Swords Club Leage Race # 13 - Garristown/Springhill

Lusk Doyle

I haven't raced this circuit yet. It looks to be a lumpy affair with plenty of short sharp climbs and a nice one at the finish.

Any thoughts on the circuit?

kennyb3

Dont know the circuit myself but my question is will it be used?

The speed bumps out of garristown are almost impassable. And the roads for the next few km are in absolute s'hite until you hit some beautiful road heading towards swords/ashbourne. Maybe i ve got the course wrong tho.

Beasty

kennyb3 wrote: »

Dont know the circuit myself but my question is will it be used?

The speed bumps out of garristown are almost impassable. And the roads for the next few km are in absolute s'hite until you hit some beautiful road heading towards swords/ashbourne. Maybe i ve got the course wrong tho.

I'm pretty sure you're right. Will be doing this if the track league looks like it may be rained off. Have the roadworks been finished?

Those speedbumps were very bad when I went over them a few weeks ago. They are on an uphill, but even if taken slowly they give the impression they could almost crumble underneath you. Course is relatively flat. Only real uphill is into and through Garristown (where I understand the finish is)

kennyb3

Roadworks around oldtown and on the garristown junction are finished. But i did see a sign on a road down to the left out of garristown, but wasnt sure of the circuit is taking that left or another after.

Either way i cant imagine going over them speed bumps at more than 10mph and not loosing a few spokes. The road for next 2-3km would be dangerous in a group too - i rode it last friday eve and road down the white line it's that bad.

Ardcath please!

Beasty

I'll definitely be on the "less posh" wheels

bbolger

kennyb3 wrote: »

Roadworks around oldtown and on the garristown junction are finished. But i did see a sign on a road down to the left out of garristown, but wasnt sure of the circuit is taking that left or another after.

Either way i cant imagine going over them speed bumps at more than 10mph and not loosing a few spokes. The road for next 2-3km would be dangerous in a group too - i rode it last friday eve and road down the white line it's that bad.

Ardcath please!

The road between Ballyboughal & Garristown was closed when I was up there for a spin on Sunday morning.
It shouldn't affect the circuit but you might not get through there by car.

Google maps link

kennyb3

Any word on the course? is it still definitely springhill?

manwithaplan

kennyb3 wrote: »

Any word on the course? is it still definitely springhill?

Don't tell me you have "less posh" wheels too

kennyb3

manwithaplan wrote: »

Don't tell me you have "less posh" wheels too

I wish! I have bog standard wheels and slightly above bog standard wheels. My training bike is my racing bike:( Its all in the legs though

Beasty

Wind's getting up. Rain's on its way. Half the course is newly laid with loose chippings and gravel, the other half is riddled with potholes and other road defects. Life insurance is paid up - should be fun ....:D

dario28

Beasty wrote: »

Wind's getting up. Rain's on its way. Half the course is newly laid with loose chippings and gravel, the other half is riddled with potholes and other road defects. Life insurance is paid up - should be fun ....:D

Baptism of Fire awaits....

kennyb3

Yeah looks like another soaking tonight alright, altho not sure anything could be worse than the first lap last week

manwithaplan

Don't know about the soaking - looking at the rainfall radar, it might have come and gone by the time we start. However, I am getting nervous about my decision to bring the bike to work in town and ride out.

Lusk Doyle

manwithaplan wrote: »

Don't know about the soaking - looking at the rainfall radar, it might have come and gone by the time we start. However, I am getting nervous about my decision to bring the bike to work in town and ride out.

Oh here we go with the excuses! That is not behaviour becoming of the club champ!

manwithaplan

Lusk Doyle wrote: »

Oh here we go with the excuses!

I haven't even started yet!

(I only mentioned riding out because I'm more likely to get wet - it won't make much odds other than to my overall comfort)

RO 06

think i will need some wet gear for the camera...

Lusk Doyle

Called it quits after some soul searching before the race. Joe wasn't keen on sending us out. Beasty was scared of crashing or not scoring points. Joe gave us the choice so I said that I was going home. Glad I did as the rain really came down then. I presume the other ten or twenty riders decided the same. Not a nice night to have to marshal either, let alone race.

Beasty

Funnily enough the rain had just about cleared by the time I drove to the back of the circuit. However there was extensive standing water almost all the way across the road in places. Given it was an unfamiliar course, and the roads were very poor in places (even the newly surfaced road had a 25kph speed limit as well as plenty of loose chippings and standing water on it), I don't think there was any way we could have done that course

I think the Ardcath course was an option, and if we had waited another half an hour it may have been doable. But I reckon there was probably only 20 or so of us, including marshals, who turned up in total, meaning we would probably only have been able to have a maximum of a dozen or so in any race - we could probably only have had a maximum of 2 groups, unless they went along with one of my suggestions of doing a TT;)

They also didn't go along with my suggestion of placing everyone in alphabetical order - the race committee will consider whether to rearrange it but given other racing taking place options may be limited

pprendeville

did a power turbo session tonight. hadn't done one for about a month and by God did it hurt. manwithaplan went out on a training spin. madness if you ask me but that's the club champ coming out in him. torrential rain just as i was leaving. hope you got home in one piece.

killalanerr

your all weak its only rain !!

i didnt even get out of the van

manwithaplan

Five of us went for a spin, including kennyb3. It wasn't too bad after the initial downpour. We went round the circuit and it was definitely unraceable. We also took in the Clonalvey and Ardcath circuits for good measure. I declined kennyb3's and one of the other lad's kind offers of a lift home and I TT'd it back in lovely weather.

Got about 72k in altogether so it was far from a wasted evening.

Beasty

manwithaplan wrote: »

We went round the circuit and it was definitely unraceable.

Was the view it was unraceable because of the weather (and in particular standing water), or because of the road quality?

I've only ridden bits of it, and driven a large section, and the more I see and hear of the circuit the less I like it (some of the back roads are quite narrow and windy, but still seem to have quite a lot of traffic on them - I was speaking to one of the other club members earlier today who said he had raced it previously and oncoming traffic on difficult bends had been an issue also)

manwithaplan

Beasty wrote: »

Was the view it was unraceable because of the weather (and in particular standing water), or because of the road quality?

In my view, it would have been unraceable in any conditions. The ramps coming out of Garristown are in bits and the section with the loose chippings includes two very tight bends. I had to slow (while trying not to brake) to get round.

Beasty

manwithaplan wrote: »

In my view, it would have been unraceable in any conditions. The ramps coming out of Garristown are in bits and the section with the loose chippings includes two very tight bends. I had to slow (while trying not to brake) to get round.

That was my concern. I think we perhaps need to do some lobbying, as this circuit is due to be used later in the season. I've mentioned my concerns to Joe (as well as here and in the Club Forum), but it would add some weight if some of you guys who have done the full circuit could have a word also

manwithaplan

Beasty wrote: »

That was my concern. I think we perhaps need to do some lobbying, as this circuit is due to be used later in the season. I've mentioned my concerns to Joe (as well as here and in the Club Forum), but it would add some weight if some of you guys who have done the full circuit could have a word also

Will probably see him on Saturday morning - I'll mention it to him then.

kennyb3

Yeah good spin around, was nice to do something at least - we got a torrential downpour not long into it but it cleared up then. Fair play MWAP for riding home too. Wouldnt of minded getting more done myself but the evening was getting away at that stage seen as we only started at 7.15.

Got to agree i wouldnt be in favour of doing that circuit regardless. 90% of it is fine - i just wouldnt like to ride over the speed humps or the next 2-3km at any speed. I think the group will have to cross the white line to stay out of the huge holes on the left. and apart from that sharp S bend with lose chippings the rest is very good.

The weather was clearly taking the p'iss as by time i was off to bed the sky was as clear as could be and not a breath of wind.