Sportives 2022

Ditto. On top of the possibility of sh1t3 weather. I'm not 100% convinced my fitness is back where I need it to be - albeit in a much better place than January. Also had what seems to have been a cold, rather than the more usual thing, that I picked up from my favourite 2-legged petri dish which has had be off the road for a week. Seems to be cleared up now as had a spin taking it handy at lunchtime today and all was good. I'll probably make the call when I get as far as Laragh though

Was the music coming from their phone on their handlebars which can't be too loud or did they have large Bluetooth speakers blasting it?

Anyone know if a wicklow 100 ticket can be used for the wicklow 200?

I did the Tour of Louth Sportive today. 112km and 614m total ascent. It's a pretty flat course, apart from the section which takes riders over Jenkinstown Hill in the foot of the Cooley Mountains. This hill peaks at 205m, with the gradient perhaps slightly above 10% on the steepest sections, which are fairly short. I managed to hang on to the lead group as far as the climb, which came at the 60km mark. Unsurprisingly, the group completely fragmented at that point and I found myself with 3 other lads who were climbing at about the same pace as myself, roughly in the middle of that group. Coveniently, the food stop was at the top of the climb, so we regrouped there (I thoroughly approve of placing foodstops at the top of climbs on which I get dropped!).

I just grabbed a quick slug of water and made sure to be ready for the off. About 8 of us went off together and the descent was very enjoyable; not so steep that it's over in a brief blur but still quick enough and twisty enough to be a good buzz. After the descent, we were rejoined by another 15-18 riders and that larger group remained together the rest of the way back to the finish.

I took several turns at the front when the pace was on the saner side; I have no objection to contributing to the workload when I'm able to. A kind of apathy briefly descended on the group on the final leg back towards Dundalk and the pace dropped off quite a bit, so a couple of savages powered up to the front and raised hell for a while. The speed jumped back up to 45-55km/h and even the slighest drag had me gasping to hang on, despite the benefit of the draft from the group. There was still more than 20km to go at that point and I didn't think I'd be able to hack that pace all the way home. But thankfully it eased off a little and once we got within 10km I was pretty sure I would finish with that group. We got around in 3h 07m, with a moving average of 36.0km/h.

This is a well established Sportive and Cuchulainn Cycling Club did a flawless job on the organisation, so thumbs up to them! We never had to stop, except for a couple of red traffic lights at major junctions and everyone that I saw got around safely and without incident. I found it really enjoyable and would recommend it.

was a great day out. i spotted a boards jersey in the group a few times. i assume that was you. the section down by carlingford coastline was tough with the headwind.

Hey, anybody here familiar/involved with the Ring of Clare Sportive? Signed up to do the 120km spin, but was hoping to change to 160km route. I can find anywhere on their website to change and their social media replies seem to be all automated 

Yes

Brevity is the soul of wit.

Ox Mountains 4 passes sounds a lovely route. Ladies Brae has a serious view going north.

Probably tipping over to the Tour of the Lakes this Sunday in Mullingar if the weather holds

I've noticed a few of the bigger sportives this year featuring the first rider home in their social media posts. The most recent one was the W100 today. Maybe I'm out of touch but, for me, sportives are about participating and hopefully completing the route. Thankfully timings chips that featured on some events a few years ago seem to have disappeared.

Tour de Kilkenny 160km any good?

I know nothing about the place except it's a Mecca for stags and hens?