An Post Rás na mBan 2011

killalanerr

best of luck to all heading off to this,the race booklet here http://www.rasnamban.com/images/docs/Ras2011_booklet_lowres.pdf
looks like a tough week

kincsem

Plenty of climbing and difficult stages there.

Things have changes a bit since the 1956 Olympics where the longest women's athletics event was the 200 metres, "because they were not capable of further".

manwithaplan

Looks brilliant. I rode a lot of those roads in the Iveragh 200 and it would be savage territory to race through. The non-climbers might as well enjoy the local hospitality because there doesn't seem to be much else there for them. Great to see a Swords representative too.

RobFowl

manwithaplan wrote: »

Looks brilliant. I rode a lot of those roads in the Iveragh 200 and it would be savage territory to race through. The non-climbers might as well enjoy the local hospitality because there doesn't seem to be much else there for them. Great to see a Swords representative too.

And a Swords team manager !

Beasty

RobFowl wrote: »

And a Swords team manager !

... who happens to be a boardsie of 18 months standing, but still no posts!

Nice to see at least a couple more boardsies taking part in addition to the Swords representative

Good luck to you all

fat bloke

Should be a savage 5 days of racing.

Camper-vans, flags and mankini's on the Healy Pass anyone??


(could someone fix the title btw please?)

manwithaplan

RobFowl wrote: »

And a Swords team manager !

Saw that alright. I hope he doesn't go for the deeply distressing shorts and overcoat combo I have seen him sport at the finish line of some of the club races.

manwithaplan

fat bloke wrote: »

(could someone fix the title btw please?)

Sliabh na mBan perhaps?

Beasty

fat bloke wrote: »

(could someone fix the title btw please?)

Is that any better?

manwithaplan

Beasty wrote: »

Is that any better?

Tá tú againn anois.

You've gone native

ROK ON

Very best of luck to Ms Raam, GIHTH and What's a derailleur. The race will pass my house so I hope to be out on the road with my daughter cheering ye on.
Best of luck to Rob Fowl. Hopefully you will be called on very little.
My advice to the riders - Overshoes. Bring lots of them. It will be wet.

Caroline_ie

ROK ON wrote: »

Very best of luck to Ms Raam, GIHTH and What's a derailleur. The race will pass my house so I hope to be out on the road with my daughter cheering ye on.
Best of luck to Rob Fowl. Hopefully you will be called on very little.
My advice to the riders - Overshoes. Bring lots of them. It will be wet.

It's 'MAWS' who is entered, 'what's the deraileur isn't on the start list. there are also a few more secret boardsies entered but I can't remember what ID they use. Also Mrs Ryansherlock who I ma sure will kick some serious arse.

ROK ON

Caroline_ie wrote: »

It's 'MAWS' who is entered, 'what's the deraileur isn't on the start list. there are also a few more secret boardsies entered but I can't remember what ID they use. Also Mrs Ryansherlock who I ma sure will kick some serious arse.

Why you not doing it?

Vélo

ROK ON wrote: »

Why you not doing it?

It wouldn't be fair on the others.

Caroline_ie

ROK ON wrote: »

Why you not doing it?

What Velo said:

Vélo wrote: »

It wouldn't be fair on the others.

And the prize fund isn't enough for me to bother my arse tbh. If I win, I want to win TDF like cash.

Chips Lovell

It's going to be one tough race. I for one am glad that a.) I'm not a woman and b.) I'm going to be in the team car and not on a bike.

manwithaplan

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Also Mrs Ryansherlock who I ma sure will kick some serious arse.

Having seen her power up the course in the National Hill Climb Championships, I'd have to agree.

Bikerbhoy

Best of Luck to the 2 girls from Thinkbike.ie CC

Cait Elliott on the womenscycling.ie team and
Siobhan OConnor riding for Thinkbike.ie

Sr. Assumpta

So, 12 days after Basil-gate, it looks like I shall go to Ras na Wimmin afterall....

The good people at Canyon entertained my pleas, and with godspeed (& UPS) my new fork arrived this morning. It and my battered bike are now in the safe hands of the guys at 'World Wide Cycles' in Clonmel. I will collect my steed en route to Sneem on Tuesday, whoooopeeeee!!!

Due to the enormous likelihood of my being utterly crap, I have opted to ride the Ras under an assumed name. So I will be hanging my 'Marble City Cyclers' habit and veil in the wardrobe, and donning the green, white and fake abs of 'Orwell Wheelers'* for five days..... poor them.

So, bring on the tail-end of hurricane Katia!

*obviously this means that, as is the custom, I won't be nodding, waving at, or speaking to anyone, other than my team-mates, for the week

Chips Lovell

Don't forget the holy water. I'll wash your bike with it every evening.

Sr. Assumpta

Bless you my son*.

*some of this sentence may not be true.

Peterx

Best of luck to all in Ras na mBan this evening and over the next 5 days. Weather forecast appears OK till Sunday evening which would be perfect.
Savage looking hilly stages.

Chips Lovell

Smashing weather down here today. Wind appears to have died down a lot too.

ROK ON

Hope to make it to Molls Gap this evening. Best of luck to the boardsie ladies.

Chips Lovell

Nearly all the boardsies will be in unfamiliar kit this year. MAWS and godihatethehills are riding for Leinster. LDB is riding with the Women's Cycling team (pink and white). Sr. Assumpta is guesting for Orwell.

fat bloke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S1M5R0_W9s&feature=player_embedded#!

Looks great.

Sounds like a fab race as well. Amazing ride by Olivia Dillon yesterday by all accounts - really showing her class. Hard for the part-timers, no matter how dedicated, to compete in fairness.

fat bloke

Stage 2 and 3 clips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c41-D7u_nTE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZDOnbqAqJ8&feature=related

Chr1st, they're not hanging about!

Caroline_ie

fat bloke wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZDOnbqAqJ8&feature=related

Winning celebrations FAIL.

fat bloke

Little clip from stage 4.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cMlP_4djss&feature=related

Looks like they were haunted with the weather.

Any single lads out there, tonight's the night to be in Sneem. Should be lots of fit, tired and tipsy girls around for some post race hair letting down

vistafinder

Ha Ha good stratergy! So thats the real reason you are hanging around with your camera for the last few days.:D

killalanerr

supper few days in Kerry well done to all involved very well run event them girls sure can ride their bikes

RobFowl

Well done to all involved.
The race organisation was great.
The new 5 day format a big step up.
The standard of racing was astoundingly good.
The winner awesome.
And of course the Boardsies all did themselves proud esp Mrs Ryan Sherlock.

melaniespath

The Ras na mban was absolutely superb.
RobFowl, I had an amazing team around me that worked really hard for me, especially on the last day to protect my 2nd place on GC, sacrificing their own chances for a stage win. I had the easiest ride of them all on Sunday - all I was allowed to do was sit in!
It was great racing all around and everybody loved the new 5-day format. Even Ryan is jealous of us having such a fantastic stage race with hard, challenging stages in such a beautiful part of the world.

Chips Lovell

That was one hell of a race. Moving it to five days was a great move. That and the fact that every single stage was so tough made it truly epic. The queen stage on the Beara peninsula was spectacular and the really aggresive way everyone raced it made it thrilling to watch.

Great result from Melanie. Herself and Linda Ringlever put it up to Olivia and it was great to see her win the county jersey and come away with second overall.

Major props too for the other Boardsies. LDB was fifth in the county classification, while godihatethehills, MAWS and Sr. Assumpta rode hard all week and were even throwing in attacks on the final stage.

Beasty

.... and how did you get on Vlad?;)

The Nutty M

killalanerr wrote: »

supper few days in Kerry well done to all involved very well run event them girls sure can ride their bikes

They did it better than the lads,the only bike that was dropped during the whole event was done by a superb motorbike marshal:D:D.

Well done to all.It was a great event.Long may it continue.

Sr. Assumpta

Phew!!

I am in a whole different league to the awesome melaniespath, finishing Ras na mBan over an hour down on her incredible time. I never finished in the lead bunch, I never sprinted for the line.

But I did finish it. And it was both the worst and best thing I have ever accomplished (well, on a bike anyhow). As Vladimir Kurtains or Raam will testify, I was so overwhelmed by everything I'd gone through in five days of racing that when I finally threw myself over the line yesterday I broke down in tears. I had to sit on the kerb spluttering for 5 minutes before I could relieve Vlad of my pint of Guinness, from the tray of pints he brought to the line for his clubmates!

For me, everyday was a physical and mental battle to stay with the bunch for as long as possible. After finishing in the second group home on Day 1 (Moll's Gap), I spent the rest of the week trying to minimise the speed of my inevitable slide down the GC. On Day 2 (Valentia) once I'd slipped out the back on the big climb of the day, the bleak open roads & high wind made it impossible to the bridge the expanding gap, and a small group of us dragged ourselves home in the spitting rain.

Day 3: "a classic Ras stage" they (the men) all said over breakfast, .....as the rain lashed down outside and I pondered the non-pro option of racing with my gilet on. Midway up the glorious Healy Pass, despite my Team Manager's words ringing in my head ("Bury yourself to stay on, or you'll be on your own all day!") I was shelled out the back. The up side of this was that I did a decent solo descent (I can say this knowing only the sheep saw me) through the hairpins that might have been tricky in a big group. The quote of Day 3 goes to the team car driver who pulled up alongside me while I sat up & chewed on a bar on my long solo spin back to Kenmare, and said "It's not a feckin sportive you know!".

Day 4: 4 laps of a 17km circuit with a Cat 3 climb up a pot-holed road midway through the circuit. Despite the encouraging "Dig deep!" we shouted at each other as we hit the hill first time around, the pace was so savage that people fell off the back in droves, and we finished in two and threes, in rain and hail.

That afternoon was the Time Trial. Despite the thunderous rain I actually really enjoyed this. I guess I'm just not cut out for those longer-than-3km races....

Day 5: over and back up Coomaciste. My teammate encouraged our breakfast table with the happy mantra "Today we're cycling home, T-minus 95km and counting!!". The bunch actually stayed as one unit for the first ascent, a rapid descent and then on through Waterville and the pace soon hit 60kmph:eek:, obviously I wasn't hanging around for those kind of numbers. My solo re-ascent of Coomaciste was awarded with the vision of one man-sized chicken, and no less than two Borats in 'full' man-kini's running alongside tooting their horns and shouting support as each rider topped the climb .......awesome!!!!!

Participation in 'The Night Stages' wasn't really an option for us ladies until last night. I won't go into details, what goes on tour stays on tour etc. , let's just say that today our legs are sore from dancing as much as cycling, and one of the reportable memories of the night was walking around Sneem in the pitch dark looking for a chipper that clearly didn't exist, then finding ourselves so far from our pub that we did up-and-overs on our trek back across the village to it. Yes, we found this hilarious, beer does that.

Okay I'm nearly done. I met and cycled with some great people on Ras na mBan, some I knew before, some I never met and may never meet again. We did this together, as MAWS said this morning, "it's like being in 'nam"! I was so impressed by how encouraging each rider was of every other rider; we may not all be of the same standard but we each held our heads high despite the suffering, and we rode safely and well. Thanks girls.

Of this parish, Big Thanks for the company, and mega congrats on their superhuman efforts to MAWS, Godihatdehills and LDB, you each inspired me in your own way, thanks. Massive gratitude to RobFowl for getting me back in shape for last night, those drugs work man!! Thank you to What's a Derailleur for materialising on Day 4 with hugs and support, just when we needed you most!!! Thanks also to Raam (aka Mr.LDB), and Raam's Mom, for the shouts for the cheers!! And there are no words to say what a fantastic job Vlad did as our Team Mechanic, above and beyond the call of duty doesn't cover it, I mean really, washing our dirty undies was just the cream on the cake

Roll on next year!!!!!

fat bloke

For anyone who hasn't vids

It's one thing to sport a Borat mankini in 35 degree heat on the side of an alp, but this takes real....ah.... well I hardly need to spell it out do I?




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuzIm4PCqXU&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z94gVDrvSNc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fPUsFYNaGA&feature=player_embedded

Bikerbhoy

fat bloke wrote: »

For anyone who hasn't vids

It's one thing to sport a Borat mankini in 35 degree heat on the side of an alp, but this takes real....ah.... well I hardly need to spell it out do I?




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuzIm4PCqXU&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z94gVDrvSNc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fPUsFYNaGA&feature=player_embedded

CLASS CLIPS

Beasty

fat bloke wrote: »

For anyone who hasn't vids

It's one thing to sport a Borat mankini in 35 degree heat on the side of an alp, but this takes real....ah.... well I hardly need to spell it out do I?

Have you lost some weight Vlad?

Chips Lovell

fat bloke wrote: »

For anyone who hasn't vids

I was wondering how long it would take for those to surface here. One of the girls said afterwards: "Jesus, if any of you lads do the Rás next year, we'll have a hard time topping that."

Beasty wrote: »

Have you lost some weight Vlad?

Twasn't me. I was in the team car.

killalanerr

fat bloke wrote: »

For anyone who hasn't vids

It's one thing to sport a Borat mankini in 35 degree heat on the side of an alp, but this takes real....ah.... well I hardly need to spell it out do I?




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuzIm4PCqXU&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z94gVDrvSNc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fPUsFYNaGA&feature=player_embedded

i nearly fell off the moto with the laughing when we turned the the connor in a howling gale half way up a mountain in Kerry to see theses boys by the side of the road
in fact i did let the moto fall over but thats another story im sure the clip will turn up some where

ROK ON

Glad ye all enjoyed yerselves on routes that are my regular training routes. Doing the same routes again and again, one loses the appreciateion for what others think of them. There is some pretty descent routes down here.

I brought the kids out to see the Molls Gap stage. I was blown away by the speed people were going past me o what is my most frequent route. Even the back markets were going up the gap at a fair old clip. Light years fatster than anything that I can do.

I wanted to see the sprint finish from the Healy Pass stage into Kenmare, but it seemed that the finish line was several kms outside Kenmare - so I just couldnt make it out.

Fair play too the boardies that took part, I imagine racing is tough enough without having to get up every morning and face poor weather followed by several hours in the saddle against semi-pro's/pros. Well done one and all.
It is a pity given the event that the field is small, but I guess that is down to the amount of women that actually race as opposed to the men. Anyway, it seemed well run with plenty of outriders and cars.
Glad ye enjoyed it.

My daughter (aged 7) was well impressed. On the way home, she said that when she does the race in 20 years time that she will have an advantage as she lives on Molls GAp and can train there all the time.