LastGasps Lumpy 200

LastGasp

That was a looong day ! I had wanted to do the Lumpy 200 last week but couldn’t manage the Saturday. I’m using up holidays before the end of the year, so I’m off for a few days. The forecast for today looked like the only chance to get out for a decent spin so off I went.
Drove out to Centra, Bray for an 8am start – halfway there realised I was heading off to do 200kms with no gloves. The weather was fine as I headed off, and it felt quite warm. Forecast was good for no rain and light winds so I reckoned I could do without overshoes. Bad mistake – the winds were strong, and all the water running off the hills was streaming across the road all over the place, and every time I went through one my shoes got sprayed. The toes started off chilly and ended up bloody freezing !
I was short of time as I had to be home before 7pm so the other half could go to work, I thought an average of about 20kph was the most likely, so I planned on going pretty much non-stop. First stop was in Tinahely at 80kms for about 10 minutes, where I stuffed in a Bread Roll, Snickers, and half a cup of scalding tea. Headed off again feeling fairly tired in the legs, heading for Baltinglass. Got on the N81 heading North, contemplating skipping the detour to Dunlavin due to pressure of time, but when I got to the turn I said why not, and headed left. Got to Dunlavin – hillier than I expected - and then back to Hollywood on the N81 just on the 6 hour mark, at 133kms. Second stop of the day, another 10 minutes, another bread roll, and more chocolate. Bought water and Lucozade Sport, and diluted it into my two bottles to keep me going for the rest of the trip. I had it in my head that it was only a couple of kms up to the top of the hill, and then roll down to Laragh. I had forgotten about the lumpy 20kms in the middle. Lovely fast spin down Wicklow Gap to Laragh, resisted temptation as I passed the Glendalough Fayre ! Turned off for Wicklow at Annamoe. I had never been on that road before, and the descent of Devils Glen was pretty steep, wet, slippy and gravelly, braking fairly hard all the way down. Got to Ashford, turned right to Rathnew, and thought about not going to Wicklow, but when I looked, I still had plenty of time, and the legs were still working OK, so no excuse. The route card gave the Wicklow checkpoint at 179kms, so when I hit 180.5 I turned around and retraced back to Rathnew, and turned onto the coast road, in the dark. Stopped for a moment to dig out a peanut and chocolate “Harvest” Powerbar which I hadn’t tried before and it went down well as I rolled along the coast road towards Newcastle.
I was still feeling pretty OK, but I was tired of being on the bike at this stage so I thought Rathnew and Greystones would never come ! They did eventually, and I slogged up the last hill at Bray Head/Wyndgates. Stopped at the top for a couple of celebratory chunks of Yorkie before the downhill run back to the car. 10 minutes later it was all over. 9 hours 22 mins riding, 9 hours 40 mins total, 208.79kms, Average 22.2kph, home at 6.15 in plenty of time. Long hot shower. Now I’m going to sleep !

Super Freak

Well done Last Gasp !! Epic spin.

Raam

You did the whole thing on your own?! Fair play.

AstraMonti

Well done man!

rottenhat

Well done - you were a lot quicker about it than we were.

Lumen

Class, particularly the lack of stoppages.

biomed32

sounded epic fair play man

LastGasp

Hi all, Thanks for the comments. I was going out the door and the OH reminded me she was going out for dinner, I said what time, she said 9, I said thats grand - loads of time, she said but I'm working at 7 ! Ah sh1te, gotta go see you later ! So the lack of stops was kind of last minute - I would have preferred to take a few breaks. The thing that surprised me was how much extra time I ended up with. I never really thought about it before, but averaging 22kph instead of 20kph over a 10 hour spin saved a whole hour on the trip. Surprisingly the body survived intact. I thought I might get blisters from no gloves over that distance, but the hands just felt a bit tender. I was tired last night and neck/shoulders were a bit stiff, but legs, ass and the rest are fine today.

hinault

LG : that is bloody good going at this time of year, and the prevailing weather conditions yesterday.

Well done.

Descending the Devils Glen in these conditions is nerve racking.

niceonetom

That's very impressive stuff LG - much further than I've ever gone solo. Even if I had it in the legs (I don't), I think I'd lose it from sheer boredom. You obviously have the psychological edge.

ROK ON

Last GASP. Well done. I think you hit on something about breaks. My solo cycles are done with a very shot sub 5min break.
The body can go without. After a long break I find it much more difficult to get going again.

Anyway. Well done once again.

The tax man

Well done LastGasp. Impressive going to do it solo.

Caroline_ie

Congrats for doing that on your own and at that time of year. Chapeau to you Sir