy moments - but they weren't helped by groups of riders, 10 minutes down, sprinting through traffic for 25th place.

As I said, a great event so don't want to sound critical - all comments I'm sure meant to be helpful to organisers.

rochefan

I am not with the organisation but did help with one of the lead cars in one of the races. Lead cars and motorbikes were to guide the breakaways and bunch only. This is the same as most non circuit races like Ras, Suir Valley. If dropped from the bunch then you are on your own. I think this should have been made clear to the bunch for each race as lots would not be used to this from doing circuit races every week.

I think the comments for signs is very valid, every junction was marked but if you didn't know that green/yellow dots were A1/A3 (red for women's/A4) then I can see why some in the women's race went off course. From what I can see every junction was marked when you needed to turn, no sign meant straight through the junction but was this made clear at the start line, probably not

NCW13

rochefan wrote: »

I am not with the organisation but did help with one of the lead cars in one of the races. Lead cars and motorbikes were to guide the breakaways and bunch only. This is the same as most non circuit races like Ras, Suir Valley. If dropped from the bunch then you are on your own. I think this should have been made clear to the bunch for each race as lots would not be used to this from doing circuit races every week.

I think the comments for signs is very valid, every junction was marked but if you didn't know that green/yellow dots were A1/A3 (red for women's/A4) then I can see why some in the women's race went off course. From what I can see every junction was marked when you needed to turn, no sign meant straight through the junction but was this made clear at the start line, probably not

No issue with no lead cars for dropped riders. That's normal in any race. But no stewards at two junctions where the riders actually turned across traffic onto another road is not standard practice. If the stewards were going to be removed after the leaders passed a Junction then this fact should have been relayed on the start line. Private security firm marshaling traffic at the start, yet no stewards at critical junctions. Hard to fathom that thought process. As I said at the outset, this is the second year I have seen this and on both occasion's the Comm's have been at a loss to explain why there were no stewards. Given that the town was closed for the day, which was a fantastic achievement, wouldn't a continental style crit on a 10k circuit have showcased the sport much better? An overly complicated circuit helped no one.