Ardattin 200, 11/4/2010

Nietzschean

well that was a new pb for distance(251) and time for a 200...good times, the audax's are better organised than the sportif's it seems with better refreshments...and a hell of a lot cheaper too

interested

Nietzschean wrote: »

well that was a new pb for distance(251) and time for a 200...good times, the audax's are better organised than the sportif's it seems with better refreshments...and a hell of a lot cheaper too

+1
Great event, fantastic route, a serious amount of sandwiches and cake, no queues, cheap as chips and a great attitude by both organisers and participants.

Nietzschean

7:19 with avg speed of 28.1 for the 200...rottenhat's really going to have to rename his blog...

(total riding time 9:08:50)

blorg

DirkVoodoo

Just added up all my files and I have 224.7km (maybe a bit more from one or two "oh crap I haven't turned it on" moments, definitely enough for 225km ).

Felt great for the first half and then I totally hit the wall and became a moaning passenger for the second half. I really think I was bonking at that point, with about 60km to go. I just ran out of fuel, needed sugar, and I felt like I wasn't really there or in a dream or something weird. Thankfully I was in the company of some stronger cyclists and niceonetom, Neetch and mvt (emty) were driving the whole thing along. As for Caroline, well she just doesn't seem to tire at all and looked as fresh at the end as she did at the start. I hope he forgives me for saying this, but I'm glad tax man was in the same suffer boat as me, it's always nice to have company. For some reason I felt great passing Kilmacanogue despite my swollen bladder, and pretty good on the way home too. I think my "race" training worked against me (see lack of training), but I definitely didn't have 200km in my legs today.

Fantastic organisation, I think I spent 14 euro and got a nice lunch and great support from Paul including some really, really tasty cake in Rathdrum. Major +1 on all that has been said above. Weather was great too which always makes things that bit easier.

Really well organised, would definitely recommend it next year to anyone looking for an early 200km as preparation for some of the "bigger" sportives later in the year.

rottenhat

That was good fun, wasn't it? I had a feeling I might be pushing it a little bit when I realized we were in danger of getting to the first control before it even opened, but when you get a day like yesterday in Ireland...you just want to go with it. I finished up with 248km overall, the actual ride was 206km in 7h15m, which is about fifteen minutes less than last year, if memory serves

Great to see so many faces, new and old yesterday. I should say that Paul really pushes the boat out for his 200s - you don't usually get that much food and attention from the organizer on an audax - and it makes them hugely enjoyable and great value for money. If you missed the Ardattin, you really should make an effort to do the Mick Byrne at the end of May - you won't regret it (well, you might as you're struggling up yet another brutal climb, but you have six or seven weeks to get a few training miles into your legs for that one).

Limestone1

rottenhat wrote: »

Great to see so many faces, new and old yesterday. I should say that Paul really pushes the boat out for his 200s - you don't usually get that much food and attention from the organizer on an audax - and it makes them hugely enjoyable and great value for money. If you missed the Ardattin, you really should make an effort to do the Mick Byrne at the end of May - you won't regret it (well, you might as you're struggling up yet another brutal climb, but you have six or seven weeks to get a few training miles into your legs for that one).

+1

Unbelievably well organised and well stocked with food and water stops along the way. Top marks to Paul - think I'll take your advice and keep an eye out for anything else he is organizing.
Nice to meet a few more faces from here and thanks for the tow home from Bray.
I suffered quite badly with various muscle twinges and cramps for about 10 miles before Rathdrum but found a nice steady pace with a small group from there to Bray.Enjoyable day out and I'll definitely be back again for this one.

Caroline_ie

205km in 7:45 AVG Speed of 26.6kph and Avg Heart rate of 139 ... still 1680 metres of climbing ...

Amazing weather = came home with red arms, thighs and nose. had 115km or so in my legs from the saturday...still don't know if that was a good or bad thing.

Started out quite fast I have to say I thought I'd never be able to hang on 205km at that pace. The group slowed down after a while though and a few of us boardsies decided to take it easyer in the way back ... but the wind was quite strong at that point. niceonetom did a great job towing everyone at the end ( thanks )

Thanks to everyone it was a great day!

Nietzschean

Caroline_ie wrote: »

but the wind was quite strong at that point. niceonetom did a great job towing everyone at the end ( thanks )

+1, thanks Tom for the tow on the route to rathdrum, some good power in those legs

The tax man

206k total distance
Ride time 7.46
26.4 average (nearly on the button:D)
More details in the link below.

Thanks to Paul for putting on another brilliantly organised audax event.

Legs just had it in them to get me around,a lot of other parts didn't. The pace from the start was a little too fast for me and I knew sticking with it would have me suffer towards the end. The hammering on the rough roads just before Ardattin started to take it's toll on me and I was happy to get some food,which was top notch, and to get off the bike for a bit.

From Ardattin back to Bray we had a good group from Boards with niceonetom,Nietzschean and the poster formerly known as emty doing the all the work into that wind to get us home,fair play guys.;)
A few times I fell off the back and had some "wtf am I doing this for" moments but again hitting Rathdrum and a quick break at the control recharged the batteries for the final leg.

Dirk and I did indeed have a joint low point along the N11 but we got the head down and worked together to rejoin the others before Glen of the downs.

Highlights of the day: Finishing and having Amborisa creamed rice in an ice cream cone...genius.:)