Team Boards.ie/Wheelworxs Race Around Ireland from September 14 2010

Caroline_ie

TEAM BOARDS.IE/WHEELWORX powered by Orwell DTC & McNally Swords

The team is Team Wheelworx/Boards.ie, name of our 2 Main sponsors Our website is here: http://www.boardswheelworxrai.info/

Here is the story for you - I hope it's not too long:

On September 14 2010 team Boards.ie/Wheelworx will take part in one of the most gruelling bike races in the World: The Race around Ireland.

The Race Around Ireland is part of the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA) World Cup series which includes other huge endurance races such as The Race Across America. The race is run by Navan Road Club and is sanctioned by Cycling Ireland.

Unlike other cycling races such as the Rás or the Tour de France, the course is in no way roped off. There are no marshals controlling traffic flow, and there are no rest stops or stages in this event. In The Race Around Ireland, once the clock starts in Navan it doesn’t stop until each rider reaches the finish line at the end of the 1,350 mile circuit.

The Riders

Peter ( RAAM )– 32 – The Climber
Peter first started cycling as a means to get to work and enjoy some mountain biking around Howth. He bought his first road bike in 2006 with a view to completing the Wicklow 200. This he did in 2007, and he then set his sights on any other sportive he could find and in 2008 he rode and completed the Kellogg’s Tour of Ireland sportive: a four-day event.
His thirst for cycling was only momentarily quenched as he sought more challenges so he decided to join Swords CC and try racing in 2009. In his first year of competitive cycling he won the Swords league, which is held over a series of 21 races. He finished in the top twenty at the 2009 Ireland Hillclimb Championship. He also won a DWCC hill climb in Howth and was part of a four man team which finished 39th out of 476 teams in a 24 hour cycle race around the Nurburgring. Since then he has been quietly preparing for the Race Around Ireland taking in some open races.
Peter’s climbing prowess and experience with 24 hour and multiday racing will be a great boon to the team.

Tom (niceonetom ) – 30 – The Rouleur
A long-time utility cyclist, Tom bought his first road bike in 2007 having signed up to do the Wicklow 200. After a couple of years of sportives, and many miles in the Wicklow mountains, he joined Orwell Wheelers CC and made the leap to racing.
Tom showed immediate promise in the competitive air of the Orwell/Lucan/UCD league and was soon promoted though the ranks from limit to semi-limit, and onward to semi-scratch. Having won and placed in several races, his best result so far came with a win in the club 10 mile time-trial championships. His strength against the clock should stand to him in the Race around Ireland.
Most recently Tom competed in the Grand Trophée in the French Alps in June and July 2010. In the Marmotte he finished 7th Irishman out of over seventy, and was the only Irishman to finish the Trophée, completing nearly 12,000 meters of climbing over the 400km of the four events.
Tom’s strengths are his endurance, his tenacity and power

John (Lumen ) – 36 – The Brains
John started cycling non-competitively as a study-avoidance strategy at Bristol University but gave up at the age of 22 due to chronic back problems. After a 12 year hiatus, inspired by a move to Ireland within sight of the Dublin mountains, John took up cycling again. The rise of the internet in the intervening period delivered rapid connections to a bunch of like-minded obsessives, and soon the back problems were under control and the bike collection was growing. In 2010, after a year of social riding and sportives, John joined a local club (Orwell Wheelers) and took up racing for the first time. Always one to favour training smart as well as training hard, John's application of scientific training has seen him progress fast. A win can't be far away. The Race Around Ireland presents the opportunity to conquer a deep animosity towards both long distance cycling and interrupted sleep. Failure is not an option!

Aidan (aidandoyle) – 35 – The All Rounder
Aidan is a former mountain sport athlete specialized in cross country skiing, ice climbing, snowshoeing, rock climbing, mountaineering and hiking.
His high fitness level made it quite easy for him when he started cycling in 2007. Aidan lives in Munich, however he still very much consider himself as a Swords CC member.
After 2 years of taking part in multiple cyclo sportives, he decided to give racing a go and registered for the London-Paris 3 day race in 2009 and finished in a promising 9th position out of 300 cyclists, including some 20-odd cat. 1 racers from the UK. Aidan also completed the 24 hour race at the Nürburgring with his brother Peter. Their team finished 39th out of 476 teams. In 2010, Aidan completed several cyclosportives in Europe and Ireland, took part multiple in open races and finished 4th Fürth Spring Classic.

Teams must provide their own support crew and support vehicles. It’s the responsibility of the crew to care for the cyclists by providing food, clothing, medical care, bicycle repair, massage, and navigation. Crewing for the cyclists will be as much of a challenge as riding itself.

The Crew:
Caroline (caroline_ie ) – Team PR and Support Crew
Jeff (jeffontour) – Team Coordinator
Brian ( Hermy) – Support Crew – GPS Man – Team Mechanic
Michael (DirkVoodoo- Support Crew

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We are working on getting the website live by the and of the week @:)

We should have live GPS on the website, and updates On Boards.ie, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Irish Cycling ... so when we are around ... we would love some cake !!!

Thanks in advance for your Support !!

Captain Havoc

Let me know if ye need any help in the South East

snollup

Wow, best of luck lads. Sure you'll do all us Boardies proud!

AstraMonti

Best of luck! I am jealous, as always As snollup said, I am sure you are going to make all boardies proud!

Esroh

Go nEiri on Bothar linn

Captain Havoc

I forgot to say best of luck. No pressure as I'm sure no matter what the result ye'll do us proud. How as ever if ye don't win you're all banned

FrankGrimes

That's class! The write-ups give a great flavour and I'm sure you'll do very well with such a strong team and setup. Hope to hear stories of Renshaw-style headbutts being dished out for no apparent reason at ridiculous hours of the morning .

Hail 2 Da Thief

Best of luck with this folks! Looking forward to hearing how ye get on!

Inquitus

Best of luck, looking forward to following your exploits online.

shaungil

So jealous a great race and am expecting big things. An amazing experience which I could not recommend more highly. Would love to help out somewhere but an impending stork arrival in Sept and mobile phone coverage and rechargers are sketchy at best on some of the course.

All the racers and crew from Swords last year still speak fondly of it and more importantly some have invested in bikes and are showing some nice compulsive tendencies.

Best of luck and try to hit the Gap of Mamore in daylight if possible. Oh and sleep any chance you get please make sure you take it. Can't wait to hear the race reports.

irishmotorist

Wow! Good luck and fair play to all - including the support crew.

neris

best of luck with that. rather you lot then me.

Do the 4 riders all have to be on the road at the same time or do you cycle in shifts?

Raam

neris wrote: »

best of luck with that. rather you lot then me.

thanks

neris wrote: »

Do the 4 riders all have to be on the road at the same time or do you cycle in shifts?

Shifts. Riders cannot ride together apart from for a very short time and with limitations on how often.

Esroh

Caroline just a note for the crew

Westport to Tourmakeady on the Castlebar to Clifden leg has quite a bit of cabbage way:D surface is ok and just becareful of the descent of Tourmakeady/lallys hill if at night. Grid ref M07585 68884 for a switch back that has troubled people that does not look bad on a map

billy.fish

Good luck folks, tagged along with science team to the An Post boys last year. Interested to see how you all go.

Any questions feel free to get in contact, email me or PM. Phone is toast!

Blowfish

Sounds like fun. Any idea roughly how long it'll take to complete? It'd be great to organise a boardsie cavalcade at the finish.

p.s. I sincerely hope you've poked Darragh/Dav to stick up an announcement here to get more support.

Raam

Blowfish wrote: »

Sounds like fun. Any idea roughly how long it'll take to complete? It'd be great to organise a boardsie cavalcade at the finish.

3 to 4 days or so.

Unfortunately we are not permitted to get any help from any non competing riders.

But if you wanna cheer us on from the side of the road, the more the merrier

Blowfish

Raam wrote: »

3 to 4 days or so.

Unfortunately we are not permitted to get any help from any non competing riders.

But if you wanna cheer us on from the side of the road, the more the merrier

How about the competing rider being say 10m ahead of the group? It doesn't give any aero advantage, yet still shows the support.

honkjelly

This is class! Bon courage!!

billy.fish

Blowfish wrote: »

Sounds like fun. Any idea roughly how long it'll take to complete? It'd be great to organise a boardsie cavalcade at the finish.

p.s. I sincerely hope you've poked Darragh/Dav to stick up an announcement here to get more support.

Winning time was just under 64 hours last year.

Anything construed as potentially giving a benefit will be a bad idea! Trust me, at that stage every cheering voice will be worth 2 people blocking the wind infront of you!

Raam

Blowfish wrote: »

How about the competing rider being say 10m ahead of the group? It doesn't give any aero advantage, yet still shows the support.

Dunno to be honest. Support is most definitely appreciated, but I wouldn't want to risk jeopardizing anything. This is what the rules say...

A Racer may not receive pacing of any form within sight of the Racer (on foot, by
bicycle, roller skates, or anything else) from a Crew member or other person.
Road side cheering is allowed from Crew members and race fans.

100Suns

Best of luck chaps.

Talking to niceonetom last Thursday night things seem to be well in hand. If you want to compare notes by all means-we've reccied most of the course and done some 24 hour trials.

See you at the start line on the 14th.

Lumen

100Suns wrote: »

If you want to compare notes by all means-we've reccied most of the course and done some 24 hour trials.

Only 24 hour trials? We've been doing 36 hour trials. Weekly. On penny farthings. Yo' mamma.

Raam

Psych!

100Suns

Lumen wrote: »

Only 24 hour trials? We've been doing 36 hour trials. Weekly. On penny farthings. Yo' mamma.

We were going to go for 36 hours but we had finished the whole course in 24 so thought why bother doing another half lap.

shaungil

did the nuclear biohazard suits for the campervan arrive yet?

Caroline_ie

Our team is so strong that they are actually pulling the support car to save petrol.

100Suns

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Our team is so strong that they are actually pulling the support car to save petrol.

Jens Voigt begged to join our team but he wans't hard enough.

rughdh

This is great news! Best of luck with it folks, and hats off.

sy

100Suns wrote: »

Jens Voigt begged to join our team but he wans't hard enough.

Yeah but Chuck Norris cried when he saw Tom's legs.( or was that Lumen's !)




Great news and good luck to all and that includes the backup team and 100Suns of course. Anybody doing a fly on the wall documentary on this? What are your camera skills like Dirk and Caroline's french accent would sound cool on the narration..

By the way is the event starting in Navan again this year? If so will be there to cheer you on.

emtroche

sy wrote: »

By the way is the event starting in Navan again this year? If so will be there to cheer you on.

Yep. Civic Square in the centre of Navan. We're going to have a market and different stuff there so it should be a bit of craic.

4-person and 8 person teams start 8pm Tuesday 14th Sept.

Solos and 2-person teams start 8pm Sunday 12th Sept.

el tel

Do yous have ETAs for each leg of the ride? I would love to come along to give some vocal support however I suspect you will be going through my neck of the woods sometime during the first night!

Best of luck to all involved!

Coronal

Best of luck everybody!

Caroline_ie

el tel wrote: »

Do yous have ETAs for each leg of the ride? I would love to come along to give some vocal support however I suspect you will be going through my neck of the woods sometime during the first night!

Best of luck to all involved!

our team is planning to have the GPS location set up on our site so you'll know when to come cheer us !

girvtheswerve

Fair play to you all. Best of luck!!

Beasty

From the race around Ireland website

Q - What concerns do you have about the Race Around Ireland?

A (Lumen) - I don’t really like riding long distances.

Good luck to all the riders and crew(sounds like you might need it!)

Caroline_ie

Beasty - Thanks a mil for the support

I would like to take this opportunity to see if boardsies around the country would like to participate in making the ride a little smoother for the crew and riders.

I have put together a spread sheet with names of Boardsies and location for cake/sambos/fresh water or just warm cheering if you would like to help us, please print your name on the spreadsheet and we will contact you to collect your details.

Many thanks

Raam

We would most definitely appreciate any food dumps we can pick up!

Mine's a hot lasagne

joker77

Best of luck with this!

I'll be on the holiers so won't be able to help with food, but full support from the interwebs

emtroche

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Beasty - Thanks a mil for the support

I would like to take this opportunity to see if boardsies around the country would like to participate in making the ride a little smoother for the crew and riders.

I have put together a spread sheet with names of Boardsies and location for cake/sambos/fresh water or just warm cheering if you would like to help us, please print your name on the spreadsheet and we will contact you to collect your details.

Many thanks

The marshals like cake too! And sambos! And fresh water coffee!!

Beasty

Guys

Is there any gear you are particularly short of? I (and possibly other boardsies) have stuff hanging around that you could have as back-up if you need it (there's no point in you buying stuff that you may never need, and I guess the chances are you will need a lot of things "just in case" that could probably be returned completely unused). If it does get used, then it will have served it's purpose, and we could always agree any "wear and tear" adjustments if need be.

Caroline_ie

Good Idea Beasty - We need a many good lights and rechargeable batteries as possible. I would also like the loan of a USB internet key access for updates from the Campervan.

We also need a campervan.

jeffontour

Beasty wrote: »

Guys

Is there any gear you are particularly short of? I (and possibly other boardsies) have stuff hanging around that you could have as back-up if you need it (there's no point in you buying stuff that you may never need, and I guess the chances are you will need a lot of things "just in case" that could probably be returned completely unused). If it does get used, then it will have served it's purpose, and we could always agree any "wear and tear" adjustments if need be.

At the moment we're piecing together everything we have and will then know what we're missing, if anything, if you know what I mean!

I was in Raams last night admiring some bright lights which I think may be yours. Cheers. If there is anything we're short of we'll put the call out, we're not too shy to ask You've already contributed massively Beasty which I can assure you is much appreciated by the team.

jeffontour

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Good Idea Beasty - We need a many good lights and rechargeable batteries as possible. I would also like the loan of a USB internet key access for updates from the Campervan.

We also need a campervan.

When I said we are not too shy to ask I meant Caroline is not too shy to ask

Lumen

Beasty wrote: »

Guys

Is there any gear you are particularly short of? I (and possibly other boardsies) have stuff hanging around that you could have as back-up if you need it (there's no point in you buying stuff that you may never need, and I guess the chances are you will need a lot of things "just in case" that could probably be returned completely unused). If it does get used, then it will have served it's purpose, and we could always agree any "wear and tear" adjustments if need be.

Fancing lending me a Powertap?

I wouldn't mind taking a compact on one bike, and it would nice to have kj/power numbers for the whole effort.

manwithaplan

Fair play to you all and best of luck with it. If you are tempted to leave Navan and go and hide for 60 hours or so, you're welcome to stay at mine .

Chips Lovell

Thread stickified

Lumen

el tonto wrote: »

Thread stickified

I'm a bit confused. There are multiple teams in this years RAI with boardsie representation. Is this just a thread for the one team? Seems a bit exclusive.

Beasty

Lumen wrote: »

I'm a bit confused. There are multiple teams in this years RAI with boardsie representation. Is this just a thread for the one team? Seems a bit exclusive.

Given Boards.ie is sponsoring one particular team, we think it only right that you should get some special treatment ...

Raam

We are on the lookout for radios at the moment, for communicating with the rider on the road.

We are checking with a few friends who might have some, but if anyone knows somewhere to get a good set, even on loan, at minimal cost, we are all ears.

cdaly_

I have a pair of those short range ones. Not sure what state they're in at the mo but will check later...