Dying Light 200, 29/10/2011

rottenhat

Chaps

I am now taking entries for the Dying Light 200. Starting from Baggot Street Bridge in central Dublin, the route takes you north along the backroads to Ardee, Kingscourt, Kells and Athboy before bringing you back into the city through Phoenix Park. It's a very flat, easy route so it should be a fairly relaxing day in the saddle even if some of that hard-won summer fitness is leaching away and your muscles are once again becoming as soft and yielding as bags of suet.

All the controls will be manned, with water and some food available, and there will be hot port and mince pies back at Rottenhat Mansions afterwards. Entry form, map etc are available on the Audax Ireland website and if you have any other questions, post them up here and I'll do my best to answer them.

Entry fee is €8, and the closing date is Friday 21st October.

Last year's thread

Inquitus

rottenhat wrote: »

Chaps

I am now taking entries for the Dying Light 200. Starting from Baggot Street Bridge in central Dublin, the route takes you north along the backroads to Ardee, Kingscourt, Kells and Athboy before bringing you back into the city through Phoenix Park. It's a very flat, easy route so it should be a fairly relaxing day in the saddle even if some of that hard-won summer fitness is leaching away and your muscles are once again becoming as soft and yielding as bags of suet.

All the controls will be manned, with water and some food available, and there will be hot port and mince pies back at Rottenhat Mansions afterwards. Entry form, map etc are available on the Audax Ireland website and if you have any other questions, post them up here and I'll do my best to answer them.

Entry fee is €8, and the closing date is Friday 21st October.

Last year's thread

I presume this is run in the hours of daylight and requires no lights?

rottenhat

A very salient question...fast riders will be back in daylight hours, but lights will nonetheless be mandatory. It's very easy for a mechanical or an extended cafe stop to put you past nightfall that late in October. I won't make a big deal out of it, but you should have something at least.

seamus

Looking at last year, sunrise at 8:20am and sunset at 6pm. Leaves you just less than ten hours of daylight, but even earlier in the morning or later in the day visibility could be poor.

CramCycle

In and in, the thoughts of a lovely hot port at the end has me sold on the idea.

oflahero

Cocksocks, will be out the country for this, otherwise would be in immediately. Did it last year - would highly recommend it to anyone who's thinking of having a go.

ROK ON

I'm in dire need of something that I can stick in the calender to motivate myself for. If I can get a pass from SWMBO I would like to do this one.

theclimber

I'm in.:eek:

rughdh

...and there will be hot port and mince pies

Mmm, pies.

penexpers

Entry form link from the site gives a 403.

CramCycle

penexpers wrote: »

Entry form link from the site gives a 403.

If you drop me your e-mail in a PM I will send you the form on ASAP, not sure why it's gone off the site. I'll put up a link to a form for everyone else tomorrow.

rughdh

penexpers wrote: »

Entry form link from the site gives a 403.

Apologies, penexpers. The form is available now.

cdaly_

Me too I think...

LastGasp

In like an in thing. Last event of a looooong season !

rottenhat

Please excuse the flagrant bump...entries need to be with me by the end of this week.

I route checked it yesterday and, astoundingly, the roads around Oldtown and Garristown have been repaved and are of a velvety smoothness hitherto unknown to north Dublin. There's some pretty honking big potholes after Kingscourt though....

rughdh

rottenhat wrote: »

Please excuse the flagrant bump...entries need to be with me by the end of this week.

I route checked it yesterday and, astoundingly, the roads around Oldtown and Garristown have been repaved and are of a velvety smoothness hitherto unknown to north Dublin. There's some pretty honking big potholes after Kingscourt though....

Entries in post. Was out up as far as somewhere north of Donore yesterday afternoon with theclimber. It was a great day for it.

cdaly_

Entry in post...

manwithaplan

Secured a late permission this evening. Will be over Baggot Street way tomorrow so will pop the entry through the letterbox.

cdaly_

Got my route sheet this morning. Multiple copies laminated and folded to fit the jersey pocket.

Anybody aiming for a 25-28kph overall?

CramCycle

cdaly_ wrote: »

Got my route sheet this morning. Multiple copies laminated and folded to fit the jersey pocket.

Anybody aiming for a 25-28kph overall?

Aiming for a 25kph minimum.

ROK ON

cdaly_ wrote: »

Got my route sheet this morning. Multiple copies laminated and folded to fit the jersey pocket.

Anybody aiming for a 25-28kph overall?

CramCycle wrote: »

Aiming for a 25kph minimum.

Would like to do it in under 8 hours but given lack of serious milage wouldnt be surprised if it takes me longer.
Its been a while since I have done a 200, so I will be happy to finish.
Done a lot of hilly 140/150km stuff so hopefully that will stand to me.

Weather forecast doesnt look to bad.

manwithaplan

cdaly_ wrote: »

Multiple copies laminated and folded to fit the jersey pocket.

I'll buy you a coffee for one of them.

What? I know audaxers are supposed to be rugged and self-sufficient but there's a limit. Next thing I'll be expected to fix my own punctures.

cdaly_

manwithaplan wrote: »

I'll buy you a coffee for one of them.

What? I know audaxers are supposed to be rugged and self-sufficient but there's a limit. Next thing I'll be expected to fix my own punctures.

Gimme a tow for the day and you're on...

CramCycle

cdaly_ wrote: »

Gimme a tow for the day and you're on...

Push me up Kingscourt and I'll tie a string onto your handlebars and pull you round the rest of the course at over 25kph.

rughdh

cdaly_ wrote: »

Got my route sheet this morning. Multiple copies laminated and folded to fit the jersey pocket.

Anybody aiming for a 25-28kph overall?

That reminds me to check whether I still have a laminater.

As to the time, I'll be happy with 18.25 average, finishing in about 11 hours.

cdaly_

Weather's looking interesting for this.

Strong southerly winds on Friday night into Saturday morning moderating later in the day. Rain on Friday clearing to showers on Saturday. Then another wet and windy night Saturday night into Sunday.

Of course these timings could change...

cdaly_

I'll have a bunch of laminated route sheets with me...

manwithaplan

cdaly_ wrote: »

I'll have a bunch of laminated route sheets with me...

I will happily take one off you. Fair play to you.

cdaly_

So, anybody driving / getting a lift over from DNS and have room for one more? I don't fancy an extra 26km on top of the 200...

manwithaplan

I'd happily meet you on the Clontarf Psycle Track at the bottom of Castle Avenue if you do decide to ride over. If we're completely crocked afterwards, there's always the DART.

cdaly_

I'm planning to be completely crocked halfway through. There is a bus from Athboy isn't there?...

About 07.30 or earlier?

manwithaplan

7.30 is grand. See you there.

rottenhat

Fortunately I have no idea where you're talking about so I can carry on optimistically assuming that you'll be to Baggot Street in plenty of time for sign on.

cdaly_

Errm, what time's sign on again?

Castle Ave is here

Oh, and are reflective strips on overshoes, bibs and rain jersey sufficient to cover the reflective elements of the night-riding requirement in the audax rules?

CramCycle

cdaly_ wrote: »

Errm, what time's sign on again?

Castle Ave is here

Sign on is just prior to 8am, so you should be OK to make it over the 6 km in 20 minutes (I hope).

rottenhat

Mmm...if I have fifty people showing up just prior to 8am, I do not think you will be leaving on time. I'd recommend being there no later than 7:45.

manwithaplan

rottenhat wrote: »

Mmm...if I have fifty people showing up just prior to 8am, I do not think you will be leaving on time. I'd recommend being there no later than 7:45.

We'll make it 7.20 so, cdaly. I wish I'd just PM'd you now!

cdaly_

Latest forecast is looking better from the rain POV. Looks like starting dry (though likely on wet roads). Showers will build up later but they seem to be fairly spread out so we might get lucky. I'll be in my rain jacket and overshoes just in case though.

Winds will be strong southerly to start, moderating later and veering southwesterly.

Mild with top temperatures around 13 or 14 degrees...

ROK ON

Big thanks to Rottenhat. Fantastic day out. Beautiful route and great weather apart from 20mins of rain. Died in the middle but recovered after food.

Hummus at a food stop. Genius. Should be mandatory at all events.
Lentil soup at finish. A godsend.

Big thanks to Barrabus for the company, the jellies and the numerous pulls. Apologies for the navigational errors.

I will try some more of these. One of the most enjoyable cycles all year.

Thanks again.

manwithaplan

Lovely day out. Thanks a million to Mr. Hat for looking after us so well. The spicy lemony lentil and mushroom soup was fantastic and the hot port went down a treat.

Edit - should have added a big thank you to cdaly for sorting me out with a CO2 canister in my hour of need.

LastGasp

Thanks to Rottenhat and Pat for a good day out today. Great to see a good crowd. Commiserations to all those who didn't make the finish for various reasons. Thanks to everyone who dragged me around in the group at 27 and a bit kph for 150 kms, until I finally had to bale out and proceed at a more leisurely pace for the last 50, and thanks to Andreas.Voigt for the company. Pace was a bit quicker than I'm used to !
Excellent brack and hang sangers en route, and the soup back at Chez Rottenhat was just the job.
Cheers, LG

smcclaw

Just to echo the rest of the lads, a big thanks to Rottenhat and Pat for feeding us during and after the event. The brack was a definite highlight and good of Rottenhat to wheel out the local entertainment in Ardee. I'm now converted to adding lemon juice to soup and gotta say the hot port went down a treat. Overall, a great event and agree with CDaly that it was one of the most enjoyable all year.

Thanks to the lads that dragged me around the course far faster than I wanted/was able to go!

cdaly_

Great day indeed. Started out with a fairly fast group for the first 50k until it got a bit hilly and I dropped behind. Solo then into Ardee. Most welcome food and tea.

Mostly solo from Ardee to Kingscourt (kept company with another lad for a while) and then hooked up with three lads from Bohermeen CC and we worked our way through the headwind and torrential rain to Athboy. Most welcome company, thanks lads.

I took the wrong direction out of Athboy and lost a fairly big group and spent the next 30k solo trying to chase them down. Ended up with Cramcycle and the lad who I'd already met. Carried on feeling the distance at this stage until we hooked up with Celeste and Soibhan of Orwell around Dunsany. Stayed with them for the rest of the way ('cos Celeste knew the way home!).

A most welcome sight was Rottenhat Mansions though that last climb up the driveway was a killer!

Lovely soup, hot port, mince pies and other nosh. Many thanks Rottenhat for organising.

All in 230k for me (avg 24.6kph) and the legs were feeling it this morning. A "gentle introduction to the art of Audax" indeed!

rughdh

...and it's thanks from me too to Rottenhat for organising the event and manning the controls at Ardee and Rottenhat Mansions and to Pat D for manning the Athboy control. Also to both the Rottenhats for their hospitality at their gaff.

I started off domestiquing for theclimber who started training for this in mid-September, so had few miles in the legs, but he got a second wind and ended up domestiquing for me during the hour-long torrential downpour somewhere in north county Dublin.

We were are the tail-end for most of it because we arrived late but met up with two riders whose names I can't remember (due to the dotage) and rode with them for a bit.

Hit a pot hole badly at Westmanstown (no, I'd never heard of it either!) which sent my saddle nose skywards and rammed my left hand into the bars. Fortunately, neither the bars nor the saddle were damaged and the Aksiums held out well, but the rear tube wasn't so lucky. I dismounted and stared vacantly into the distance in true audax style while theclimber lit up a Hamlet whilst humming 'Air from Suite in D'.*

We were aware that the clock was ticking so theclimber decided that it would be quicker if he replaced the tube while I refuelled. Thanks bro!

We arrived back at Rottenhat Mansions 35 mins before the control closed feeling satisfied that we'd gotten our money's worth.

On behalf of Audax Ireland I'd like to thank everyone who supported the event in whatever way they did. It was a great turnout as was mentioned upthread, with higher than usual female participation, which is a very welcome development.

Well done to all rode it. It's not an easy feat to finish a 200k this late in the season particularly when it was not part of your training plan. If it was your first 200k give yourself a well earned pat on the back.

Commiserations (to echo LastGasp) to those who signed up but couldn't make it, or attempted it but couldn't finish for whatever reason. There's always next year...

---

*Not exactly true

ROK ON

Can I ask who's who?
I met CDaly at the finish, but who are the rest of ye. What gear or bikes were ye on.
There was a guy there on a gorgeous Independent Fabrication frame.

I am so dehydrated today. I consumed 4L during the event. About 1L beforehand and several litres last night. Craving water and salt all day today. I re Jon it is partly due to the fact that I wore a winter jacket on what was a very balmy day. In hindsight, a jersey, armwarmers and a gilet would have sufficed.

smcclaw

ROK ON wrote: »

Can I ask who's who?
I met CDaly at the finish, but who are the rest of ye.

I was in a black and red short sleeve jersey on a white (at least for the first few miles) Giant TCR.

Met LastGasp ok but didnt catch any other boardsie names

manwithaplan

smcclaw wrote: »

I was in a black and red short sleeve jersey on a white (at least for the first few miles) Giant TCR.

Met LastGasp ok but didnt catch any other boardsie names

I was with you most of the way round. I was in the Swords jersey. Best of luck to your other half tomorrow.

smcclaw

manwithaplan wrote: »

I was with you most of the way round. I was in the Swords jersey. Best of luck to your other half tomorrow.

Likewise. Sounds like the two girls wil have to put up with a bit of wind and rain tomorrow!

CramCycle

ROK ON wrote: »

Can I ask who's who?
I met CDaly at the finish, but who are the rest of ye. What gear or bikes were ye on.
There was a guy there on a gorgeous Independent Fabrication frame.

I started off with a hi-vis Gilet but wore my PBP jersey for most of it as the gilet was to warm. Riding a black Charge Juicer, geared with a triple and a 11-27 cassette at the back.

I had a few people tell me there names but I have a terrible memory, so anyone I talked to, I can remember your real names but not your user names. Nice chat with cdaly_ on the return stretch for the last 25km, as well as with Ms. RottenHat and Siobhan, great conversations about the roads, the country and the confusion over the best route through town at the end (I decided on one way which in hind sight may not have been the best but I take full responsibility). We did get to go through the start line of the DCM which it was then decided was not as impressive as we had thought it was going to be.

rottenhat

You're all very welcome - hope to see you all back again next year. I reckon I'm just about getting the hang of this one so next year is either going to run like clockwork or be an utter disaster.

ROK ON wrote: »

There was a guy there on a gorgeous Independent Fabrication frame.

That's Will McCabe...don't think he's on here. Beautiful bike all right.