Great Dublin bike Ride 2016

Fighting Tao

RobFowl wrote: »

Good spin, well (very well) organised.
Rode with the club #VCBforever which was great, regrouped over the hills and largely stayed together
Windy but thats just pot luck, food and drink stops at funny distances but very good locations...
Personally wouldn't usually stop on 100k spin (except for club coffees ..)
Great to see so many cyclists out and to see the centre of the city hosting a celebration of cycling

Were you wearing a black jersey? A group of VCB zipped past me where there is a golf club at both sides of the road and the odd one out was wearing a black jersey. I think it said Modini on the back.

koutoubia

Fighting Tao wrote: »

Were you wearing a black jersey? A group of VCB zipped past me where there is a golf club at both sides of the road and the odd one out was wearing a black jersey. I think it said Modini on the back.

NO. That was someone getting a free ride on the VCB train.
All club members were in club kit.

Fighting Tao

koutoubia wrote: »

NO. That was someone getting a free ride on the VCB train.
All club members were in club kit.

I wasn't fast enough to get a free ride

Wishbone Ash

Fighting Tao wrote: »

.. A group of VCB zipped past me where there is a golf club at both sides of the road and the odd one out was wearing a black jersey. I think it said Modini on the back.

Sounds like the Roganstown area on the R108. Jersey was probably a modern version of the Molteni one - very popular lately.

rollingscone

Didn't sleep well last night, slept through my 0630 alarm until my wife woke me at 07:10.

Crammed a couple of breakfast bars into my mouth and flew out the door, then spent a good 25 minutes waiting to start.

Met TonyStark at the start and spent the first bout of non-Competitive Sportive jockeying for position like it mattered fever chatting with hm at a gentle pace.

After a while UnknownSoldier showed up and gave some sort of sales pitch for Rapha Hotpants, this was after the quagmire of the Coast Road and the final sightings of such interesting sportive characters as "Black work trousers and a black Tshirt on a roadbike man" and "Forgot to put his bib straps up man".

Once we got out of Portmarnock I managed to lose my shiny new UnknownSoldier and pressed on alone. The foodstop seemed absurdly early so I blew past it on my paltry breakfast thinking there must be one around the midpoint (Spoilers: There wasn't did the whole 100k on my "breakfast" despite having cereal bars etc in my pockets).

Passed Unknown Soldier a second time before the fun with climbing on a singlespeed started, I didn't hit them with the Rhythm I'd hoped to but there were no walks of shame and I got up them faster than I had last year on a geared bike.

Briefly chatted with a club mate of my dad's on one of the descents, then carried on;The cars stuck in the middle of the ride turned it into sort of a neutralized Sportive and cost me badly needed high cadence spinning time (as well as kicking up a massive piece of manure into my chest. I decided just to be grateful it only hit my chest), got a Boardsie shout at some point and replied with an "Ahoy" because...I was never going to be cool.

At some point someone noticed my lack of gears, I passed a lad doing it on a Bullitt for charity, there was a guy belting along with one arm, and earlier on some ultra muscly guy in GAA shorts and an underarmour powering along.

The last leg into the wind became a bit of a slog and the final foodstop was a snarl of ambling cyclists and frustrated staff, back in the city it was hard to keep up my targeted 100-110 RPM and I was starting to feel the lack of fuel.

Met Koutoubia and his Triathlete friend at the finish.

Lots of marshals and Garda support, tried to shout thanks to a few of the volunteers and marshalls (and Gardai!) along the way, glad I did it on the singlespeed, it made it challenging and interesting in a way that it just wasn't last year, even though I'd say I must have been faster this year.

Rew

Great day really enjoyed it.

AltAccount

rollingscone wrote: »

I passed a lad doing it on a Bullitt for charity

*waves*

Fighting Tao

AltAccount wrote: »

*waves*

I passed you too! I wasn't fit to talk at that stage though so hey there!

Wishbone Ash

rollingscone wrote: »

......Met Koutoubia and his Triathlete friend at the finish.....

Oh dear!! Some explaining to be done.

koutoubia

Not by me...My views on that sort of behaviour is well known!

Ranjo

Had a great day out. Well organised which I think was the consensus last year too. Very safe with every intersection manned. The furst stop was brill. I did the half ironman in Aug and a food stop was reaching out grabbing something and rushing off - whereas this was like a picnic stop. No wait for food. Second stop was probably a little too close to the finish however one you set off it was a good feeling that it was just a little canter home.

One concern was baggage. I collected my bag and there was no-one around checking tags. I could have just grabbed whatever.

But back to the positives, well done to all who organised & volunteered.

fjon

This was my first time doing anything like this and I really enjoyed it. Did the 60km on a basic hybrid bike.
I thought the whole thing was very well organised and I had great fun talking to various people throughout the day.
Was surprised how manageable it was - no real hills and nice smooth road for the most part. Food stations were ok for us 60km people - the Swords one one was at a decent location and the Blanch one was handy for refilling your water.
Noticed a lot of "blue numbers" after the route split. Not sure if they chose to do the shorter route, or didnt make the turn off on time?
Probably shouldn't say this, but I enjoyed for once having the right of way on the road and causing traffic chaos. I've been on the other side so many times!

Eponymous

First Sportive done and dusted. Went with two colleagues list then at the first food stop so tricked on alone. Found it handy enough. Snowtown on a full stomach isn't a great idea. I was sure I was going to see that chicken sambo again!

Really well marshalled. Surprised to see people on the course cheering us on, but delighted as it gave me a good boost.

Thanks to the organisers, Marshalls, support crews, volunteers for a great day.

Heard a few shout "Boardsie" but was too wrecked to respond or only realised to late (sorry to the guy at the point).

shamrock2004

Really enjoyed it! The winds were an absolute killer on the return leg. Had to sit up a few times. Then sat in with a charity group who were doing rolling turns - they were so well organised on the road. It was great to see. Fair play to them! Will do this one again next year for sure. And well done to the organisers, the marhsalls and the Gardai. Completed it in 3hrs 14 with an average speed of 30.3 km/hr.

G-Man

Volunteer marshall here. I was observing an estate exit where a lot of cars got backed up as I think some of the junctions were prioritised for the race. Most motorists were very understanding, despite their car loads of kids on the way to mass/soccer/rugby/hurling games. I know the pressure myself on a sunday morning.

Great cheers from cyclists - thanks - it was ye doing the work, I was only standing there in a hi-viz. No grub stops for us mind!

I wonder were the locals advised enough of the need to plan around this event. I actually think the greatest backlogs were as result of the volume of cyclists not the junction marshalling i.e this same traffic would be sitting as long tomorrow monday morning due to a dozen cars or so.

I was trying to help out few cyclists waiting for puncture repairs. I thought there could have been better spread of mechanics, the vans appeared bunched at the back even after just 15k. Maybe there was a lot of breakdowns initially. Maybe even some of the cycling marshalls might have carried a spare repair kit to throw down to someone in trouble.

That said, great day, enjoyed the chat with cyclists, motorists and pedestrians alike and an hour of lying out on the beach afterwards too!

Wishbone Ash

G-Man wrote: »

.....I was trying to help out few cyclists waiting for puncture repairs. I thought there could have been better spread of mechanics, the vans appeared bunched at the back even after just 15k. Maybe there was a lot of breakdowns initially. Maybe even some of the cycling marshalls might have carried a spare repair kit to throw down to someone in trouble....!

My personal view is that any cyclist doing such an event should be able to deal with a puncture or at least cycle with someone who can. It's a fairly basis requirement.

I would have though that mechanical support was for non-puncture mechanicals.

Unknown Soldier

rollingscone wrote: »

After a while UnknownSoldier showed up and gave some sort of sales pitch for Rapha Hotpants, this was after the quagmire of the Coast Road and the final sightings of such interesting sportive characters as "Black work trousers and a black Tshirt on a roadbike man" and "Forgot to put his bib straps up man".

I think due to wind noise while cycling a lot gets lost in translation
I was pondering on the fact that someone in The Rapha cycling gear place had a penchant to putting women in very small and quite "hotpants" like cycling shorts.

I won't lie, I'm not complaining.

I was meant to hook up with the LTC crew this morning but I was waaaay back in a Wave 2 pen, they near the start. I did try and get up to them but I was stuck behind two cyclists wearing said hotpants.

I just couldn't find a way past them.

Ended up doing the 100km solo.

Great weather at the start, slightly, but once the wind picked up, shure you just had to suck on someone's wheel.

Thought it was very well organised tbh. I only stopped for a pee once and brought enough stuff to see me through.

It occurred to me recently that I don't need people to feed me when I do 100km solo, so I was self sufficient, bar forgetting that I had 12km under my belt before the start. I didn't realise that until about 85 km which meant there was 30 km to do

Good day out though.

The pasta at the end was delicious.

Well done all the volunteers! I tried to thank as many of you as I could!

conkennedy

koutoubia wrote: »

Highlight of the day was the marshal on the Coast Road between Portmarnock and Malahide fast asleep on the grass

For me these ladies were the highlight of the day!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvlncRWZHjM

Unknown Soldier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpyoMB99A-w

DanDublin1982

Unknown Soldier wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpyoMB99A-w

Thats meself looking very serious right behind you for the first 90 seconds or so.

asteroids over berlin

Didn't participate but cycled over and at manor st i seen a load of cyclists having to stop at the lights at hanlons corner, thought it was a bit meh, should of been allowed to flow

DominoDub

Garmin Users ...my edge 200 unit showed 800 meters climbing today ..but once loaded into Strava it only shows 559 meters elevation.

https://www.strava.com/activities/708378397

What is the average meters climbed by you today ?

Fighting Tao

Both Garmin and Strava say 688m. However, the times are slightly different and I synced from the Garmin to Strava. I have an option for elevation corrections and its disabled. Could yours be turned on?

brianomc

DominoDub wrote: »

Garmin Users ...my edge 200 unit showed 800 meters climbing today ..but once loaded into Strava it only shows 559 meters elevation.

https://www.strava.com/activities/708378397

What is the average meters climbed by you today ?

Mine showed 1289 for the 100km which seemed way too high, I got strava to recalculate it and it's down to 603, garmin connect recalculation says 539. Who knows really. Most people seem to show 750ish.

brianomc

asteroids over berlin wrote: »

Didn't participate but cycled over and at manor st i seen a load of cyclists having to stop at the lights at hanlons corner, thought it was a bit meh, should of been allowed to flow

I didn't have to stop there but got caught at just back from there at the Ratoath/Cabra/Old Cabra/Navan Road junction. To be fair, the cyclists were fairly spread out at that stage so keeping the road clear would have been a bit harsh on motorists. And the garda got us to pull up ahead of the stop line and told us he would get us through as quick as possible. That was the only time I had to stop.

There was one guy who passed me a few times whose wheels sounded feckin sexy. I have no idea how I kept getting in front of him though.

robyntmorton

Well, I survived the 100km of my first sportive. My phone was acting as my tracker, but stopped tracking at 70 ish. I can only estimate my time as about 4:40.

The marshalling was excellent. They let cycle go as much as possible. I saw a moto Garda just on the far side of the first stop screech to a halt inches from an about to turn car and told him that for his safety to choose a different route.

I think the sandwich in Ballyboughal that I got didn't sit with me, but that may be the luck of the draw.

Snowtown beat me, but I managed to get the other hills. Turning south into the wind was a killer though, and I fought with self doubt for a while. I may have wished for death at some point, but all I got was a puncture (73ish km). When I got it to the NSC, there was no way I was giving in at that point. Was glad to see the line though!

It was fantastic to see the support from marshals, locals and other cyclists. While I was stranded for repair I lost count of the offers of help and support. As a soloist it was wonderful to see how the community was so willing to help its own.

Finally, I am in two minds as to how I feel after. Part of me says to never do something that foolish again, while I am also thinking about when the next one is.

(I also have the 20km to the start line to add to my days tally - I refused the offer of transport)

07Lapierre

G-Man wrote: »

Volunteer marshall here. I was observing an estate exit where a lot of cars got backed up as I think some of the junctions were prioritised for the race. Most motorists were very understanding, despite their car loads of kids on the way to mass/soccer/rugby/hurling games. I know the pressure myself on a sunday morning.

Great cheers from cyclists - thanks - it was ye doing the work, I was only standing there in a hi-viz. No grub stops for us mind!

I wonder were the locals advised enough of the need to plan around this event. I actually think the greatest backlogs were as result of the volume of cyclists not the junction marshalling i.e this same traffic would be sitting as long tomorrow monday morning due to a dozen cars or so.

I was trying to help out few cyclists waiting for puncture repairs. I thought there could have been better spread of mechanics, the vans appeared bunched at the back even after just 15k. Maybe there was a lot of breakdowns initially. Maybe even some of the cycling marshalls might have carried a spare repair kit to throw down to someone in trouble.

That said, great day, enjoyed the chat with cyclists, motorists and pedestrians alike and an hour of lying out on the beach afterwards too!

I was one of the "Bike Support" riders on the 100k. Our brief for the day was to be an "example of good cycling". We were to provide advice, motivation And We were advised to "try" and ensure riders stayed on the left side of the road, didn't cycle more than two abreast etc. Our job was not to provide mechanical support.

sullivlo

I finished the 100km. Tipped almost 115 with the cycle in and out. I managed all of the hills and didn't put a foot down.

That's all the positives I have about my performance!!! The wind absolutely finished me. I was spent. It didn't matter how hard I pushed I was getting nowhere. Tried tagging on to a few groups as they passed for some shelter but it didn't help.

Food stop in Ballyboghal was grand. Decent sandwich and bananas aplenty. Shame the electricity cut out for the tea though!

Would have enjoyed a break at ~70, and the option to go straight and avoid the last food stop.

Pasta at the end was good.

All in all, a good day out. Disappointed with my average speed (struggled to 20.5, having averaged 25.2 on a similar distance/gain 3 weeks ago). Legs are in bits now though, as is my lower back. Unsure if I have any feelings in my glutes!

The Cycling pianist

In two minds about how today went.

First 65km or so were grand. Didn't stop at the first food stop as I felt it was ridiculously early. Had my banana about 20k in. Someone behind me may have been hit by the flying Nutrigrain that accidentally got dislodged from my pocket (soz). That flying Nutrigrain meant I had no more food, and I started to suffer coming into Garristown. Stopped, had a can of Coke and most of a packet of Jaffa cakes, and went on my way again. That kept me going for about 10km, but the last 25km (and the 10km or so home from Smithfield) were very tough. Finished in 4:20, had been aiming for sub 4, so a little disappointed.

Had a couple of sketchy moments. One fool came past me on the right and then immediately cut in front of me on one of the hills, nearly had to put the foot down. Someone else came past me, saw his mate stopped 50m ahead at the side of the road, and went to turn across me to meet him. If it weren't for his mate saying "don't stop, I'll catch up", I'd probably have been knocked down.

Oh, and I saw one Boardsie. Long sleeves, Cannondale Synapse and a big beard if I recall correctly

Edit: Also, highlight of the day was seeing what looked like a British Airways 747 landing at DUB around 12:30 ( sorry, aviation geek )

RobFowl

The Cycling pianist wrote: »

Also, highlight of the day was seeing what looked like a British Airways 747 landing at DUB around 12:30 ( sorry, aviation geek )

That was just Koutobia