Naas CC Open TT June 6th

Naas Cycling Club

Just a heads up on our upcoming Open Time Trial.

On Saturday June 6th, we will hold our 2nd Open Time Trial on a sporting 26km route based on the main roads south of Kilcullen Town in Kildare. Those with long memories might remember the Athy Rd (N78) hosting a National Championship TT one year and we follow this road for 10km before a sharp left takes us to Narraghmore Village. A descent to a left onto the old N9 (Carlow-Kilcullen Rd) brings us to the final 9km with the finish on a 2% drag just before the T junction with the original Athy Rd.

https://www.strava.com/segments/9330465

This is a PRE-ENTRY event as we want to establish a start-list in advance. €12 fee.

http://register.sportstiming.ie/ps/event/NaasCyclingClubOpenTimeTrial/PreEntries

SIGN-ON = 8:30am in Kilcullen Community Centre on the Curragh Rd (Newbridge direction) with the entrance 300m from the traffic lights in Kilcullen town. Closes at 9:30am. Roll-out (3km) to the start line south of Jct.2 on the M9 motorway.

http://www.kilcullencommunitycentre.com/gpage.html

We wanted to attract a wide range of riders, but particularly those targetting the upcoming National Championship which like many Nationals/Worlds is staged on a rolling/testing circuit rather than the standard 10s/25s.

Cats: A+A1-A2-A3-A4 Women + Naas Club Riders.
There will be overall prizes and category prizes as last year. We would like to attract women riders to justify a healthy prize range.

Riders are asked to bring ONE back number and of course provide the CI licence at sign-on. Prize-Giving and light refreshments in the Community Centre afterwards.

The club are delighted to have McCormacks Bar Naas as our sponsor once again.

Further updates here, on Naas Cycling Club Facebook, Club website and on our dedicated Event Page

https://www.facebook.com/events/1593878234186752/

nilhg

Just to clarify, I'm presuming riders with a limited competition (club league) licence are eligible?

Naas Cycling Club

A number have asked this question: the limited licence (club competition etc) does allows entry in TTs. Our prize list, like last year, is for people with CI Open Licences and for Naas members with limited licences. We can review that if a significant number of "club" riders want to ride. It can be a tricky thing to manage, given the huge number of limited licence holders out there.

FrankGrimes

Thanks for posting, looks like an excellent course. Are there Cycling Ireland points (3-2-1) for top 3 A4s on offer?

Naas Cycling Club

As we understand it, CI ranking points are only awarded for TTs in stage races and perhaps at the national champs. We hope that won't stop the A4's from entering

Naas Cycling Club

For this event on Saturday week, we have had a number of enquiries re: Licences. Just to re-iterate that as an Open Race, a competition licence is needed to compete. No "one-day-licences" or "triathlon" licences are available for this, or indeed any Cycling Ireland racing that we know of at this time of year. Limited Competition licences from CI allow riders to enter time-trials, along with other non-open road racing events (cyclo-cross etc). This is sometimes referred to as "A5" or "club" licence. We won't refuse such entries but we expect the vast majority of entrants will be regular Open Race Licence Holders of various categories and the prize list will reflect this. We hope to give a "club" prize to the best Naas rider on the day also. Further queries can be addressed via PM, or via the event page which can be found on Naas Cycling Club Facebook page.

Naas Cycling Club

BACK NUMBERS: just to clarify, we WILL be supplying each rider with a back number that can be pinned to the lower left side of the jersey. The number should correspond to your start time so 10:01 will be number 1 rider; rider 23 will be at 10:23 am etc.
This might also be helpful for any riders with "limited competition" licences as these riders typically do not have CI numbers with them.

JK.BMC

Route preview for the TT Saturday

The 25.6 km route begins 1km south of Kilcullen town on the old N78 (R418) Athy Rd. After a slightly downhill start of 2km, the road swings slightly right to hit the first challenge at Hacklow, with a ramp of 600m length reaching a false flat that opens up to the view of South Kildare. There follows a very fast and very straight downhill of 6km through Ballyshannon Crossroads where the speeds will surely be above 60kmh. Looming on the horizon is the second ramp at Rathsillagh which appears more vertiginous that in reality and where the power in the big ring will get you over the max 8% near the top. 200m after the summit is a very sharp, almost blind left hander on to the Narraghmore Road which will be well flagged and marshalled and on to the section of the course that may well decide the final standings. The 6km stretch here heading south-east is constantly rolling on a wide but sheltered route up to Narraghmore Village with its 6-cross roads. There are some small speed ramps at the top but they can be taken safely at pace. There follows the next fast downhill section through Pike Bridge at Crookstown/Millview Athletics Ground, where for 200m the road crosses a former bog and the road contains some small bumps and rolls - very much like the famous bog-road section in Bohermeen - though much shorter. After this, riders hit a motorway over-pass where cross-winds are certain to be significant. The gentle left-hander on to the final 9km stretch is onto the old N9 with hard shoulder most of the way. It does feature some more gentle rolls with the most significant at Kilsaran 4km from the finish. As competitors speed past the famous tower of Old Kilcullen, the final 500m curves gently to the left up one final drag to the finish line 300m from the T-junction with the R418, just around the corner from the start.
Those looking to post a good time will surely have to pace themselves carefully as this is a course that demands concentration throughout, with its various rolls and likely exposure to wind. Indeed some riders might fancy clip on bars on their road bikes if they want to save on weight, although the true TT specialist should have the power to negotiate all the challenges posed on a regular TT rig. In recent testing, we believe a time under 40 minutes "Mercks-style" would equate to a solid A2 standard; the overall winner Saturday would need to be significantly faster than that and we look forward to seeing who can set the standard.

EAD

Get your entries in ladies; looks like we should have the numbers to give first, second and third in the women's race.

joxerjohn

Good luck to Joe, Ken & Co of Naas CC with the event.

I am hearing the there are a healthy number of entries so far, up on last year but still plenty of room for more competitors.

The route looks like a very interesting and challenging one, it should be a great event.

Naas Cycling Club

Start List: 37 pre-entered - a healthy response. Wide variety of prizes; last minute time slots available in the morning so get there early if interested

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7cpF5jQ8E2PQi1sTmUtRWF6MkE/view?usp=sharing

The tax man

Big thanks to Naas CC for running a great event this morning. Leg sapping course with a bit of everything included, made even tougher with that wind.
Also thanks for letting us LC riders get the chance to take the TT rigs out and ride against the clock.

JK.BMC

Official Result

https://m.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Ffile%2Fd%2F0B7cpF5jQ8E2PQzQ0Nl9iclpfVDA%2Fview%3Fusp%3Dsharing&h=xAQG2uDz0&enc=AZP-XdJr_DpSAevz2Z1xXW594yawptKE0OkvUr92KSSqo2S21akSH_j7yuvIjwVmsRI8diseNY67UkhEA7lC3oFv&s=1

Naas Cycling Club

A Final word;

Naas CC is very pleased with the event - the quality of the field as well as the breadth of the start list through the cats. made for an event with both prestige and popularity. The winning times were in our opinion quite phenomenal in the adverse conditions. Well done to all winners. To those who traveled long distances for to experience about 40 minutes of pure suffering, we are particularly impressed.

We will review the event as is the norm and aim to promote an even better one next year - we hope to establish this event as the premier open TT event in the Leinster area. It would appear that the route met with broad approval - and we think it will continue to attract those competitors with one eye on the National Championships later in the month. Another aspect is the interest from Limited Competition riders; that will be considered too.

We welcome all feedback/suggestions either here or via the usual links to the club.

And a final word to the many Naas club members who rallied really well to put on a good show.

NCC