Race Around Ireland2016

wanderer 22

2 weeks and change until this starts; any boardsies doing it this year?

cython

Not cycling it myself, but crewing for a 2 man team (Odd Ball Joes). Crewed for Average Josies last year so will be interesting to see the differences between the 8 person and 2 person on the road!

wanderer 22

Cool, I was on Team Thinkbike last year so we probably met at some random petrol station :-) Fair play to you for crewing 2 years in a row, such a tough job.

XR3i

colm18 wrote: »

2 weeks and change until this starts; any boardsies doing it this year?

aiming to finish in the early numbers

rollingscone

colm18 wrote: »

Cool, I was on Team Thinkbike last year so we probably met at some random petrol station :-) Fair play to you for crewing 2 years in a row, such a tough job.

Looking forward to your solo effort this year ;-)

wanderer 22

rollingscone wrote: »

Looking forward to your solo effort this year ;-)

I'll be soloing to the start ..then cycling home :P

daragh_

For some strange reason I seem to have signed up for this again.

St Tiernan's CC 4 Man Team. See you on the start line.

emtroche

Great to see some of you coming back again this year!

We're super excited as this will be our biggest year to date. We have 15 solos , 1 tandem, 5 two-person teams, 11 four-person teams and 5 eight-person teams. We also have 7 solos in the Irish Ultra Challenge.

13 nationalities in total.

This year we've also moved our Race HQ and finishline to Moynalty in Co. Meath.

The Race starts on Sunday 28th of August in Trim, Co. Meath.

daragh_

4 days to go. :eek:

This is when I start to panic buy stuff I will never use.

wanderer 22

daragh_ wrote: »

4 days to go. :eek:

This is when I start to panic buy stuff I will never use.

Buy more powerbanks. You can't have enough powerbanks.

wanderer 22

And they're off! Live tracking here - https://gps.blackblox.si/race/rai2016

thesimpsons

First team passed the half way mark just outside of Limerick. The 8 man Grin It Out team for Jack & Jill foundation are flying it.

Wishbone Ash

thesimpsons wrote: »

First team passed the half way mark just outside of Limerick. The 8 man Grin It Out team for Jack & Jill foundation are flying it.

In Killarney now!

wanderer 22

Looks like there's some great battles going on - Thinkbike , Tiernans & Team NI children's hospital all within 1km of each other after 1200 kilometres!

Luxman

Our local club lads are in 10th spot, I think they are all nutters.

Stonehall9

colm18 wrote: »

Looks like there's some great battles going on - Thinkbike , Tiernans & Team NI children's hospital all within 1km of each other after 1200 kilometres!

I met two of the tiernans lads at 6.35 this morning in kildimo west Limerick , heading towards listowel, the lad that got off the bike looked like he was after doin a hard shift , tough men fair play

check_six

How does the race work with the >1 sized teams? Do you have one man on one man resting (4 men on, 4 men resting), or is it everyone on the road all the time?

Hager

check_six wrote: »

How does the race work with the >1 sized teams? Do you have one man on one man resting (4 men on, 4 men resting), or is it everyone on the road all the time?

Any combination that you choose.

check_six

Hager wrote: »

Any combination that you choose.

Interesting. Any idea what strategy the frontrunners are using?

Hager

I have no idea what strategy anyone is employing this year but the most successful teams in recent years seems to have had one person on the road at any given time with very regular changes.

Mattie500

Shoutout to the man in Clare that found our crew phone... Dropped it on a changeover and he called us a couple of hours later. Sent the bus back for it .... Going up molls now...

sullzz

check_six wrote: »

Interesting. Any idea what strategy the frontrunners are using?

Team grin it out are doing 15km stints each with 4 men pods at a time , the support crew are mainly built up with people who did it / or who were supporting team average joes in the past who used the exact same approach successfully as an 8 man team .

Hager

sullzz wrote: »

Team grin it out are doing 15km stints each with 4 men pods at a time , the support crew are mainly built up with people who did it / or who were supporting team average joes in the past who used the exact same approach successfully as an 8 man team .

Are they doing only one 15k stint each before changing pods? That would leave only 3.5 hours or thereabouts between stints, not a huge amount of time for eating,sleeping etc.

sullzz

Hager wrote: »

Are they doing only one 15k stint each before changing pods? That would leave only 3.5 hours or thereabouts between stints, not a huge amount of time for eating,sleeping etc.

No , they are doing 8 hour shifts per pod , or roughly 230km per pod

TheBlaaMan

sullzz wrote: »

No , they are doing 8 hour shifts per pod , or roughly 230km per pod

So a pod of 4 guys are resting/eating (driving?) for 8 hours completely off the bikes, while the other 4 are each doing a 30 minute (or so) solo shift in every 2 hour block X 4 before the pods swop out......is that it?

Stonehall9

Just met a team in the same spot I met the tiernans team this mornin, 12 hours exactly behind them!! Wow

Lumen

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

So a pod of 4 guys are resting/eating (driving?) for 8 hours completely off the bikes, while the other 4 are each doing a 30 minute (or so) solo shift in every 2 hour block X 4 before the pods swop out......is that it?

I dunno about the 8 man teams, but with the 4 man teams (2x2 doing four hour shifts) there really isn't any rest because the roads are so slow that you risk not being able to catch up before the end of the shift if you hang around.

So basically the 2 "resting" riders are getting bounced around in the back of a camper for four hours then chucked out to hurt themselves again.

Vizzy

St Tiernans took a bit of a detour and 2 teams have passed them on the road. Three teams within 5k of one another after 1555km's .Amazing.

Meanwhile, leaders will be passing by the house in about 30mins. Going out to shout them on.:)

Update:

Leaders passed just now. Looking good. Some achievement !!

wanderer 22

Team Grin-It-Out (8 man) finished with an average speed of over 31 km/h...amazing stuff.

NamelessPhil

Hats off to Pat Doocey who aced the Ultra Challenge with a new record.

Vizzy

If a Team goes off route ( i.e. takes a wrong road for a few km) are they allowed to put the bike in the van and get driven back to the point where they went wrong ?

wanderer 22

Vizzy wrote: »

If a Team goes off route ( i.e. takes a wrong road for a few km) are they allowed to put the bike in the van and get driven back to the point where they went wrong ?

From bitter personal experience...yes :pac:

Raam

Lumen wrote: »

I dunno about the 8 man teams, but with the 4 man teams (2x2 doing four hour shifts) there really isn't any rest because the roads are so slow that you risk not being able to catch up before the end of the shift if you hang around.

So basically the 2 "resting" riders are getting bounced around in the back of a camper for four hours then chucked out to hurt themselves again.

That's EXACTLY how I remember it.

Vizzy

One of the teams is putting in a late burst - between 70 and 90 kph over the last 3 kilometres !!

CramCycle

Looks like agood few people are in and over the line.

Odd Ball Joes are on the final stretch for the two man team and look to have an insurmoutable lead in the final few kms.

Anyone know what is happening with teamspy (tandem team), they seem to have stalled. is it just their tracker?

Raymzor

CramCycle wrote: »

Looks like agood few people are in and over the line.

Odd Ball Joes are on the final stretch for the two man team and look to have an insurmoutable lead in the final few kms.

Anyone know what is happening with teamspy (tandem team), they seem to have stalled. is it just their tracker?

Did they stop for some sleep

sullivlo

colm18 wrote: »

Team Grin-It-Out (8 man) finished with an average speed of over 31 km/h...amazing stuff.

I was crewing for them. I just woke up after a mammoth sleep

We were 0.04 km/hr off the overall record. 0.04!!! So close. Makes you think back to every little thing that went wrong.

Anyway. The Irish record now belongs to TGIO. One of the members was an Average Joe the last two years so he broke his own record. He's hanging up his bike now. Apparently.

Incredible few days. Amazing experience. I crewed last year for the Average Josies too. It's exhausting, but incredibly rewarding.

Minds go to crazy places though. Somewhere around Clonmel we started planning to make a team to enter next year. Hopefully it was just tiredness and delirious times

zindicato

just woke up , chief crewed for the 2nd placer in the ultra challenge, sleep deprived and knackered is the way to sum it but totally worth it. will be fielding a 4 man team or a solo for the full one next year as we know now what to expect and what we need.

CramCycle

Raymzor wrote: »

Did they stop for some sleep

I wasn't sure, they are far back so it wasn't clear.

Orion

colm18 wrote: »

Team Grin-It-Out (8 man) finished with an average speed of over 31 km/h...amazing stuff.

31.92 km/h to be precise. Just behind the record of 31.96 :eek:

Orion

CramCycle wrote: »

Odd Ball Joes are on the final stretch for the two man team and look to have an insurmoutable lead in the final few kms.

4th fastest 2-man time. And only one rider since Slieve Maan. The other couldn't continue.

Wanderer78

Was talking to a crew member near molls gap yesterday. Gruelling race. Best of luck to them all

check_six

What's the difference between the Solo version and the Ultra Solo Challenge? I presume both have some kind of backup van?

Wobs

Irishman Ciaran O'Reilly is currently 5th in the solo but making ground on 4th and 3rd who are less than 20k ahead at the moment.

Orion

check_six wrote: »

What's the difference between the Solo version and the Ultra Solo Challenge? I presume both have some kind of backup van?

The Solo is the full race - 2150km. The Ultra challenge is a mere 1100km.

thesimpsons

just posted on their facebook page that Team Spy on the tandem have had to surrender after 1225km, just over the half way point on 7 hrs sleep, a new record for a tandem in the race's 8 year history. This new benchmark has been laid down and both riders are physically broken. The race is called the toughest bike race in Europe, the course is extremely hilly and unrelenting . One of the climbs yesterday alone was 4.5k at 26%, an incredible feat on a tandem. Gary and Rob have left everything on the road.

met their crew in Limerick yesterday - full of laughs and cheer. Both have climbed the highest of the alps individually but found on a tandem its such a different story. Winds along the coast yesterday were hard work too.

I've had a great week tracking dots and meeting as many of the teams as I could. Amazing achievements to get even half way round, not to mind finishing it all and then in race conditions as well.

check_six

Orion wrote: »

The Solo is the full race - 2150km. The Ultra challenge is a mere 1100km.

1100km? Sure you'd have that half done by lunchtime. Back in my day people were a lot tougher. None of this wishy-washy 1100km stuff they're being mollycoddled with. They probably didn't even have to wrestle a wolf, or bash a bear with their bare hands along the way! :rolleyes:

check_six

thesimpsons wrote: »

One of the climbs yesterday alone was 4.5k at 26%, an incredible feat on a tandem. Gary and Rob have left everything on the road.

Holy sneck! No mollycoddling there! Where is that climb? Great effort.

sullivlo

thesimpsons wrote: »

just posted on their facebook page that Team Spy on the tandem have had to surrender after 1225km, just over the half way point on 7 hrs sleep, a new record for a tandem in the race's 8 year history. This new benchmark has been laid down and both riders are physically broken. The race is called the toughest bike race in Europe, the course is extremely hilly and unrelenting . One of the climbs yesterday alone was 4.5k at 26%, an incredible feat on a tandem. Gary and Rob have left everything on the road.

met their crew in Limerick yesterday - full of laughs and cheer. Both have climbed the highest of the alps individually but found on a tandem its such a different story. Winds along the coast yesterday were hard work too.

I've had a great week tracking dots and meeting as many of the teams as I could. Amazing achievements to get even half way round, not to mind finishing it all and then in race conditions as well.

Ah no! They were great craic and doing so well! We passed them on Sunday night and they gave thumbs up and all!

The hills are fierce. I struggled to drive up some of them (record breaking three stalls on Patrick's Hill), never mind cycle! And the wind... One of our lads is a waif of a man & I genuinely feared he would get blown off a mountain! It was described as "the fear of stopping pedalling because the wind would blow you backwards"!! I'll never forget the wind on the road out to Clifden. Ever ever.

Crocked

thesimpsons wrote: »

One of the climbs yesterday alone was 4.5k at 26%, an incredible feat on a tandem. Gary and Rob have left everything on the road.

There has to be a decimal point error in one of those figures surely :eek:

Vizzy

Team Spy seem to be moving again.
They have 1370km done and are outside Kenmare ( only 782k to go:eek:)

Fair play to everyone who took part.