W200 Bless to Laragh section routing help

Cookie_Monster

Can anyone advise whether this is the correct routing from the back of Blessington to Laragh for the W200 route?
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Unknown+road&daddr=53.1237811,-6.4744176+to:R756+to:Unknown+road+to:53.050314,-6.6113207+to:53.0049151,-6.6300922+to:Unknown+road+to:Unknown+road+to:R756+to:Unknown+road&hl=en&geocode=FVhMKwMdkIic_w%3BFcWaKgMdTzWd_yld4g90hZtnSDFVtFH0PqeqGA%3BFSLMKQMd-Emc_w%3BFQ6-KQMd8zWb_w%3BFcp7KQMdiB6b_ynz1ZJKloVnSDFRJ038pscAEw%3BFXPKKAMdNNWa_ykVZKHpOY9nSDFRTkr8pscAEw%3BFXKGJwMdL-Cb_w%3BFYgdKAMd4Rmf_w%3BFXJvKQMdD0Ge_w%3BFVNNKwMdgpec_w&mra=mi&mrsp=9&sz=12&via=1,4,5&sll=53.156653,-6.39473&sspn=0.071024,0.512924&ie=UTF8&ll=52.973041,-6.293793&spn=0.142654,1.025848&z=11

Am looking to cycle this section of it tomorrow and not familiar with this area of Wicklow at all, my knowledge kinda stops south and west of Glenmalure.



As for the roads and junctions, are they all obvious enough or are there any surprises I'd need to watch for? Looks to match the W200 site map from scrolling around it.

Thanks

Blowfish

Just checked it against my gps trace from last year and it's spot on.

I don't remember anything in particular to watch out for, other than making sure you don't mistake the 'hump' about 5-10k before Slieve Mann for being Slieve Mann itself. AFAIR, it's about the same amount of climbing as Howth, so it actually makes for a decent warmup before you hit the big two.

-K2-

The roads are well marked with white "W"s painted at junctions, it's fairly hard to go wrong.

iregk

Are those W's still there yeah? Was thinking of doing this route myself sometime soon. Down from Blessington and back up the sally gap.

-K2-

There are a few of them still around, but I would properly map the route first as some of them may have been worn off during the winter.

smacl

I find Google streets to help hugely when planning these routes. Just grab the little yellow man from Google maps and place him before junctions so you can better recognise your turn off on the day. Doing the blessington, sally gap, wicklow gap run myself on sunday and looking forward to it.

Cookie_Monster

done
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/75162997


can anyone tell me what categories the three main climbs in that are:

Aghavannagh to Glenmalure

Glenmalure to Laragh

Wicklow gap from Laragh

?

The first one is an absolute bitch, I though I was going to die, the other two aren't that bad. I know one of the bike gps sites list climb cat but i've drawn the map on two already without getting them.

ROK ON

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

done
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/75162997


can anyone tell me what categories the three main climbs in that are:

Aghavannagh to Glenmalure

Glenmalure to Laragh

Wicklow gap from Laragh

?

The first one is an absolute bitch, I though I was going to die, the other two aren't that bad. I know one of the bike gps sites list climb cat but i've drawn the map on two already without getting them.

(1) Aghavanngh to Glenmalure (aka Slieve Maan): A 3km climb that rises 257m. 8.6% average. Thats tough, but at least not overly long. (From the other side its 7.5% over 4.5km). Either way its a hard climb in an Irish context. However it is steady, there are no crazy gradients on the climb.
(2)Glenmalure to laragh (Shay Elliot). Another 3km climb, but at 7.5%. However this starts steeply (circa 10-11%, just after the bridge on the left). Gets a bit shallower in the last 1km. Strangely enough I have always enjoyed this climb.
(3) Wicklow Gap: A 4.6% climb over 7km. Shallow mostly apart from a steepish bit in the middle around the car park. Despite its shallow nature, I hate this climb. Done it about 20 times, and have never enjoyed it. I usually cramp on this climb (probably due to sittingb in the cafe in Laragh for 30mins sipping coffee before climbing it).

Cookie_Monster

ROK ON wrote: »

(1) Aghavanngh to Glenmalure (aka Slieve Maan): A 3km climb that rises 257m. 8.6% average. Thats tough, but at least not overly long. (From the other side its 7.5% over 4.5km). Either way its a hard climb in an Irish context. However it is steady, there are no crazy gradients on the climb.

from the junction in Aghavannagh to the peak on ridewith gps is 3.5km at average 9.4%, ...max of 21.6% which I'm really not to sure about.

anyway, that's the single hardest piece of cycling I'ver ever done, it was horrible. And I got this to prove it...

jimm

You are right, that is truly horrible.........Unshaven legs............just truly horrible.

barrmur

Hi,

I am looking for some advice in realtion to a cycling computer, my first one. I have been looking at the Garmin edge series, 500 and above, and trying to make up my mind. Ideally I would like on with both maps and stats bundled with a cadance sensor and a HRM. Any suggestions from the experts. Best prices ssem to be on handtec.co.uk so any specific ones from there would be great. Budget about £250 ish