An post Tour of Sligo

moonshadow

Any boardsies taking part in this years event ? I'm signed up for the 100k spin I'll be on my own so would like to say hi to one or two on the day.

davef1000

moonshadow wrote: »

Any boardsies taking part in this years event ? I'm signed up for the 100k spin I'll be on my own so would like to say hi to one or two on the day.

I'll be doing the 60k. My first big day out. I'm new to cycling but really enjoying it so far.

fat bloke

I'd certainly like to do it but... just checked it out there...

55 quid.

Eeeshk

ednwireland

Having done all of them up until now I thought twice last year but the cost and a family event has put me off this year.

The Noble Nudge

fat bloke wrote: »

I'd certainly like to do it but... just checked it out there...

55 quid.

Eeeshk

You get a nice jacket though included in the price....

fat bloke

The Noble Nudge wrote: »

You get a nice jacket though included in the price....

Yay. Another ill-fitting Freebie Fred jacket to line the bin with :pac:.

marvin80

Haven't done much cycling the last while so doing the 60k.
Looking forward to it, hopefully there won't be much rain!!

I think the prices are reasonable enough for what you get, they had early bird price available upto April 20th and a small discount for Cycling Ireland members.

http://www.tourofsligo.ie/how-to-enter/

Very well organised event, great atmosphere at them, very good food and water stops and you get a jersey/jacket out of it.

The An Post Series shorter routes are perfect for people doing their first sportif and it's nice they get a jersey etc.. from it.

fat bloke

marvin80 wrote: »

I think the prices are reasonable enough for what you get, they had early bird price available upto April 20th and a small discount for Cycling Ireland members.
The An Post Series shorter routes are perfect for people doing their first sportif and it's nice they get a jersey etc.. from it.

Yerra I suppose it's been argued to death at this stage. I'd really like to do it but it's far from my first sportive, so after a while the day out spend just becomes a little bit silly.

The Orwell Randonnee this saturday is 35 quid. That's fine. If it was 40 quid that'd be ok too. But over 50 is few straws too many. Add in the the cost of a tank of petrol to and from Sligo and now it's 120 quid. Do a couple a month and you've the price of a nice winter bike spent over a season. What are An Post providing I wonder in terms of backing or financial support that the ticket price needs to be so high, and at what point will people generally think them too expensive? Will it be 60 quid next year? 70 the year after that? In a few years will it be 100 quid to sign up for each of the An Post series?

As you say, it's perfect for people doing their first sportif. But people doing their 21st sportif don't need another jacket, and probably don't need 4 food stops.

Anyway, it is what it is. They are great events to do, I've done plenty of them and enjoyed them immensely but...

andy69

Yeah they really should have an option to select an entry, but without the ill-fitting Fred jackets/Gillet/Jersey or whatever.

Weather looks like it'll be 'typical' again this year. I'm doing the 100K if the forecast is wrong, and if I've got the legs after Orwell on Saturday :-)

Kevincavan83

moonshadow wrote: »

Any boardsies taking part in this years event ? I'm signed up for the 100k spin I'll be on my own so would like to say hi to one or two on the day.

I'll be doing the 100k Sunday, hopefully the weather will be better than forecast.
And hopefully we dont do what we did last year and where out til all hours night before

trek climber

We have signed up for the 160k this year, but it now looks that due to family constraints we might not get to do the full route. Am I right is saying that we could turn off in Ballisodare on the way back and head directly back to Sligo rather than following the original route.

moonshadow

I think that's possible looking at the maps... I will only be checking in on Sunday morning , and intend to enjoy the spin rather than bust a gut !!
If anyone fancies a spin around 24 kph avg let me know and we can tag along perhaps.
Hopefully weather stays true at a cold but dryish 8dg.....brrrr

ednwireland

In ballysodare On the way back you turn right at the supervalu once you cross the garavogue an head out round lough Gill. If you keep left it will take you straight into sligo town centre (there's usually a Marshall at that turn)

cavan4sam

trek climber wrote:

We have signed up for the 160k this year, but it now looks that due to family constraints we might not get to do the full route. Am I right is saying that we could turn off in Ballisodare on the way back and head directly back to Sligo rather than following the original route.

Why not just do the 100

moonshadow

I'm in Carrick on shannon tonight and the amount of bikes on the back of cars going across the bridge is mental....must be lots of folk down for the long weekend spin !

Gipo3

fat bloke wrote: »

Yerra I suppose it's been argued to death at this stage. I'd really like to do it but it's far from my first sportive, so after a while the day out spend just becomes a little bit silly.

The Orwell Randonnee this saturday is 35 quid. That's fine. If it was 40 quid that'd be ok too. But over 50 is few straws too many. Add in the the cost of a tank of petrol to and from Sligo and now it's 120 quid. Do a couple a month and you've the price of a nice winter bike spent over a season. What are An Post providing I wonder in terms of backing or financial support that the ticket price needs to be so high, and at what point will people generally think them too expensive? Will it be 60 quid next year? 70 the year after that? In a few years will it be 100 quid to sign up for each of the An Post series?

As you say, it's perfect for people doing their first sportif. But people doing their 21st sportif don't need another jacket, and probably don't need 4 food stops.

Anyway, it is what it is. They are great events to do, I've done plenty of them and enjoyed them immensely but...

From what I understand the insurance for the Sligo event is about €90,000 where An Post sponsorship is about €20,000

seven stars

Signed on today. The jackets are quite nice I must say, but I think they made a mistake with the order. The Mediums are on the big side, and they didn't have near enough in Small - they were all gone by 5.20 (and we thought we were signing on good and early). They had loads of XL, XXL, XXXL, etc. I think there'll be a load of people in the same boat, getting a jacket they'll probably never use. Not a massive deal I don't suppose, but if you were already of a mind that these things are getting a bit too expensive, this probably won't help persuade you otherwise.

moonshadow

I'll be the cold damp looking fella on a white carbon look with a blue jacket , enjoy all !

davef1000

Certainly wasn't the first one home, but I'm the first to post here afterwards! Finished the 60k, farthest I've ever done, and loved it. Great atmosphere, weather was OK, and I averaged 23.5km/h which is fast for me.

I'm quare tired now, though.

andy69

Did the 60k today with the wife and her friend....was a very enjoyable day. We were VERY late arriving (few too many beers in Strandhill last night ) so were last out of the start area. Thought it was very well signed and marshalled, and having lots of Gardai along the route at the big junctions was great too.
Foodstop was well stocked and the little tent came in handy as we hit the foodstop just as it started raining.
Was weird to have the feeling of a 'warm' day and it was only 11 degrees!!

seven stars

Agree, great event I thought. Fell in with a group of lads from different clubs (a few from Ballina, very nice bunch) and stayed with them for most of it. Got round the 100k in under 3 and a half hours, average 30.3. It was around 105km according to my computer.

moonshadow

Great event and my first ever sportive , first ever 100k and like above got in with a nice bunch and hauled each other round at an avg of 27.6 . The people along the route were great especially the stewards and gardai .

marvin80

Got this email today - interesting to note this line: "The Sport Ireland Cycle Series (formerly sponsored by An Post)"

"In response to many enquiries I would like to confirm that for the ninth year Sligo will be part of a National Cycle Series and will welcome over 2,000 cyclists to the County on the May Bank Holiday weekend. The Sport Ireland Cycle Series (formerly sponsored by An Post) will get underway in Sligo on the May Bank Holiday weekend with the other events in the Cycle Series taking place in Clare, Meath, Waterford and Cork throughout the summer. So the date for the diary for the Sport Ireland Yeats Tour of Sligo is Sunday 30th April and I hope you can join us. Also, we have introduced some changes to the 100k and 160k with NEW climbs and NEW route sections introduced. Registration will be opening at the beginning of February and further information is available on www.tourofsligo.ie"