Ring of Kerry cycle 2009 - review

AstraMonti

Back in the hotel and just had a warm warm bath. Beautiful scenery! We had a little bit of everything, sunshine, rain and all the in between. I did it in 6h:15mins, and i reckon i could do much faster if my knee wasn't playing on me (3 ponstans did the trick though). Avg speed of 27kms/h and i am generally really happy. Plenty food stops on the way (maybe too many!).
The first 70kms was a hammerfest, Lumen and El Tonto was going like they had to catch a plane and i was just wheel sucking..

Now i have to find the others and go eat a cow!

ROK ON

Great to hear your knee held up Astra - you complete loony.
Be careful with the drugs - Ponstan are really powerful. They give the to mothers after childbirth!!!

Did it in 6h14m. So very very happy. Thanks to Tom, Caroline, Irish Motorist, Alfalad, Dirk, The Claw, Nietchean for some great company.

We were in the fast group. While the other boardsies were in the very fast group.
Fairplay to the gay twins for powering away.
LDB and Godihatethehills are very strong cyclists. Was probably just a walk in the park for Scott.
After seeing Lumen today, all I am going to say is that don't be surprised if you are asked for a blood and urine sample - powerful stuff.
Thanks all. Lovely massage in Kenmare, just waiting on Chinese food now.

daymobrew

I've closed the ROK cycle website updated thread so we can collect our post-ROK comments here.

penexpers

Just back after doing it with unionman. Cycling time about 7 hours 30 minutes. Good day all round, weather wasn't the best, a good bit of rain and a bad headwind. Met petethedrummer and thebouldwhacker a long the way. Met the big boards group at the start but lost them when I turned away for a second. El tonto looked very fetching.

I don't think my time was any improvement on last year but I feel better now than I did then. Thanks to unionman for the company!

Aquos76

Well done to ye all for doing this, did any of ye happen to see any of my club mates, They were all wearing SWCC gear,

Most of the lads completed it in just over the 6hrs 40 mark. I would have loved to have gone down to do this, but my wife giving birth last week put pay to that, ah well, there is always next year please god.

thebouldwhacker

That really was fantastic, last report I heard over 3500 souls took part, thats some under taking and I must say it went with out a hitch. I was going around with a friend who doesnt really cycle, she broke her chain and it was repaired and back on trak without delay. Food stops, water stops, bike repairs, very busy pick up vans etc all worked really well, finished off the day with a back and shoulder rub down in kenmare so couldnt be happier. We started in there (sorry for the mix up ROK:o) and got soaked on the way to Killarney, rain really hurts at 6 am when your cycling against the wind and going down a mountain as fast as your brakes will allow.... who'd have thought??

Good to meet a few of ye, Beached (totaly by accident), penexpers with the mad handle bars and ROK, (very euro)

I met some mad people, one cycling in a big oldpair of black shoes and matching bike, another with a five speed which was older than me, one poor guy who had bought a mtb for the trip and just wanted to chuck it in the ditch, all kinds, ages, backgrounds... a cycling festival if there ever was one, next year I'll have my boards gear and will join the group for a proper assult but for this year happy out... I'm off for a bath, big congrats and much respect to all that finished:)

flatface

Great day, nice to meet a few boardies And a load of other characters along the way, see you all at the next group spin for more punishment!

johnnyc

ah wheres the action tonight lads and lassies in killarney, another great experience of the ring of kerry its a brill event. Have a question where can i get the boards cycle tops and bottoms

Aquos76

johnnyc wrote: »

ah wheres the action tonight lads and lassies in killarney, another great experience of the ring of kerry its a brill event. Have a question where can i get the boards cycle tops and bottoms

I think you just missed out on the latest order, check out this thread

The tax man

ROK ON wrote: »

Fairplay to the gay twins for powering away.

johnnyc

ah blast classy looking top , wheres the action tonight is it the gleneagle

showry

another really enjoyable ROK,
just under 6 hours, same as last year.
We started late and spent the day trying to negotiate through all the groups and traffic on the road, 3,500 cyclists I heard.
The food was fantastic, I'm full as an egg. Fair play to all the volunteers.
The traffic on the descent from Moll's gap really slowed us up but that may have been for the best given the rain that was falling at that stage.
Saw quite a few boardsies on the road, looking good.
Looking forward to next year. I reckon the WW200 organisers could learn a lot from the ROK.

Captain Havoc

Great run, I got talking to one of ye in the boards Jersey, didn't catch the name because I didn't want him to repeat it a second time. Pleased with my time 7h04 which was 4 mins off my prediction, I still can't hit that 25kph average, ah well.
Hope to talk to more of ye before the summers out.

estariol

Is there a gang meeting for drinks anywhere heading to courtneys shortly for some much needed beer calories

Nietzschean

ROK ON wrote: »

Did it in 6h14m. So very very happy. Thanks to Tom, Caroline, Irish Motorist, Alfalad, Dirk, The Claw, Nietchean for some great company.

*cough*DNF*cough*


something about the 6hour mark for me

Started out at 5am from home today(driving), saw lots of rain, got rained on during reg. But thankfully the skies parted for a few a good few hours before the later showers. Good fun esp near the start hanging out with the big boardsies group, lots of little attacks and egging of people on, we cruised as a big group until the tonto break(good fun that). Spent too long at the first food stop, just arsing about. Ran into CheGeudara and his club and went with them up that first long drag/climb deal, handy that went at a good speed(~20km/hr i think for most of that climb). Fun us(+1 bossy guy from his club) dropping the rest of his club too before that . Had a bit of a taking it handy section after the next water stop , before myself and Dirk had a fun hammer session, 8k @ 43 - 45km/hr, one of the highlights of the day that. Stop in kinmare was nice in the school a seat was most welcome at that point and the coffee. Left that stop in the rain, but it stopped soon after and hit a good rythm for the drag(climb?) of molls gap. we caught/dropped The Claw on the way up, but he re-appeared near the top and just powered on past us, must have taken the second half at that at a good healthy speed. The descent from molls gap seemed to go on from ever, if you could call it a descent, I seemed to be climbing most of the time...though the climbs did provide good opportunities to overtake groups as with the hairpin corners it was hard in descending sections.

Anyway good day out, few hammer sessions were lots of fun, best thing about it was the company! Didn't get entirely seperated from the group like the W200 so that was nice . Tbh i don't think anything other than the volume of food/water beat W200 per say, but were well organised events just with a the well known food stops issues in the W200.

poolboy

A great day all round now as i look back 6 30 for me was delighted as this was first event like this for me and i was expecting over 7 hrs hit my wall on molls gap and then puctured at top would have taken a lift at that stage if offered but obviously glad i didnt. Pity couldnt meet up with boardsies but needed to be back early so left early might see ye at the next one as im now officaly hooked.

daymobrew

6h52m rolling time, with 8h59m total (yeah, 2h7m stopped :eek:).
I was cycling with my brother-in-law - his first time so we cycled together until Caherciveen. After that I simply waited for him at the various spots (Waterville, the crest after Waterville, Sneem, Kennmare, Glen Eagle).

I saw a few boardies but I didn't say hello because I didn't recognise anyone (I'd only recognise Tiny and kenmc).

I made a point of eating more this time - banana and mini smarties at Glenbeigh; ham sambo, banana, fruit brack and Kit Kat (latter from the Kerry Rose) at Caherciveen; banana and mini smarties at Waterville; tea and Snickers at Sneem; tea, banana, fruit brack at Kenmare and mini smarties at top of Moll's Gap.

I was very impressed with the event this year - loads more water/banana/mini smarties stops this year.
Major fair play to the organisers.

islandexile

Great event so just wondering.......apart from the Ring of Kerry, is there any other similar mass participation cycling events around the country? TKS

Aquos76

Here is a list of all up and coming events

http://wiki.boards.ie/wiki/Events-Cycling

Of them all the Sean Kelly Tour is probably the biggest one remaining this year.

unionman

Great day, really enjoyed it. Did it with penexpers (thanks again) and enjoyed being on a new circuit with (mostly) very good roads. Really enjoyed the two climbs (and the descents).

I'm hanging around Killarney until tomorrow, and then I'm cycling to Tralee tomorrow for work.

ROK deserves its good reputation. Well run, great atmosphere. The volunteers are brilliant. Sorry I didn't see any more boardsies, but sounds like it was a seriously fast peloton (and y'all know I'm just not there yet). I met niceonetom and caroline_ie right at the start, and petethedrummer at the end.

Glad everyone enjoyed it, it was a good one.

Funkyzeit

Aquos76 wrote: »

Well done to ye all for doing this, did any of ye happen to see any of my club mates, They were all wearing SWCC gear,

Most of the lads completed it in just over the 6hrs 40 mark. I would have loved to have gone down to do this, but my wife giving birth last week put pay to that, ah well, there is always next year please god.

A few of us got in with them on the way in to Caherciveen - great bunch of blokes and a nice tasty pace... I was the one with the Boards armwarmers cycling the Bianchi

Great day all round - showers apart - must have left with my group before the main Boardsies as onle saw 2 jerseys the whole day. Kudos to the locals who put on a great spread and matched it with their hospitality...

warrfla

Wow, Really enjoyed that it ws a great day, set off at 7.10 as it started raining and didnt fancy waiting for the mass start in the rain. Glad I did as once that early shower stopped the rest of the day was lovely and I was home and feb before the rain started again around 4ish

Rolling time of 6hrs. 1min, so really chuffed to bits with that as id say i did 100kms of the 169.8(garmin measured) solo.

Got into a couple of groups but I lost one group on the Waterville Climb, and Another lost me on Moll's Gap Climb(I actaully could see the guys sprinting for the summit in the distance, while I was slowly spinning the legs to the top!!!)

Hats off to the organisers, the food and water stops were fantastic with plent of everything for everybody.

Also hats of to the amazing people who do it on all manner of bikes, I actually saw one guy in full casuals, street shoes and hybrid commuter, these guys deserve medals for getting around on those bikes.

oh and the two pairs of crazy cyclists I saw stopped for a ciggarette break along the way? funny stuff!!:eek:

Roll on the Sean Kelly, can't wait

Lumen

That was a very nice day out.

Great company and atmosphere, lots of food, a couple of pleasant climbs and a decent amount of wheelsucking - all aboard the Tonto train!

Raam's climbing ability was typically awesome - he just disappeared up Molls Gap like I was track standing. :cool:

Aside from my usual bleating and whining around the 100km mark the distance felt manageable.

Decent piss-up in the evening too

As for stats: 77% as much work as the Wicklow 200 at 25% higher work rate, which feels about right.

I have to say I actually enjoyed that

I ended up missing the official start so only got going at 8:15,I saw a group in the distance and sprinted to catch it,luckily I did cause it went all the way to Cahersiveen.It was my first time cycling in a group like that and I never realised how much of a difference it makes.I spent a bit too much energy on my pull and already had cramps by the time I got to the food stop in Cahersiveen.

After way too long at the food stop I set off with 3 other lads and we got into a small group about 10km before Waterville,I couldn't keep the pace and dropped off.I really struggled here all the way into Waterville and up the following climb,I was on my own nearly all the way to Kenmare.There was a nice wind that brought me all the way to Sneem but the section between Sneem and Kenmare was a bit of a push,a large group passed me around Templenoe so I sped up a bit and caught the group which brought me to Kenmare.

I found I could barely stand due to the cramps at this stage so I got back on the bike after only a short rest.I took Moll's Gap very slowly but reached the summit with loads of energy left and I really enjoyed that descent into Killarney.In the end it took me 7 hrs 35 mins cycling with 45 mins rest I think.Due to starting so late and going so slow I think I only saw 2 boardsies all day who flew past me on the descent off Moll's Gap.It was a bloody good day out though and I'm definitely doing it again next year,hopefully I'll have a road bike and some SPD's by then.I think I'll pass on the lycra though

irishmotorist

Yep yep yep - same as everybody else.

What a great day and even got very surprisingly sunburned, which I only discovered after the event - of course. I started at 7.45 with my father in law as it was raining and we didn't want to just stand around in that for the 15 mins. I lost him after a short time and it turns out that he punctured but got a hand from the support crew. I made what felt like pretty good time heading to Cahirciveen and met FrankGrimes briefly and El Tonto and Lumen and another Boardsie whose name I didn't catch. Pretty much from that stop on, I continued with ROK ON, The Claw, Caroline, Niceonetom,Nietz.... and Dirk Voodoo. I really enjoyed the two climbs on the new bike - being able to attack and try to go fast up them rather than just get up without bursting myself. Also met up with AlfaLad around Kenmare, I think.

Great day, great organisation and great people all along. Did anybody else spot the guy doing it dressed up as a clown? Also, the Kerry Rose will be getting my vote for the free Kit Kats

Rolling time, 6:32 which is 3 mins quicker than last year. However, I found myself with a lot left in the tank at the end (very different to last year) and I'm feeling fine today - apart from slightly stiff elbows and neck. A few more spins on the bike will sort that out I'm sure. Avg h/r of 140 too, which tells me that I can aim to lash it a bit more in future!

Less spectators than last year, but the applauding crowd at the finish line was legendary.

CheGuedara

Well that was a great day on the bike. Mr Cateye says 6hrs 10 on the bike which is fine by me:D

Met a load of boardsies in Caherciveen, (my memory defies me when I try to remember all present but I know Caroline_ie, ROK ON, The Claw and Lumen was there) and worked up Coomachiste with a few from my club and Nietzschean (who got bossed into doing a turn at the front by my Da - sorry about that ). Great to meet ye guys - gotta get out for a few more Dub Boards spins.

Went fast between Coomachiste to Sneem and on into Kenmare. Took a notion after a wee fuel up and took a fly Molls (& was still passed on it by Paul Griffin doing 25mph like the thing was flat!!) Loved the descent, fast fast top section running the race line all the way above the lake and technical below it and got down as far as the arch before the heavens opened. Was fairly motivated to get back to Killarney, and food and a hot shower in a hurry then!

+1 on the great organisation - plenty food and water all the way around and the ammount of volunteers was amazing. Great spin.

Next up, Trip to Tipp 200?

Chips Lovell

Just home now from Kerry. Great day out and even the weather stayed fine for the most part. Got around in six hours and even had a bit of time for some racing at the end with Raam, Lumen and Scott. Needless to say, Raam got away and stayed away despite my efforts to reel him in. Our new outfits went down a storm. Got a lot of startled looks and enquiries about them.

Great turnout of Boards folk at it. And last night was probably more epic than the cycle itself.

Funniest moment of the weekend was the mad aul one in the pink dressing gown in Killorglan who just walk right out in the middle of the road in front of a bunch of riders. Cue lots of braking and swearing and her shouting "ye should be all locked up!"

vektarman

Great event and happy with my total time of 7Hrs 35Mins, I was aiming for under 8hours. Strangest things I saw were.
1. Guy on a specialized Elite with a huge heavy duty chain and padlock wrapped under the saddle.
2. Girl that whizzed past me with three packs of 20 silk cut cigs in her jersey pocket.
3. Bloke with a 10 kilo bag of potatoes on his back carrier.*

* may not have been in the event:)

godihatethehils

What a class weekend.

I made a very poor team photographer (that's the last time we let emty off to do the marmotte!) but here are a couple of snaps, including the famous pink outfits which caused quite a stir round Kerry, and one of the lads with Miss Kerry herself.

I thought it was best to stick to the daytime pics so there's no evidence of Lumen's late night attempts to combine cycling and dancing

The mad aul one who thinks all cyclists should be 'locked up' was very funny but it has to be said there were several candidates for the funniest moment of the weekend award. I personally very much enjoyed the local lads rendition of rhinestone cowboy to dirk, brilliant!

ROK ON

@RAAM/TONTO - where did you get the gear. Am interested in getting more kit and would prefer niche gear. (2nd tier teams, defunct teams etc).

cunavalos

ROK ON wrote: »

@RAAM/TONTO - where did you get the gear. Am interested in getting more kit and would prefer niche gear. (2nd tier teams, defunct teams etc).

a good bet is here
http://www.trikotexpress.de/professional-cycling-teams-bikewear/?lang=1
have used them before and recommend them
for older stuff there is always ebay but it is always best to look for new old stock items (NOS) cos i wouldnt fancy wearing somebody elses shorts.

DirkVoodoo

Great fun this weekend. Headed down with Astramonti and his girlfriend and godihatethehills. Long drive which was surprisingly tiring and the worst part of the weekend (excluding the company in the car, of course).

I think the event was really well organised, but I will keep my opinion on the actual cycle to myself . I think I am not actually a cyclist and don't like cycling, except for one small part.

Met lots of folk, rode a lot of it with Tom, Caroline, Neetch (yes, your new name), ROK ON, the Claw, alfalad, Irish Motorist.

Messed up my food and drink intake a bit, would have liked to get more miles on the Tonto train and blown up in spectacular fashion.

Yes, there were many funny memories from the weekend, it was a good old time!

EDIT: I left my cert in the house, if anyone grabbed it could they let me know? The wall of achievement will not be happy if I didn't bring something back.

DeepBlue

May as well put up some photos from the cycle .
Anyone get a pic of the guy in the clown suit?

AstraMonti

Ok now for a proper review.

As Dirk said, the trip down to Killarney was really tiring and unexpectedly long. But other than that, the car was fine and we had a lot of Michael Jackson music with us

For Kerry now. The weather was mad, well i know it's mad in Ireland, but this was special crazy, rain and sunshine can change in like 2minutes. Thankfully in Saturday we only had rain at the start and at the last 20-30k.

About the actual ride. It was really fun and i was feeling strong up until we stopped and my knee was screaming. Of course the hammerfest on the first 70kms didn't help, but it was pure fun. My avg speed for these 70k was something like 30.6, which is amazing for me (well i was wheel sucking 90% of the time, hey i was leading the pack for few kms too!). After that mysteriously my saddle went down 3cm's. By the time i sit on the bike something wasn't feeling right, but i blamed my knee. But the lower saddle position was putting much more strain on the knee so i had to slow down and lost the El-Tonto-Lumen-Alfalad train. After few km's i stopped and checked what was wrong and i found my saddle was down. I repositioned it and i started the climb and i was actually in a real pain. I was really mad, because my muscles were fine, my breaths were fine and i couldn't push. Few kms more went like that and finally there was a stop and nice massage from the lady on the ambulance and few painkillers did the trick. I was feeling strong so i pushed quite hard again and joined a cycling club that was hammering on the way to the 4th stop i think, can't remember the name. Short stop for water and then up to the way to moll's gap, more of a long drag than an actual climb. On the top i ignored the stop and just flew down the descend to Killarney, the painkillers were fading away so i wanted to avoid the worst.

The view to the ocean was amazing.

The organizers had done a great job, there was LOTS of food, LOTS of water, LOTS of support. Well done, i would love to do it next year as well.

Now my knee is awful, i will be off the bike for the next 15 days doing heavy stretches and possibly going to a yoga class.

A big thanks to Dirk for driving us down, and the whole lot for the company afterwards, was really fun

To sum it up, it was a great event and having done 1/3 of it alone i am feeling happy about my avg speed and my finishing time.

Now.. on to register for Sean Kelly!

scottreynolds

Nice day for a cycle. Only took one picture, and it cost me the victory. Not sure if you can see but the gay twins (see pictures above) 'legged' it while I was taking this photo. If I hadn't descended like Sanchez on steriods and caught them the loss could have been more.... nice to know who your friends are . I bought them a drink, but spat in it for good measure.

AstraMonti

I forgot!

What the hell was wrong with people!? The were some going all over the road, with no signaling, with no clue what they wanted to do it and a big lot of them was from people wearing cycling club jerseys, especially the black-yellow one, can't remember the name. I felt so frustrated at times. Well ok, i did few mistakes too (i think i got yelled from Raam once) but i am only new to group riding and i was using my brain the rest of the times.

Rant over!

Raam

AstraMonti wrote: »

Well ok, i did few mistakes too (i think i got yelled from Raam once) but i am only new to group riding and i was using my brain the rest of the times.

I don't remember that!

AstraMonti

Raam wrote: »

I don't remember that!

Then you probably yelled on the monkey with the black-yellow jersey

henboy

Great day, well organised my time 6.44 . I think the avg was 25kph had a good start to the day. It was 6.45am seen a guy on a high nelly he had long grey hair shirt wide open with what looked like to be Hot pants no socks or shoes. Pure class I knew there and then it was going to be a good day

Raam

AstraMonti wrote: »

Then you probably yelled on the monkey with the black-yellow jersey

?!

AstraMonti

Raam wrote: »

?!

Well you yelled at someone in some point.. and i was in front of you so i think i did something stupid, but you don't even remember yelling

Raam

AstraMonti wrote: »

Well you yelled at someone in some point.. and i was in front of you so i think i did something stupid, but you don't even remember yelling

Probably calling a hole or something

Murph100

+1 on what a great day ! First time doing it and really enjoyed it. 6 hrs 34 Mins, so not bad for a newbie I guess, definitely had lots left but me non dodgy knee decided to get dodgy from Sneem on, I'll strap 'em both next time.

Great to put a face on some of the names here, and just going through some of your photos, I have solved the mystery of the flash of pink who blasted past us going up Coomakista like it didn't exist, Jaaaaysus El Tonto, some going !!

I dont think I've ever heard so many people say ' FXXXING HELL !! ' in all my life

CheGuedara

henboy wrote: »

It was 6.45am seen a guy on a high nelly he had long grey hair shirt wide open with what looked like to be Hot pants no socks or shoes.

And a scruffy grey beard? Sounds like the Legend Jimmy Duffy. I've a photo around here somewhere...those of a sensitive nature might need to steady themselves

Raam

AstraMonti wrote: »

Well you yelled at someone in some point.. and i was in front of you so i think i did something stupid, but you don't even remember yelling

Actually, I remember shouting at people who were overtaking in the face of oncoming traffic outside Killorglan. I also remember doing the same myself later.

thebouldwhacker

AstraMonti wrote: »

What the hell was wrong with people!? The were some going all over the road, with no signaling, with no clue what they wanted to do it and a big lot of them was from people wearing cycling club jerseys,
Rant over!

Before we hit killorgin a club passed us, no shouts, on the inside, outside and one between us. We were riding at a slow pace on the straight, perfect to pass out, there werent even cars coming the other way. Two riders nearly clipped my bike and my mate said one nearly hit her. There was about 10 of them, we were too stunned to say anything at the time, a few miles up the road there they were pulled up after a crash, no surprise there... most people and groups were ok but there were a few 'king of the roads' out there

niceonetom

That was a very enjoyable way to spend a weekend.

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

Actually, I remember shouting at people who were overtaking in the face of oncoming traffic outside Killorglan. I also remember doing the same myself later.

It's riding with Scott that does it. He seems to have lost the volume control down the back of the sofa.

Caroline_ie

I had a fantastic time Thanks to all to cycled with, ahead, behind me Will do it again.

Did you know that Kerry has the most banana per cyclist in the world ...!

ednwireland

does anyone do these events in slower times ? i'm currentley doing 100k on my own in about 5 hours, your really putting me off doing these things until i am fitter/ lost more weight.

Lumen

ednwireland wrote: »

does anyone do these events in slower times ? i'm currentley doing 100k on my own in about 5 hours, your really putting me off doing these things until i am fitter/ lost more weight.

Don't be put off. Loads of people did the ROK at much more casual pace.

It would have been nice to take in the views a bit more TBH.

Raam can testify that you don't see much of anything when you're hammering up a hill.