Tour de Munster 2012 roll call

Special Red

On the theme of last years thread, another year comes round and another TdeM needs to be finished.

Mid Winter Calibration Spin coming up next month with training starting proper in Cork from April. Looking forward to it. It'll be my 2nd so the experience and knowledge of what it's all about is under my belt. Now if only I could get up the TdeM Strava leaderboard :rolleyes:

Some of the many highlights from last year:

Patricks hill at the end
Connor Pass (up and down)
Molls gap assending and the encouragement at the top
Kenmare and the Saturday night
Down the hill into Castleisland though not up with the Kelly bunch
The ROK, super day with the group and getting Molls gap out of the way early (super idea)
The training, the hammer drops, the craic
The support from DS Ireland, the coffee stop in Killarney

Lows:
The Vicious Cycle, holy sh1t :eek:
Ennis to Limerick and a hoor of a wind
Getting dropped going up the Vee after flaking it for around 30km beforehand on the Tour de Cure
In fairness, I think most of my lows are weather related

ROK ON

I wont be doing it this year. But it is a great event and a fantastic cause.

Hopefully the weather will be a bit kinder this summer (though you couldnt fault the weather on day 4 2011).

I hope to see ye on the road at a few events and will hopefully be at Molls Gap to cheer ye on as ye come over this August.
Best of luck and enjoy the tour.

Special Red

ROK ON wrote: »

I wont be doing it this year. But it is a great event and a fantastic cause.

Hopefully the weather will be a bit kinder this summer (though you couldnt fault the weather on day 4 2011).

I hope to see ye on the road at a few events and will hopefully be at Molls Gap to cheer ye on as ye come over this August.
Best of luck and enjoy the tour.

And I was looking forward to seeing what coloured shorts you'd have on this year. Ah well...:D

karlmyson

I'm taking a 'gap year' from the Tour this year for family reasons, but I will join some of the training spins during the season.

For anyone thinking of getting involved I can thoroughly recommend it as the best four days on a bike in this country that I've experienced. It's truly unique and organised very well indeed, and will make you feel like a stage racer at times. The hammer drops (probably around 10% of the length) make it as challenging as you wish it to be and then some, while the rest of the event is done in a great spirit of friendliness and common purpose. The craic in the evenings is brilliant.

If you have been thinking of doing it but are nervous of whether you can complete it, go for it, put yourself through the training regime, you will succeed.

Special Red

The Tour de Munster has a "prologue" even on Saturday week (18/19 Feb) based out of Clonmel. Day one is a c.120km trip from Clonmel - Fethard - Killenaule - Ballingarry - The Commons - Tullaroan - Kilmanagh - KK City - Callan - Clonmel. Day two is c.70km heading down to Carrick and taking in Portlaw but not sure of the final route, when I find out I'll post it up. We're fundraising for DSI again this year and also on this Mid Winter Calibration Spin. Around 40 cyclists will be on the road either Saturday or Sunday or both days. It is a good indicator as to how well the group are wintering.

There is a "press launch" in the Left Bank Bar, KK for the KK city bucket shake this Saturday where we hope to get exposure on the local press and airwaves for the cycle the following week. All in an effort to drum up support for the event. So when you see the buckets shaking over this weekend in the locations I've mentioned be sure and give generously.