Gaelforce West 21/8/10

Soilse

Have been following this posting for a while now and have found the advice invaluable. First time GFer so suffering with nerves pretty badly this week the tapering has not been helping at all. To make it worse have a bad dose of hayfever at the mo turning up for work in tears despite double dosing myself always make for an interesting entrance:D
Have so far spent 10hrs trying to practice taking a tyre off and am defeated managed to create a puncture instead so its off to the bike shop for me.

Re. accommodation I had to cancel a room in McCarthys B&B if anyone wants to give a ring may still be available was a family room.

nerraw1111

Seres wrote: »

just a few questions

thinkin i will bring bout 200ml of water in bladder startin off just , will there be a cue for water at : croagh patrick/delphi ?

on bike will have two bottles bout 1ltr & half in total , one with water the other with dioralyte , will this cover me liquid wise on the bike ?

intenting on takin oat powerbar on bike , gel before CP on bike too and Gel at top of CP , will this be enough ?

what are ye wearin out to dropoff , it will be cold standing round for an hour , can you leave discarded gear somewhere ?

I can't remember queues at Delhpi or Kayak section for water last year. The advantage of filling at Kayak is that you're timed out so won't matter if there are queues.

At CP, there was a lot of traffic going up and down so I'd imagine there might be queues there. In the early waves they were handing out free bottles of lucozade but I believe they ran out and this wasn't available to later waves.

Might be worth bringing along a couple of mini mars bars or maybe have some carb drink.

I'll be just wearing my rain jacket for warmth to the start and packing it away. There was no facilities for leaving gear last year

yop

Seres wrote: »

just a few questions

thinkin i will bring bout 200ml of water in bladder startin off just , will there be a cue for water at : croagh patrick/delphi ?

No expert but 200ml for a circa 1hr - 1.5 hour run, that seems very little. If you put in 1/1.5 litres into the bladder then you can use this over the run and refill at the kayak. Don't leave yourself short anyway.
On bike spins on various forums they say min 500ml per hour on the bike and 750ml recommended

Seres wrote: »

on bike will have two bottles bout 1ltr & half in total , one with water the other with dioralyte , will this cover me liquid wise on the bike ?

Have the same as you on the bike, it will be all used between the 2 spins. Carb powder and 5:1 powder in the 2 bottles.

Seres wrote: »

intenting on takin oat powerbar on bike , gel before CP on bike too and Gel at top of CP , will this be enough ?

If you start gels you need to take them onboard every 30 mins or you will hit an awful sugar low, this will cause headaches so if you start make sure you keep them up

Wonkagirl

yop wrote: »

Out of interest, did they tell you to slightly inflate the tube before you put it back into the wheel? Been doing that and it goes in a a tad quicker, also found taking the tire off totally when replacing the new tube.
God be with the days of spoons and a basin of water

oh that's essential he said, not only is it easier to get in when slightly inflated but it reduces the likelihood of pinching it getting it in.. cmere i'm practically an expert now!

youd need to be careful refitting it like, not that hard to puncture a new tube i'd say

Nem_e

gmackk, Manuka honey is fantastic for the throat infection, it's kind of expensive for honey anywhere from 10 to 50 yoyo for a jar depending on the UMF value.
I suffered all the time from throat infections but since i started taking a spoon of this in the morning and before bed i've had no problems. I ran out of it last week and within a few days throat flared up.

I've been glued to this thread over the last 2 weeks, it's great to read all the tips and see that i have the same worries as others

Anyway I taught i'd post a target time for myself, the public declaration should give me some motivation

4:59:59

yop

Fitzilicious wrote: »

That's right!!
I can't think what MG you on about....is she from Cbar?
Small world eh!!

Thanks Wonkagirl, yeah going from Sandyford so should get it done!!

She is a teacher (Mar) from near Louisburgh. She is a blonde hair lunatic lol

That Cbar girl (my wife) is only 9 or 10 doors up the hill from you there

helimachoptor

Fitzilicious wrote: »

Why did you think I was a guy??!!
Am I giving off male vibes with my comments??

Fitzilicious wrote: »

LOL!!

I'm not from North Mayo!

I reckon it was the air of expertise surrounding my comments!!

Prob a sexist view but i think thats it, if wonkagirl was called wonka i probably would have thought she was a guy too!

Up Ballycastle..!!

Wonkagirl

Soilse wrote: »

Have so far spent 10hrs trying to practice taking a tyre off and am defeated managed to create a puncture instead so its off to the bike shop for me.

jaysis.. you must be a fella.. fellas are so slow to ask for help! i brought my wheel into the store last nite, left 20 mins later with the tube changed and fully infalted, having watched him do it once and then i did it myself...

i suppose it's not as easy for fellas to bat the eyelids tho:)

yop

Wonkagirl wrote: »

oh that's essential he said, not only is it easier to get in when slightly inflated but it reduces the likelihood of pinching it getting it in.. cmere i'm practically an expert now!

youd need to be careful refitting it like, not that hard to puncture a new tube i'd say

Oh ya, its simple enough. Last year I picked up 2 punctures, but then again I only had 80 psi in tires that max out at 125. This year they are pumped to max.

It will be down to a lot of luck also, 9 times out of 10 you will do the route and no issue, but then on the one day you could pick up 2 or even 3 punctures.

Seres

nerraw1111 wrote: »

I can't remember queues at Delhpi or Kayak section for water last year. The advantage of filling at Kayak is that you're timed out so won't matter if there are queues.

At CP, there was a lot of traffic going up and down so I'd imagine there might be queues there. In the early waves they were handing out free bottles of lucozade but I believe they ran out and this wasn't available to later waves.

Might be worth bringing along a couple of mini mars bars or maybe have some carb drink.

I'll be just wearing my rain jacket for warmth to the start and packing it away. There was no facilities for leaving gear last year

thanks for reply , so do you think that water with dioralyte in one bottle and energy drink in another bottle on the bike ? or do you need water without dioralyte ?

also with regards garmin , when you press lap key at each transition , this will reset , will the lap time allow for autolap split times in them too ?

any ideas how to stop an on comming cold? , was goin to do easy 40min run at lunch and 10mile easy this ev on bike ( got bike serviced and gators put on so want to try them out ) will this effect potential cold ?

Mr Freeze

Wonkagirl wrote: »

oh that's essential he said, not only is it easier to get in when slightly inflated but it reduces the likelihood of pinching it getting it in.. cmere i'm practically an expert now!

youd need to be careful refitting it like, not that hard to puncture a new tube i'd say

Oooh, I would say the exact the opposite, I find it much harder to get a slightly inflated tube in without pinching it. No problem whatsoever with a new flat tube.

Each to their own, do what suits you best or what you are used to.

yop

Soilse wrote: »

Have so far spent 10hrs trying to practice taking a tyre off and am defeated managed to create a puncture instead so its off to the bike shop for me.

Are you about Mayo? I can show you if you want. Its not that difficult after a few goes (about 60 )

Wreck

Not sure how it happened, but one of my tubes burst overnight. At least it didn't happen on Saturday, but I'm now dreading it could!

I'm planning on bringing 1.5 litres water in the camelback, and 750mls dioralyte on the bike. Going to bring two bananas, three power bars and one gel in case I get really low at some point.

Seres

yop wrote: »

No expert but 200ml for a circa 1hr - 1.5 hour run, that seems very little. If you put in 1/1.5 litres into the bladder then you can use this over the run and refill at the kayak. Don't leave yourself short anyway.
On bike spins on various forums they say min 500ml per hour on the bike and 750ml recommended



Have the same as you on the bike, it will be all used between the 2 spins. Carb powder and 5:1 powder in the 2 bottles.




If you start gels you need to take them onboard every 30 mins or you will hit an awful sugar low, this will cause headaches so if you start make sure you keep them up

have gone for hr and half runs in morn on no water so reckon i will be ok

thanks regards advice for the gels , didnt know that and will defo keep it in mind

do i need the carb powder stuff or what ? was hopin bottle with dioralyte and energy drink bottle ( lucozade sport ) would cover me ?

Fitzilicious

yop wrote: »

She is a teacher (Mar) from near Louisburgh. She is a blonde hair lunatic lol

That Cbar girl (my wife) is only 9 or 10 doors up the hill from you there

I thought it was her alright!!
She's a lunatic alright, great girl!!

Well best of luck on Saturday!

Wreck

yop wrote: »

If you start gels you need to take them onboard every 30 mins or you will hit an awful sugar low, this will cause headaches so if you start make sure you keep them up

Oh wow, I didn't know this, the guy in the shop said just to take one for an extra boost if I was dying at some point. If your taking on sugar from drinks/bars throughout will the sugar low still happen?

Wonkagirl

Wreck wrote: »

Oh wow, I didn't know this, the guy in the shop said just to take one for an extra boost if I was dying at some point. If your taking on sugar from drinks/bars throughout will the sugar low still happen?

I personally (as a patrick holford disciple) avoid the sugary stuff when i can.. i'll be having natural organic (J) bars and bananas to start off (some sugar in bananas obv) and only hitting the gels towards the end of the cycle..

my plan is
energy bar at kayak stop
banana once i get on bike
energy bar about 20 mins towards end of cycle.

then i'll be hittin the gels at the base of the mountain. 3 of them in total, 30 mins apart.

Make a plan, and stick to it. otherwise you wont eat anything. that happened to me last yr, HUGE mistake.

Youngatheart

This has been such a good thread! I have learned a huge amount from it, so thank you to everyone who contributed - especially the experts who have done GF before, and who have been generous with their advice and experience. Some of you must have little to do, you spend so much time posting (not thinking of anyone in particular Wonkagirl!!)!

I've decided to follow Wonkagirl's lead, and go to the bike shop today (Wheelworx in Fonthill Rd - super shop, and very helpful staff!) and ask them to show me how to fix a broken chain. The problem is not your chain coming off - that's easy to fix - it's if it breaks, so I'm going to buy a chainbreak tool etc. If I buy it, I won't need it, but if I go without one, my chain will definitely break, at the most awkward point!

I'm really looking forward to it now, and wondering how I'm going to concentrate on work etc between now and the start. And what are we all going to do next week, when it's all over, and we have no excuse to distract ourselves with this thread?!!

I hope I get to meet some of you over the weekend - I'm staying in the Castlecourt Hotel Friday and Saturday. My two sisters, and my two daughters are coming down on the train on Saturday to cheer me over the finish line (or visit me in Castlebar Hospital, according to my elder sister!) So keep an eye out for us, and identify yourselves to us!

Best of luck to you all - I hope you get the result you want!:)

yop

Wreck wrote: »

Oh wow, I didn't know this, the guy in the shop said just to take one for an extra boost if I was dying at some point. If your taking on sugar from drinks/bars throughout will the sugar low still happen?

This is only what I have read so I wouldn't take it as bible to be honest, but I think a few on here have mentioned same.

nerraw1111

Seres wrote: »

thanks for reply , so do you think that water with dioralyte in one bottle and energy drink in another bottle on the bike ? or do you need water without dioralyte ?

also with regards garmin , when you press lap key at each transition , this will reset , will the lap time allow for autolap split times in them too ?

any ideas how to stop an on comming cold? , was goin to do easy 40min run at lunch and 10mile easy this ev on bike ( got bike serviced and gators put on so want to try them out ) will this effect potential cold ?

I wouldn't be an expert at all on what to drink/nutritional needs etc.

But from what I read, diarolytye in one bottle and energy drink in another should be fine. That's what I'm going for. Nuuns in one bottle and some High 5 Fructose 2:1 in another.

That should be enough to get you to CP where you can decide whether to make more water on, either before or after the climb. If you're seriously parched/cramping, it's easy to fill up the bottle and stick a nuun/diarolyte in the bottle.

Might have an extra 1litre/500 mils in the camelbak which I will also leave at Bike transition. Depends on the weather , a scorcher and we'll need alot more fluids.

I'm hoping to run the first 14km without bringing any water, that's what I do in training. Then take some water from the tap.

It's a bit of balancing act and different for everyone. You don't want to be short on water but you don't want to be carrying a litre of water across the finish line either.

Wonkagirl

Youngatheart wrote: »

. Some of you must have little to do, you spend so much time posting (not thinking of anyone in particular Wonkagirl!!)!

Morto the joke of it is, i am UP THE WALLS in work, but i cant concentrate on anything apart from gels, tubes and garmins!:D


Agree though, thanks to all for the contributions, only for boards shaming me into learning how to change a tube, i'd prob be none the wiser

Soilse

Sorry Wonkagirl Im a female and a blonde as well:p. Being originally a Mayo lass prob hasnt helped me. Went into the bike shop got them to show me, bit slow me thinks:rolleyes:. Yop Im in Tuam but could travel not sure where you based spend a lot of time in my car so its of no bother to me.

yop

nerraw1111 wrote: »

But from what I read, diarolytye in one bottle and energy drink in another should be fine. That's what I'm going for. Nuuns in one bottle and some High 5 Fructose 2:1 in another.

I'm hoping to run the first 14km without bringing any water, that's what I do in training. Then take some water from the tap.
.

Same mix as I have for the bike,

I would be the same for training runs, but remember you have to put another 55km+ into your legs after this again, so you are exposing yourself to dehydration further down the event.

yop

Soilse wrote: »

Sorry Wonkagirl Im a female and a blonde as well:p. Being originally a Mayo lass prob hasnt helped me. Went into the bike shop got them to show me, bit slow me thinks:rolleyes:. Yop Im in Tuam but could travel not sure where you based spend a lot of time in my car so its of no bother to me.

When are you registering?

Bit of a trek to Cbar to figure out how to get a tube changed, have you youtubed it? Few links there which the folks here have used.
Or try and get to your local bikeshop today, I am sure they will assist.

If you can't get to either I can show you.

nerraw1111

yop wrote: »

Same mix as I have for the bike,

I would be the same for training runs, but remember you have to put another 55km+ into your legs after this again, so you are exposing yourself to dehydration further down the event.

True. Concerned about that but I'm hoping that I'll be able to reload/recover/stuff face on the bike. Bit of a gamble.

How do you find the mix? Only tried it twice and went down a treat.

I've read their claims on what the stuff is supposed to do. Pretty mad stuff

Adi CkonSh

Fitzilicious wrote: »

Hi there,

Just wanted clarification that this is what I need:
Tyre levers
Tube
Pump
Is that it?
Been watching Youtube like a mad thing the past few nights, reckon I know the basic principles to change the tyre!!
Thanks!
Bike maintenance class is now top of my to do list!!

Got a thing last night, don't know if there any good or anyone has used them, it's called a repair pump. It's a small canister (€7.50) with foam in it, basically repairs the tube for you as long as there isn't a rip in it. Aparently it's good for 2 or 3 punctures. Given the fact I've never changed a tube before I'll give anything a go.

ThisRegard

Anyone farting like a good thing since they've moved to their carb heavy diet

I think I'm going to fill my 2 litre bladder from the start, I usually tend to drink al lot anyway after a certain distance so rather have it than want it. I've ran the 14k with a full bag from start to finish in training so it's nothing new to me. Plus I won't be running at race pace so it won't be slowing me down too much.

c montgomery

gmackk wrote: »

Feck feck fecking bluebells!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Im after contracting a throat infection. At work now breaking out in sweats. Can barely swallow when i wake up in the morning. Went out for a gallop last night, could only manage a dis-heartening 3 miles before i started feeling like crap. gonna head to GF anyways, but majorly pissed off that i wont be in good shape for it.

TCP is your best bet if your not going the antibiotics route.

Im a chemist and we manufacture one of the most popular antibiotics for throat and chest infections and i suffer alot from throat infections myself. Before i used to get the drugs and knock them back for a week but i have since started using TCP about 5 times a day when i feel it coming on and it always does the job.
You may smell like a hospital ward for a few days but its much better than being wiped out by drugs, much cheaper and you can buy it anywhere:)

yop

nerraw1111 wrote: »

True. Concerned about that but I'm hoping that I'll be able to reload/recover/stuff face on the bike. Bit of a gamble.

How do you find the mix? Only tried it twice and went down a treat.

I've read their claims on what the stuff is supposed to do. Pretty mad stuff

Mix is sound ya, thankfully no side effects and it seems to work, but I am lethal for not religiously drinking on long spins when I am meant to and suffering the consequences!

Haven't read any claims!! Do I really want to know lol :eek:

Have tried this
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/High5_EnergySource_41_With_Super_Carbs_600g_Box/5360019490/

And this
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/High5_Energy_Source_Xtreme_Box_of_12_60g_Sachets/5360027853/

So will go with 1 or the other in a 1 litre bottle and possible a nuun in the other.

For some reason I thought I had the 2:1 you mentioned

I might just throw a packet of powder into the bag, if I run short I can refill at CP.

ThisRegard

yop wrote: »

Have tried this
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/High5_EnergySource_41_With_Super_Carbs_600g_Box/5360019490/

That's the stuff I'll be using, I find it quite good but hard to stop yourself taking big gulps as the Citrus one is quite refreshing.