The Angel of Mons 200

NamelessPhil

The first official audax of the year is on Saturday.

The Angel of Mons now starts and finishes at Whitehall Church. The final route map isn't up yet, but the route description is of a 200km ramble up the east coast towards Drogheda and Castlebellingham, across to Slane and back to Whitehall via Ratoath and Finglas.

The weather forecast is showery and cold. Sunrise is at 08:21 and sunset at 16:55. Winds will be moderate westerly so it'll probably feel cold enough between showers.

Best of luck to anyone else doing it!

Koobcam

Anyone know if it's possible to turn up on the day to do this and hand over the fiver for entry/plus whatever for the one-day license without having registered first?

NamelessPhil

The contact details of the organiser are in the first link. The closing date was Monday and there are no online entries.

cdaly_

Koobcam wrote: »

Anyone know if it's possible to turn up on the day to do this and hand over the fiver for entry/plus whatever for the one-day license without having registered first?

I wouldn't think so. There are brevet cards to be prepared and so on. The King's Mountain 200 is only 3 weeks later though...

Koobcam

cdaly_ wrote: »

I wouldn't think so. There are brevet cards to be prepared and so on. The King's Mountain 200 is only 3 weeks later though...

Yeah, that's probably a better bet. I want to get one 200k under my belt before the middle of February if possible. Pity it's a day before the Ned Flanagan race in Kildare,so that will be a lovely weekend.

daragh_

Youze are all mad.

Enjoy. Looking forward to reading epic reports.

Alek

North is soooo boooring to ride

(just looking for an excuse not to join... )

cdaly_

Looks like being cold, windy and occasionally wet tomorrow. Should be too windy for morning frost but wrap up warm folks!...

detones

One if the lads in my club is planning on doing this on a fixed speed. Will
Be a fair aul slog if the wind blows.

CramCycle

Went to go down to wave them off before work today but I got a call to come in even earlier than planned. At least it was dry when they set off. Hope they enjoy the wind for at least half of the day.

Inquitus

And I am glad I had a good excuse not to do this. Ronnie seems to have a knack with the weather!

Inquitus

Anyone back from this, NCD didn't look like a nice place to be out and about on the bike for 200km today, I'd say the audax medals were well earned today!

smacl

Working outdoors most of today, ducking back inside for the hail showers and ridiculous winds. Thinking of you guys, not a nice day for a long spin. Hope y'all made it back ok, and massive chapeau from one who wouldn't even dream of it!

Wishbone Ash

detones wrote: »

One if the lads in my club is planning on doing this on a fixed speed. Will
Be a fair aul slog if the wind blows.

He has it up on Strava - 209kms on a fixie in that weather. Savage!

Inquitus

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

He has it up on Strava - 209kms on a fixie in that weather. Savage!

Aye I was just looking, fair pay to Olivier, some effort fixed and filthy weather.

NamelessPhil

That was epic!

The first 50 km to Skerries were fine, small mucky roads and a tailwind. In Skerries a brief shower passed over and we pushed on to Balbriggan. Coming out of Balbriggan a sudden squall hit head on, strong wind and blinding rain and hail. Our little group took shelter in a nearby carpark until it blew over. Between Balbriggan and Drogheda it was windy and overcast but mostly dry.

After Drogheda the weather improved, the wind slackened and the views over to the Mournes were great. The route turned south at Castlebellingham and the headwind reappeared. The sky darkened and on the road to Collon the hail came down. The road was rapidly covered in slush and the next 40 minutes were apocalyptic with multiple hills and blowing sleet. I made it to Slane chilled through.

I left Slane with two lads from Wolftrap CC at 5:40pm and we made it back to Dublin by 7:50pm.

Some day!

LastGasp

Well done to everyone who took part today. Tough day for a 200 this early in the year. I hope everyone made it round in one piece.
Cheers, LG

cdaly_

Jeez, that was tough! Good pace all the way to Skerries though we got a taste of what was in store from the headwind at times. Gusty side winds from Skerries to Balbriggan and then a sudden downpour had us scurrying for shelter while dodging pedestrians getting blown sideways. The rain cleared quickly enough and the next couple of hours were under clear skies and some sunshine all the way to CastleBellingham. It wasn't to last though.

The run (struggle) from CastleBellingham to Slane was a slog into a westerly headwind (which eased for a while). That wasn't too bad (though it had got colder) but a shower blew up of rain, hail and snow sucking any remaining light from the sky and all visibility from the road. At one point, with misted up glasses, I could make out a blinking red light ahead guiding me along the road. I was put in mind of a ghostly light luring hapless randonneurs to their doom.

Well chilled by the time I pulled into Slane around 1800 ('Back to Dublin by 7'. Yeah, right...). Got tea and sandwiches and took about 20 mins rest. Set out again, heading into the hinterland of south Slane, missed a turn on the routesheet and had the phone die when I tried to check my position. All we were left with was a soggy printed map with too small print and no real idea where exactly we were. Took an experimental turn to the right and found the Slane-Navan road after about 2 or 3k and figured it was time to turn back. Found the correct road again but we were out of sync with the routesheet and ended up navigating by the (helpfully visible) stars.

Very cold at this stage, stopping to navigate was difficult and my batteries didn't seem to have the staying power I was expecting (extra cheap '5000 mAh' cells?). I was running low on energy at this point too (I reckon I burned too much chasing the tailwind northwards earlier).

Finally got back to Whitehall around 9.30 after 215km. A slow crawl home, into the bath for a snooze.

235km door to door and about 15 hours on the road. I'm sure it'll be better on the King's Mountain...

thinks too much

Major Kudos to you all for doing the Angel of Mons yesterday. I hope to do a few Audax races this year. Unfortunately I could not do it yesterday as I was nights Friday night.

LennoxR

Well done! I hope you all had good lights?!