The Wicklow 200 (2009) Thread

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Nietzschean wrote: »

how many people who post here are actually doing the w200 now? 15 - 20?

Count me as one! Signed up this evening

barrym91

Nice one Greyspoke and Donal. I think you've won me over. I'm gonna sign up for the 200k and if I don't make it, I don't make it. At least I'll have tried. I'll take the bike out this weekend and see how far I can go through the mountains.

Cheers for the encouragement!

dave.obrien

add me. i'm a lurker...

decrrrrrr

I'm in for the 200.. small time poster..

Hoping to do my 1st boards spin on Saturday if one is happening.

blorg

Nietzschean wrote: »

how many people who post here are actually doing the w200 now? 15 - 20?

I would imagine it's substantially higher than that, pushing 70-80 or more I would guess. I'd be estimating 30-40 in Boards jerseys (depending on how many club members defect to their club's jersey, I think I would go Boards for a sportive like this.)

blorg

blorg wrote: »

I'd be estimating 30-40 in Boards jerseys

That'll be some sight if there's a group picture at the start!

ROK ON

blorg wrote: »

I'd be estimating 30-40 in Boards jerseys

I wonder where those lads that wanted to 'race' the boardsies went.
They might get some shock to line out against 30 or 40 cyclists.

zzzzzzzz

ROK ON wrote: »

I wonder where those lads that wanted to 'race' the boardsies went.
They might get some shock to line out against 30 or 40 cyclists.

I was actually looking for that yesterday. They've gone underground - The facebook group seems to have been shut down.

vive la resistance

Nietzschean

blorg wrote: »

I would imagine it's substantially higher than that, pushing 70-80 or more I would guess. I'd be estimating 30-40 in Boards jerseys (depending on how many club members defect to their club's jersey, I think I would go Boards for a sportive like this.)

how many people have/ordered boards jersey's at some point, how many are out there?

Lumen

ROK ON wrote: »

I wonder where those lads that wanted to 'race' the boardsies went.
They might get some shock to line out against 30 or 40 cyclists.

I'd be happy to participate in a "box of Freds" around any rogue competitive elements, ala Cannonball Run. :pac:

kenmc

I think we should just make blorg crash into them all, he loves that crashing stuff.

Highway_To_Hell

Just signed up for wicklow 200 yesterday and it will be my first time doing it. I have a good few 100km spins under my belt so I should be ok to finish it but I will probably die in the hills:(

Question: I know tri bars are not allowed in road races but are they allowed for this type of sportive run? I have clipon bars thatI have never had to remove before and if I could avoid it I would prefer to leave them on.

thanks

kenmc

yeah there's no restrictions on them.

blorg

Highway_To_Hell wrote: »

Question: I know tri bars are not allowed in road races but are they allowed for this type of sportive run? I have clipon bars thatI have never had to remove before and if I could avoid it I would prefer to leave them on.

You will be fine leaving them on as long as you don't use them if riding in a bunch. If you aren't near anyone else you are fine to use them. Some people do it each year on time trial bikes, they generally look very unhappy.

Lumen

Highway_To_Hell wrote: »

Question: I know tri bars are not allowed in road races but are they allowed for this type of sportive run? I have clipon bars thatI have never had to remove before and if I could avoid it I would prefer to leave them on.

Strap a couple of crusty baguettes to the pads. Instant popularity awaits.

The tax man

On the day I shall be known as No.455.:)

lafors

Just got my number its 480
As I'll be on holidays, c0rk3r will be out there doing it in a great time under my name No pressure c0rk3r (pm'd you about it).
The one thing I would ask is you look as much like a fred as possible to stick out in the boards group photo before the race.

I'm gutted I'm missing ths.......goes off to sulk in corner while hatching a plan to kill his manager

Poncherello

So how will people be approaching it ?
Take first climb very easy and concentrate on saving energy for Slieve Mann and Glenmalure.
How spread out does the field get i.e can you have a good crack at the descents or are there riders all over the shop
I believe you have to stop at the checkpoints how long is this for and when they say refreshments what do they mean ?
From those who have done it whats the toughest part ?
If the weather looks like it could be changeable would you bring a ruck sack with change of gear.

Raam

Poncherello wrote: »

So how will people be approaching it ?
Take first climb very easy and concentrate on saving energy for Slieve Mann and Glenmalure.
How spread out does the field get i.e can you have a good crack at the descents or are there riders all over the shop
I believe you have to stop at the checkpoints how long is this for and when they say refreshments what do they mean ?
From those who have done it whats the toughest part ?
If the weather looks like it could be changeable would you bring a ruck sack with change of gear.

Proper form dictates that you should hammer as hard as you can on the first climb of the day in order to show everyone who is boss. This subsequently spurs you on for the rest of the day as you need to keep that same pace up so as not to loose face.

Rest stops are as long as you want.

A rucksack is not advisable. Just stick a light raincoat in your jersey pocket.

kenmc

Don't mind raam, he's having a laugh at your expense....

Poncherello wrote: »

So how will people be approaching it ?
Take first climb very easy and concentrate on saving energy for Slieve Mann and Glenmalure.

Yes. You've paid your money, so get to get the best value for it you should really aim to use the entire 14 hours permissible. Slow and steady wins the race, as the hare found out.

Poncherello wrote:

How spread out does the field get i.e can you have a good crack at the descents or are there riders all over the shop

You are not allowed to overtake, you must stay behind the leader the whole way around.

Poncherello wrote:

I believe you have to stop at the checkpoints how long is this for and when they say refreshments what do they mean ?

There is plenty of food and tea, again to get the best value for money you should really aim to get a good hour or so of feeding in at the food stops.

Poncherello wrote:

From those who have done it whats the toughest part ?

getting out of bed at 5am on a sunday morning. oh and not opening a second bottle of wine on the saturday night

Poncherello wrote:

If the weather looks like it could be changeable would you bring a ruck sack with change of gear.

Yes indeed. It's also recommended to bring a spare wheel just in case of a bad buckle. A workstand makes on-the-road repairs much easier.
hope this helps.

blorg

If you are not used to the climbs and the distance I would certainly pace yourself at the start. If you are used to cycling a hilly 200km then you probably know best yourself how to attack it

You don't have to stop at the rest stops if you don't want to. Up to you how long you want to stop for. Last year they had sandwiches at the two main stops; there was also a water stop and an energy drink stop on top of Slieve Maan. The previous year there were no sandwiches though, just a ration of three bars per stop, so I would bring money in case you want to restock in a shop etc.

Light raincoat only way to go, only bring what you can fit in your jersey.

EDIT: Actually now that I think about it, they register your time at the two feed stops, so if you are concerned with getting your split times registered you have to stop. They will still register start and finish even if you don't stop though. There are then many weeks when they wrangle over whether or not they will publish the times before they put them up on the website.

ROK ON

Hi: Can the folks that have done this before (preferrably a few times) give an indication as to what type of times that ye have done, and have they improved (albeit that course changes every year).

I have a goal for a time that I would like to achieve that is based on what I have done 100 to 140km spins in Wicklow at.
I am wondering at how realistic this is given that the inevitable tiredness factor that will kick in especially after descending Shay Elliott.

If I see times from much stronger cyclists than me around the time I am aiming for then I will have to re-evaluate obviously.

Poncherello

I tend to agree about the bring only what fits in your jersey but last sat I went for long spin on my own and first 2hrs were miserably cold and wet.
I had change of top and rain jacket in small rucksack and thank god I did as it would have been a very long and cold day otherwise.
I just find that up in wicklow you never know what sort of conditions u will get. Hopefully this heatwave of a summer will arrive and we wont have to worry about it !

Cheers for the advice about the spare wheel BTW mu**et

kenmc

only once before for me; 9h24 including stops (something like 55mins or thereabouts)

blorg

- Around 8h30 in 2007
- 7h39 IIRC in 2008, average was a touch over 25km/h (the ride is actually a fair bit shorter than 200km)

This is cycling time; spent far too long in the food stops, will be far more frugal this year. Came in the same time as ken last year but had started a bit later.

I got a lot fitter/faster over the summer of 2008 and maintained at least some of it over the winter; I would be in a better state starting this year than I was last year.

@Poncherello- I think anyone with a halfway functioning wit detector will be able to sift through the comments and decide what advice they actually want to follow...

I would generally suggest if you MUST bring lots of stuff, put it on the bike somewhere rather than in a rucksack. Either a saddle bag or a bar bag will do. I used a small bar bag in the Alps where we had real weather differentials (sunny summer day to snowstorms.) I honestly don't think this is generally necessary for 200km in Wicklow. Still keep it as minimal as possible as you will be cursing it up the hills.

For Wicklow, I'll probably just be bringing shorts, SS jersey and a light raincoat. If it is looking really dodgy I'd add arm warmers, knee warmers, overshoes and a gilet.

rottenhat

Something more like 11 hours all in for me though I was spending a certain amount of time waiting for the two guys I was with at the top of every climb, and one of them fell asleep on the lawn at Rathdrum while we were drinking cups of tea (this was two years ago - very sunny day). I'd expect to do it a bit quicker this year.

Caroline_ie

ROK ON wrote: »

If I see times from much stronger cyclists than me around the time I am aiming for then I will have to re-evaluate obviously.

I am not aiming at a particular time because as I know I am a crap climber anyway. I just want to finish it and get that Major Buzz you get after an epic ( about 240 for me door to door ). And I don't want to spend too long at the food stops either, and I will bring the iPod in case I find myself on my own ( on a breakaway for instance :pac: )

I am pretty sure there are still loads of people slower than you and me

DirkVoodoo

190km according to the route they have on mapmyride.

I brought a rucksack, bad idea. People started asking me to carry stuff, ended up constricting my breathing, making me hotter so I had to dump it in a Marshal's vehicle.

Weather *should* be fantastic so the most you would need would be maybe a Gilet if it gets a bit chilly on the descents.

kenmc

Caroline_ie wrote: »

( on a breakaway for instance :pac:)

<autojinx>
Sorry to be pedantic, but I think it's only called a breakway if you go off the front of a group. :pac:
</autojinx>

Raam

Who's driving the team car this year?