Cycling club Cork, cool jersey

alcyst

I was in Douglas, Cork today @ 1:15 as a group of cyclists was arriving (maybe going to local coffee shop, returning to start point). Best looking club jersey I've seen in a while, contrasting hoops in a good mix of colours. Couldn't link them up to any club photos, any suggestions on who it would have been?

Max_Charger

De Ronde van Cork?

http://app.strava.com/clubs/de-ronde-van-cork-cc

alcyst

That looks right. The group I saw seemed to have short sleeves & arm warmers. & were more impressive looking than some of the photos would suggest. Like the jersey though, good colours for overcast Februarys, nice contrast.

Only twigged the De, though should it be Da Ronde? Boy

karlmyson

That's us. Thanks for the compliment on the jersey. We try.
https://www.facebook.com/DeRondeVanCork

Lucena

What's the story behind the name of the club?

karlmyson

It's an homage to De Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders), one of our favourite races. A number of us are closet Belgian classics rider wannabes

The jersey colouring is based on the Belgian national strip, with Cork accents, and our font and logo is a Cork version of the Flanders logo.

stijnvanhuffel

Hi

"De Ronde van Cork" is Flemish and I think it refers to "De Ronde van Vlaanderen" or "Tour of Flanders" (http://www.rondevanvlaanderen.be/en)

Also the logo is the same only in other colors.

Regards
Stijn

cantalach

stijnvanhuffel wrote: »

Hi

"De Ronde van Cork" is Flemish and I think it refers to "De Ronde van Vlaanderen" or "Tour of Flanders" (http://www.rondevanvlaanderen.be/en)

Also the logo is the same only in other colors.

Regards
Stijn

If you look very closely, you'll see that the logo is subtley different to the official RvV logo. We've incorporated the logo of Cork City into the centre in the form of the sailing ship and the two castles.

brayblue24

Class looking jersey alright-well done

stijnvanhuffel

Oh yeah, It looks great, good idea btw!

cantalach

Incidentally, we were in particularly good form at Costa this afternoon, having just finished our club's eponymous training loop. It's probably the shortest Saturday loop we do, but also one of the hardest because it tries to simulate a Flanders type of course - a dozen hills in rapid succession to knock the stuffing out of you!

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2122854

The Big Lebowsky

Just checked out their facebook page...It would seem like they have an exclusive membership criteria that is something akin to a golf club,
ie you must be vouched for by one of their membership, before you are allowed to join....I assume they are mostly a group of newbies, as I didn't recognise any of them from my racing days. Anyway best of luck to them...All sorts of folks riding bikes these days..And they do say that cycling is the new golf;)

on_the_nickel

cantalach wrote: »

Incidentally, we were in particularly good form at Costa this afternoon, having just finished our club's eponymous training loop. It's probably the shortest Saturday loop we do, but also one of the hardest because it tries to simulate a Flanders type of course - a dozen hills in rapid succession to knock the stuffing out of you!

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2122854

Is this the "official" route now, Dave?

Myksyk

stijnvanhuffel wrote: »

Oh yeah, I looks great

Typically immodest Rastafarian cyclist.

stijnvanhuffel

Myksyk wrote: »

Typically immodest Rastafarian cyclist.

haha, of course it must be "It looks great":)

cantalach

The Big Lebowsky wrote: »

Just checked out their facebook page...It would seem like they have an exclusive membership criteria that is something akin to a golf club,
ie you must be vouched for by one of their membership, before you are allowed to join....I assume they are mostly a group of newbies, as I didn't recognise any of them from my racing days. Anyway best of luck to them...All sorts of folks riding bikes these days..And they do say that cycling is the new golf;)

How ironic that you should complain about exclusivity and then suggest that we must must be newbies because you don't recognise any of us from your racing days, the implication of which is that if one doesn't race one is not a cyclist. Exclusivity indeed.

Let's look at your "group of newbies" assumption. Of our five founding members, one has been riding for 30 years and raced back in the 80s and 90s. Another has been riding for roughly 25 years and there isn't a high col or passo that he hasn't been over (though he has never raced, so I guess this makes him a newbie by your definition). I myself have been riding for 7-8 years. I did a small bit of racing last year and intend doing a lot more this year. The fourth founder has been cycling in a serious way for a similar length of time to myself. I actually don't know how long the fifth founder has been cycling but I know she lived in Belgium for a time and cycled over there. Newbies the lot of us.

Regarding your claims of exclusivity, I'm not sure what creates that impression on our Faceboook page. Are you referring to the note that appears at the bottom of every training ride we post (the one that begins "Please note that unless otherwise stated, all events organised by DRvC CC are for club members and pre-approved guests only." etc.)? This is nothing but enforcement of the rules surrounding the Cycling Ireland insurance policy. Club rides are only covered by the policy if restricted to members or guests who must be limited to two try-outs. By 'pre-approved' we simply mean that if a member wants to bring a guest they just fire off an email or text to a committee member to keep it above board vis-a-vis the insurance policy. We make no apologies for applying a policy that keeps us insured. In the very early days of the club, we did have the idea that the club's growth could be best managed if we grew by association, but this was for reasons of safety rather than anything else, and that policy has long since been dropped (see below).

We have over ninety members now which somebody told me makes us one of the largest cycling clubs in the country. Our membership is 20% female, multi-national, and ranges in age from mid-teens to mid-fifties. We have people riding for 30 years and people riding for 3 months. In the last 3-4 months, as our profile has grown and our training groups have been spotted around the county, we have had a tonne of new members come to us through the Facebook page that weren't previously known to any of us. We have never denied membership to anyone.

Remember what Wiggo said about people on the Internet who throw out unsupported claims while hiding behind an alias? Yeah. My real name is Dave McCormack btw.

cantalach

on_the_nickel wrote: »

Is this the "official" route now, Dave?

Yes indeed. Exact same as 2012 - the only difference is that it now finishes with Coach instead of starting with Coach. The car park at Hop Island was a bit small and it seemed unfair to tie up all those spaces for hours.

We still have in mind turning this into an open sportive some time. Probably not this year because we've a number of other club initiatives in progress. But some time.

on_the_nickel

It's been tweaked slightly since last year, no? I try to do it solo every March and don't recall Ballinrea being on it (its one of my few KOMs so I could do without your lot going up there tbh!).

A sportive would be great tho' traffic might be an issue. Would definitely be interested in doing the loop as a guest with ye next time. If you exclusive bastards are all right with that, of course!

cantalach

on_the_nickel wrote: »

It's been tweaked slightly since last year, no? I try to do it solo every March and don't recall Ballinrea being on it (its one of my few KOMs so I could do without your lot going up there tbh!).

Ah right, I see what happened...

The original 2010/2011 version of the RvC didn't go up Ballinrea: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/258713

I added Ballinrea for the 2012 version but also moved the start from Douglas Court to Hop Island car park: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1081567

And as I was saying earlier, for 2013 I moved the start back to Douglas Court where there is a lot more parking: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2122854

A sportive would be great tho' traffic might be an issue. Would definitely be interested in doing the loop as a guest with ye next time. If you exclusive bastards are all right with that, of course!

LOL! We might be doing it again in a month or so - a group of the lads are heading over to Flanders to ride the RvV course and want the training. Keep an eye on the FB page. Hey you might even find that we're not a bunch of elitist arseholes and decide to join the club.

Re the sportive, planning would probably be the big issue alright because of the unfortunate combination of narrow roads and proximity to the city.

ford2600

You have a kom or two on strava? That Dave McCormack?

cantalach wrote: »

Ah right, I see what happened...

The original 2010/2011 version of the RvC didn't go up Ballinrea: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/258713

I added Ballinrea for the 2012 version but also moved the start from Douglas Court to Hop Island car park: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1081567

And as I was saying earlier, for 2013 I moved the start back to Douglas Court where there is a lot more parking: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2122854



LOL! We might be doing it again in a month or so - a group of the lads are heading over to Flanders to ride the RvV course and want the training. Keep an eye on the FB page. Hey you might even find that we're not a bunch of elitist arseholes and decide to join the club.

Re the sportive, planning would probably be the big issue alright because of the unfortunate combination of narrow roads and proximity to the city.

cantalach

ford2600 wrote: »

You have a kom or two on strava? That Dave McCormack?

I guess!

on_the_nickel

cantalach wrote: »

LOL! We might be doing it again in a month or so - a group of the lads are heading over to Flanders to ride the RvV course and want the training. Keep an eye on the FB page. Hey you might even find that we're not a bunch of elitist arseholes and decide to join the club.

I'm with the Carrigdhoun lads, but love (hate) the route, would be interested in tagging along some time.

ROK ON

Dave.
I think there is increasing demand for tough events - I guess it must be the mid. Life crisis that most of us are going thru.

I would love to do this route and must head over to do it some time.
Have a though, given that it is a short route for a sportif, maybe consider a late start.
That 7pm on a weekday during the summer, or a similar time on a Sunday.

Alternatively a 7am start on e it gets brighter. That way you vet the event you want on roads as quiet as they are ever going to be.

Just my 2c.

By the way, to Big Lebowski. I am not a member of DRVCC but have risen with these guys a few times. Very much mistaken sir.
Welcoming, good fun, fantastic cyclists with a great ethos.
If I lived in Cork I would join (that is if I got a nomination ;-) ).

funnights74

cantalach wrote: »

Incidentally, we were in particularly good form at Costa this afternoon, having just finished our club's eponymous training loop. It's probably the shortest Saturday loop we do, but also one of the hardest because it tries to simulate a Flanders type of course - a dozen hills in rapid succession to knock the stuffing out of you!

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2122854

Jaysus thats some route, spur hill alone has sections of "wall". Tough men.

cantalach

ROK ON wrote: »

I would love to do this route and must head over to do it some time.
Have a though, given that it is a short route for a sportif, maybe consider a late start.
That 7pm on a weekday during the summer, or a similar time on a Sunday.

Alternatively a 7am start on e it gets brighter. That way you vet the event you want on roads as quiet as they are ever going to be.

Thanks, J - interesting ideas. See you on the road soon hopefully.

CptMackey

That is some crazy route. The legs must be hanging off ye after that. I'd want more than coffee after.

Most likely an ambulance :pac:

murph226

I passed you coming up the hill towards Monkstown Golf Club, there was a few of you that were all over the road, it was pretty dangerous imho.

This is not a rant btw just a heads up, nice jersey and fair play that is some route, I must try it out at some stage.

cantalach

murph226 wrote: »

I passed you coming up the hill towards Monkstown Golf Club, there was a few of you that were all over the road, it was pretty dangerous imho.

Thanks for the heads-up and I will take that on board. The ride leaders in our club always try to get the group to stick as close as possible to the left. But as you probably know, all the pre-ride safety lectures in the World go out the window when somebody is labouring up a 15% gradient with the adrenaline flowing. It shouldn't happen though. Thanks again.