A3 National Championships 2014

Inquitus

wav1 wrote: »

Thanks for the info.More wide open than ever so as I had him down as the big favourite.
Going now for Aidan Wall from Navan

What's your criteria Wav, what are you looking for in the winner on this course. Having driven it this evening I think the juniors will catch us if ten minutes the gap.

wav1

Inquitus wrote: »

What's your criteria Wav, what are you looking for in the winner on this course. Having driven it this evening I think the juniors will catch us if ten minutes the gap.

Think its a real strong mans race as opposed to the normal strictly climber or sprinters course and both of the lads I mentioned would fall in to that category.Your own crew could/should have a bearing as theres a nice crew with decent ability.I do agree as expressed earlier that the juniors could come close to catching the A3 riders if its the normal hell for leather stuff from them.Circuit too short at under 11k in my opinion but I hope it doesn't happen,As for myself looks like im going to miss it as my one rider has a chest infection that wont go away and also is still suffering the aftermaths from a spill n Lurgan 2 weeks ago.Anyway best of luck.It wouldn't be too far for me to travel up to celebrate with ye crew.BTW what do you think yourself?

Inquitus

wav1 wrote: »

Think its a real strong mans race as opposed to the normal strictly climber or sprinters course and both of the lads I mentioned would fall in to that category.Your own crew could/should have a bearing as theres a nice crew with decent ability.I do agree as expressed earlier that the juniors could come close to catching the A3 riders if its the normal hell for leather stuff from them.Circuit too short at under 11k in my opinion but I hope it doesn't happen,As for myself looks like im going to miss it as my one rider has a chest infection that wont go away and also is still suffering the aftermaths from a spill n Lurgan 2 weeks ago.Anyway best of luck.It wouldn't be too far for me to travel up to celebrate with ye crew.BTW what do you think yourself?

Interesting course, not sure many will have ever done a climb like that nine times in a race. I think it will whittle the bunch down a lot, and the final time up the hill will leave a very small bunch contesting the win on the final short flat section to the line. That said a good break could get away and stay away as well.

Inquitus

The course had been lengthened by 1km since the initial route, so less likely a catch is made.

Plastik

Simon Lambert Wexford Wheelers A3 Champ.

O'Loughlin and Dunbar clear of field on last lap.

Morrisseeee

Broke away from work to catch some of the action:
/that hill is steeper than I remembered, and into a raging headwind, tough going once, never mind *9 or 10 times !!

Plastik

Dunbar from O'Loughlin

boege

Any sign of full results anywhere?

XtotheZ

someone has to educate a3 riders on how to catch bottles. There was a whorish amount dropped. Only 4 crashes in the a3 aswell and i was caught behind all of them

Junior

XtotheZ wrote: »

someone has to educate a3 riders on how to catch bottles. There was a whorish amount dropped. Only 4 crashes in the a3 aswell and i was caught behind all of them

Someone needs to educate you on your positional sense so :pac:

Cond0r

A few comments on yesterday's A3 National Championships race.

The good:
- Having a hotel with sign-on (+prize giving afterwards), special deal, and being right on the circuit was fantastic. Made it far less hassle than usual.

- The hill was a real challenge, and the likes you rarely get in races and I'd love to see more of it. I made it up all 8 times (last time just about) and finished in the second or third group on the road, which I was happy with.

The bad:
- The section of the circuit from the hotel all the way down to the R579 was completely unsuitable for a race with a field of 100+ competitors.

- The descent from the crossroads down to the R579 was lethal in the wet on the first lap, with oncoming cars and riders hedge to hedge. The road surface was also horrific and caused people to lose bottles left and right. I actually thought about bailing out at this point because it was so dangerous. It seems the Garda on the junction at the bottom eventually stopped traffic coming up as I didn't see any more afterwards.

- The stop / start nature of the race (as mentioned on sticky bottle) wasn't due to riders being negative, but oncoming cars in various locations causing the bunch to be squeezed together and almost coming to a halt.

- Riders were all over the road on the R179 at 60km/h around the blind bends. One guy narrowly avoided hitting a van which came flying around the corner.

- The commissaire at the start of the race said it would be "neutralised to the main road", but in fact the lead car sped off immediately after exiting the entrance to the hotel. Many of us were looking at each other going "are we racing now, or..?". Also his address was along the lines of "now lads, ye know what to do, the roads are open and the rules of the road apply" and that was it. IMO this is an absolute disgrace. No mention of sanctions for riding on the wrong side of the road or anything.

Overall, I found the race to be very stressful and never felt safe on the circuit at all and I feel that for a national championship event the roads should have been closed (at the very least to oncoming traffic).

If we're going to continue to race on open roads, I think that Cycling Ireland need to step up to the mark and ensure that their commissaires start sanctioning riders for riding dangerously and properly enforce the rules of the road. There are already issues with Gardaí and local authorities in some areas because of issues like this, and it's only going to get worse.

I'm sorry to say this, but a National Championship event should be an example for other races to follow, and unfortunately yesterday's was far from it in my opinion.

*dons his asbestos suit*

bwalsh1983

One crash in the A3 was due to a tiny but deep pothole that was a fork breaker at speed, unfortunate spill. There was bottles all over the road so it clearly had been hit over and over again by both races. I rolled over a bottle in the middle of the bunch on the climb as the rider in front of me dropped it whilst trying to take from the side of the road.

Other was on the bottom corner coming to the foot of the first bump, wet manhole on the inside, easily happens.

I'm not sure how the crash on the straight by the golf club happened but I was lucky enough to skirt around it and rejoin quickly.

The forth was an inexcusable shunt that I got from a rider on my right who went to go through a non existent gap between the two lines as we headed out on the final lap. He leaned on me, I got pushed into the rider coming up on the inside and both us us went into the ditch with the rider who caused it happily continuing with the bunch. Im happy to come away with only a few scrapes but unlucky for the Deenside guy who went down inside me to fracure his collarbone. These things happen I suppose and we will do it all next week again.

The course was a tough one with the headwind up the climb making it that little bit more. The group more pulsed and stalled than had a consistent pace, with the break not really having enough men in it to make it stick and too many folks who would want to bring it back at the pointy end of affairs. As someone said here it was a much depleted front group who contested the sprint, maybe 10 riders, so the final ascent must have had a markedly increased pace. I'll never know!

Inquitus

I concur with alot of what is said here, it's a good job the rain stayed largely away after the first lap, the descent was hairy enough in the dry, let alone the wet, the corner into the first climb was littered with manhole covers on the racing line and indeed caused the first crash when a fella lost his front wheel in the wet on one. There was a sinkhole that could swallow a small car on the superfast section of the R179 which caused one high speed crash and sent bottle flying in all directions every lap....one lad hit it and I heard a massive crack, be interested to hear if his frame snapped.

All in all I don't think the circuit or the surface were up to a big field like we had yesterday, and if the rain had kept on pissing down there would have been more crashes. If the race were on again tomorrow I probably wouldn't head down.

On a positive side it was a very challenging circuit, and that climb was a bitch, especially as it came round every 15 minutes or so, the hotel was a fantastic base for the race and the deal the lads got for participants was very keenly priced.

I was a DNF 5 times up the hill was enough for me and then the elastic snapped, got caught up behind a few crashes here and there, but my forms been on the slide for a while and I simply wasn't good enough to make it up the hill 8 times with the bunch. No doubt the winner is well worthy on a circuit like that, well done Mr Lambert!

bwalsh1983

Inquitus wrote: »

There was a sinkhole that could swallow a small car on the superfast section of the R179 which caused one high speed crash and sent bottle flying in all directions every lap....one lad hit it and I heard a massive crack, be interested to hear if his frame snapped.

that could have possibly been me, bike seems totally fine but jesus it was a awful thump. It knocked a guys handlebars out of line on about the third lap.

XtotheZ

Junior wrote: »

Someone needs to educate you on your positional sense so :pac:

i completely agree that said I did manage to attack over the top of the climb, join up with another rider from the edge and spent a full lap away only to be caught going up the climb the following lap


The course although tough was strange in that it seemed to be 15minutes of not very much, followed by 5min of effort. A longer lap, imho would of been more suitable and would of allowed abit more area for attacking.

sheepfield

Inquitus wrote: »

I concur with alot of what is said here, it's a good job the rain stayed largely away after the first lap, the descent was hairy enough in the dry, let alone the wet, the corner into the first climb was littered with manhole covers on the racing line and indeed caused the first crash when a fella lost his front wheel in the wet on one. There was a sinkhole that could swallow a small car on the superfast section of the R179 which caused one high speed crash and sent bottle flying in all directions every lap....one lad hit it and I heard a massive crack, be interested to hear if his frame snapped.

All in all I don't think the circuit or the surface were up to a big field like we had yesterday, and if the rain had kept on pissing down there would have been more crashes. If the race were on again tomorrow I probably wouldn't head down.

On a positive side it was a very challenging circuit, and that climb was a bitch, especially as it came round every 15 minutes or so, the hotel was a fantastic base for the race and the deal the lads got for participants was very keenly priced.

I was a DNF 5 times up the hill was enough for me and then the elastic snapped, got caught up behind a few crashes here and there, but my forms been on the slide for a while and I simply wasn't good enough to make it up the hill 8 times with the bunch. No doubt the winner is well worthy on a circuit like that, well done Mr Lambert!

A great circuit in theory, worthy of a national championship, but must agree that the descent and the surface in places was a disgrace. Did anybody else have a laugh at the fact that the only pothole/surface that was marked was going up a hill? Also, having ridden round on the Saturday, I noticed the huge sinkhole on the main road and reckoned it would cause trouble. Was aware of it but sure enough, I still managed to smack it at 50kmh on lap 1, thank god I kept it up and that I invested in one of the finest bike frames out there. At this early stage, with traffic all over the route, it felt like the most nervous/dangerous race of the season. Next time round, I think the chap from Deenside had the same fate at the sinkhole; he crashed not long after, so maybe they were connected? I got dropped early but made the finish - counted 14 bottles on the road at the same spot on the final lap. Plus I saw a garda picking his nose as he let cars come up towards us at one stage. Just not what I would expect at a championship

Cond0r

sheepfield wrote: »

A great circuit in theory, worthy of a national championship, but must agree that the descent and the surface in places was a disgrace. Did anybody else have a laugh at the fact that the only pothole/surface that was marked was going up a hill? Also, having ridden round on the Saturday, I noticed the huge sinkhole on the main road and reckoned it would cause trouble. Was aware of it but sure enough, I still managed to smack it at 50kmh on lap 1, thank god I kept it up and that I invested in one of the finest bike frames out there. At this early stage, with traffic all over the route, it felt like the most nervous/dangerous race of the season. Next time round, I think the chap from Deenside had the same fate at the sinkhole; he crashed not long after, so maybe they were connected? I got dropped early but made the finish - counted 14 bottles on the road at the same spot on the final lap. Plus I saw a garda picking his nose as he let cars come up towards us at one stage. Just not what I would expect at a championship

I managed to hit the sink hole twice on two consecutive laps, thankfully neither bike, bottles nor rider were lost in it. An aqua blue rider didn't have the same luck -- at least I'm fairly sure it was the cause of his high speed tumble.

XtotheZ

sheepfield wrote: »

A great circuit in theory, worthy of a national championship, but must agree that the descent and the surface in places was a disgrace. Did anybody else have a laugh at the fact that the only pothole/surface that was marked was going up a hill? Also, having ridden round on the Saturday, I noticed the huge sinkhole on the main road and reckoned it would cause trouble. Was aware of it but sure enough, I still managed to smack it at 50kmh on lap 1, thank god I kept it up and that I invested in one of the finest bike frames out there. At this early stage, with traffic all over the route, it felt like the most nervous/dangerous race of the season. Next time round, I think the chap from Deenside had the same fate at the sinkhole; he crashed not long after, so maybe they were connected? I got dropped early but made the finish - counted 14 bottles on the road at the same spot on the final lap. Plus I saw a garda picking his nose as he let cars come up towards us at one stage. Just not what I would expect at a championship

I done the course on saturday night in my trainers and again sunday morning and never noticed it. only that i heard two local lads chatting about it at the start and i asked them where it was that I knew to keep away. I heard lads hitting it aswell on the first lap.

Cond0r

Also, as I think of it - there was no mention or announcement anywhere of the last minute route change which seemed to be done in the days leading up to the event presumably in order to avoid the junior and A3 groups coming together.

sheepfield

Cond0r wrote: »

Also, as I think of it - there was no mention or announcement anywhere of the last minute route change which seemed to be done in the days leading up to the event presumably in order to avoid the junior and A3 groups coming together.

Yes, good point. And what about the one-way traffic system?

bwalsh1983

Cond0r wrote: »

Also, as I think of it - there was no mention or announcement anywhere of the last minute route change which seemed to be done in the days leading up to the event presumably in order to avoid the junior and A3 groups coming together.

What is the route change being refferred to? I rode the route last week as shown on the edge/osborne meats facebook pae and it was the same yesterday?

Plastik

The original route didn't have the right turn on the descent, it continued straight on to the bottom.

Cond0r

Plastik wrote: »

The original route didn't have the right turn on the descent, it continued straight on to the bottom.

And was 1km shorter, and we were to do 9 laps of the original route (juniors 10).

Cond0r

bwalsh1983 wrote: »

What is the route change being refferred to? I rode the route last week as shown on the edge/osborne meats facebook pae and it was the same yesterday?

Here's the original:
http://www.irishcyclingphotos.com/?p=38566

Cond0r

sheepfield wrote: »

Yes, good point. And what about the one-way traffic system?

Wow, I only spotted that now in the info pack*:

"4. The race is run on roads open to the public. All involved, riders, marshals,
team drivers - must take due care at all times. Take proper notice of directions
given by marshals and the Gardaí. A one-way traffic system will be implemented
on the course during the race (i.e. in the flow of the race)."

That seems to have failed spectacularly then, on every single lap.

* http://osborne-meats-the-edge-sports-racing-team.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Info-Pack.pdf

ericzeking

I thought it was a great loop but the back roads were a bit narrow for the size of the bunch, in the early going it seemed more likely to split on the descent than on the climb. The climb was ridden very steadily I thought, especially considering some of the big numbers from some teams from looking at Strava the Juniors were going up there 30 or so seconds faster.

That hole on the main road was unfortunate, for it not to be filled was one thing but to be unmarked was simply baffling, especially for a National event. From involvment with running races I believe it's the council that have to do the filling in as opposed to the promoter, for a normal race you'd be thinking fair enough but when you have a National event you'd think CI would have some influence to get it sorted. It kind of ruined that lovely stretch of road where one could have a decent drink and a bit of grub....so to speak!

pmurp141

ericzeking wrote: »

I thought it was a great loop but the back roads were a bit narrow for the size of the bunch, in the early going it seemed more likely to split on the descent than on the climb. The climb was ridden very steadily I thought, especially considering some of the big numbers from some teams from looking at Strava the Juniors were going up there 30 or so seconds faster.

That hole on the main road was unfortunate, for it not to be filled was one thing but to be unmarked was simply baffling, especially for a National event. From involvment with running races I believe it's the council that have to do the filling in as opposed to the promoter, for a normal race you'd be thinking fair enough but when you have a National event you'd think CI would have some influence to get it sorted. It kind of ruined that lovely stretch of road where one could have a decent drink and a bit of grub....so to speak!

I can confirm that the first decent did create a split and i wasn't the only 1, a group of maybe 6 of us (alot more didn't) got back after chasing entire tailwind section (v difficult at the speeds on this section). after just catching on before the first little climb, we were in the red for the main climb, went out the back chased on and again repeated the whole thing for 3 laps(each time just catching before the climb). even decending in small groups,taking racing line was difficult with the road surface on that section. the sink hole was probably the most well hidden 1 i've ever seen i hit it on saturday evening on a recon with 2 riders (what chance of seen it in a group of 120+!!).

even being the furthest possible thing from a "climber" i still have to say the route profile was ideal for a national event just a combination of a shower at the wrong time and bad road surface, made it that little bit unenjoyable. lessons learned my decending needs to improve as much as my ascending! at least theese can be combined in the 1 training session.

thanks to Osborne for what

pmurp141

pmurp141 wrote: »

I can confirm that the first decent did create a split and i wasn't the only 1, a group of maybe 6 of us (alot more didn't) got back after chasing entire tailwind section (v difficult at the speeds on this section). after just catching on before the first little climb, we were in the red for the main climb, went out the back chased on and again repeated the whole thing for 3 laps(each time just catching before the climb). even decending in small groups,taking racing line was difficult with the road surface on that section. the sink hole was probably the most well hidden 1 i've ever seen i hit it on saturday evening on a recon with 2 riders (what chance of seen it in a group of 120+!!).

even being the furthest possible thing from a "climber" i still have to say the route profile was ideal for a national event just a combination of a shower at the wrong time and bad road surface, made it that little bit unenjoyable. lessons learned my decending needs to improve as much as my ascending! at least theese can be combined in the 1 training session.

thanks to Osborne for what

---sorry monday typing/attention

thanks to Osborne edge sports for what was a largely enjoyable/suffering day!!

XtotheZ

I still think it was a very a well run race, I did see a rider moving up on the right hand side on the fast stretch of road around a blind corner and a van appeared but thats just not using common sense.. Imho it is no more dangerous than any a3 race i have ever riden outside Connacht, Anyone who raced the Seamus kennedy will know what im talking about. Deffo less dangerous than the Ballinrobe 2day the previous weekend!

Corners, descents, rain, surface are all part of our sport. The winner, aswell as loads of others, negotiated all of them.

now what i think is worth complaining about was the line of cars following the dropped junior when we were going into the final climb. Also has anyone seen a final results sheet? how many finishers was there?

pmurp141

XtotheZ wrote: »

I still think it was a very a well run race, I did see a rider moving up on the right hand side on the fast stretch of road around a blind corner and a van appeared but thats just not using common sense.. Imho it is no more dangerous than any a3 race i have ever riden outside Connacht, Anyone who raced the Seamus kennedy will know what im talking about. Deffo less dangerous than the Ballinrobe 2day the previous weekend!

Corners, descents, rain, surface are all part of our sport. The winner, aswell as loads of others, negotiated all of them.

now what i think is worth complaining about was the line of cars following the dropped junior when we were going into the final climb. Also has anyone seen a final results sheet? how many finishers was there?

don't get me wrong i fully aggree that these are all part of the sport and chapeau to winner(dont know him) and all who contested the placings. 1 things for sure the winner had to be a worthy1. i thought the "negative riding" comment on stickybottle was a harsh and unfair summary of the race from the little i was involved in it and what i saw after.