Dun Laoghaire Ironman 70.3 2018

Shedite27

EDit wrote: »

Has anyone been up on the bike course recently? I’ve heard quite a bit about gorse fires up near the gap and was wondering if anyone has any first-hand knowledge of whether it’s ridable at the moment? Was planning on heading over next week for a trial run

Check out the Road Conditions Thread for updates. Was closed last weekend anyway

rxchxy

Did the full route last Sunday morning. The road was closed from the Sally Gap through to below Lough Bray (the junction to Crone carpark). There was a Park Ranger there at the Sally Gap and said it was closed to cars but could proceed at your own risk on a bike.

The heather/bog was smoldering on most of the route with some bigger fires down from Lough Bray but they were back from the road a bit. Slightly smokey at the time but not too bad bc of the way the wind was blowing. You may have issues if the wind is coming from a different direction.

Road surface was the same as usual

syntheticjunk

On Wednesday morning it still was closed. Just a bit of the a smoke in few places, but nothing major or dangerous.

Susieqw

"It also warned that wildfires can change direction suddenly and that smoke from gorse fires can affect a person's breathing and ability to see."

As above I would err on the side of caution.

RacoonQueen

Road was still closed on Monday (I went up from opposite direction) was smouldering in a few places and road was melting in a few places but otherwise fine. Has been much cooler the last couple of days so might be ok now. You could alway do the climb anyway and go down into Manor Kilbride and back towards Tibradden via Tallaght and Rathfarnham, be a longer spin but you'd still get the Sally Gap climb in and all the bumps before it.

EC1000

RacoonQueen wrote: »

was smouldering in a few places and road was melting in a few places but otherwise fine.

So other than the fires and the road melting it was ok

RacoonQueen

EC1000 wrote: »

So other than the fires and the road melting it was ok

Well I mean when you put it like that you make it sound like I'm crazy :pac:

fresca

Hi all,


Just wondering if anyone could recommend or has knowledge of a motor-home park as close as possible to this event?
Travelling from overseas for this event and am not familiar with the area.


Thanks!

rxchxy

fresca wrote: »

Hi all,


Just wondering if anyone could recommend or has knowledge of a motor-home park as close as possible to this event?
Travelling from overseas for this event and am not familiar with the area.


Thanks!

There's one in Roundwood... the bike route actually goes past it. It's about 30km from Dun Laoghaire though

Not sure of any closer to the start

ChickenBalls

fresca wrote: »

Hi all,


Just wondering if anyone could recommend or has knowledge of a motor-home park as close as possible to this event?
Travelling from overseas for this event and am not familiar with the area.


Thanks!

There is one called Camac Valley it's 25km from the race event about 30 min drive mainly on motorway.

Hopefully this link works for you - give directions and where Camc Valley is located.
https://www.google.ie/maps/dir/D%C3%BAn+Laoghaire,+Dublin/Camac+Valley+Tourist+Caravan+and+Camping+Park,+Naas+Rd,+Kingswood,+Dublin/@53.3116633,-6.3472666,12z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x486707defb471c8f:0xa00c7a9973229f0!2m2!1d-6.1338666!2d53.2943958!1m5!1m1!1s0x4867737d69f06923:0x33cf40614ec555a!2m2!1d-6.4150577!2d53.3047279!3e0

Shedite27

fresca wrote: »

Hi all,


Just wondering if anyone could recommend or has knowledge of a motor-home park as close as possible to this event?
Travelling from overseas for this event and am not familiar with the area.


Thanks!

Yeah it's quite an affluent part of Ireland so there's nothing that's easily walkable (or public transport at that time of the morning). Roundwood would be my preference, lovely site by a lake and town.

If you're stuck, the last few years I've seen people park their motorhome within 500m of the main transition and sleeping there the night before the event. No services obviously. This year may be different with the run also happening in Dun Laoighre.

cjt156

I did most of the bike route yesterday, starting/finishing in Shankill & cutting out the Roundwood loop.

The road is still closed, though passable & all the fires are out. It's all a bit lunar in places, reminds me of Lanzarotte.

The three main climbs are a fair test, although they are well spaced with plenty of recovery & descending in between. Should be a fun day!

68 lost souls

cjt156 wrote: »

I did most of the bike route yesterday, starting/finishing in Shankill & cutting out the Roundwood loop.

The road is still closed, though passable & all the fires are out. It's all a bit lunar in places, reminds me of Lanzarotte.

The three main climbs are a fair test, although they are well spaced with plenty of recovery & descending in between. Should be a fun day!

Not doing the race but did the section from Mountvenus to Enniskerry this morning and hope to do Enniskerry back to Mount Venus this evening. Bit of rain to damping things down I'm hoping it will be less smokey. Reckon its all passable on the bike that way?

cjt156

68 lost souls wrote: »

Not doing the race but did the section from Mountvenus to Enniskerry this morning and hope to do Enniskerry back to Mount Venus this evening. Bit of rain to damping things down I'm hoping it will be less smokey. Reckon its all passable on the bike that way?

Absolutely, the road is closed from the Sally Gap crossroads until just before the Glencree turnoff. It's just cones in the road, though; you can sail on through. There's a few smouldering patches, but they are very small. It's smelly more than smokey.

jester1980

HI Folks, few quick things, this is my first 70.3, doing triathlons a few years

1) I cant see the feed station or water stations details up yet for bike, does anyone have info on these?

2 Nutrition Advise - Bit of help needed here, so on Saturday I went for a 120km spin, brought with me 2 bananas, fruit bar, bottle water and bottle of lucozade sport half watered down. I can obviously take the drinks and stick them on my bike that morning, for food do you put in the bag you grab after swimming, would people bother with food if there are stations on the course, not really sure how much nutrition I should take, I know everyone is different, any examples of what people do would be great.

3) Don't know much about salt tablets, would these be advised?

68 lost souls

Roads are fully open again. Legs felt dead the whole way around, like I was missing a couple of gears. Lovely scenic route. 3 spots I can think to watch road conditions/line is an offset cross roads after ballinastoe make sure you take a nice line as it’s slightly more offset than I thought, the left turn after the Ashtown uphill section where there was a lot of loose gravel on the end, and the chicane after lough Tay, a lovely sweeping foggy followed by a sharp left over a narrow bridge where the road has a massive pothole

As for the question re nutrition it’s good your looking at it this early you need to test it on training. I doubt what you listed is enough. Try more sugar like jelly babies or gels.

Shedite27

jester1980 wrote: »

HI Folks, few quick things, this is my first 70.3, doing triathlons a few years

1) I cant see the feed station or water stations details up yet for bike, does anyone have info on these?

They'll be on the map eventually, about every 20k

jester1980 wrote: »

2 Nutrition Advise - Bit of help needed here, so on Saturday I went for a 120km spin, brought with me 2 bananas, fruit bar, bottle water and bottle of lucozade sport half watered down. I can obviously take the drinks and stick them on my bike that morning, for food do you put in the bag you grab after swimming, would people bother with food if there are stations on the course, not really sure how much nutrition I should take, I know everyone is different, any examples of what people do would be great.

Take your first feed on your bike, sellotape a tret to your bike and you won't have to worry about picking it up. After that, there's plenty of food on the bike, eat as much as you can, you'll need the energy for the run. They usually have powerbars on the course, try them before and see if you like them.

jester1980 wrote: »

3) Don't know much about salt tablets, would these be advised?

Usually only needed if you're a heavy sweater or it's very hot.

Milk_Tray

Isnt Enervit the brand now and not powerbar?

Shedite27

Milk_Tray wrote: »

Isnt Enervit the brand now and not powerbar?

Possibly, been a few years since I did it. They'll have it on the website a few months before the race anyway

rxchxy

For anyone looking to do the route in full Ballybetagh road through to Killegar Lane is closed from 08.00 a.m. to 18.00 p.m. Monday to Friday from 16th July to 17th August 2018. This is the road from Johnnie Foxes down towards Kilternan. They're resurfacing it which is great because that whole section through Glencullen village is a bit of a nightmare with the potholes at the moment

jester1980

Thanks for advise there, love the sellotape idea,

Ill try and see can I get some of these bars and try them out on cycles, hopefully they put up the aid stations soon on the map, will keep checking.

68 lost souls

jester1980 wrote: »

Thanks for advise there, love the sellotape idea,

Ill try and see can I get some of these bars and try them out on cycles, hopefully they put up the aid stations soon on the map, will keep checking.

I would recommend electrical tape rather than sellotape

68 lost souls

rxchxy wrote: »

For anyone looking to do the route in full Ballybetagh road through to Killegar Lane is closed from 08.00 a.m. to 18.00 p.m. Monday to Friday from 16th July to 17th August 2018. This is the road from Johnnie Foxes down towards Kilternan. They're resurfacing it which is great because that whole section through Glencullen village is a bit of a nightmare with the potholes at the moment

Where is Killegar Lane, doenst come up on google maps. I havent noticed any signs or anything around and my daily commute brings me through Glencullen. Will be a pain as I normally go trough at about 8:30.

rxchxy

68 lost souls wrote: »

Where is Killegar Lane, doenst come up on google maps. I havent noticed any signs or anything around and my daily commute brings me through Glencullen. Will be a pain as I normally go trough at about 8:30.

Not 100% sure but I think it's essentially where Killegar Road joins Ballybetagh Road.

Think the signs only went up yesterday or the day before. Announced back on June
http://www.dlrcoco.ie/en/news/general-news/temporary-closure-ballybetagh-road-glencullen-co-dublin

EDit

So, I got my first taste of the bike route today, as did the Kilternan-to-Kilternan circuit (starting out opposite the wedding shop on the R117). TBH, bit of a disaster (the date should have told me that!).

First off, the Garmin bike computer packed in about 5k into the cycle. Was fully charged, so no idea what’s up. Anyway, rightly or wrongly, I rely heavily on my cadence readings for gear selection, so missed that terribly for the remainder of the ride. Secondly, I fell off coming round a tight bend at ~20kph...”luckily” I landed in a bush of thorns and nettles, so apart from being scratched to bits and itchy, it’s not too bad. Very fortunate there wasn’t a wall there. I picked myself up, but it was just before that final hill up to Glencullen, so it took the wind out of my sails just at the wrong time.

Anyway, with multiple stops, some expected (ie, nutrition and drinks + to relieve the inevitable back ache) some not (to try and fix the Garmin, for the crash, for temporary traffic lights, for slow cars going down some hills, and at least twice because I thought I’d gone the wrong way, but hadn’t) I did the 65k in 3 hours, 14 mins, which is near enough bang on 20kph average (which is what I need as a minimum to get onto the run before the cut-off). Kinda pleased I did get that as an average, but the experience certainly hasn’t boosted my confidence

Ho hum, will try it again in a few weeks and see if it works out better next time

jester1980

Hey fair play to you, sounds tough, I did same route few weeks back and average was 20.8, similar, and loads of stops to check my map ha.

then last week went up and was 21.5. and that was few days after bug, so im hoping with training and race atmosphere I can get close to 23.

So you might be similar.

EDit

Thanks, that’s quite reassuring actually.

Btw, anyone any hints about keeping the flies away? I was struggling up that windy section leading to Sally’s Gap and I had a swarm of the buggers around my head and arms. It was hard enough cycling up them hills without those little ****s buzzing in your ears and trying to feed off the sweat on your arms 🙂

jester1980

EDit wrote: »

Thanks, that’s quite reassuring actually.

Btw, anyone any hints about keeping the flies away? I was struggling up that windy section leading to Sally’s Gap and I had a swarm of the buggers around my head and arms. It was hard enough cycling up them hills without those little ****s buzzing in your ears and trying to feed off the sweat on your arms ��

Oh its crazy the amount of them isn't it, there were none when I did the course in June so assume its something to do with the weather.

I couldn't get rid of them as I was going to slow up hill ha

dickidy

Heh all. So this question is about the swim. Have done the distance a few time and average around the 45 min mark, but one day I was obviously against the tide and didn't move for about 10 min. Is the race timed to go out with the tide. I got a bit nervous after that swim that if I'm against the tide coming in I'm screwed . First timer starting to panic

RacoonQueen

The swim course will only be decided on the day. If the water is particularly bad swim will be shortened or cancelled.
Was very choppy a few years ago though and they didn't shorten it.