Tour de Burren

Captain Havoc · 17-06-2009 7:50pm #1

Just wondering how many people here are going to be there?

Mr Velo · 17-06-2009 9:13pm

I'm signed up

CheGuedara · 17-06-2009 9:56pm

We've 10 or so travelling from Tralee for it

KStaford · 18-06-2009 12:02am

Count me in

If you see a tall ugly fella assembling a hybrid at the back of a blue offaly reg megane, come on over and say hello.

72hundred · 18-06-2009 12:19am

KStaford wrote: »

If you see a tall ugly fella assembling a hybrid at the back of a blue offaly reg megane, come on over and say hello.

Why who's he?

Captain Havoc · 18-06-2009 2:02am

I'm staying in Corofin, if anyone could possibly bring me from there? I hate to be a bum but it's going to be a long day.
Also if anyone fancies going for carbs the evening before it would be nice.

Mr Velo · 18-06-2009 12:22pm

My pack arrived in the Post this morning. Haven't seen it as of yet, but i've been told my number, timing clip, wristband etc are all in there.

Roll on Saturday!

Captain Havoc · 18-06-2009 1:40pm

You get your wristband on the day, but everything else is in there, I got mine also this morning.

topper75 · 18-06-2009 1:54pm

It may well be in the letterbox when I get home this evening, but I'm nervous that mine might not arrive in time. Is there a concession on Sat morning if this happens?

Did the 100km SK tour in Dungarvan last year but this time I'll be popping my '1 ton' miles cherry hopefully (albeit with a Lisdoon stopover).

Looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time - the usual buzz heading out towards Carron and the usual torture coming back by Moher and Fanore.

Esroh · 20-06-2009 9:07pm

What a day.From well organised parking to sign on which was a breeze (600+riders) got the day off to a great start. We had a mass start at exactly 9.30 and from then on the day was just about perfect.
Warm enough.
The bits with the headwind were not that bad.
The climbs were very managable.
The feed stops were great(never seen a spread like in Lisdoon)
Everyone was very friendly.
And we got a great 5 up chain going from Lisdoon on and absolutely flew home from the top of the Cliffs of Moher
Well Done to everyone involved especially the Marshalls who were in position all day at every junction where a problem was deemed possible.

I did hear that the showers ran dry but the atlantic was lovely just off the pier and what better than a cool salt bath to revitalise the body:D

topper75 · 20-06-2009 10:42pm

Fantastic day. Really enjoyed it. Organisation was superb and we were lucky with the weather.

Looking forward to next year already and hope to drag a few more bodies along. I need to pay more respect to Moher next time but the rest was grand (looked the same as Corkscrew on the profile but I breezed up Corkscrew, tireder legs with Moher maybe the difference). Good craic with other people going around too.

Bikerbhoy · 21-06-2009 8:24am

Brilliant event , organisation , food , marshalling , route everything excellent cant praise it enough well done all involved .....

And of course well done to all who completed too..

Maybe should have stayed overnight , well bunched by the time I got back to Dublin ,a very long day.......But hey as I said above all worth it.

Next Please..... ROK .... Bring it on..!!!!!!!!!!!!

hynesie · 21-06-2009 4:32pm

I really enjoyed this. Having done ROK and Wicklow in the last year I have to say that I found this the best of the lot. Organization was amazing, great food, loads of water and best of all was the really friendly atmosphere from everybody from organizers to marshalls to food people to cyclists.

CheGuedara · 21-06-2009 10:59pm

+1 on Esroh, topper, Bikerbhoy & Hynsie's reviews - I think a benchmark for sportive cycles in Ireland was set on the Tour De Burren.

Great cycle, nice circuit, brilliant atmosphere before, during and after the event and the weather short of a on and off annoying headwind (Corofin to Ennistimon!!!) was perfect.

Marshalling was second to none - was talking to the head organiser about things (to get ideas to help with our own cycle in time) and there was 70(!!!) junctions marshalled for the day allowing cyclists priority to progress without ever slowing down - if only every cycle was like that!:D

Oh and whoever said Co. Clare was flat was a liar.... Corkscrew was fine, a good fair climb but yeah there is some work climbing Moher and the general terrain has a lot of dips and troughs in it (and assoc small rises) creating almost constant work. I would put the TdeB challenge as a mid ground between the ROK and the Sean Kelly Tour. I would absolutely recommend this next year to everyone that find themselves with the weekend and a bike available.

And cake loving boardsies - the food stops were just your thing - not only did they have the staple hang sangwiches and tea/coffee but also GLAZED STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE, CHOCOLATE CAKE and BROWNIES. The ROK buttered brack has serious competiton now!

Mr Velo · 22-06-2009 8:19am

CheGuedara wrote: »

+1 on Esroh, topper, Bikerbhoy & Hynsie's reviews - I think a benchmark for sportive cycles in Ireland was set on the Tour De Burren.

Great cycle, nice circuit, brilliant atmosphere before, during and after the event and the weather short of a on and off annoying headwind (Corofin to Ennistimon!!!) was perfect.

Marshalling was second to none - was talking to the head organiser about things (to get ideas to help with our own cycle in time) and there was 70(!!!) junctions marshalled for the day allowing cyclists priority to progress without ever slowing down - if only every cycle was like that!:D

Oh and whoever said Co. Clare was flat was a liar.... Corkscrew was fine, a good fair climb but yeah there is some work climbing Moher and the general terrain has a lot of dips and troughs in it (and assoc small rises) creating almost constant work. I would put the TdeB challenge as a mid ground between the ROK and the Sean Kelly Tour. I would absolutely recommend this next year to everyone that find themselves with the weekend and a bike available.

And cake loving boardsies - the food stops were just your thing - not only did they have the staple hang sangwiches and tea/coffee but also GLAZED STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE, CHOCOLATE CAKE and BROWNIES. The ROK buttered brack has serious competiton now!

+1 to all of this CheGuedara.
Corkscrew was fine - getting boxed in was my problem on that climb - made it a bit tougher to try and go around people whilst trying to concentrate on keeping the legs pumping

Moher was quite tough indeed - but Corrofin to Ennistymon was a bloody tough bit of road. Seemed to be a constant slope uphill and plus the headwind.

The organisation was top class. Well done to all involved. Now to whoever made those cheesecakes.... take a bow. I denied myself until Doolin but made sure i sampled it there - well worth it. Made the final 18K a breeze

Roll on TDB next year!

Peterx · 23-06-2009 3:58pm

Just to add yet more positivity to this thread, the tour de Burren was absolutely brilliant, everything about it was better the the WW200 (which I also enjoyed by the way) but the Tour de Burren pipped it for weather, organisation, marshalls, signage, amazing food, no queues and some stunning views along the western seaboard - which in fairness you'd be hard pushed to find in Wicklow...
Had a great day, the 5 wee KOM climbs were a good idea, added a wee bit of bite to the day and I was truly shown up as the plodder i am on the last 20km home where I was shelled out the back of not one but two groups who were haring home at a great rate.
Another mate was on his first organised cycle, I felt almost sorry for him as he'll be expecting this very high level of excellence all the time now.

Captain Havoc · 30-06-2009 3:35pm

Has anyone got any photos from this? They haven't put any up on their site.

Captain Havoc · 09-07-2009 6:10pm

Photos are up for anyone who was there: http://www.irishcyclingphotos.com/tourdeburren/

Tour de Burren

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