An Post Meath Heritage Cycle Tour

sullivlo

The 100 was only 99.6 but I was too cold to rectify that

Great day. They ran out of sambos at the 100km food stop though unfortunately so it was noodles spooned into me and a few bananas.

Domane

Did the 50km with a mate but in my defence I cycled to and from Trim from my home in Kildare so my total today was 130km. The food stop on top of the hill of Tara was very exposed with wind and rain making things fairly miserable so I decided to skip it as I'd brought enough bars and gels with me.

Was in good nick when I got home but boy did I enjoy that hot shower. Then it was off to clean my bike that was covered in grime. Have to look after her as she didn't let me down. Saw more guys punctured today than I thought possible. Another few had obviously come off as there were cuts and gashes on quite a few riders.

PukkaStukka

As my buddy who cycled with me today just quipped on the phone, it doesn't matter how long or how hard today was because cleaning the bike will take longer and be tougher than the cycle was....:eek: :pac:

comete

Inspector Coptoor wrote: »

Yup

You should ask for your money back

kerry4sam

Only one of the Sean Kelly An Post Series left for me to do and that will be An Post Tour of Sligo 2016!

Many Thanks to Trim and Everyone I met for their Wonderful Hospitatlity towards me.
Signed up for the 50km as tbh I've never visited DublinZoo before & wanted to visit as I was after driving so close and I did - something else & new ticked off

Elements were tough but in saying that I crossed the finish line kinda annoyed with myself for only cycling 50km. Even my 1st ever Sportive was 70km like but I never stopped today from the moment I started to the moment I crossed the finish-line, all the way to my hotel and off to DublinZoo with me! So I cannot comment on the water-stops or the food-stop, never even stopped to catch my breath or stretch my legs as I just kept the head-down & peddled on. Tbh the last 3-years I've cycled the RingOfKerry I cycled from Killarney to Caherciveen before I first stopped, every year. That's just over 60km so completing this 50km today without stopping is what I am used to. Apologies for those who in the Great Work at the Stops this year. Next-year I'll stop & say Hello

Finished just over the 2hr mark. Hill of Tara was the only place I have issues. I never stopped. People were stopped dead in the middle of the road ; walking up the middle of the road ; seriously like that's just dangerous. The road was narrow. To find people not staying to the left when walking or even stopping annoyed me and others going by the voices around me toward those walking. Please keep left next-year, for the Safety of Everyone around you!

Everyone I met was Lovely ; the guy who I peddled the last 20km with was a pure gent! Thank You for the Company in the wind & rain! The 'Lead-Car' kept us company toward the end also; the Safety Personnel all around ; Just Amazing Volunteer Work. Speaking of Volunteers -> Trim Tidy Town Volunteers out as I was just eating my breakfast and in around the start point collecting any rubbish dropped by anyone (of which was very very few btw). Great To See this Commitment. Beautiful Townlands in this area. Lovely Route.
I will be back in 2016 but will be taking on the 100km. Should be in no rush next-year!

The Marshals were out-standing. I said Thanks & Good Morning to all & they said it back; eventhough there they were standing in the rain pouring down on them

I've photos attached from the Saturday. I took in a tour of Trim Castle to educate myself a lickle and the photos are of the 11km Family Spin getting ready to commence. Seemed like a Great Turnout. I was just finished my Castle Tour & on the roof so apologies for the distance in the photos by me. People were still cycling up for this as I was walking back to my hotel. Fantastic Idea encouraging this! Photo also of the start-line for me today and of feeding-time in DublinZoo. I'd a Great week-end for myself!

From my hotel & Being able to leave my car there securely as I cycled to the start-point and the ease of access en return ; everything just went smoothly!

Many Thanks,
kerry4sam







&
Look At These Guys

jon1981

Anyone know when the photos get posted?

siochain

though some of the roads on the 160 route were dodgy other than that very well organised and really good people helping out.

DirkVoodoo

Credit to all the volunteers who gave up their Sunday to be out in that weather. The road markings and encouragement were excellent, although a few major junctions didn't have any marshals on them, it wasn't dangerous just a little surprising.

I thought the route was fairly typical for Meath roads: fairly good as a training route but it's not going to match the spectacle of the Burren or Mt.Leinster and so it probably suffers in the beauty stakes. Still, what it lacked in looks it made up for in experience: the level of detail over marking out dangerous pot holes, putting down encouraging markers, etc. was excellent.

I'm still not a fan of An Post Series' insistence on a mass start. It leads to a lot of danger in the opening kilometres as the "breakaway contenders" try to go up the road. I was quite happy to sit in for 30km until a couple of hairy braking moments forced me to get out and ride on my own.

And I only saw one guy toss a gel wrapper! Must be a new record. Resisted the urge to have words with him or toss a bidon full of urine over his head.

jon1981

+1 on the massive group start, it was uncomfortable for the first 1-2km going at a snails pace with 1 foot clipped in. Though, it makes for great photo opportunities for the organisers to show case how popular it is by showing so many cyclists at the start so can see why they do it.

First 1.6km @ 14kph :eek:

PukkaStukka

jon1981 wrote: »

Anyone know when the photos get posted?

And where too?

jon1981

PukkaStukka wrote: »

And where too?

I'm assuming here : http://www.meathsports.ie/cycle-tour/photo-gallery/

Only 2014 pics up at the moment.

Daithi2004

I did the 100km in 4hr 39 mins at 21.6km avg... My strava recorded 100.7km so pleased that. Food stop not bad but did not know where to queue up so missed out on the coffee but got plenty of food. Marshells and Gardai were great. A few juctions could have been managed by marshells because of heavy traffic but route well marked out. Some of the roads were in pretty bad state and you were avoiding puddles in case there was a pot hole. Mind you, I actually enjoyed it. The craic was good at the end.

locha

Thought it was well organised, but a few things could have made it better. I did the 100k, thought the food stop at 50k was not great.

The sambo was good but the layout was terrible. Would have been 20 minutes queuing for a coffee... I can only contrast this to the W100 which I did and how easy it was when everyone could get in and out of a hall. from cycling along I could see there were quite a few GAA pitches with big facilites, maybe next year they could use one of these.

Also, the lack of a guard on the old N3 turn of was not great, there were lots of officials at various other points, I thought this road had the most traffic and the potential to the the most dangerous.

Also the mass start was not a good idea, the first 10k was quite hairy..

Still though, the highlight of the day was talking to Trevor Giles on the hill of Tara..

PukkaStukka

locha wrote: »

Thought it was well organised, but a few things could have made it better. I did the 100k, thought the food stop at 50k was not great.

The sambo was good but the layout was terrible. Would have been 20 minutes queuing for a coffee... I can only contrast this to the W100 which I did and how easy it was when everyone could get in and out of a hall. from cycling along I could see there were quite a few GAA pitches with big facilites, maybe next year they could use one of these.

I agree with this, but to be fair, the biggest delay was an issue with the water for the boilers, so the tea and coffee had to be made in pots. Yes it slowed everything down but under the circumstances they did ok given that. I got the feeling that they would've run all of that foodstop outdoors in the yard but the weather obviously put paid to that.

jon1981

A steward or a aul sign saying "coffee/tea over there ===> and Food here ==>" would have helped an awful lot, people thought they were queuing for sandwiches when in fact it was the tea/coffee queue. The area was too small for the volume, to echo another poster, loads of GAA halls that could have been used for this.

Daithi2004

Here is a video someone put on yesterdays event. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdYHHmWp4EQ

jon1981

Update from the organisers regarding the food stop

Dear cyclist,

Many thanks for your participation on the 100km route yesterday in what was probably one of the worst days weather wise to come along all summer. The fact that so many of you turned out to do the 100km on such an awful day is a true testament to your determination and resolve. Fair play!

For those of you who have completed the 100k in past years, you will have noticed that the food stop was swapped with the water stop (in past years water stop would have been Ryan`s pub in Gormanlough; with the food stop in Bohermeen). Feedback from the majority of cyclist on the 100km for the past two years has been to change around both those stops. This year we did just that and it didn`t work for us. There are a number of reasons it didn`t and this may have led to some annoyance amongst the cyclists who have become accustomed to expecting a higher level in service delivery from ourselves. The reasons we feel it didn`t work as it should have include:



· Over 200 cyclists dropped down on the morning of the event from the 160k route to the 100k route – this put additional demands on this food stop which had not been anticipated. This is turn meant that this particular stop, which was adequately stocked for the expected number of cyclists from the 100k route was now struggling to meet the increased demand.

· Ryans of Gormanlough generally erect a marquee to cater properly for the cyclists. On Saturday 24th last they attempted to erect the marquee, but ground conditions under foot were poor and wouldn`t support the marquee. Because this was only discovered on Sat (day before event), it was too late to identify and locate another food stop along the route.

· Aside from the increased numbers attending this stop, the fact that the day was so cold and wet, meant everyone wanted comfort food (sandwiches and tea/coffee); this meant that those coming near the rear of the group only received cold noodles/bean salad.


On behalf of the committee of the An Post Meath Heritage Cycle tour, I would like to apologise to you if you were left without hot tea/coffee, sandwiches or discommoded in any way. I hope that you availed of the food back in Trim.

We hold our hands up, we made a change it didn`t work, it won`t happen again.

Thanking you in advance for your understanding. I do appreciate that most of you (despite the rain) did have a positive experience yesterday and I hope that you will return again next year. Date 23rd & 24th July 2016!!!

Regards



Mary Murphy | Sports Coordinator | Meath Local Sports Partnership | Enterprise Centre | Trim Rd | Navan | Co. Meath

046 9067337| 9067338 | 9067339

PukkaStukka

jon1981 wrote: »

A steward or a aul sign saying "coffee/tea over there ===> and Food here ==>" would have helped an awful lot, people thought they were queuing for sandwiches when in fact it was the tea/coffee queue. The area was too small for the volume, to echo another poster, loads of GAA halls that could have been used for this.

Just got this in email from the organisers. The evnts on the day obviously did conspire against them despite their best efforts

Meath Local Sports wrote:

Dear cyclist,

Many thanks for your participation on the 100km route yesterday in what was probably one of the worst days weather wise to come along all summer. The fact that so many of you turned out to do the 100km on such an awful day is a true testament to your determination and resolve. Fair play!

For those of you who have completed the 100k in past years, you will have noticed that the food stop was swapped with the water stop (in past years water stop would have been Ryan`s pub in Gormanlough; with the food stop in Bohermeen). Feedback from the majority of cyclist on the 100km for the past two years has been to change around both those stops. This year we did just that and it didn`t work for us. There are a number of reasons it didn`t and this may have led to some annoyance amongst the cyclists who have become accustomed to expecting a higher level in service delivery from ourselves. The reasons we feel it didn`t work as it should have include:

· Over 200 cyclists dropped down on the morning of the event from the 160k route to the 100k route – this put additional demands on this food stop which had not been anticipated. This is turn meant that this particular stop, which was adequately stocked for the expected number of cyclists from the 100k route was now struggling to meet the increased demand.

· Ryans of Gormanlough generally erect a marquee to cater properly for the cyclists. On Saturday 24th last they attempted to erect the marquee, but ground conditions under foot were poor and wouldn`t support the marquee. Because this was only discovered on Sat (day before event), it was too late to identify and locate another food stop along the route.

· Aside from the increased numbers attending this stop, the fact that the day was so cold and wet, meant everyone wanted comfort food (sandwiches and tea/coffee); this meant that those coming near the rear of the group only received cold noodles/bean salad.


On behalf of the committee of the An Post Meath Heritage Cycle tour, I would like to apologise to you if you were left without hot tea/coffee, sandwiches or discommoded in any way. I hope that you availed of the food back in Trim.

We hold our hands up, we made a change it didn`t work, it won`t happen again.

Thanking you in advance for your understanding. From speaking to you on your return to Trim, I do appreciate that most of you (despite the rain) did have a positive experience yesterday and I hope that you will return again next year. Date 23rd & 24th July 2016!!!

sullivlo

That, and some cyclists were eating 2 and 3 sandwiches, so that's cutting the amount left for everyone else.

PukkaStukka

sullivlo wrote: »

That, and some cyclists were eating 2 and 3 sandwiches, so that's cutting the amount left for everyone else.

Agree, but I've seen that happen quite a lot on events like this when there's free food in the offing! But you are right, it didn't help.

andy69

Daithi2004 wrote: »

Here is a video someone put on yesterdays event. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdYHHmWp4EQ

that footage was from my wife's bike - we put the vid together yesterday evening. I actually uploaded it to the wrong youtube account but that was after a heap of beers in me
Still cringe at the 00:30sec mark when the lad points out the shore and she smacks straight into it! Too busy yapping! :eek:

Despite the rain, she really enjoyed the day out. The guys there from Blackrock Racing (new club?) were great and she joined in with them for a while, and another lad there from Bohermeen I think down towards Slane - she was delighted for the help!
And at least I have a valid excuse for not doing it myself - still waiting on my broken shoulder to heal so I'm out until Sean Kelly Waterford tour. Hope the weather picks up by then!!!!

MugMugs

andy69 wrote: »

The guys there from Blackrock Racing (new club?) were great and she joined in with them for a while,

Blue and yellow gear?

The Blackrock element of Chucullainn Cycling Club.

andy69

MugMugs wrote: »

Blue and yellow gear?

The Blackrock element of Chucullainn Cycling Club.

yep! that's them in the first few mins of the video. Nice kit actually

delboyfagan

My general comments on race below. But first the only thing that annoyed me about the race was the guys in groups on tri bars. The weather was sh*t and with big groups I thought it was unsafe. Especially the ones who were down on the bars in the groups.

The 100k

I thought it went well. I had 3hrs 42 mins down for the 100. (not including stop) First half slower. Average 27kph - I thought I was slow and a bit pissed with time.

No issues with food or coffee. I actually only had 1/2 ltr of water and one banana up to 50k mark and was flagging. So I was one of those guys that ate 2/3 sandbos - sorry!!!!

Thought food was lovely.

Need to work on climbing - too heavy (99kg) - that little hill at slane was a bast**d for me.

See u next year.

jon1981

delboyfagan wrote: »

Need to work on climbing - too heavy (99kg) - that little hill at slane was a bast**d for me.

See u next year.

Try cutting back on those sambos

DirkVoodoo

One more thing: I don't know what bike shops are doing, but the amount of people riding deep section carbon wheels was unreal.

I don't have an issue, ride what you want, even if it's somewhat pointless, but on days like yesterday, on roads around Meath, carbon braking surfaces really aren't ideal.

It's not a race after all.

benneca1

Mudguards woulda been better order than aerobars and deep section rims

Doc07

Did 160k. Plan was to do 6hrs all in including stops. Doing London-Surrey next week and was experimenting to see if I could do 160k without stops apart from refilling bottles. Made the food stop at 3hrs 40 so on target but was so wet and cold by then I said sod this, life's too short to skip a food stop! I spent a good half hour drinking coffee and chatting.

Also made the mistake of doing too much of the 1st 100k on my own. Usually lots from my club (South dublin, green and white jerseys!) but only a few yesterday. Decided I was sticking with a group for the last 60k no matter how fast or slow it was. Three of us joined up with a nice group of lads from Cuchulain club. Well done to their group leader for keeping it all together. Pace was easy enough but into that wind was so glad to be in a group and everyone pitched in with plenty of up and overs.
Fair play to the marshals in that weather.

awec

It is always the same with the tri bars. They always say they are not allowed at these events but they never really police it.

It'll take an accident before anything serious is done.

JK.BMC

delboyfagan wrote: »

My general comments on race below. But first the only thing that annoyed me about the race was the guys in groups on tri bars. The weather was sh*t and with big groups I thought it was unsafe. Especially the ones who were down on the bars in the groups.

The 100k

I thought it went well. I had 3hrs 42 mins down for the 100. (not including stop) First half slower. Average 27kph - I thought I was slow and a bit pissed with time.

No issues with food or coffee. I actually only had 1/2 ltr of water and one banana up to 50k mark and was flagging. So I was one of those guys that ate 2/3 sandbos - sorry!!!!

Thought food was lovely.

Need to work on climbing - too heavy (99kg) - that little hill at slane was a bast**d for me.

See u next year.

It wasnt a race
If there is one thing that makes leisure cycles in Ireland unsafe it's people thinking they are racing, especially in yesterdays weather.
But I agree regarding the tri-bars - nutjobs!