Boards Team Challenge

ROK ON

Ok. Friday thread so don't laugh.

I got thinking about how far that I and many others have come since started cycling. I find this place a constant source of amusement and motivation.

I was thnking that towards the end of season we could have a bit of fun like a race.
Now many of you race seriously, but this would be intended to be (1) a bit of craic (2) a bit different than a race or sportif.


Idea.
(1) teams of four,
(2) circa 200k,
(3) route is different for each teams abilities. That is some teams must take a hilly route and other teams take a longer but flatter route and other a bit of both.
(4) each team must regroup and stop for a minimum of 15mins for lunch.
(5) time of last member back is the team time.

Just a bit of a daft idea. What do people think. I would be suggesting say early October.
5quid entry, the fastest team wins 3/4 and slowest team wins (1/4) in say pints afterwards.

Feel free to abuse me for the idea, but as I suggested its a bit of fun at the end of the season.

AstraMonti

I am in!

Rules have to be in place: Blorg, Tom and Raam, El Tonto must NOT be in the same team

thebouldwhacker

Where in the country would such an event take place? It would have to be away from the glare of the world press.

kennyb3

In there like swim wear, if it takes off.

TinyExplosions

AstraMonti wrote: »

I am in!

Rules have to be in place: Blorg, Tom and Raam, El Tonto must NOT be in the same team

I'm in too, but I think that BLorg, Tom, Raam and El tonto should be in the same team that has to do a terribly, terribly hilly course, while I am in a team that can stay on the flat, around Kildare and meath

Sounds a great idea though Rok on

seamus

Nice idea. Maybe something a little less hardcore for a friendly event:

c. 100k, everyone rides the same route.

You could seed/rate the riders, starting with the classed riders (A2/3/4/etc), then those who are unclassed club members, then those who would be experienced riders, then the newbies.

Try and arrange it so that each team has an experienced race rider, two experienced-ish riders and a newbie. We'd also be relying on people's sporting honour to rate themselves appropriately and not claim to be a newbie when they know they're a very strong rider.

A lot of work, but it could be fun and help newer riders get to know some more seasoned ones?

I like the idea of the team time being that of the slowest rider - it means that there's no benefit to the fastest rider in sprinting off, instead they can help to encourage the weakest member(s).

la calera

seamus wrote: »

Nice idea. Maybe something a little less hardcore for a friendly event:

c. 100k, everyone rides the same route.

You could seed/rate the riders, starting with the classed riders (A2/3/4/etc), then those who are unclassed club members, then those who would be experienced riders, then the newbies.

Try and arrange it so that each team has an experienced race rider, two experienced-ish riders and a newbie. We'd also be relying on people's sporting honour to rate themselves appropriately and not claim to be a newbie when they know they're a very strong rider.

A lot of work, but it could be fun and help newer riders get to know some more seasoned ones?

I like the idea of the team time being that of the slowest rider - it means that there's no benefit to the fastest rider in sprinting off, instead they can help to encourage the weakest member(s).

Make the rule that all team members must finish at the same time - and that's their time/place...ensures the weaker members are helped by the stronger members and that the team works as a team...

penexpers

This sounds like a Fleche (kind of). Good idea though.

iregk

I'd agree to get larger numbers drop it from 200k down to about 100 or so. A few people on here trained for months for the W200 and may not have another one in them again for the year. Also as its october light becomes an issue and the day is shorter so 100k would be better.

As for seeding i'd also agree a comp rider, experienced, good and newbie should be on a team. I'd be on for this in any case but county would be an issue

I vote for Wicklow particularly starting in Blessington

RobFowl

Cool
I'll be on for it, esp pints afterwards

montac

Hi there
Saw this a couple of weeks ago on Boards - looks similar to what you're scheming?
http://www.tainteamtour.com/

Caroline_ie

Or we could do a BBQ in the park ... with no lycra and beers.

DualFrontDiscs

I'm well up for that.

@Caroline. When you say 'no lycra', you do mean normal clothes, don't you?

I can carry stuff, lots of stuff, mwhaahahha.

DFD.

Jawgap

Sounds like a bit of craic - I'd be up for it.

Will there be cake?

cdaly_

ROK ON wrote: »

(3) route is different for each teams abilities. That is some teams must take a hilly route and other teams take a longer but flatter route and other a bit of both.

Can you put me down for the downhill all the way route please?

Feel free to abuse me for the idea, but as I suggested its a bit of fun at the end of the season.

Brill idea. Count me in...

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Or we could do a BBQ in the park ... with no lycra and beers.

Shouldn't that be "And we could do..."?

Beasty

I'd be up for this, but not if it's simply a race up as many hills as possible (or impossible as the case may be) - one or two may be fine, otherwise the faster climbers will be spending an awful lot of time waiting at the top of each hill for the stragglers in their team to catch-up. I would suggest not going over 100km - surely the idea should be to get as many boardsies involved as we could reasonably expect.

I would favour everyone doing the same course, but it may then need to be a staggered start with TT rules applied (but probably banning TT-specific equipment) to avoid teams joining forces and risking crashes if it became too "racey"! I also like the idea of a forced 10/15 minute tea/cake break.

We could put a limit on racing licence holders in a team, with the 4th man over the line setting the time. We would then need to work out who the slowest riders are and make sure each team gets at least one of them - alternatively we could apply handicaps, in which case I would favour something based on age:P

We would probably need to self-time - not sure if a timekeeper would be happy hanging around for over 4 hours - there are enough Garmins around to do the work for us (and we all know they never lie!)

poolboy

great idea if at all possible im there for the 100k think 200 in october might be bit much

DualFrontDiscs

I would just like to reiterate my complete 'upness' for this 'challenge'

DirkVoodoo

Good idea ROK ON, count me in.

ROK ON

Thanks for that folks. Thought the idea might be laughed at by the racing fraternity.
I admit it is entirely fredish.

But cool. So 200k seems too long, fair enough. I want this to be an inclusive end of season celebration and bit of fun.

Leave it with me. I like Beastys idea of a team TT.
I am going to suggest that over a 125km course. Course to have maybe 1 climb. Each team to have a fair mix of abilities. Slowest time is the team time.

I have an idea for a lovely parcours close to Dublin with almost abandoned roads. Also there is good parking.

Leave it with me and will hopefully get back in Sept to take names.

Thinking early October. Very few sportifs on then, but racing season also over, correct?

jwshooter

sorry to kinda hijack the idea . what about a full on boards tour . just all meet up ,nice 100km stop in glenmalure for food ,i can talk to paddy or anne about this .
there is a lot of posters on that might not be up to 200km .but would love to meet the people we take the piss out of .

RobFowl

jwshooter wrote: »

.
there is a lot of posters on that might not be up to 200km .but would love to meet the people we take the piss out of .

Piss taking !! here !!
I believe you have the wrong forum young man/woman/whatever

manwithaplan

I would be very much up for this. I have no suggestion as to what the most appropriate format would be but I will be there if I can.

I will also bring the finest wines known to humanity (or at least get my round in).

Seapoint

Definitely something to look forward to. Count me in

kennyb3

Jawgap wrote: »

Will there be cake?

Does a bear s'hit in the woods?:D

niceonetom

ROK - you are clearly a deeply competitive spirit. You should really get around to doing some real racing to get these frustrated urges out of your system.

That said, I like the idea of a bit of long-distance guerilla racing (tough I'm not sure about the logistics of teams and different routes or handicaps etc). It would need a bit of thought or it could easily turn into a shambles, boards spins tend to unravel even when we're trying to keep everyone together - if we're all trying to drop each other we'll likely end up alone, lost and cakeless.

I do like the barbecue idea.

levitronix

If its a race to the BBQ you wont drop me !!!

DirkVoodoo

levitronix wrote: »

If its a race to the BBQ you wont drop me !!!

Spoken like a true ironman.

ROK ON

@Tom - alone, lost and CAKELESS. A vision of hell.

Make a reasonable point. However in a TTT format the teams must really stay together as there is no mirage from dropping your team-mates.
Not really meant to that competitive. Just a spin with a bit of inventive and team work.

Real racing. Soon. Very soon.

thebouldwhacker

I was thinking about this and have a suggestion for calculating which team to crown winner.
While awarding it to the team who has all their riders in first works to an extent it does have its draw backs, ie it could remove the competitive factor for the faster team mates because as long as they finish before their slowest team mate they have done all they can. Also it puts all the 'pressure' on the slowest rider which is unfair on them.

So all on the basis that if you come with a problem you should have the solution here is my suggestion, and its only a suggestion:):

The time of each rider in a team is recorded and when the final rider is home those time are added together and the quickest time is the winner. The advantage to this is it will give each rider the motivation to post the best time possible, all team members have an effect on the team time, it can allow teams to split and sprint solo or stay as a group and encourage the slower riders, if the teams are created honestly and equally it can balance out teams with very fast or very slow riders.

This is an example of how it could work, below are sample finishing times in hours and minutes with the total team time totaled below (sorry about the quality, my mouse is acting up but you get the idea):



4 .........4.15 ......4.45 ......5..........4.30
5 .........4.30...... 5 ..........5..........4.45
6.15 .....6.15 ......5.45 .....5.30,,.,,,5
7 .........6.45 ......6.30...... 5.30......6.30

22.15,,, 21.45.... 22......... 21........20.45


So in this example the last team win over all with a time of 20:45hours.

Beasty

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

I was thinking about this and have a suggestion for calculating which team to crown winner.
While awarding it to the team who has all their riders in first works to an extent it does have its draw backs, ie it could remove the competitive factor for the faster team mates because as long as they finish before their slowest team mate they have done all they can. Also it puts all the 'pressure' on the slowest rider which is unfair on them.

So all on the basis that if you come with a problem you should have the solution here is my suggestion, and its only a suggestion:):

The time of each rider in a team is recorded and when the final rider is home those time are added together and the quickest time is the winner. The advantage to this is it will give each rider the motivation to post the best time possible, all team members have an effect on the team time, it can allow teams to split and sprint solo or stay as a group and encourage the slower riders, if the teams are created honestly and equally it can balance out teams with very fast or very slow riders.

I personally prefer the idea of the team working together to get the 4th rider over the line. One of the problems I would anticipate with the above suggestion is groups could form, allowing some riders/teams to get a tow from others, and it could become more of an out and out race. However we will not have any marshals or closed roads. I think in previous challenge threads it was acknowledged that a TT-type format was probably the safest type of boards "challenge" in the cicumstances.

ROK ON

@Bould: Sorry mate, I'm with Beasty on this one. But nice idea. More fun, les of a race if folks have to work together. I wouldn't really like anyone to end up droped and doing it on their own. (read that - I wouldnt like to be dropped).
Its a challenge as opposed to a race. Think of it as a Boards spin with a bit of spice.

Anyway - I have a route.

115km
First 75km essentially flat/lightly rolling.
780m of ascent.
One climb at the end of just under 500m, with a 5km descent to the finish.
Carpark at start / Finish.
Pub close by.
I have done this route in three parts on many occasions, and I consider it a very fine route. I doubt many people have done it as one loop.

I think each team taking a cake stop around halfway is sort of mandatory. There is a very nice town after 65km that has a reasonably wide variety of hostelries/teas stops.

abcdggs

Sounds Great!

thebouldwhacker

No bother, but when I rule the world you'll all have timing chips!!

The route sounds great, where is it I'm wondering...........?

dave.obrien

Love the idea, but what if there were multiple routes for each team, to be decided by the team themselves, where they had to get a souvenir of their furthest point to bring back to a central final meeting point? Then we could have loads of routes, stories to share and "trophies" of where we cycled to, be it a team photo outside the post office, or whatever... Could lend to the fun element of it, with people intentionally picking unpredictable routes. Obviously, minimum distance and time limit rules apply.

Signal_ rabbit

This will be in Dublin won't it? Can old, overweight blow-ins participate?

ROK ON

Signal_ rabbit wrote: »

This will be in Dublin won't it? Can old, overweight blow-ins participate?

It will, by dint of numbers have to be in Dublin. But there is no bar to entry.
I see that your location is Bantry - we should roganise a West Cork/Kerry boards spin at some stage. I think there is a fair few of us now at this stage.

ROK ON

dave.obrien wrote: »

Love the idea, but what if there were multiple routes for each team, to be decided by the team themselves, where they had to get a souvenir of their furthest point to bring back to a central final meeting point? Then we could have loads of routes, stories to share and "trophies" of where we cycled to, be it a team photo outside the post office, or whatever... Could lend to the fun element of it, with people intentionally picking unpredictable routes. Obviously, minimum distance and time limit rules apply.

I had actually thought about something similar, that is a defined start mid point and finish, but with each team to choose how to route via three points. Most boardsies are highly disorganised creatures prone to getting lost - so while fun, its possibly not that workable an idea.

SubLuminal

I'm up for it. 100k is further than i've ever cycled by about 50% - but I reckon I could do it.

So where do I sign?

Also, when?

manwithaplan

I did my first 100k spin yesterday so 115k should be grand. My guess is that this is in north county Dublin, an area in which I have ridden widely. I have also recently visited it once or twice on the bike.

Beasty

Signal_ rabbit wrote: »

Can old, overweight blow-ins participate?

I think it should be a requirement that each team include at least one:)

el tel

I'd be up for any of the previous suggestions, esp those with a large component of Caroline's idea of BBQ in the park with beers.

murf85

Who ever mentioned cake / beer / BBQ must have known il definitely be there once those things were brought into this!

Loving some of the suggestions, this could become an annual thing...especially since we will all be kitted out in our lovely boards gear

mike12

Beasty wrote: »

I think it should be a requirement that each team include at least one:)

I'll step up to be counted as one of those then.
mike

Gavin

I like the multiple route options. One could then go offroad for example!

TinyExplosions

Gavin wrote: »

I like the multiple route options. One could then go offroad for example!

Bloody truffle hunters always trying to drag the tone down!

Still, sounds good ROK ON -only slight problem is whether you stagger the start to avoid everyone getting into one big group, which may mean the first home are waiting around ages for the last team to finish? Do you start eating/drinking before the last group get in and see it as a carrot for the final group, or say that you have to wait for everyone to be there, in which case the pressure becomes a stick

ROK ON

Teams set off at two min intervals. TBH I would be surprised if we get that many teams that its an issue.

Route: Blue Gardenia in Brittas - Saggart - Steelstown - Punchestown - Athgarvan - the Curragh - Kildare - Calverstown - Dunlavin - BmoreEustace - Blessington - Ballysmuttan - Kippure Holiday Camp - Butter Mtn - Bohernabreena (descent) - Brittas (finish).

All back roads. Will throw up map at some stage.
One climb but its tough. 75km reasonably flat.
Plenty of places to stop in Dunlavin.

Not sure of dates yet, but will canvass. I suggest early Oct.

Beasty

ROK ON wrote: »

Teams set off at two min intervals. TBH I would be surprised if we get that many teams that its an issue.

I would suggest we just have normal TT "no-drafting" rules - Within a team anyone and everyone can work and draft as approporiate, but teams cannot join up to share the workload

seamus

Looks nice, just over 100k according to mapmyride (and my liberal clicking in the general areas you mentioned).

http://beta.mapmyride.com/route/detail/19719498/

Elevation's OK, some climbing near the end but nothing extreme. The first 20 or 30k is downhill or on the flat, it'll probably lull some into a false sense of fitness

Yeah, early Oct or late Sept seems good. The weather tends to turn mid-October and it gets cold and wet. If I'm not available to ride this, I'll drive a broomwagon.

TinyExplosions

Definitely in for this one... who want's this fatty on their team

Raam

If I'm not dead from the RAI, I'll take part.