Tour of Sligo 2013 ? Advice

EaSwe

I'm 16 and thinking of doing the 160k ox mountain challenge in the tour of Sligo in May. I've comfortably done 50k o (on a windy day), having gotten a bike for Christmas. Does anyone have any tips, advice or even essential pieces of kit (nothing too fancy) for me? I'm 20+km from my nearest cycling club so I'm not sure is it worth my while joining given how far it is away? Should I?

Thanks in advance,

shaka

You can train on your own but 20km ain't far to go for a cycling club, when your a bit fitter it could be used as part of your training to cycle to and from training.

Doing 50km on a bad day this time of year is a good start, how often are you out training and what distances are you covering ?

Cycling shoes,gloves,good pair of bib shorts,Warming winter jacket and a few base layers.

michael196

Best advice :

Join the club .

ednwireland

get yourself upto about 120km + (in around or under 5 hours) by april and you would probably ok i did it in 2010 and 2011 (only managed the 60 in 2012 due to a back injury).
finished in 7 and 6.5 hours.

Esroh

Youngman if you only have the bike since christmas and were comfortable doing 50 km just keep riding your bike.

Re the club join it. You will get all the advice you will need and there maybe members that are near you that you could get out with.

EaSwe

Sorry for having ignored all your really helpful replies until now. I think I'll join the club. How much of a difference do shoes (and the appropriate pedals) make? I haven't been out much since, only a few short rides but on Saturday went out and did a hilly 70k (3.5hrs) by Lough Easkey along some of the tour of Sligo route. Was tough,

Unrelated: Is it normal for a driver, on a road to narrow for them to safely overtake to; shout at you, beep and drive up your ass?

nilhg

EaSwe wrote: »

Sorry for having ignored all your really helpful replies until now. I think I'll join the club. How much of a difference do shoes (and the appropriate pedals) make? I haven't been out much since, only a few short rides but on Saturday went out and did a hilly 70k (3.5hrs) by Lough Easkey along some of the tour of Sligo route. Was tough,

Unrelated: Is it normal for a driver, on a road to narrow for them to safely overtake to; shout at you, beep and drive up your ass?

+1 for joining the club, the 20km may not always be a problem, it's possible that some of their spins will be heading out in your direction so it should be possible to meetup with them.

Re the driver, that's not normal or acceptable behavior, if you got his number go to the guards.

EaSwe

nilhg wrote: »

+1 for joining the club, the 20km may not always be a problem, it's possible that some of their spins will be heading out in your direction so it should be possible to meetup with them.

Re the driver, that's not normal or acceptable behavior, if you got his number go to the guards.

Haven't got round to joining just yet Thought I got the car's number but didn't match description, was taking a break around a mile up the road so not too bad, scary though all the same

joxerjohn

You need to watch out for those Ssshligo byes they don't take any prisioner I am told ! Completely unacceptable behaviour of course but don't let it put you off.

Re the shoes they will make a big difference and so they are well worth investigating.

If you join up with the club they will will most probably be planning to take part in the Tour of Sligo anyway and will be training for it. Depending on how you go with them you can decide if you are ready for the 160km or else do the 100 km on the day. There wouldn't be any point in trying to do the 160 if you hadn't put in the training required for it as a bad experience would only put off.

Best of luck with it.

EaSwe

Thanks all, climbed Ladies Brae on Sunday from the Skreen side. Was tough but do-able . Happy to have done it. On my way down the other side had a fall. Road has been recently resurfaced, was passing a car coming the other way on narrow bit and piles of gravel each side of the road. Cycled into gravel, and bike just went sideways. Lesson learned. Hopefully the road will be in better condition in May.

ednwireland

dont forget entries opened today !

http://www.tourofsligo.ie/how-to-enter/

Iwernia

Donegal Bay Cycling Club is hosting its first sportive event. There are three route options which have been chosen to accommodate a wide range of cycling abilities while allowing participants enjoy some of Donegal’s most impressive scenery. This event allows cyclists who intend to participate in the An Post Tour of Sligo on the May Bank Holiday weekend to test their fitness on routes which are just slightly shorter than those on the Sligo event.

http://www.donegalbaycyclingclub.com/donegal-bays-spring-classic-leisure-events/

EaSwe

ednwireland wrote: »

get yourself upto about 120km + (in around or under 5 hours) by april and you would probably ok i did it in 2010 and 2011 (only managed the 60 in 2012 due to a back injury).
finished in 7 and 6.5 hours.

Thanks for that, Cycled 90k on Saturday taking in Lough Easkey and Ladies Brae (from Skreen). Took 4 hours (avg 23kph) and was absolutely wrecked after. Bit apprehensive afterwards, is it still a realistic goal?

ednwireland

EaSwe wrote: »

Thanks for that, Cycled 90k on Saturday taking in Lough Easkey and Ladies Brae (from Skreen). Took 4 hours (avg 23kph) and was absolutely wrecked after. Bit apprehensive afterwards, is it still a realistic goal?

depends what you want to achieve (i.e how fast you want to ride), remember its still 2 and half months keep chipping away at the mileage try and get an evening in during the week once the evenings lengthen out,
are you doing that 90k on your own ? today was a tough day to be out with that wind. remember you wont ride round on your own either. every time I've ridden it i manage to tag along with whatever group comes past me. there's a lot of people doing it

obviously unless your planning to stay at the front and do it in under 5 hours!

edit: unless your old like me! it dont get any easier getting your fitness back i can tell you

EaSwe

ednwireland wrote: »

depends what you want to achieve (i.e how fast you want to ride), remember its still 2 and half months keep chipping away at the mileage try and get an evening in during the week once the evenings lengthen out,
are you doing that 90k on your own ? today was a tough day to be out with that wind. remember you wont ride round on your own either. every time I've ridden it i manage to tag along with whatever group comes past me. there's a lot of people doing it

obviously unless your planning to stay at the front and do it in under 5 hours!

edit: unless your old like me! it dont get any easier getting your fitness back i can tell you

Lol Definitley won't be finishing under 5 hours anyways! I did it with my dad (a fellow cycling noob) How far should I be aiming to do by April? I don't doing think doing 130k in practice will be an issue it's just the whole mountains/hills that are involved? Thanks again,

ford2600

You'll be grand, just keep getting out as much as you can.
Twice during week if you can with at least one decent weekend spin and you'll build up the mileage fine.
Bought a bike about 6 weeks before my first WIcklow 200 7 years ago, and managed away fine, and I'm very old compared to you!
Enjoy

ednwireland

EaSwe wrote: »

Lol Definitley won't be finishing under 5 hours anyways! I did it with my dad (a fellow cycling noob) How far should I be aiming to do by April? I don't doing think doing 130k in practice will be an issue it's just the whole mountains/hills that are involved? Thanks again,

to be honest its not that hilly

i've got 1598m in 2011 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/84376288

from what your saying you'll be grand

this is hilly
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/62457541

Gipo3

New route this year, ie more climbing. Two climbs of ladies brae plus mass hill at Lough Easkey and another new climb toward the end.

ednwireland

Gipo3 wrote: »

New route this year, ie more climbing. Two climbs of ladies brae plus mass hill at Lough Easkey and another new climb toward the end.

mapmyride only reckons 995m thats less than my garmin ! be interesting to see a proper height gain
http://www.tourofsligo.ie/the-routes/160km-ox-mountain-challenge/

mikesavo2003

Hi all just wondering is there a time limit to finish 100km tour of Sligo section? Went out and completed it last Sunday and time was near 5hrs. Had hoped to do it in 4 or under but wind was terrible debating on trying 160k but worried bout time limit normaly wud be averaging up on 27k - 30km per hr during summer months just haven't been out in week evenings yet but hopefully time change will sort dat

shaka

mikesavo2003 wrote: »

Hi all just wondering is there a time limit to finish 100km tour of Sligo section? Went out and completed it last Sunday and time was near 5hrs. Had hoped to do it in 4 or under but wind was terrible debating on trying 160k but worried bout time limit normaly wud be averaging up on 27k - 30km per hr during summer months just haven't been out in week evenings yet but hopefully time change will sort dat

There is sometimes cut offs on various cycles but if I was I wouldn't be too worried , it's been pretty windy as you say and you were on your own and hadn't been out during week . Couple of weeks cycling will get you sorted

talkabout

ednwireland wrote: »

mapmyride only reckons 995m thats less than my garmin ! be interesting to see a proper height gain
http://www.tourofsligo.ie/the-routes/160km-ox-mountain-challenge/

I've found mapmyride seriously underestimates elevation gain. Does anyone know the elevation gain for the 100km route this year?.

topcat291169

Just on the off chance would anyone have the current route for the 160k challenge for the tour of Sligo on garmin as I would like to download it but cannot find it anywhere please

detones

So anybody on here doing this or have any first hand knowledge of this years Routes. Signed up to do 100k. Had a look on the TOS website, I see there a climb called Ladies Brae at 250m! how tough is this Climb? Seems to come in early enough on the route which is good.

Looking forward to it anyway.

ednwireland

detones wrote: »

So anybody on here doing this or have any first hand knowledge of this years Routes. Signed up to do 100k. Had a look on the TOS website, I see there a climb called Ladies Brae at 250m! how tough is this Climb? Seems to come in early enough on the route which is good.

Looking forward to it anyway.

its not that bad, its not the alps (always amazes me how many people manage to walk up climbs) anyway the way they are doing the 100km is new this year so we might all be in for a suprise !

anyway see you on the 100k (i'll be one of the many donegal bay jerseys)

ispyvisuals

detones wrote: »

So anybody on here doing this or have any first hand knowledge of this years Routes. Signed up to do 100k. Had a look on the TOS website, I see there a climb called Ladies Brae at 250m! how tough is this Climb? Seems to come in early enough on the route which is good.

Looking forward to it anyway.

I did this climb today while taking in the ballisoadare-collooney section of the 100km route, have only been out 2/3 times this year and did no winter training.

Found it very tough, much tougher then last years hungry rock climb, although it does take the 100km through much more scenic countryside.

Its one of those annoying climbs where you think your over it but turn a corner and it just keeps on going up...very narrow road, grass in middle in parts and a cattle grate at one point.

As mentioned above the decent is fairly letal so take care..

Also after dromahair on the home stretch the route turns right as opposed to previous years where it follows the lake, apparently the hill here is again steeper but i havent been out this road yet.

detones

Thanks ispyvisual sounds an adventure! Lets hope It's dry on the day. Yeah that climb will make or break us could be some early walkers :-) the 160k is going up it twice.

The Noble Nudge

Thinking of doing this myself how long of a drive from Dublin? I'm guessing 3 hours......???

ednwireland

ispyvisuals wrote: »

Its one of those annoying climbs where you think your over it but turn a corner and it just keeps on going up...very narrow road, grass in middle in parts and a cattle grate at one point.

:cool:

reilig

The Noble Nudge wrote: »

Thinking of doing this myself how long of a drive from Dublin? I'm guessing 3 hours......???

About 3 hours.

However, entry closed on wednsday last!

drops

You can still enter until May 5th but its an extra €5 late charge, i regularly do the run to Dublin and it takes about 2:30 hrs unless you hit bad traffic.

Did the 100k route a few days ago, its not too bad, the hill out of Dromahaire towards the end is a sting in the tail and the decent of Ladys Brae is sketchy with lots of gravel in the center of the road and the road surface is bad.