Leitrim Glens Sportive

Takca

For anybody who might want to do a route with similar distance/climbing to the Wicklow 200 but located in the north west, I Thought I'd give a shout out to an event happening in Leitrim next month(sunday, 19th Aug)

I've signed up for the 200km route (with 2600 meters of climbing) which will be hardest thing I'll have done on the bike to date and may infact kill me ....

Anyway links below, I'm not affiliated with the organisers but I reckon if a few more people join up after seeing this post I'll be less likely to be alone at the back ;-)

http://www.leitrimglens.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pg/leitrimglenssportive/posts/

AxleAddict

Did this last year - certainly one of the tougher ones out there - plenty of climbing and a few technical descents where you need to have your wits about you (unless some of the surfaces have been repaired). If you spot a wind turbine or a radio mast on top of a hill somewhere you can pretty much guarantee you'll be getting a much closer look at some point during the day  Weather wasn't great last year (which probably impacted the numbers taking part as well) - but still think its worth making the effort to do it - I was glad to see the finish, but still chuffed to have made it around.

marvin80

Their continental-style cycling signs are a great idea - would love to see more of them around the place.

Takca

AxleAddict wrote: »

Did this last year - certainly one of the tougher ones out there - plenty of climbing and a few technical descents where you need to have your wits about you (unless some of the surfaces have been repaired). If you spot a wind turbine or a radio mast on top of a hill somewhere you can pretty much guarantee you'll be getting a much closer look at some point during the day  Weather wasn't great last year (which probably impacted the numbers taking part as well) - but still think its worth making the effort to do it - I was glad to see the finish, but still chuffed to have made it around.

Fingers crossed it'l get the good weather this year, it would make the day(and those technical descents), hopefully we haven't used up all of the quota of good weather for the year already.

marvin80 wrote: »

Their continental-style cycling signs are a great idea - would love to see more of them around the place.

Ya, at least those climbs shouldn't take me by surprise as long as I keep my eyes open to see them

monkeyslayer

Anyone have a strava or similar link for the the 200 route? maybe even the 150

Takca

monkeyslayer wrote: »

Anyone have a strava or similar link for the the 200 route? maybe even the 150

As best I can tell from their image here[1] this is a strava version of the route that I did up
https://www.strava.com/routes/11896809
It may be slightly off but looks about right in that it has all of the bumps in the correct places, maybe ask on their facebook for something more definite. I haven't done the same for the 150.

1 - http://www.leitrimglens.com/200k/

fat bloke

Trio of us heading down tonight to do this tomorrow. Hard to predict what the weather will be. Warm and wet most likely.

Takca

fat bloke wrote: »

Trio of us heading down tonight to do this tomorrow. Hard to predict what the weather will be. Warm and wet most likely.

I havn't managed to talk myself out of it yet so I'll be there(white giant defy with black and white bar tape if you want to say hi).

I'm feeling optimistic about the weather but I'm sure a few showers will be knocking around.

fat bloke

Bloody hell that was tough. Blessed with the weather though in the end. Warm and humid all day. Not looking forward to the drive home now zzzzzz


Edit - hats off to the organisers. They deserved to have 2 or 3 times the number of participants. Great signage and marshalling and oddly wholesome foodstops with a complete absence of crap!

delynet

fat bloke wrote: »

Bloody hell that was tough. Blessed with the weather though in the end. Warm and humid all day. Not looking forward to the drive home now zzzzzz


Edit - hats off to the organisers. They deserved to have 2 or 3 times the number of participants. Great signage and marshalling and oddly wholesome foodstops with a complete absence of crap!

Agree. Mega tough day. Not able to function right now.

Takca

That second last climb, holy crap, there comes a point when your averaging 5kmph
that you should just get off the bike and walk but stubbornness wouldn't let me.

I'm knackered, but I had a great day. I ended up with a group from Clondalkin CC for pretty
much all of the day which made the day more enjoyable then it would have been solo.

200km & 2,628m @ 24.5km/h

Think I'll have a beer now.

fat bloke

Takca wrote: »

That second last climb, holy crap, there comes a point when your averaging 5kmph
that you should just get off the bike and walk but stubbornness wouldn't let me.

Yeah, that was awfully hard, but I knew it was coming. What I didn't know was that that was not the end of the climbing. I thought once we got over that it was just a flat easy run in to Manorhamilton and I wasn't prepared for the multiple detours and three more climbs . Absolutely shagged coming in the roads.

There was a young fella in the lead group with us and he dragged us all around for practically the whole day. No one gave him any help hardly at the front. He neither wanted it nor needed it. A train of nodding heads and shoulders behind him for long rolling stretches of road. Awesome young rider.

magicbastarder

i never knew leitrim was as scenic as that.

Comma

I did the 150 and that was tough enough. Well done all the 200km cyclists. I happily passed the many white arrows pointing up hills.
The scenery is gorgeous - makes me want to go back for a few days cycling/walking holiday. Organisation very good and agree with fat bloke, a bigger turnout is deserved.

eeimcaw

Did the 200K, great events, very well organised and great scenery when you struggle to the top of the climbs....
Hot dinner at the end was a real treat, curry was lovely...
Markings for the climbs at the bottom are great but its a pity they didn't put a corresponding maker on top of the climbs aswell as you'd see in france.

davef1000

eeimcaw wrote: »

Markings for the climbs at the bottom are great but its a pity they didn't put a corresponding maker on top of the climbs aswell as you'd see in france.

I found a quick distance check of the bike computer was enough to know where the top was. Sign at the bottom says 5.56km or whatever, that means I'll be at the top at 67.29km. They were always accurate.

Plus, it was a two year project involving the county council. I'd imagine markers at the summits were suggested and shot down.

Tough day alright. I ended up with 160km because I mistakenly went out with the 200km group at the start (couldn't hear the lead marshall speaking at the beginning so I just went when everyone else did, and I missed the first blue sign, so I got an extra long trip to kinlough, and an extra climb). Some lovely fast stretches, and fantastic scenery, followed by very tired legs today.