Virginia 300, 9th May.

emty

Audax Ireland are running a 300km event from Dublin to Virginia,Cavan (and back ) on Saturday,the 9th of May.The ride starts from Phibesboro shopping centre at 6a.m.
Its a pretty handy spin,no major climbs,mainly rolling countryside.You get to go through Leinster,Ulster and Connaught which is cool.
If anyone is interested could they please pm me,

thanks, .

rottenhat

Would love to but I'll still be down the country. I'm talking with Paul about riding it as a permanent later in the year (probably around mid-June, after the W200) but I'll post ahead of time and see if anyone else would be up for it.

emty

The 400 has been moved and is now starting on the Friday after the wicklow 200.

rottenhat

Well, that's a siren song you're singing all right - four days to rest in between, and Dave McLoughlin reckons its the best route of any of the Audax Ireland rides. Will you be doing it?

blorg

emty wrote: »

The 400 has been moved and is now starting on the Friday after the wicklow 200.

Might be on for that then. I presume that means you will be riding the W200 emty?

emty

I would like to give the 400 a bash,will see how I get on with the 300.Tbh I think doing the wicklow four days before will be a great help.

blorg

emty wrote: »

I would like to give the 400 a bash,will see how I get on with the 300.Tbh I think doing the wicklow four days before will be a great help.

Four days is certainly more than enough time for recovery for someone of your experience. Good luck with the 300; I will be doing the long (245km) stage of the ToI on that day, Sligo-Galway (I hope.)

Maybe we can rustle some more together for the 400, the more the easier it will be I reckon. I know Tiny is just dying to do it.

rottenhat

This could be the perfect excuse I've been waiting for to buy a SON - I'm a bit worried that I'd be lacking in the lights department otherwise. emty, when you say the ride starts on Friday, I presume that means a night-time start? Certainly the more people we could inveigle into this one the better - night riding will be a lot easier in a group.

Not audax, but boardax....

emty

I believe they usually start at 2a.m :eek: .I wonder if I can get a chamois for my p'js.

rottenhat

4am start listed originally so probably the same for the new date. Hell, if you can bang it out in 17 hours you'd scarcely be riding in the dark at all (hmmm...unlikely).

blorg

If we got a decent group together we could attack it chain-gang style. I thought we had that working pretty good the other day. If you are in any way close in ability everyone goes faster.

Remind me- this is the hilly 400, right? Wicklow features?

@rottenhat- I would certainly recommend a Fenix TK-11, £60 or so gets you a small light reliable completely self-contained unit that is more than enough for night riding. Took me from Dublin to Tullamore (100km) before I had to change the battery and even that was only because I went for the luxury of the "turbo" mode. Standard mode gives you 13 hours or so. Rechargable Li-Ion batteries that are cheap ($4 ea) small and self-contained, you can carry them in a jersey.

Emty got one recently (I think he got it in the end, anyway, there was a bit of a saga ) Tiny also has one.

emty

Well,I got the light but the batteries are on their way back to Hong Kong:p(totally my own fault).
I will find out more about the route but I know it is quite tough in places apart from the distance.I don't think one would be attacking it;more likely that you will be defending yourself .

rottenhat

Thanks for the recommendo on the lights - will check them out.

I believe the route can be boiled down to Dundrum to Carrick-on-Suir via the Shay Elliott. I suspect there might be the odd hill along the way.

It would be my first time over that distance so I reckon I'm with emty - banding together for survival, not with any crazy ambitions about posting a good time.

Caroline_ie

300km ... why do I find that tempting ... ? would we need paniers for that...?

rottenhat

Caroline_ie wrote: »

300km ... why do I find that tempting ... ?

It's like a 200km...but it's one louder.

emty

I would imagine that you would be able for it Caroline,there is no real climbing but you would have to bear in mind that you will be at least 12 hours,probably a bit more,on the bike.You will be the best judge of this.
Some people bring a small bag or pannier but I usually carry what I think I willl need in my pockets.

blorg

rottenhat wrote: »

It would be my first time over that distance so I reckon I'm with emty - banding together for survival, not with any crazy ambitions about posting a good time.

Oh I completely agree, the suggestion of a chain gang is to make it easier for us rather than break any records... Although it WILL allow you to go faster with the same amount of effort, and the faster we go the faster it is all over.

@Caroline- you would not need panniers for a 300, I would not plan on any such thing even for the 400. Main thing to consider with the 400 I reckon is that given the time these things start (2am or 4am) you are unlikely to find anything open until some time after 7am or so. So you would want to make sure you had yourself covered for those 5 (or 3) hours. Going to Galway I was around 125km in before I could get breakfast.

rottenhat

blorg wrote: »

Going to Galway I was around 125km in before I could get breakfast.

Breakfast roll, breakfast roll....

trek climber

emty wrote: »

Audax Ireland are running a 300km event from Dublin to Virginia,Cavan (and back ) on Saturday,the 9th of May.The ride starts from Phibesboro shopping centre at 6a.m.
Its a pretty handy spin,no major climbs,mainly rolling countryside.You get to go through Leinster,Ulster and Connaught which is cool.
If anyone is interested could they please pm me,

thanks, .

What is the exact route or has it been decided, it is definitely not 150km each way if you use the N3 ?

rottenhat

Paul said he'd post it tomorrow - will put it up here when I get it.

Raam

Kind of tempted, but there is a race in Ballyboughal the next day that I had thought about. Decisions, decisions...

rottenhat

blorg wrote: »

@rottenhat- I would certainly recommend a Fenix TK-11, £60 or so gets you a small light reliable completely self-contained unit that is more than enough for night riding

I'm probably missing something but how are you mounting that? Does it come with a bracket or are you jerry-rigging something?

The tax man

rottenhat wrote: »

I'm probably missing something but how are you mounting that? Does it come with a bracket or are you jerry-rigging something?

Twofish Lockblocks yer only man for the job.

rottenhat

The tax man wrote: »

Twofish Lockblocks yer only man for the job.

Awesome.

I posted a query about lights on the audax forum on YACF and it seems opinions there favour the B & M Ixon as the light of choice so I might go that route - looks like prices would work out about the same.

blorg

I also use the LockBlocks.

I would consider the Fenix, far superior battery technology.

1x 18650 Li-Ion battery vs 4x AAs, much easier to carry spares.

Much denser energy storage in a lighter package (Li-Ion vs Ni-Mh).

More light than the Ixon, or more runtime off the single battery (you choose which you want, there are two modes.)

The main advantage the Ixon will have is the reflector, which will be better designed for use on a road bike. The Fenix torches are just that and you get a circle of light. To be honest the torch-style jobs put out so much light this is not a big problem.

I do think Audax people can be quite slow to take up new innovations, these cheap LED torches are quite a recent development (last few years) and represent far better value than traditional bike lights.

Lumen MAY have both types and be able to give an opinion here.

rottenhat

In some ways having the flexibility of being able to buy replacement batteries in any village you pass should it turn out that e.g. you didn't charge your rechargeables as much as you thought is a bonus for audax purposes. And there does seem to be concern that some of the newer lights are a bit too bright with a risk of the glare temporarily blinding oncoming drivers, not exactly what you want when encountering the famously sober night drivers of the Irish countryside.

But no rush on this since I can't buy anything until the credit card rolls over in the middle of month...I'll wait and see if Lumen has anything to contribute on this one.

niceonetom

300km... I'm tempted.

blorg

I have 4 of those Li-Ion 18650s, in "standard" mode that gives me 52 hours of night-time riding. Should be enough for any audax to say the least. You have around 3 times the energy capacity in each 18650 vs an AA.

Standard (non-NiMh) batteries also tend to give far less runtime than the NiMh rechargables; indeed some may not work at all.

Bear in mind that if a shop is open to sell you AAs it is probably not dark. When you need them you probably wouldn't find a shop open anyway.

Regarding oncoming drivers, I just dip as a courtesy once they dip. These torch lights certainly ensure oncoming cars see you from far far away and dip which is a benefit. You are also very visable to cars coming out of sideroads, with the Fenix they will wait even if I am 500m down the road as they must think I am a motorbike or nearer than I am, the light is so bright.

18650 Li-Ions are a much better battery technology- the advantage I would see in the B&M is the lens/reflector design which focuses the light down onto the road rather than all over.

rottenhat

blorg wrote: »

I have 4 of those Li-Ion 18650s, in "standard" mode that gives me 52 hours of night-time riding. Should be enough for any audax to say the least. You have around 3 times the energy capacity in each 18650 vs an AA.

Regarding oncoming drivers, I just dip as a courtesy once they dip. These torch lights certainly ensure oncoming cars see you from far far away and dip which is a benefit. You are also very visable to cars coming out of sideroads, with the Fenix they will wait even if I am 500m down the road as they must think I am a motorbike or nearer than I am, the light is so bright.

18650 Li-Ions are a much better battery technology- the advantage I would see in the B&M is the lens/reflector design which focuses the light down onto the road rather than all over.

OK, I'm convinced - who did you buy yours from?

Chips Lovell

niceonetom wrote: »

300km... I'm tempted.

Have to say, so am I. Have decided that I want to get serious about dropping back on the weight and this is one way to do it.

blorg

rottenhat wrote: »

OK, I'm convinced - who did you buy yours from?

Review:
http://www.light-reviews.com/fenix_tk11/

Measures:

Turbo Spot 11240 Lux
Turbo Spill 217 Lux

General Spot 2390 Lux
General Spill 47 Lux

This means it has a very tight, bright hotspot in the middle. At first I thought this would be a disadvantage for a bike light but I found that if you point the light basically directly ahead the hotspot is dissipated. Result is you can see VERY far down the road (and indeed other traffic can see you) while the hotspot, hitting things much further away, is not overwhelming the spill.

Torch:
http://www.thephotonshop.co.uk/page35.htm

Batteries:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5776

Charger:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13820

Caroline_ie

el tonto wrote: »

Have to say, so am I. Have decided that I want to get serious about dropping back on the weight and this is one way to do it.

My motivation for this would be ' All the food we could eat' ... rather than all the weight I could lose, mind you, 600/cals an hour x 17 is almost 11 000 cals that's a whole lot of mars bars... :P

Stuff your face and lose weight at the same time ... wow i am so doing it!

Lumen

blorg wrote: »

Lumen MAY have both types and be able to give an opinion here.

On the basis that trying something different increases the sum of knowledge, I ignored all the boards advice about the Fenix and bought three different types of torch and one more traditional bike light, the Exposure Joystick MaXx 2 Wiggle Front Light.

All three torches are different sorts of crap, despite being quite pricey.

The Exposure Joystick stopped working after a few rides in the rain.

The torches I bought all had tail mounted "clicky" switches, which cause them to cut out over bumps. One of them burned out my battery due to it's circuit design (needed protected cells, I think).

Aside from these product-specific design issues, the fundamental downsides with torches are that (a) it's difficult to keep them level if they head is too heavy (b) the light output is symmetrical, so you have to point them downwards in traffic. The Fenix is has a nice small head, so you won't suffer too much from (a).

No-one has a bad word to say about the Fenixes. If I was you I'd buy one!

The_Claw

Very interesting. Sort of feel that it might take the sense of event away from the WW200 a bit, but could be a larf.

rottenhat

Here's the route sheet for the Virginia 300.

blorg

This is looking good, if we could get a reasonable grouping of Boards regulars into a well disciplined paceline we will get around in no time.

Raam

blorg wrote: »

This is looking good, if we could get a reasonable grouping of Boards regulars into a well disciplined paceline we will get around in no time.

Aren't there normally minimum time requirements for an audax?

rottenhat

Minimum average speed of 15km/h, maximum average speed of 30km/h so no shorter than 10 hours, no longer than 20 (including stopping time). If you can do it in 10 hours, my respect (and unalloyed envy) is yours.

Lights and Cycling Ireland license will be mandatory though I imagine for a 300 pretty much anything would pass muster for lights.

blorg

Raam wrote: »

Aren't there normally minimum time requirements for an audax?

Do you know I doubt that will be a problem

I don't think they implement these here, even if there were I doubt we would be hitting them.

EDIT: as rottenhat posts "maximum average speed of 30km/h." I don't think keeping under that will be a problem over 3 or 400km.

rottenhat

The pace requirements are enforced by the times the control points open and close - the chap running the event will not aim to get to the control much before it is supposed to open, and he can't leave it to go to the next one until everyone is through it so....

Chips Lovell

The_Claw wrote: »

Very interesting. Sort of feel that it might take the sense of event away from the WW200 a bit, but could be a larf.

Ah the challenge in Wicklow is the hills. This will be much flatter. I think it's a different beast.

ROK ON

What type of endurance is reqd for these events in general.
May be interested, but not sure could I actually do it?


Longest that I have done is 180k.
Have done several 150k's in Wicklow.
AM I assuming that 150km with climbing is proabaly as good as maybe 200k+ on the flat?
Now in saying that, I am usually pretty beat and terrifically hungry after a 150kspin in the hills of Wicklow.

niceonetom

I've never gone further than about 230km (W200 last year = getting to and from the start/finish), but i think 'hours of effort' might be a better gauge of endurance than KMs as not all kilometres are created equal.

rottenhat

I've only done one 300km but basically it's no different than doing a 200km - you become more and more fatigued but if you're reasonably bloody-minded about it, you just keep plugging away and eventually it's over. It is very important to keep eating and drinking - start early and keep it up, even though after a while you will get bored with the taste of water and you may lose your appetite. Based on your recent posts, I would have no doubt that you have the physical fitness to do it - after that, it's more about mental fitness and the willingness to persevere even when you're shagged out.

Also, because this will have decent flat sections, you will have the chance form up into a group and you will save a lot of energy while picking up time on those stretches. If you think it sounds interesting, just give it a go and see how you get on. It's only a fiver.

blorg

rottenhat wrote: »

The pace requirements are enforced by the times the control points open and close - the chap running the event will not aim to get to the control much before it is supposed to open, and he can't leave it to go to the next one until everyone is through it so....

I got the impression from emty that on most of the longer events it was done on a receipt from a shop basis, e.g. there were no formal controls as the turnout was generally so small (in the region of 10-15 riders.) Never done one over a 200km though so I may be wrong. In any case a max of 30km/h average would not be a problem, we don't go that fast.

I am aiming for the 400km the weekend after the Wicklow 200 myself, hope you will all be joining us on that

rottenhat

blorg wrote: »

I got the impression from emty that on most of the longer events it was done on a receipt from a shop basis, e.g. there were no formal controls as the turnout was generally so small (in the region of 10-15 riders.) Never done one over a 200km though so I may be wrong. In any case a max of 30km/h average would not be a problem, we don't go that fast.

Ah really? That would make sense all right.

blorg wrote: »

I am aiming for the 400km the weekend after the Wicklow 200 myself, hope you will all be joining us on that

Blorg, Blorg...sucker them into the 300 first...then when they're hooked/delirious with exhaustion, whisper the magic initials PBP in their ears.

niceonetom

rottenhat wrote: »

Here's the route sheet for the Virginia 300.

That meant precisely nothing to me so I just made this up to help the decision making process. I'm tentatively IN.

rughdh

niceonetom wrote: »

That meant precisely nothing to me so I just made this up to help the decision making process. I'm tentatively IN.

Well done!

Caroline_ie

Not sure i am quite ready for this yet, even though i really want to do it. Unless a slower group want to take part ... or i can be the support vehicule.

TinyExplosions

I'm more in than a very in thing for this one

emty

If anybody is interested can they pm me and I will send them contact details for the guy who is organising it.They want to have all the details sorted out before Saturday morning.
You will need a CI licence or you can get a one-day one for ten euro.