Surf And Turf 300

rottenhat

The next Audax Ireland ride is coming up on Saturday, August 15th. 6am start in Clonmel. I'm definitely heading down for it and emty was talking about doing it too.

I don't know much about the route - Paul O'Donoghue described it as being nice which could mean just about anything - but I believe it runs from Clonmel down to the coast and back, and I'd be very surprised if there wasn't the odd hill on the way. I'll post more details when I hear back from the organiser.

CI license required (or you can get a one-day) but the entry fee should be minimal (€5-10) and the rides are usually small, friendly affairs. If you've already done a 200k this year, you should find a 300k to be challenging but quite doable.

The last remaining events after this will be the Dying Cow/Sow 200/300k on September 5th, starting in Bray.

blorg

I will probably try to do this myself.

rughdh

I won't be available for this, but I'll be on for the Dying Sow in September.
[Note to self: zeroise trip distance on computer at start and bring the following: map holder for route sheet; compass and astrolabe]

blorg

I am planning on GPSing this... Was talking to rottenhat about it the other day, he doesn't think I will manage it and even if I did believes it is very very wrong. I imagine the group will stay together anyway. Managed 150km solo on Saturday at an average of 31km/h and wasn't killing myself, was quite happy with that. I believe the "Turf" bit in this one involves a bit of mountains all right, I have heard rumours that the Vee is involved (it is a very picuresque climb and not too difficult.)

rottenhat

blorg wrote: »

Managed 150km solo on Saturday at an average of 31km/h and wasn't killing myself, was quite happy with that.

Bloody hell, Ivan, at that rate you'll be getting to the controls before they even open.

blorg

rottenhat wrote: »

Bloody hell, Ivan, at that rate you'll be getting to the controls before they even open.

It was a nice cycle, left after a late lunch, Dublin-Meath-Westmeath-Longford-Leitrim, I will post some photos when I get them organised.

As to the Surf and Turf I imagine it will be a small field that will stick together from everything I have heard... Anyway there are other guys presumably doing it who as you well know would be more than capable of sustaining that sort of speed and indeed far more should they be that way inclined... But that is not the point

Nietzschean

blorg wrote: »

It was a nice cycle, left after a late lunch, Dublin-Meath-Westmeath-Longford-Leitrim, I will post some photos when I get them organised.

You got a route map of something like that? wouldn't mind doing some flat routes...getting bored of wicklow a bit

rottenhat

blorg wrote: »

As to the Surf and Turf I imagine it will be a small field that will stick together from everything I have heard...

Yes, I would expect so. I'll certainly be sticking as close to Aidan as possible.

blorg wrote: »

Anyway there are other guys presumably doing it who as you well know would be more than capable of sustaining that sort of speed and indeed far more should they be that way inclined...

I think I can guess who you're referring to...I believe one of them had a 24-hour TT in the last few weeks and is currently riding London-Edinburgh-London....

oflahero

Nietzschean wrote: »

You got a route map of something like that? wouldn't mind doing some flat routes...getting bored of wicklow a bit

And I'm assuming that was one-way, right? Right?

cunavalos

Am hoping to do this myself. from what i have heard the route takes in the glen of aherlow, the vee and a seperate climb from clogheen which is quite tough, then proceeds down to the coast and back to clonmel through the comeraghs, i reckon i will have ridden all parts of the route at some stage so if anyone is prepared to stay at a more sedate pace i can gladly escort you around without getting lost.

@blorg will probably be able to help you plot the route if you have a route sheet

rottenhat

OK, here's last year's routesheet - there has been some work on the roads so the section marked in red might be a little different this year.

Entry fee will be €5, and Aidan would appreciate it if you would let him know a week in advance that you're planning on turning up so that he can let the cafe know how many people to expect for the lunch stop. (brosnanaidan@eircom.net)

blorg

OK, I am right on that. First effort was 410km, was going through Dungarvan in Co. Kilkenney. Getting close to the 300km now and have reasonable confidence in it (currently at 280km.)

blorg

Here is what I have come up with. I am at 297km so around 3km short... It seems to gradually drift, I am 1km behind at Araglin (78.5km), 2km behind at Ardmore (135km), 3km behind at Carrick-on-Suir (240km) and then it sticks at that to the end. How accurate are the distances on the route sheets generally?

rottenhat

They're usually just measured off the bike computer of whoever scouts the route so I don't think 1% difference would be unusual. How well do your plotted routes usually tally with distance actually covered?

blorg

Using Mapsource and distance recorded on the GPS they are generally pretty spot-on- the bike computer may vary by a slight amount. I have reasonable confidence in most of that route being right but there are a few points where I'm not 100% so any review of it would be much appreciated- base format is Mapsource GPX if anyone wants that. There are a few points where I think the road numbers in the route sheet are off by one- roads could have been renumbered, or it could be an error (either mine, my maps or the route sheet compiler.)

rottenhat

From Aidan:

I just spotted the Boards.ie posts. I am fully confidant the route is 300km. I think its 300.5km!

The google map is great. I never got around to doing one. Some small changes.

We take the R706 out of Fethard and turn at "Drumdeel" through "Ballygambon" Cross and then join the R689 at "New Road".

After Youghal Bridge we take the next right turn at "Pilltown" not the first as shown.

In Annestown we take the next left "Woodstown" to Dunhill Castle.

That might find the missing 3km.

Does that get you any closer?

rottenhat

And I see Paul O'D is trucking along at LEL. From a YACF thread:

Just had Paul O'Donoghue here, looking well but a bit blown about.

Haven't seen anything about the other Irish riders though.

blorg

Thanks, I have made those corrections and am now a touch over 299km - feel free to cast another eye over it, I can put it up as a Garmin file when we are done. 299.4km could be right though, would be within the margin of error I reckon.

rottenhat

Well, I don't mind saying that was pretty tough going at times. There's something particularly disheartening about opening the door on the way out to an all-day ride and discovering that it's raining. I could hear the wind while I was lying in bed but somehow I didn't even consider the possibility that it was raining as well. Ten of us met up at the petrol station on the Dungarvan road, but one had the wisdom to duck back inside his camper van to wait for the rain to ease so nine of us rolled out. As ever, it wasn't too bad once you were out there but the anticipation was grim. By the time we got to Cahir it was more or less daylight and the ran was starting to lift but the drizzle persisted for another couple of hours and there were a couple of chutes on slippery descents - no serious injuries but plenty of cuts and grazes.

The group split around Lismore into six and two with Aidan (the organiser) packing on account of serious knee pain, wisely in view of the series of short, sharp climbs that we hit around Knockanore - lovely riding through the woods at the verge of the lake but so many little jumps that were just a little too steep and long to power up. There was a flattish run into Ardmore where we stopped for lunch - the cafe staff were polite enough not to draw attention to the fact that we were as filthy as a crew of miners after a hard day down the pits but diplomatically seated us in a small side room by ourselves. Full irish breakfasts all round improved spirits all round.

The next stretch brought us to the surf - following the coast road around through Dungarvan and Bunmahon (where we caught up with the rest, including John who had emerged from his camper van an hour after we left and made good time to catch up). The sun was breaking through the clouds and the views of the coast from the headlands were spectacular. It didn't hurt that we had a tailwind to drive us over the undulating roads. I think it was on the far side of Annstown that we nearly ran headlong into a wedding party who for some reason thought it was okay to park two cars in the middle of the road (around the corner on a fast descent no less) while they took pictures of the happy couple. We turned inland at that point, taking some serious grass-down-the-middle roads up to Waterford town and on to Carrick-on-Suir, crossing some familiar ground from the REK 400. Just outside Waterford, Blorg jetted up the road on the pretext of taking a leak and we didn't hear from him again until half-seven that evening when he started texting to let us know he had finished and how far had we to go. Given that I was still grinding my way over some rough road to Fethard, this was not as welcome as it might have been.

Leaving Carrick we had the painful sight of signs for Clonmel with disgustingly low mileage on them, knowing that we instead would be detouring around the back of Slievenamon to Fethard before coming back into Clonmel. This next section was perhaps the toughest - rough roads and a long climb up to Faugheen and Ahenny with legs that were nigh on dead. Again, more stretches along roads that were more grass than tarmac, plenty of loose gravel, finally to the penultimate control at Fethard, and onto the road to Clonmel. The run in was largely downhill along good roads - we picked up Blorg who had grown tired of sitting around and decided to ride out to meet us which seemed like gratuitous showing off to me but I'm sure he meant well. He was at least good enough to warn that even when you passed the sign for Clonmel there was another little detour of a mere seven or eight kilometres to bring the route up to the 300. We made it in just before dark, at about 8:40 - fourteen and a half hours after we had left.

Demanding though the route was with its seemingly endless procession of rolling hills, it really was a good ride along roads many of which you would never see on a big sportive or from a car. Indeed we saw very little traffic all day, even along the copper coast which I would have expected to be a popular spot for a Saturday drive. The spirit was good all through - hats off to Peter who cracked on with the entire ride, even after wrecking and cutting up his hands early, even though he was local and could have cut off home for an early bath at any time. How he resisted the temptation to disappear on the way out of Carrick I'll never know. After showering everyone met back up for pints and pizza, plenty of stories, told from audaxes past and plots hatched for next year...a 1000 in Ireland, Mille Cymru, Hamburg-Berlin-Koln Hamburg 1500k, a fleche, two full SR series in Ireland next year....Yes, audax can be tough, but it's also a hell of a lot of fun, and the sense of community and camaraderie is something quite special.

rughdh

Chapeau, messieurs and thanks for the report, rottenhat. 10 is a good turn-out. Let's hope there's a few more, though, for the Dying Sow!

Raam

rughdh wrote: »

Chapeau, messieurs and thanks for the report, rottenhat. 10 is a good turn-out. Let's hope there's a few more, though, for the Dying Sow!

Is that one a 400?

rughdh

Raam wrote: »

Is that one a 400?

No, a 300 (and the Dying Cow is a 200).

rottenhat

And there's going to be a 160 option also. I'm debating whether I quite have the cojones to ride 20k out to Bray, do a 300, ride home again, and get up the following day and go to work...

(NB the ride is on Saturday...I'm working that Sunday. I haven't seen the full 300 route sheet yet but I know it does take you as far as Mount Leinster.)

Oh, and you wouldn't know it from that report, but emty was there too with his new camera so I would expect some pictures to go up in due course.

blorg

blorg

blorg

rottenhat

We were about a hundred yards outside Clonmel when the acid began to take hold....

Caroline_ie

do many women take part? I am somehow really attracted by idea of an 200+ ... but the pace worries me. Maybe with more training?

rottenhat

Mieke did the full series and PBP in 2007 but she claimed she wasn't fit enough to join us on Saturday (possibly after a careful inspection of the weather forecast, although she was crazy enough to come down to the petrol station at 6am to wave us off). The pace is not particularly high - I averaged a little over 25km/h. It's more brisk than fast. The other thing is that there's no great obligation to stay with the group. If its feeling a bit hectic it's often very pleasant to drop off the back and roll along at your own pace for a while. You'll generally catch up at the control points anyway. Given that you've already done the Wicklow 200 and the 160 version of the Mick Byrne and a hatful of other rides this summer, you could certainly give the Dying Sow 300 a crack. I'll just remind you that it was you towing me in at the end of the Martin Earley ride....

blorg

It's very doable; I found it easier than the Wicklow 200 and would have been happy to do another 100km at the end. The pace is not crazy by any means, it was certainly decent but HR was far lower than most sportives. I think pacing and nutrition are key, I was eating regularly and I imagine if HR had been W200 level I would have been done at the 200km mark! The whole thing went by remarkably quickly, basically it is like a 200 with a little more cycling at the start and a little more at the end.

rughdh

Caroline_ie wrote: »

do many women take part? I am somehow really attracted by idea of an 200+ ... but the pace worries me. Maybe with more training?

There was a 14% female turnout for the Virginia 300.

cunavalos

Seriously to anyone thinking about doing these events i can thoroughly recommend them. I turned up on saturday morning not knowing what to expect but all involved made me feel really welcome and it was easy to start a conversation with any of the lads. I had probably cycled 3/4 of the route at some time or another over the last 2 years but would never have dreamed of putting all those routes together for a single ride. To be honest although i had done a couple of 200+km rides in the last month i hadn't done much regular riding in preparation but because of the reasonable pace and regular controls the distance never seemed unsurmountable and even after my accident i still felt i was always going to be able to finish.
A few recommendations to anyone considering a similar distance audax is to pack light i probably overpacked with a seatpost rack and the extra weight and resulting change in the balance of the bike probably contributed to my accident. I reckon a large saddlebag and maybe a bar bag would be more than sufficient and as far as clothing is concerned layers are the key arm and legwarmers and a light rainjacket would cover all bases when teamed up with shorts and a jersey.
Again i would like to thank blorg rottenhat and emty as well as the audax lads for an enjoyable day out and would like to say that i will see ye again at the Sean Kelly or the Dying Cow but am just back from the doctor and he reckons that i have broken a couple of fingers from the fall and will need x rays to confirm but is fairly sure i will need a couple of pins put in so my cycling season looks to have come to an early end.

rughdh

cunavalos wrote: »

Seriously to anyone thinking about doing these events i can thoroughly recommend them. I turned up on saturday morning not knowing what to expect but all involved made me feel really welcome and it was easy to start a conversation with any of the lads. I had probably cycled 3/4 of the route at some time or another over the last 2 years but would never have dreamed of putting all those routes together for a single ride. To be honest although i had done a couple of 200+km rides in the last month i hadn't done much regular riding in preparation but because of the reasonable pace and regular controls the distance never seemed unsurmountable and even after my accident i still felt i was always going to be able to finish.
A few recommendations to anyone considering a similar distance audax is to pack light i probably overpacked with a seatpost rack and the extra weight and resulting change in the balance of the bike probably contributed to my accident. I reckon a large saddlebag and maybe a bar bag would be more than sufficient and as far as clothing is concerned layers are the key arm and legwarmers and a light rainjacket would cover all bases when teamed up with shorts and a jersey.
Again i would like to thank blorg rottenhat and emty as well as the audax lads for an enjoyable day out and would like to say that i will see ye again at the Sean Kelly or the Dying Cow but am just back from the doctor and he reckons that i have broken a couple of fingers from the fall and will need x rays to confirm but is fairly sure i will need a couple of pins put in so my cycling season looks to have come to an early end.

Sorry to hear about the injuries.
+1 on traveling light and the layers of clothing. Being wet is less of a problem if you're warm. Wearing several jerseys gives you more pockets for storage, but are only feasible in colder weather.

A bar bag could affect balance if you're not used to it, but would be handy for the longer events.

rottenhat

cunavalos wrote: »

Again i would like to thank blorg rottenhat and emty as well as the audax lads for an enjoyable day out and would like to say that i will see ye again at the Sean Kelly or the Dying Cow but am just back from the doctor and he reckons that i have broken a couple of fingers from the fall and will need x rays to confirm but is fairly sure i will need a couple of pins put in so my cycling season looks to have come to an early end.

Good grief - you rode 250km with two broken fingers? I knew all GAA players were certifiable but that takes the biscuit.

Completely didn't cop that you were Cunavalos btw - good to meet you and hopefully we'll see you next year if not before.

petethedrummer

rottenhat wrote: »

Good grief - you rode 250km with two broken fingers? I knew all GAA players were certifiable but that takes the biscuit.

Completely didn't cop that you were Cunavalos btw

The same cunavalos who cycled from Tipp(?) the day before the WW200 and home the day after. Certifiable indeed.

fergalos

Does anyone have the route for the Dying Sow 300 or a description of the route - lot of hills etc

rottenhat

Not published yet, and it's a brand new route so not much to go on from last year, but I do know that it takes in Mount Leinster (one of the easy approaches though - not up Corrobutt Gap) and that the climb by the Dying Cow pub is supposed to be very steep. Paul didn't mention any health warnings though so it's probably what he would call "scenic" i.e. hilly but not brutal. I'd say he'll post the routesheet next week.

rottenhat

Should have checked my email before posting that:

the 300k will follow the same route as the 200k but will split slightly before 114k to travel to Clonegal, Myshal, Leighlinbridge, Goresbridge and Borris.From then on it will be uphill all the way until the long and doubtlessly welcome descent in Bunclody.Having travelled through Carnew the two routes will reconverge at kilometer 121 to finish up on the same roads.

Last year's 200 route attached, but there are updates to be made so don't take it as gospel.

rottenhat

Caroline_ie wrote: »

do many women take part? I am somehow really attracted by idea of an 200+ ... but the pace worries me. Maybe with more training?

Thread revive...Mieke asked me to post a link to her account of doing PBP, to prove that women do in fact do these rides from time to time.