Wicklow 200 2017

terrydel

dahat wrote: »

Job done, 7hrs 33 in the saddle at avg of 26.6km, crept over the 3k elevation.

First 100km was tough as weather was messy and as I went with gillet n summer gear so got wet then dry then wet and dry then wet then dry then sunburnt in 2nd 100km!!!!

Climbs were tough but I just settled and got there without blowing up too much, one or two after the last food stop hurt which was to be expected really.
Did the last 50/60km with a lad from Usher and a few others who were afraid to do turns, usual Sportive carry-on. So the lad from Usher and I just hit a temporary and came home together, lovely chap and thanks for the company which helped me get home when the left groin cramped once or twice.

Food stops were perfect and no complaints but the marshalls today we're top drawer and said thanks to as many as I could when I passed, well done to all involved, made the day safe with tips and advice regarding descents and surface.

Staying in Bray tonight and I'm getting a Chinese somewhere!!! I deserve it.....

My take on doing turns in sportives is very simple, I start with the idea that I may ride the whole thing on my own. If Im cycling at the front at my pace and lads want to sit behind me for 200km I dont get upset about it, if they come to the front I'll happily take advantage. If Im in a group and feel I can go to the front I try do a fair share, if I feel I cant I just sit in til Im dropped.
Who are usher by the way? See their kit everywhere lately.

P_1

Feeling some envy at ye finishing the 200, definitely need to up my game and take it on next year.

dahat

terrydel wrote: »

My take on doing turns in sportives is very simple, I start with the idea that I may ride the whole thing on my own. If Im cycling at the front at my pace and lads want to sit behind me for 200km I dont get upset about it, if they come to the front I'll happily take advantage. If Im in a group and feel I can go to the front I try do a fair share, if I feel I cant I just sit in til Im dropped.
Who are usher by the way? See their kit everywhere lately.

Tbh, it's a bit of common courtesy on a long ass spin like the W200.
Usher are Lexlip based.

dahat

P_1 wrote: »

Feeling some envy at ye finishing the 200, definitely need to up my game and take it on next year.

I'd recommend a decent training schedule as I saw plenty dying and nearly dead bodies today some as early as Long Hill.

P_1

dahat wrote: »

I'd recommend a decent training schedule as I saw plenty dying and nearly dead bodies today some as early as Long Hill.

Yeah I didn't really get enough miles in the legs so far this year to seriously contemplate it (though it did cross my mind to keep going straight at Laragh ).

The fact that I blew up a bit on the N11 on the way home and was a cranky git towards every motorist I encountered makes me glad I didn't :eek:

dahat

terrydel wrote: »

7.38 for the 200. averaging 26.4kmph, half hour quicker than previous best so happy with that. New route and personally I think its tougher especially the laast 10km or so, some horrible climbs there.
Weather the first hour was ****e. Not too bad after apart from the odd shower. Wind was for and against at times, but when it was for it was great to be honest. Glad to get into a group from hollywood to baltinglass as it was a headwind and would have been murder solo. Was a strong group so at times I was hanging on a bit. Got up slieve mann pretty well, only overtaken by a girl in a gran fondo NI jersey, she was a savage climber. Struggled up Shay Elliott but again she was the only one to overtake me! Class cyclist in fairness.
Stopped at small water stop with 25 to go, I was seriously hungry and not far of the bonk I think, so savaged a dairy milk turkisk delight, one of the free nature valley bars and a can of coke. Ate like a wild animal! It made a difference and without it I think I'd have fallen over the finish line. Probably need to focus on eating more on these things. Food stops were good, tea and coffee as always, sambos as well. Few bananas or jellies like in the past would have been nice tho.
Worst part of the day was seeing two very bad crashes, first one the guy was being fitted with a neck brace, but to my quick summation he looked like he wasnt critical. Second one was withing a few km of the finish and it didnt look good. At that stage I felt a bit emotional seeing that, what with the mental and physical tiredness of the day and the fact that poor person was doing what I was doing and just about to finish what is a great achievement for anybody. Thoughts are with those two people now and hoping they are ok.
Enjoyed the day a bit more than last weekends Gran Fondo NI which to be honest just felt like a chore, more down to personal stuff such as work stress, general burnout this summer and a drreadful nights sleep the night before.
Not sure next summer if I will bother with cycles of the magnitude of the W200, certainly in terms of distance, its took a lot out of me this year training for these and Im quite frankly wrecked from it. Next year will involve a lot more moderation, because since early May Ive stopped enjoying it and that should never happen, otherwise what is the point.
Godd event today, theyve undoubtedly found a tough and challenging new route. Interested to hear what others thought about the route in comparison to the previous incarnation. Deffo a bit tougher for me!

The last 10km, wow, savage tough. Felt like Alp De Huez at times!
Saw one crash n while it looked bad he wasn't as bad as it looked as first thing I heard was "mind the bike will ya".....

Foxmoves

dahat wrote: »

Tbh, it's a bit of common courtesy on a long ass spin like the W200.
Usher are Lexlip based.

Think They are probably more tallaght / Newcastle village. Very old club, formed in 1890. That usher lad today was living in lexlip though. 😉

7hrs 6mins for me. Good spin. Think the wind direction probably helped a little as it was nice to have some tail wind home.

Marshalling was excellent, and the the food stops were fine once you got in early.

The massive train / up and overs into ballinglas was the business against the wind.

dahat

Foxmoves wrote: »

Think They are probably more tallaght / Newcastle village. Very old club, formed in 1890. That usher lad today was living in lexlip though. 😉

7hrs 6mins for me. Good spin. Think the wind direction probably helped a little as it was nice to have some tail wind home.

Marshalling was excellent, and the the food stops were fine once you got in early.

The massive train / up and overs into ballinglas was the business against the wind.

Missed those massive trains but did hit a group of 12 or so at one point.

7hrs 6 mins is a decent​ time, well done.

davef1000

P_1 wrote: »

Got the 100 done in 4:15 so quite happy with the time too.

Me, too!

dahat

terrydel wrote: »

A chinese? Whats her name :P

Kung Po!

Gerry

8 hours 18.. Happy enough, wasn't in a group at all really. Those first two hours killed me. Still the descents were fun. Cramped badly at 150k and was happy to get home after that.

terrydel

P_1 wrote: »

Yeah I didn't really get enough miles in the legs so far this year to seriously contemplate it (though it did cross my mind to keep going straight at Laragh ).

The fact that I blew up a bit on the N11 on the way home and was a cranky git towards every motorist I encountered makes me glad I didn't :eek:

With the 200 distance, theres no winging it, unless your a superman or woman.
For me personally, you need to get a at least a couple of 120-140km spins in if you're training solo, probably more if you're training in a grup. Its as much psychological as physical I think, so you know in your head you have it in you. If you get thru it you will be able to drag the extra 50 or so out of you, and on sportvives you generally always get the benefit of a bit of group riding and the buzz of the vent is probably worth 10%.

py

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Left Skerries at 4.25am intending to do a 300+ but buckled my front wheel and had to abandon in Hollywood with just 106k done.

Abandoned a little after 100Km with a mechanical too, pretty pissed as I was making good time and still felt fresh. Next year it is

koutoubia

Well done to all.
Spotted some boarsdie's.
Stayed at my 'post' till 14.45.
It seemed that a lot of people were on the 100km.The other guy who was marshalling said it was a much bigger turnout for the 100km then last year.
First rider passed my point (60km/160km) at 8.45-ish and from then until I left it was a steady stream of cyclist who were all very co-operative.
Again well done to all!

Wishbone Ash

Just see from Strava that one of my friends averaged 32.2km/h on the 200! :eek:

dahat

Ah here that's unreal pace, does he race?

HivemindXX

Did it not rain solid from 7am to 8am for everyone? I nearly changed my mind and went left at Laragh after being drenched for a solid hour with no sign of it stopping and I reckon a lot of people did. Luckily it stopped raining just before the decision point and I decided to stick with the 200 and I'm glad I did since the weather was more like for forecast (windy with showers through the afternoon).

Some pretty nasty gusts coming off the Wicklow Gap.

My average speed was 21kph but to be honest I'm just glad to finish. I was fine up to Slieve Maan but that killed me and from then on everything that even had an idea of an uphill slope was hard going. Little bumps on the road to Greystones and Bray were putting me in bottom gear straight away. I was dreading Windgates (which I know well) and was convinced I'd have to walk. We approached from a different road than usual for me and I didn't recognise it until I got to the top. That was a very nice surprise which cheered me up a lot.

Marshalling was great as per usual. I did spot a couple of junctions where I was surprised not to see one but that was a very small percentage to be fair. Food stops worked very well. Hardly any queuing required and plenty of space to leave the bike. All the advertised water stops were present and had plenty of water. There were a couple of extra water stops too which would have been good for people who don't have my camel like constitution. The GAA clubhouse is a good start point. I was there before for the Skoda Tour de Wicklow and it has everything you need. There were a lot of cars around but I think they were all cyclists so probably not as much hassle with the locals. My only complaint, and I'm not sure what they can do about it, is the traffic once we crossed the M50 near the end was quite busy. Lots of cars being held up which then triggered dodgy overtakes eventually. The road to and out of Enniskerry was particularly bad for this. It didn't help that most cyclists were keeping a fairly slow pace at that point.

Glad to do this and very pleased with myself so thanks to the organisers. I have done the 100k a few times and the last time I tried the 200k my rim fell apart after 140k (luckily within walking distance of the Rathdrum food stop). Box ticked.

ps. I like the medal.

dahat

Yes, I got pissed on between 7-8 and nearly jacked it but solidered on hoping it would clear which it did eventually.

nilhg

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Left Skerries at 4.25am intending to do a 300+ but buckled my front wheel and had to abandon in Hollywood with just 106k done.

I saw you at the start but didn't get to say hello, was trying to locate one of our lads to roll out, when I turned back you were gone.

If I'd have seen you in Hollywood I'd gladly have given you my front wheel and gone home, suffered right through till Hacketstown, fortunately my legs woke up after that and I was comfortable enough for the rest of the way.

8.21 moving for me, possibly could have skinned a bit off if I wasn't with the lads from the club, but it's easier say that than do it.

While I reckon the new route is harder than the old, I'd be a bit disappointed with the new finishing stretch, specifically the bit from Greystones to Enniskerry, too urban and too many traffic lights/busy roundabouts.

Beasty

Absolutely knackered after that. Up at 6 and saw the queues from the N/M11 heading to the start

Then spent 5 hours in my hi-viz pointing towards the entrance to the food stop, before grabbing some myself and heading home for a lie down.

I would echo what koutoubia says about the numbers - it was manic for about an hour at the foodstop as the 100km'ers descended, but the first waves of the 200'ers were (I guess unsurprisingly as they were going very fast) spread out

Not a single Boadsie jersey sighted, so I'm guessing they all did the 200! (except for one or two in their club gear) Saw 2 tandems, but no fixies or Dublin bikes....

koutoubia wrote: »

Well done to all.
Spotted some boarsdie's.
Stayed at my 'post' till 14.45.
It seemed that a lot of people were on the 100km.The other guy who was marshalling said it was a much bigger turnout for the 100km then last year.
First rider passed my point (60km/160km) at 8.45-ish and from then until I left it was a steady stream of cyclist who were all very co-operative.
Again well done to all!

They started heading into the Rathdrum food stop just after 8

HivemindXX wrote: »

Did it not rain solid from 7am to 8am for everyone?

I arrived at Rathdrum around 7.45 - was clear then and as I was driving in from the Rathbeale direction. Had some drizzle and sunshine with gusts blowing the chairs over on occasion. Then we had a downpour at 1, about 15 mins after my stint was due to finish (and I made a rapid exit at that time)

P_1

HivemindXX wrote: »

Did it not rain solid from 7am to 8am for everyone?

Somehow managed to avoid all the rain except for maybe a few km going into Rathdrum. Old Long Hill was, erm, interesting with a damp road mind

tc20

I did the 100, first time doing anything like this, normally just cycle to work between greystones & bray. Finished in a shade over the 5 hours. I set off just before 8, and bar the odd very light shower, i managed to get back to the car just before the heavy stuff started. Though i did the ride solo, i felt that having others ahead of you, around you spurred you on. I thought the marshalls did a great job.

aimnburn

There was an elderly gentleman in Bray Wheelers gear at the Baltinglass food stop. He was mid/late 70's minimum. Does anyone know who he is? Was he doing the 200!? What a legend. I plan on still being fit enough to ride my bike at that age but no ****ing way will I be doing 200k sportives!

All in it was 228k and 3300 metres climbing in 9 and a half hours for an average of 24.2. Was hoping to do it in 25 dead but I'm not disappointed. Really enjoyed the day. I found the second section after the first food stop with slieve Maan immediately followed by Shay Elliott really tough. Was close to bonking and stomach didn't feel great so I didn't want to use gels. The food stop sorted me out and had a great spin then as far as Greystones before it got really tough again.

A great day.

Plastik

Possibly Peter Crinnion, or maybe not based on the next post!

cajonlardo

aimnburn wrote: »

There was an elderly gentleman in Bray Wheelers gear at the Baltinglass food stop. He was mid/late 70's minimum. Does anyone know who he is? Was he doing the 200!? What a legend. I plan on still being fit enough to ride my bike at that age but no ****ing way will I be doing 200k sportives!

All in it was 228k and 3300 metres climbing in 9 and a half hours for an average of 24.2. Was hoping to do it in 25 dead but I'm not disappointed. Really enjoyed the day. I found the second section after the first food stop with slieve Maan immediately followed by Shay Elliott really tough. Was close to bonking and stomach didn't feel great so I didn't want to use gels. The food stop sorted me out and had a great spin then as far as Greystones before it got really tough again.

A great day.

His name is Sean and he travels home from the states specially for the W200
I stand to be corrected but I strongly believe he is over 80. And yes, he did the 200 and has completed more of w200 than anyone I know. Amazing man,

saccades

Tired...

But really really chuffed. No longer cycling 150km to work and spend about 2 hours in the car but managed to get around the 200km in 8'55", 20 mins faster than my previous best. New top speed of 76kmph too down kilmacurragh.

Started early (6:15) and was drowned a couple of times, kept meeting up with some Dubs lads (who bickered in a piss funny manner like they were married for 20 years) in Sligo tops who were great for a tow and kept a decent pace so I could take my turn too.

Out with two mates, one young buck who wasn't used to riding in groups but was steller company and was like a stream train when he took his turn at the front and a club mate who was struggling with his knee unfortunately.

Shay Elliot really took it out of me, felt light headed and dug too deep really. Thought I had killed the front mech on the descent but wasn't too far from the rathdrum feedstop - mechanic took 3 seconds to see it was the pump dropping out of the holder and rubbing on the chainset, but took the time to give the gears a quick once over. I apologised for being too tired to work out what was going on. Big Thanks to him.

Saw one boardsie on a TT looking bike up Sleive Mon but by the time I realised he was gone.

THought organisation was really good this year - loads of marshalls (inc kondobia of this parish), food and the like. Big thanks to the IVCA on a job well done.

Only bit I didn't like was the 200 yards on the N11 at a pretty busy time.

Finished the course with bunny hops over the sleeping policemen to the finish line.

saccades

cajonlardo wrote: »

His name is Sean and he travels home from the states specially for the W200
I stand to be corrected but I strongly believe he is over 80. And yes, he did the 200 and has completed more of w200 than anyone I know. Amazing man,

I know a club mate (SERC) Mick Shiels is 71 and completed the 200 today, he's made of teak or something.

koutoubia

saccades wrote: »

loads of marshalls (inc koutoubia of this parish),

Your welcome.

bbolger

Recovery beer time...

Battling the winds all day, found that hard going, few scary moments on the deep section rims.
The route is definitely tougher starting from Bray, you're climbing after 2km and still climbing at 199km, an extra 250m on last year according to the Garmin.

The last 10-15kms were hard work especially with a lot of traffic going through Bray & Enniskerry.
Was with a group from Whiteriver Wheelers for a while, chapeau to them cycling back to Louth after that!

50 of the last 60kms were solo which was mentally tiring.

Finished in 7:12 rolling time so happy enough considering the conditions today.

Oh, the carrot cake at the end was savage! :pac:

rollingscone

Great marshals and foodstops today.

I think I got a Boardsie from one but my tiny fat brain didn't process it till I was past