Race Around Ireland 2019

Gallant_JJ

The team competitions are fascinating, it’s the first time the 8person has been so competitive. This year’s 3rd place 8 person team would have comfortably won the competition last year, whilst the winning 4 person time would have secured 6th last year.

Gallant_JJ

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Great performance from the VCB team.

I was talking to the H8 Lawlors team as they came thru Waterford and it was interesting to see their strategy. I expect that they would do longish stretches and allow long rotations, but - if I understood it correctly - they configured themselves as 4 'pods' of two , with 3 of the pods resting while two riders rode, these two swapping in and out every 15-20 minutes in order to keep the tempo (and speed!) as high as possible. I'm not sure how often they were swapping out the 2 mans pods, but their 33kmph average was impressive based on this approach. I guess that with 8 man teams there are many options to play with in order to maximise the strategies.

It appears each rider did 4/5 blocks then retired. 120-150mins per pod I would think.

magicbastarder

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Koutoubia is on the crew.

i've a notion that one of my bikes was once owned by koutoubia. maybe he can come out and bless it for me now anyway.

koutoubia

So a very tired and proub VCB crew chief here.

When the remaining few nodules in my brain start firing again I will post up an post about the experience.
But first just a few thanks to the guys form here who helped me/us out!

Lusk_Doyle: You know what you did. Thanks again.

Harry Belafonte: Dude without you I would have to have pulled over and taken a large break and possibly lose a large amount of time. You were as much an important link on the team as anyone else. If you fancy a new club you know where we are and know the riders.

TheBlaaMan: I know they were only whats app messages (and may have taken me hours and hours to respond ) but a fesh view and help me think me a few decisions on the road that contributed to the team.

Thank you all.

magicbastarder

what sort of rota were you running? an hour per cyclist on the bike before someone else took over, say? and did that change as tiredness or hills kick in?

ht9zni1gs28crp

daragh_ wrote: »

Personally in the 4 Man category I think the format of the race has flaws. It's essentially a Time Trial - no drafting of other teams etc. But in practice you can end up on narrow roads at night unable to get past a team who may be sitting behind you on the leaderboard. That definitely happened to us.

Which team where you stuck behind in 2017?

Lusk_Doyle

miller_63 wrote: »

Which team where you stuck behind in 2017?

And how do you get stuck behind a team on the road who are behind you on the leaderboard? That does not make sense.

py

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

And how do you get stuck behind a team on the road who are behind you on the leaderboard? That does not make sense.

They start in increments (think Time Trial starts) so the team may have started 30 minutes ahead of them but if they're together on the road then one team is ahead by 30 minutes on the leaderboard.

Lusk_Doyle

py wrote: »

They start in increments (think Time Trial starts) so the team may have started 30 minutes ahead of them but if they're together on the road then one team is ahead by 30 minutes on the leaderboard.

Oh yes, of course! Baby brain!

daragh_

py wrote: »

They start in increments (think Time Trial starts) so the team may have started 30 minutes ahead of them but if they're together on the road then one team is ahead by 30 minutes on the leaderboard.

Exactly. The rules are clear enough at explaining how a Team is supposed to let another team past if they are going faster and everyone abides by that (in my experience anyway). My point was that it's not always safe or practical to do so at points on the course - thereby giving an advantage to a team who may be up the road.

koutoubia

magicbastarder wrote: »

what sort of rota were you running? an hour per cyclist on the bike before someone else took over, say? and did that change as tiredness or hills kick in?

You want me to give away the winning formula ....:pac:

daragh_

koutoubia wrote: »

You want me to give away the winning formula ....:pac:

Great job. Congrats on the win.

koutoubia

daragh_ wrote: »

Great job. Congrats on the win.

Thanks...Somewhere in the mist of my brain normality is returning.

As regards the winning formula...Its simple .
When you ask the hard men to stand up encourage them.
And when men turn into children shout at them and tell them to sit down.
Simple but effective!

koutoubia

So back in 2014 a club was born.
In 2019 members of that club smashed up the 4 person RAI.

The amount of organisation and stuff to do leading up to it is incredible. Working out how the riders want to swap and organising rota's and rosters for the crew to work with them is one thing. Making sure everyone gets 'The Vision' of how you want it to work is another.
Trying to figure out how you are going to get crew who can only do a stage or two over and back or vice versa.
Then trying to make sure that the other crews dont do too much so they get fatigued especially as riders gets tired the following car needs to be fully switched on.I believe we went off course for about 200 mtrs in total.
Figuring out off course stop points where the resting riders and crew could get decent grub and rest was another.

As for the riders.
2 of them have only been riding a bike for about 3 or 4 years. 1 came second in the Ultra two years ago and the other is just a savage.They should be and are deeply proud of what they have achieved. I drummed it into them from early on that this is a team effort for both riders and crews. If you are struggling put your hand up and the team will help out.
They had zero issues getting out of warm cars in the middle of the night in the pissing rain and putting their turn in. In fact I think some of them actually enjoyed it.
We recieved a time penalty for an infraction in Kerry in the middle of the night. A misjudged call by myself.
I told the team that we had recieved a big time penalty but that we were over an hour ahead and that if they just kept riding at the pace or slightly slower it would be a simple damage limitation excercise to get us home and to start to thinking about your fatigue levels.
What did the fookers do? They decided to get back the 15 mins as soon as possible.After we served the time penalty in Youghal the savage I mentioned earlier was off first.... By the time I got going (I was bringing the second rider up the road to change over) I think he was something like 8 or 9 kms up the road. Absolutley hammering it. In the middle of the 3rd night most probably in the rain.
Nothing scared them. They just kept going (until Mt. Leinster but thats another days story).
Monsters the 4 of them!

Highlights for me......
Having a sheite haemmorage on the first when the second rider on his first stint came into Donore waaay ahead of schedule and the first rider wasnt ready to go.

Winning.

Malin head in the dark on crappy roads being overtaken by a coach on what was essentially a single track road.We had the savage riding that stage and I believe thats where we caught a team on the road...cant remember who it was. We stayed behind them to the top but put pressure on them on the run out of Malin to move over. Night time rules state that the riders MUST STAY within the headlight beams of the following car which meant the rider cant overtake the team car up ahead as they would leave the headlights and would lead to instant DQ. Plus if a team is looking to overtake the team must pull over.

Winning.


Falling asleep in the back of the car and waking up in the middle of absolutley nowhere ,possibly in Tyrone, beside a lake , a telephone box and a field full of sheep like animals ,maybe they were goats..who knows, and the savage rider standing outside in his kit and a cookie monster wooly hat. At that point I really questioned my sanity!

Winning

Getting into Cork city and finding a McD's open. I went in with 2 others and ordered the food and a coffee for myself.
They guy behind the counter asked me was the coffee for myself ...'Yeah.Why?' 'Do you want a second shot in it?'
'errrrrmmmm.......yeah why not'
'Cause to be honest you looked wrecked'
I then spent the next few mins in the washroom cleaning myself as much as possible.


Winning.


Trying to make a pot of coffee on mizen head with a storm blowing and barely able to see 10 metres ahead. Coffee still got made. Then a team coming up right behind our rider and telling us we had come the wrong way up....cue much confusion.I grabbed the our rider 'Did you follow the nav and where was the fooking following car' to which he replied 'No I couldnt see my Garmin and I dont know where the car is' JAYSUS. An argument broke out and I rang the Race HQ and asked had we gone the wrong way and the said 'No.You were fine' (ATTN: detones. Race HQ said we were ok). I still reckon that we had overtaken that team and they were trying to steer us wrong to make us lose time.Scandalous allegation I Know.

oh and winning!


Would I do it again?
Hell NO!








Roll on next year........:pac:

Lusk_Doyle

"Roll on next year"

Good man! Looking forward to it already!

ht9zni1gs28crp

Gallant_JJ wrote: »

The team competitions are fascinating, it’s the first time the 8person has been so competitive. This year’s 3rd place 8 person team would have comfortably won the competition last year, whilst the winning 4 person time would have secured 6th last year.

Yep, the 8 person category was highly entertaining this year which makes a change. Although the numbers were well down this year in teams cateogory. No close racing as there was in previous years in the 4man cat.

Winning four man team this year makes it to 20th on the 4 man leaderboard.

Whilst the 8man 1st and 2nd placed teams takes the overall RAI record and 2nd respectivley.

TheBlaaMan

And a final shout out for Valerio Zamboni, 9 times RAI participant and though he may have been the lantern rouge this year he has honoured this race again with his participation. I followed him in to Waterford on Friday morning and the smiles and handwaves that he gave back to those who came out to cheer him through were a joy to see. Even six days in a day/400km still left for him, he was as smooth as silk and look certain to make it home.
This is a really great event.

buffalo

koutoubia wrote: »

Getting into Cork city and finding a McD's open. I went in with 2 others and ordered the food and a coffee for myself.
They guy behind the counter asked me was the coffee for myself ...'Yeah.Why?' 'Do you want a second shot in it?'
'errrrrmmmm.......yeah why not'
'Cause to be honest you looked wrecked'
I then spent the next few mins in the washroom cleaning myself as much as possible.

:pac::pac::pac: Well done koutobia and team! :cool: