Rás Chonamara

colm_gti

Surprising there is no mention of any of the stage races next weekend yet, may as well kick things off with this one

Anyone heading west for this?

Also, anyone ride this last year that wouldn't mind answering a question or two for me?

crashoveroid

colm_gti wrote: »

Surprising there is no mention of any of the stage races next weekend yet, may as well kick things off with this one

Anyone heading west for this?

Also, anyone ride this last year that wouldn't mind answering a question or two for me?

I'm going to this one should be a good one my first year here wanted to go to RAS M but missed it this year due to work commitments on the Friday. Reports said it was a good race i have no great info on the stages would like to see some profiles of the stages.

Redmond101

Just looked up the setup for the 3 days......feel kinda tired just reading it. Stage 3 would be a very interesting one to watch. If i was in the West I would swing by for a gander

Time and Routes
Stage 1 (March 30th)
Start Time: 11am
95km Road Race
Race Route: Oughterard – Maam Cross – Maam – cornamona – Finny – Maam – Maam Cross – Oughterard

Stage 2A (March 31st)
Start Time: 8.30am
10km Time Trial
Location: Gleann Circuit

Stage 2B (March 31st)
Start Time: 1pm
95km Road Race
Race Route: Oughterard – Maam Cross – Leenane – Kylemore – Recess – Maam Cross – Oughterard

Stage 3 (April 1st)
Start Time: 10am
50km Road Race
Location: 5 Laps of Gleann Circuit

crashoveroid

Cheers does any one have any Strava links that raced this last year would love just to see the profiles.

dedocdude

From a few years back, I remember the TT course being quite technical - I rode it on a tt bike with disk on rear and afterwards felt it wasn't an advantage - only on the last half of the course could you get into and stay in your aero position first half was up, down, left, right. Good bit of a crosswind off the lake on the second half of the course too - That said, the wind can change.

So road bike and aero bars would not be a disadvantage I reckon.

This is presuming its the same course.

Best of luck to all riding -

patrick151

I havent ridden but from google

stage 1: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/80488977

TT: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/80621091

stage 2b: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/372272

Can't find stage 3 though

colm_gti

dedocdude wrote: »

From a few years back, I remember the TT course being quite technical - I rode it on a tt bike with disk on rear and afterwards felt it wasn't an advantage - only on the last half of the course could you get into and stay in your aero position first half was up, down, left, right. Good bit of a crosswind off the lake on the second half of the course too - That said, the wind can change.

So road bike and aero bars would not be a disadvantage I reckon.

This is presuming its the same course.

Best of luck to all riding -

This is the info I'm looking for, debating whether it would be worth my while to try and squeeze my TT bike into the car or not, you reckon I'd be as well to leave it at home?

Huff n Puff

colm_gti wrote: »

Surprising there is no mention of any of the stage races next weekend yet, may as well kick things off with this one

Anyone heading west for this?

Also, anyone ride this last year that wouldn't mind answering a question or two for me?

Myself and the brother will be jumping in the camper van and heading west for this. Should be a nice early season test. Might jump in an early breakaway with you again Colm.

For what its worth, I will be bringing a TT bike and would advise the same. It's better to have the option.

With the Tour of the North being cancelled do people reckon some of those lads will head west for this instead?

dedocdude

colm_gti wrote: »

This is the info I'm looking for, debating whether it would be worth my while to try and squeeze my TT bike into the car or not, you reckon I'd be as well to leave it at home?

Results in this race would suggest the TT is not really the deciding stage, unlike Gorey for example where its all about the TT - In Connemara the stages will usually break things up as far as i can remember.

That said, the year i rode it, the TT winner had full TT kit, but the fella is a beast. But if u have a TT bike and space in your van, might be kicking yourself if you dont bring it.

Personally, if I was headed up there again this weekend, I would go road bike and clipons; If i was going to Gorey, TT bike; If i was going to the North, snow plough and if i was going to Kerry, a bible.

colm_gti

Huff n Puff wrote: »

Myself and the brother will be jumping in the camper van and heading west for this. Should be a nice early season test. Might jump in an early breakaway with you again Colm.

For what its worth, I will be bringing a TT bike and would advise the same. It's better to have the option.

With the Tour of the North being cancelled do people reckon some of those lads will head west for this instead?

Sounds like a plan

I'm bringing 2 other club mates down with me so it may be a squeeze to get the 4th bike in, but I'll make it work if it's worth it. You're right though, might be sorry if I don't bring it down.

Good point about the tour of the North, surely this is the only race down south that isn't already full that they can join in for?

dedocdude wrote: »

Personally, if I was headed up there again this weekend, I would go road bike and clipons; If i was going to Gorey, TT bike; If i was going to the North, snow plough and if i was going to Kerry, a bible.

Hahaha best comment of the year, I nearly fell off my chair laughing!

Thanks for the input dedocdude, nice to get some opinions from someone that's ridden it before!

colm_gti

Just read on twitter that they have over 100 riders now registered as of this morning and are nearing capacity....looks like there may have been an influx following the cancellation of the Tour of the North!

Just about to leave Meath/Dublin now and as I walk out the door Mam tells me to "Stay out of trouble at the front of the bunch!"

Sound advice as always Mam! :rolleyes:

dedocdude

@colm_gti - you gonna bring the TT rig?

crusher000

It's cold but sun is shinning. Winds of 17-20 mph promised for the weekend.

trin duc

Does anyone know what time the tt is starting in the morning? What order is it been ran off?

dedocdude

Here u go - 8:30 start and dont forget the hour changes, so u might want to eat ur porridge now
http://raschonamara.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ras-chonamara-time-trial-start-2013.pdf

todays results - fierce time gaps - munster juniors looking good.

http://raschonamara.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ras-chonamara-stage-1-2013.pdf

DirkVoodoo

I see Colm's name well up in the list, well done chap.

daragh_

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I see Colm's name well up in the list, well done chap.

Thanks for posting. Go on Colm!

colm_gti

Cheers lads, rough day today!!

Started too far back in the bunch, pace was mental from the outset, legs wouldn't loosen up!

We went over a long drag very early on and I though I was going to loose the wheel in front but thankfully there was a lull in the bunch and I stayed on. Shortly after this some chap hauled too hard on the brakes and took a few lads down, haven't heard how they are but hopefully they're ok! Anyway, I just about managed to get through ok, but had to chase like a dog to catch back on, burning a few too matches in the process!

Hung around the middle-back of the bunch for a while after this, til the last climb that plateau'd at the top, this was enough to crack me. Caught a club mate and one other on the following descent, and a group bridged across to us, and we worked pretty well to try and catch on. We had the race traffic in our sights on numerous occasions, and apparently we had the gap down to 15 seconds at one stage, but the headwind was rough and wore us down. Our group rolled in about 4:39 minutes down on the leader.

The surface is pretty draining, think featherbeds times 10! I can see the merits of a carbon frame now...time to start shopping!

The TT tomorrow is rough looking, and the following 90km race will sort the men from the boys, or the A2's from the A3's :rolleyes:

colm_gti

dedocdude wrote: »

@colm_gti - you gonna bring the TT rig?

Brought the TT bike, have my skinsuit and aero helmet laid out for the morning. Probably might have been better using the road bike but ya know, I'm almost 5 minutes down on the leader, and I did't buy a TT bike to gather dust so I may as well use it :rolleyes:

Pawlie

colm_gti wrote: »

Brought the TT bike, have my skinsuit and aero helmet laid out for the morning. Probably might have been better using the road bike but ya know, I'm almost 5 minutes down on the leader, and I did't buy a TT bike to gather dust so I may as well use it :rolleyes:

best of luck man over the next few days

dedocdude

colm_gti wrote: »

Brought the TT bike, have my skinsuit and aero helmet laid out for the morning. Probably might have been better using the road bike but ya know, I'm almost 5 minutes down on the leader, and I did't buy a TT bike to gather dust so I may as well use it :rolleyes:

good man, claw some of that 5 mins back so.

I see in the recent Micky Palmer TT Eoin Whelan took well over a min out of Chris Troy - on that form you would have to fancy Whelan again tomorrow.

CillianL

To ColmGTI

Do you know how Paddy Smith (Trinity CC) or the Dublin Wheelers Team have been getting on? As fair as I know Neil Long is doing well in the KOM classification.

Good luck in the TT by the way

patrick151

CillianL wrote: »

To ColmGTI

Do you know how Paddy Smith (Trinity CC) or the Dublin Wheelers Team have been getting on?

What's up Cillian, straight from the horses mouth. I did ok, finished in the peloton. Lost 3 seconds to people in the same group as me though; figured I didn't need to keep sprinting once all the minor placings had been filled and either a small gap opened or my time was taken according to when I crossed the line on my timing chip.

Neil was in the break all day and finished 4th 1 second down. I think it was Damian who finished with me then the others came in over a few minutes. One of your lads had someone plough into the back of him when he braked to avoid a cross. Did a bit of damage to his bike but he finished the race

buffalo

patrick151 wrote: »

One of your lads had someone plough into the back of him when he braked to avoid a cross. Did a bit of damage to his bike but he finished the race

Who's been leaving crucifixes on the course?!

CillianL

Must have been either Faherty, Alan Brosnan, Ronan or Cathal thats a shame alright, sounds like its been tough going

colm_gti

Today got off to a pretty disappointing start...

My scheduled TT time was at 9:09am, so I went up at about 8:30 am and done a good warm up, let out any remaining fluids and rolled up to the start line at 9:08:15, according to my garmin edge 500, assuming 45 seconds early would be plenty of time. When I arrived I was told I missed my slot. They were running early and never alerted anyway. Not only did this mean I was starting an hour later, but it also meant that they were penalising me 1 minute! There were about 10 of us that suffered the same fate. I was a bit let down that we were being penalised for their choice to run a bit earlier, especially considering it was cold and lads weren't going to hang around waiting for their time. Only for me telling any nearby lads to where I was parked there probably would have been a lot more late starts! Anyway, I was glad I done it on my TT bike, I was in the aero position for 80% of the course. I passed my minute man and my 2 minute man, though I'm not sure what effort they were putting in. I managed the lumpy, technical 8.6km in 13:35 (my official time is 14:35 thanks to my penalty...).

The 90km road race in the afternoon started similarly to yesterdays, setting a blistering pace out of Oughterard. Unfortunately there was a bad pile up early on that held a lot of lads up, and 5 lads that missed it powered off into the distance and stayed away til the end. I got caught up in the bottleneck and chased hard to get back on AGAIN! I got onto a small bunch that was chasing the main bunch. We chased pretty hard for what must have been about 20km and caught on, and just as we did the bunch upped the pace and we were all spat out again. We chased for another 20km and got back on just before Inagh Valley. It was so windy here, like a wind tunnel, and nobody wanted to work. I was happy to sandbag for about 15-20km here at 20km/h. The Sensa Munster Development lads attacked and attacked and attacked and dragged our diminished bunch through the worst patch of road I've ever been up, and we stayed together right til the end I pulled at the front to give the Munster lads a rest once or twice, it hurt. One of the Aquablue lads attacked 4km out with great class and held it til the end to take 6th. I launched a kamikazee attack 1km out, mainly to get across the bridge first and avoid the bottleneck. I had 7th place in my sights but blew up 500m from the line and got swallowed back up by the bunch...oh well, can't say I didn't try :rolleyes:

CillianL

That's bad form by the organisers. It must have been because a fair few bodies bailed out which speeded up the schedule. If I'm correct you're average for that course was just under 38km/hr any idea what the winning time was?

colm_gti

CillianL wrote: »

That's bad form by the organisers. It must have been because a fair few bodies bailed out which speeded up the schedule. If I'm correct you're average for that course was just under 38km/hr any idea what the winning time was?

You're maths is spot on

Winning time was 12:44....animal!

patrick151

Winning time was 12:45 i think

colm_gti

patrick151 wrote: »

Winning time was 12:45 i think

One of the lads here reckons there was a 12:44 as well, either way thats a savage time!

dedocdude

well done lads, tough day for testing - @colm_gti hope i wasnt giving you a bum steer suggesting a road bike, each to their own I guess. :-)

Thats bad from the organisers alright, i have never come across that in all my years.

budgie001

I rode today, organisers were bang on with my time and team mates......., though it was really well organised to be fair, but dead right about the roads, pull the legs off ya

fixie fox

Results anyone?

Shadow78

http://raschonamara.ie for results

buffalo

That's damn ****ty about the minute penalty colm, I'd be kicking up a stink. You were told a time and you showed up, unless you have a team manager who was told otherwise, how are you supposed to know? Could make all the difference in the GC in the end.

You're doing well, and I see a few abandonments before Stage 3, so soldier on - still time to jump up the GC on stage four!

colm_gti

Ah, I'd probably only be up 3 or 4 places on GC if I got my minute back, no point kicking up much of a stink to be honest, the organisers were spot on, but the comissaire was no craic at all!

Tough enough stage today, 5 laps of the TT course in reverse, a proper war of attrition. Roads were very narrow so I was a bit apprehensive going into it, but it turned out to be pretty safe. Lot of lads cracked on the first hill/drag and I had to go round a few and chase to get back on. Lads seemed to pop off each lap so it was just a matter of following the ones that didn't. 2 juniors went clear at the start of the first lap and stayed away til the finish, 30 seconds up on us. Plan for the day was to stay upright and out of trouble, was delighted to manage a finish in the bunch.

Started today at 31st (11th A3) on GC, would be over the moon to get into the top 30 and top 10 A3's across the line.

Despite the mishap with TT times, it was a well run event and would be happy to do it again in the future, kudos to the organisers.

Hopefully the ~300kms of racing in the legs will stand to me moving forward!

fixie fox

Who won?

dedocdude

fixie fox wrote: »

Who won?

Cian Delaney of Stamullen RC - GC results

stage 4 results

Careful asking on here for results, some folk dont like it much in my experience -

Anyway - I notice they weren't taking a bunch time for this event, and using the actual time - a rider crossed the line, so from front of group to back its a few seconds covering everyone one instead of one time as you would usually expect. Strange one that.

trin duc

Any photos of the ras

seamus

9th A3, 28th overall. Great job Colm, savage racing today judging by Strava. That upgrade will be with you in no time.

crashoveroid

colm_gti wrote: »

One of the Aquablue lads attacked 4km out with great class and held it til the end to take 6th.:

It was fifth i dont know about class but with that headwind 30 sec in and i was regretting it. But it all worked out well done on finishing. Tough weekend if you dont like the wind.

colm_gti

crashoveroid wrote: »

It was fifth i dont know about class but with that headwind 30 sec in and i was regretting it. But it all worked out well done on finishing. Tough weekend if you dont like the wind.

My bad, thought there were 5 lads gone up the road, didn't realise it was only 4, you done very well to stay away in that wind!

Bit disappointed at myself over missing the TT slot, would be up 3 places on GC :rolleyes:, though I admit a lot my jumps on GC can probably be attributed to others misfortunes. I still think a 1 minute penalty for missing the TT is way too harsh! No?

Also re bunch times, everyone was given a transponder for the front fork, so you got an actual time as opposed to a bunch time.

Arthurdaly

Ive gotta agree with Dedo, there needs to be better coverage! Especially on a big weekend of racing like there is now.

colm_gti

Arthurdaly wrote: »

Ive gotta agree with Dedo, there needs to be better coverage! Especially on a big weekend of racing like there is now.

I know Rás Mumhan and Gorey are pretty big races, but it's a shame that this one goes almost un-noticed, I really enjoyed the experience (though not at the time!!)

That young lad Eddie Dunbar deserves a mention, actually the whole Munster development team do, they're unbelievably strong! Coming back in yesterday that Eddie lad was dragging the whole bunch home, attacking and attacking and attacking into a ferocious headwind, and when he wasn't he was just up out of the saddle looking around at the rest of the bunch suffering, praying for him not to attack again. I came up to do a few pulls at the front and help him out, but I could just imagine him laughing at me every time I did! The lad will be a superstar if he keeps it up, it's great to see such aggression in races!

pprendeville

I was talking to a Limerick family last week down at the Des Hanlon and they mentioned Eddie Dunbar as well. He's meant to be a great prospect.

Arthurdaly

Yes there is a certain pecking order in terms of all the races this weekend but I am genuinely interested in hearing the results of all these races.

Yes I cant wait until tomorrow but it doesn't have the same impact. Irishcycling was a great website, great previews, great pictures, great race reports and most importantly prompt results! Wish they were back online.

glasscranks541

Just did Ras Chonnemara for the first time. its a great race and has the potential to be a top event that all A2s and juniors would want to win. Promoting it a bit better would certainly help. I thought those munster juniors messed up the racing for others...sitting on for 60km and then taking the stage was poor form (as noted by Cian in his winners speech which was great). Poor form by young Dunbar too to attack Whelan when he was sitting up and waiting for him after he took a wrong turn. I guess they'll learn racing etiquette with experience

colm_gti

glasscranks541 wrote: »

Just did Ras Chonnemara for the first time. its a great race and has the potential to be a top event that all A2s and juniors would want to win. Promoting it a bit better would certainly help. I thought those munster juniors messed up the racing for others...sitting on for 60km and then taking the stage was poor form (as noted by Cian in his winners speech which was great). Poor form by young Dunbar too to attack Whelan when he was sitting up and waiting for him after he took a wrong turn. I guess they'll learn racing etiquette with experience

Don't know about Saturday because I was dropped by the bunch when I foolishly let a wheel go on that Finny climb, but they certainly didn't sit on in Sundays afternoon stage. They were the ones driving the pace for the last 40km when nobody else wanted to work. And in all cases the stage was won by a small break. Now I don't know the dynamics of each break, but I can only assume they worked well to take out the time gaps they did on the bunch each day. I can't get over how strong some of them lads are.

dedocdude

yes the lad Dunbar is just into the junior ranks I think, he was a good lad there but being small was his disadvantage, however looking at photos of him now he seems to be getting a bit of a growth spurt on now which makes all the difference - these things really level out after junior racing - but when u see the top juniors now and in last few years, Dylan Foley, Sean Hahessey, Ryan Mullen etc - all these lads are over 6ft its a hugh advantage - but if a kid stays with it, these things even out in the end.

I'm generalizing of course but you get the idea - obviously exceptions to this theory - Paidi O'Brien was Irish Junior Champ - so always been a motorbike even at 5 and half feet

Huff n Puff

It was hard to understand what the tactics were on Sunday.

From my point of view, it looked like the juniors were trying to shut down the main bunch to set up the junior in the front breakaway for the stage victory. Attack after attack was chased down, until it got to a stage where people just stopped attacking because it was clear nobody was going to be allowed to get away. The bunch then just crawled to the finish line. Granted, Stephen and Eddie pushed on the pace a little in the last few miles but by that time the breakaway was well out of sight and for most the tour had finished in terms of a contest.

The juniors sacrificing the GC for a stage win doesn't really make much sense though. What would make more sense is if the yellow jersey and 2nd place on GC just cancelled each other out, resulting in a stalemate on the road and a win for the breakaway.

The junior in the breakaway was probably not working because his GC man (Eddie Dunbar) was in the bunch behind. Whether he should have contested the sprint is another matter. I wouldn't do it personally, but I have no problem with him giving it a go.

With regards to Eddie attacking at the top of the climb after taking a wrong turn. He probably just didn't know that the bunch had slowed to let him get back on. It wasn't as if he was delayed for very long when making that wrong turn. For me, Eddie Dunbar was the class act in this race and has a very bright future.

I am certainly not looking forward to having to take these boys on again in the Corkman!

Well done to the organisers and everyone that raced and hopefully all those that crashed recover soon.

joe50

pprendeville wrote: »

I was talking to a Limerick family last week down at the Des Hanlon and they mentioned Eddie Dunbar as well. He's meant to be a great prospect.

you're more than welcome to take him racing in Leinster every week