Another Hill Climb? Cruagh - March 30th

ryan_sherlock

We had two last year, one up Kippure the start of the year and one up Three Rock at the end - maybe we should run another once the days get longer?

I would propose something like Tuesday March 30th (sunset 19:56), 6:30 first person off and up the 'Cruagh Climb' from point 4 to point 5 on the map. We would start at the bridge at the base of the climb - the top is where it levels out (a few sign posts on the left) 5.98km later...

Distance: 5.98km
Climb: 325m

How does this sound? Any other suggestions?

It is a great climb as the first half is pretty sheltered (first 1.5km around 9-10%) - I do some of my testing on it.

madrichie

Count me in Ryan

Chips Lovell

Someone needs to come last, so it might as well be me. Count me in.

Lumen

I'm in.

ROK ON

el tonto wrote: »

Someone needs to come last, so it might as well be me. Count me in.

That's my prize pal. Stay clear.

petethedrummer

In

zzzzzzzz

ryan_sherlock wrote: »

We had two last year, one up Kippure the start of the year and one up Three Rock at the end - maybe we should run another once the days get longer?

I would propose something like Tuesday March 30th (sunset 19:56), 6:30 first person off and up the 'Cruagh Climb' from point 4 to point 5 on the map. We would start at the bridge at the base of the climb - the top is where it levels out (a few sign posts on the left) 5.98km later...

Distance: 5.98km
Climb: 325m

How does this sound? Any other suggestions?

It is a great climb as the first half is pretty sheltered (first 1.5km around 9-10%) - I do some of my testing on it.

There's no race this Saturday so that could be an option rather than mid-week?

Chips Lovell

ROK ON wrote: »

That's my prize pal. Stay clear.

Will this end up with the two of us trackstanding on the hill in a bid to go slower than the other?

Then again, you could always cheat by getting lost... again. I'm not the first boardsie to lose their way in one of these challenges, am I?

Raam

el tonto wrote: »

Will this end up with the two of us trackstanding on the hill in a bid to go slower than the other?

Then again, you could always cheat by getting lost... again. I'm not the first boardsie to lose their way in one of these challenges, am I?

In our Swords one last year, some people got lost.

Caroline_ie

el tonto wrote: »

Will this end up with the two of us trackstanding on the hill in a bid to go slower than the other?

No No No ... I am the lanterne rouge.

blorg

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

There's no race this Saturday so that could be an option rather than mid-week?

Might feel it in the legs if you are racing Sunday though? How did you feel after Kippure next day? I'd be on for this anyway, see how my capacity for pain is coming on.

@Ryan- what sort of time would you expect for yourself and Mel? I am guessing that Mel in particular is a fair bit faster this year? Will need to extrapolate with a multiplication factor but just to get a handle on how long we will be suffering for.

ryan_sherlock

blorg wrote: »

Might feel it in the legs if you are racing Sunday though? How did you feel after Kippure next day? I'd be on for this anyway, see how my capacity for pain is coming on.

@Ryan- what sort of time would you expect for yourself and Mel? I am guessing that Mel in particular is a fair bit faster this year? Will need to extrapolate with a multiplication factor but just to get a handle on how long we will be suffering for.

I wouldn't want to do an important race the following day but the day after that would be fine...

My time would be depended on the wind at the top - if it is still, sometime around the 15 minute mark - for Mel, if she is racing hard around 18... If there is a headwind up there, add another minute or two.

ryan_sherlock

el tonto wrote: »

Then again, you could always cheat by getting lost... again. I'm not the first boardsie to lose their way in one of these challenges, am I?

This one is pretty easy - at the T junction (end of the road), take a left up the hill... Simple

blorg

ryan_sherlock wrote: »

This one is pretty easy - at the T junction (end of the road), take a left up the hill... Simple

Tonto is guaranteed to end up in Johnny Foxes.

blorg

ryan_sherlock wrote: »

I wouldn't want to do an important race the following day but the day after that would be fine...

If done on Saturday the Bohermeen race is next day on Sunday... if done Tuesday evening there is no issue, I don't think the club leagues have quite started at that point.

My time would be depended on the wind at the top - if it is still, sometime around the 15 minute mark - for Mel, if she is racing hard around 18... If there is a headwind up there, add another minute or two.

So we are looking at ~50% more pain than Kippure, at a rough guess?

ROK ON

blorg wrote: »

If done on Saturday the Bohermeen race is next day on Sunday... if done Tuesday evening there is no issue, I don't think the club leagues have quite started at that point.

So we are looking at ~50% more pain than Kippure, at a rough guess?

27,16min for me last week but never went anaerobic. So if I learn to accept some pain then that should improve.
Now that ye have a front and back marker it should make it easy for everybody.

Lumen

blorg wrote: »

So we are looking at ~50% more pain than Kippure, at a rough guess?

More importantly, last time Ryan organised this (Three Rock last September) the truffle hunters took all three spots on the imaginary podium.

We need to do something about that, it's embarrassing. And by "we" I mean the likes of Raam ("el culebra"), aidan_offbeat ("el araña"), and yourself ("el brooks inappropriato"), obviously.

Raam

I missed the last one, will see if I can get out for this.

Raam

The Snake?!

ryan_sherlock

blorg wrote: »

If done on Saturday the Bohermeen race is next day on Sunday... if done Tuesday evening there is no issue, I don't think the club leagues have quite started at that point.

So we are looking at ~50% more pain than Kippure, at a rough guess?

I was 9:30 (ish) up Kippure... so yeah... I guess - no steep last section though - the top part of this climb is pretty shallow. The toughest part being the start.

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

The Snake?!

Your stripey arm warmers warn potential predators that it really isn't worth bothering trying to chase you up a hill.

zzzzzzzz

blorg wrote: »

If done on Saturday the Bohermeen race is next day on Sunday... if done Tuesday evening there is no issue, I don't think the club leagues have quite started at that point.

So we are looking at ~50% more pain than Kippure, at a rough guess?

I'd be happy to do it the day before Bohermeen but if others don't then the original date is grand.

@lumen - LOL

Nietzschean

bah worst date for me(have to submit a thesis the following day..), on the upside i have a good excuse for not appearing/making tonto/ROK_ON look like pro's...

niceonetom

Yay! Pain!

peterako

Another nice climb

Will try and make sure I come last....by doing it days, if not weeks, later

It is a nice climb though, with lovely views at the top. Haven't done it for a year or two.

ENJOY!!

Chips Lovell

Ryan, I presume we need a few volunteers for time keeping?

cdaly_

Raam wrote: »

In our Swords one last year, some people got lost.

Hill? Swords? Where?...

Caroline_ie

el tonto wrote: »

Ryan, I presume we need a few volunteers for time keeping?

Me ...

ryan_sherlock

el tonto wrote: »

Ryan, I presume we need a few volunteers for time keeping?

Yeah - one person at the top, one starting off at the bottom. The one at the top is really the only critical one as we can do something similar to the last time.

Remember - this is just a hard effort spin with some timing - you ride at your own risk etc... - not a sanctioned race!

blorg

ROK ON wrote: »

27,16min for me last week but never went anaerobic. So if I learn to accept some pain then that should improve.

I don't think you want to go anaerobic in a time trial whether flat or a hill climb, you want to stay just under. Still plenty of pain to be had!

Idleater

el tonto wrote: »

Ryan, I presume we need a few volunteers for time keeping?

I'd love to do the cycle, but tis a long commute from work in Swords.

However, if I were on the motorbike I could make it across by the start time. Would that be any use for volunteering / doing timings?

Beasty

el tonto wrote: »

Ryan, I presume we need a few volunteers for time keeping?

Assuming I am driving by then , and it's on the 30th (I won't be back on the bike), I'll do some timekeeping

Chips Lovell

I reckon that would be perfect, since it would mean less waiting around to make sure the time keeper got up to the top on time. What do you think Ryan?

Of course, if we wanted to give Ryan some real competition you could just race him on your motorbike.

blorg

Could Science-Boy please fill me in on whether the brief flat section before the viewing point plus the relatively gentle and exposed section at the end would justify a pair of aerobars (weight 400-600g.)

cdaly_

Having something to lean on would justify them for me.

Raam

cdaly_ wrote: »

Hill? Swords? Where?...

It was at Ardgillan last year.

Raam

el tonto wrote: »

I reckon that would be perfect, since it would mean less waiting around to make sure the time keeper got up to the top on time. What do you think Ryan?

Of course, if we wanted to give Ryan some real competition you could just race him on your motorbike.

Self timed is what we did the first time out. What happened out in Three Rock?

blorg

Wasn't at Three Rock but we had a timekeeper for the 25TT. It is much better to do it with an official timekeeper IMO.

ryan_sherlock

In Three Rock, we had a sheet at the bottom with names and start times. We set outselves off based on the time on my GPS. Mel was at the top of the climb taking names when people got to the top and used her synced GPS. When I got home, I did a little math and popped the times up.

Two volunteers would be great - one at the top, one at the bottom. Makes it a whole lot simpler

A little closer, I'll post this on some of the MTB forums to get some of them out too...

blorg

GPS time is taken direct from the satellites so easy to do between any two people with a GPS, no particular syncing even required.

Lumen

blorg wrote: »

Could Science-Boy please fill me in on whether the brief flat section before the viewing point plus the relatively gentle and exposed section at the end would justify a pair of aerobars (weight 400-600g.)

You'll be averaging over 20kph, so probably yes, but I'm not taking any.

Losing to mountain bikers is bad enough without doing it on aerobars.

ryan_sherlock

blorg wrote: »

GPS time is taken direct from the satellites so easy to do between any two people with a GPS, no particular syncing even required.

exactly - that is how we synced them

ryan_sherlock

Lumen wrote: »

You'll be averaging over 20kph, so probably yes, but I'm not taking any.

Losing to mountain bikers is bad enough without doing it on aerobars.

My average speed for the last 4.5 minutes when I did a 16 minute climb was 27.5kmph (397W avg). Aerobars - pah!

Raam

Aero-bars are for girls*. There, I said it.

* does not apply to a flat TT

SACH Central

blorg wrote: »

Could Science-Boy please fill me in on whether the brief flat section before the viewing point plus the relatively gentle and exposed section at the end would justify a pair of aerobars (weight 400-600g.)

How about changing bikes en-route altogether, a la Jeff Bernard in the '87 TdF Ventoux TT :pac:

Beasty

Raam wrote: »

It was at Ardgillan last year.

They got lost?
There was only two left turns involved on that route, and I understand you did the "official" Mapmyride!
Anyway, this year's is even simpler - shorter, sharper and straighter (no turns at all). In fact, some of your team-mates are out practising the hill at this very moment - 5 climbs every week, so you may have a bit more competition this year

Raam

Shaungil is one of them. I think I can have a few more pies before he is a danger :P

Beasty

Raam wrote: »

Shaungil is one of them. I think I can have a few more pies before he is a danger :P

I can see where you're coming from there

Some of those lads are very keen though

Raam

You will have to PM me with names.

Beasty

Raam wrote: »

You will have to PM me with names.

Some of them are long-time lurkers on here - I dare not reveal their identities

kenmc

What the hell, put me down too, even though I've been off the bike for decades.
Just started back commuting last thursday!