Orwell Randonnee 2017

Gerry

Thanks folks re gels. Friend of mine is bringing some. Will still be over to pick up a few more.

Wishbone Ash

Mercian Pro wrote: »

YES

Not for me!

...and an arty close-up taken at Luggala at last year's Randonnee!

Einstein?

Ghosty669 wrote: »

Hey Gerry,
We'll have a small shop there when you can pick up things like gels so we have you covered!
Thanks

Will there be free gels and bars at the start?

Wishbone Ash

Weather wise it's looking like light rain most of the morning getting heavier in the afternoon. Temps between 5 and 8 degrees with a light southerly.

(That's going by yr.no which can be a bit 'hit and miss' lately.)

https://www.yr.no/place/Ireland/Leinster/County_Wicklow~2960935/hour_by_hour.html

Whyner

Hope everyone enjoys the days. I felt I wasn't quite ready, even for the lite. Should see you at the next local sportive as I'm dying to try one out. Looking forward to some reports. Safe riding lads

fat bloke

That was really hard.

Weepsie

I'm rather jealous. I finally drove a car today. Pointless if you ask me, two wheels good
...

nilhg

fat bloke wrote: »

That was really hard.

Indeed, but you'd be in the wrong place looking for an easy day....

Woke early, left home early, was parked up and ready to go early and since my clubmate was in the same position, we couldnt see the sense in waiting for the rain so we rolled out at 8.30. I suffered on the first half, was having a little niggle with the bike, got it semi sorted (cable stretch) but it was annoying me and doing strange things to my head, Gerry in the van sorted it properly in a few minutes at the food stop and with that and the magical effects of the minestrone soup and carrot cake I felt much better for the second half, felt able to try and hang on to my mate going up and push on a bit coming back down.

The whole event, as usual, was a credit to Orwell Wheelers, well done to all involved.

Because we left early, didn't spot many boardsies, saw Mercian Pro at the food stop, but was with the mechanic and didn't get to say hello.

Eamonnator

Eamonnator wrote: »

Having sorted out a 34-32 low gear, I am in again this year.
I promise not to cry this year, when I see The Wall.

My 34-32 worked a treat. I laughed at the Wall. In fact I used my 34-32 quite a lot, and I must say it made things a lot easier.
I finished in 5 hours 50 minutes, moving, at an average speed of 24.7kph.
As usual, Orwell did a great job, couldn't find fault, well marshalled,properly signposted, good food and the burger was lovely, lots of Orwell cars and vans on the route.
I met a Boardsie, who mistook me for Mercian Pro, not sure, whether that's good or bad.

Foxmoves

Eamonnator wrote: »

My 34-32 worked a treat. I laughed at the Wall. In fact I used my 34-32 quite a lot, and I must say it made things a lot easier.
I finished in 5 hours 50 minutes, moving, at an average speed of 24.7kph.
As usual, Orwell did a great job, couldn't find fault, well marshalled,properly signposted, good food and the burger was lovely, lots of Orwell cars and vans on the route.
I met a Boardsie, who mistook me for Mercian Pro, not sure, whether that's good or bad.

Ha. That was me that mistook you
I will blame low sugars due to the hill we were on

Good day out and great organisation. Good support, marshalls and food stop. Tough going up sally gap the second time in the wind and rain.

Rolling time of 5 hrs 22 mins.

Mercian Pro

Eamonnator wrote: »

I met a Boardsie, who mistook me for Mercian Pro, not sure, whether that's good or bad.

Given how bad my legs felt, I would take that as "bad". That was one tough cycle despite the great company of Wishbone Ash and Daroxstar. I knew we would pay for the boost going up the Wicklow Gap but the top bit of Sally Gap (2) was savage. If it weren't for the photographer, I'd say there would have been a good few walks of shame.

Orwell really know how to run an event. As well as their organisational skills, they must have roped in nearly every member who wasn't cycling. Many thanks to you all and well done on the burgers - they were as good as promised and nearly worth all the pain beforehand.

A few photos featuring 3 Boardsies, 3 Swordsies and 2 IHFers.

goldenboots

A hard day on the bike, but once again Orwell showed how to properly run a sportive. Everything about the event was top class from start to finish. Sally gap the 2nd time was just a world of pain. The burger at the end was fantastic. Looking forward to coming back in 2018.

AmboMan

Disappointingly I had to miss this great event this year, hopefully next year. Well done to all involved

P_1

Well that was probably the toughest thing I've ever done on a bike and I went with the Lite route. That headwind :eek:

andy69

Great day - well done Orwell, putting on a super event as always! Thanks so much to all the marshals....I said thanks to yee all on the way round, my heart went out to yee standing out in that weather - really appreciated though!
Great friendly volunteers at the foodstop - that soup was a little taste of heaven

Met Daroxstar shortly after the start and we rolled up eventually behind Mercian Pro (said a quick hello ) just before we turned left for the Featherbeds and into the cruel headwind.

I got caught out after the 105k food/water stop and found myself on my own then all the way to the top of the Sally Gap....that was really tough! I was on the 28-sprocket well before even getting to that skew bridge!

Zen0

A tough day on the bike, but superbly organised by Orwell as always. Exposed my lack of training mercilessly. Spoke briefly with Euro Fred on the way up the Featherbeds, and I think I finally met the legendary Wishbone Ash who I spoke to briefly at the lights heading home. He then hared off like a man who had just sat on a bike for a quick blast around the block. Disappointingly, he looks nothing like Humphry Bogart.

Mercian Pro

Zen0 wrote: »

Disappointingly, he looks nothing like Humphry Bogart.

True but have you seen those legs (post #93)

py

fat bloke wrote: »

That was really hard.

It was relentless. Climbs, wind and rain. Great (but really tough) day on the bike. Thanks to Orwell Wheelers who put on a great event. Marshalls were great, volunteers at the start/end and food stops were fantastic. That burger..... nyom.

Daroxtar

That was a hell of a spin. Met Andy69 who, despite what he may say, had no trouble uphill into the headwind
Then completed the rest of it with Wishbone Ash and Mercian Pro. There's Boardsies, then there's legends. Then there's these 2.
It was fantastic to have such good company on a long spin like that.
Huge thanks to Orwell for putting on the spin and the grub. I'll be back.

lissard

Super sportive put on by Orwell as per usual. They really know how to put on a great event - thanks to one and all. The Lugalla to Sally Gap approach seemed suspiciously easy and sure enough what the Lord giveth the Lord can taketh away. I won't forget that headwind quickly and the second ascent of the Gap was hellish. Anyhow there was a good esprit-de-corps amongst those of us vying for the title of lantern rouge. A special shout out to the two lads running the water stops, their good humour made a tough day fun. They were having a good laugh with us as we struggled to complete the 3k false flat that completes the purgatory that is Lake Drive.

Wishbone Ash

Another very successful Randonnee - the weather even played ball for most of it. Went around most of the way with a fine bunch of men including Daroxtar and Mercian Pro but they and the others were too strong for me on the climbs.

(That bloody Lake Drive sucked the life out of me as usual. Thought it would never end).

Felt for those who had to resort to the walk of shame because of the strong headwind on the second ascent of Sally Gap. It was made even worse for them by the photographer being present at the steepest bit making them feel re-mounting was required.


Great organisation as usual Orwell. I've never seen such a selection of food at an event. Thanks to all the friendly marshals and other support staff.

One small suggestion where the routes split - advance marshals or signage required as many did not seem to know which direction to take until they were at the junction. I nearly hit the deck as the large group in front of me suddenly stopped or changed direction without warning.

Zen0 wrote: »

.... Wishbone Ash who I spoke to briefly at the lights heading home....

Was that yourself in the St Tiernan's jersey?

Gerry

Great day on the bike! Brilliantly organised event. Delighted to have paced myself really well, took it steady on the long climbs but left plenty in the tank for lake drive. Made up a bit of time on the descents. Fair play to orwell, will be back next year.

Wishbone Ash

Gerry wrote: »

Great day on the bike! Brilliantly organised event. Delighted to have paced myself really well, took it steady on the long climbs but left plenty in the tank for lake drive. Made up a bit of time on the descents. Fair play to orwell, will be back next year.

Outside Manor Kilbride you told me you would be taking it easy on the ascent to the Sally Gap and then you tore off!

Einstein?

I've never been happier in my life to be at Sallygap after that second ascent.

Absolutely broken after it because I haven't done any cycling this year.

An excellent test of will power and determination!!

Well done to the organizers, fab job done.

https://www.strava.com/activities/963193197/shareable_images/photo_based/8749238/1/8ceb1695-f715-4f98-b265-2604f892ec52?hl=en-US&v=1493488251

Gerry

The best laid plans eh. Sorry about that!

secman

Went out to blessington and on to tullferris turn and headed around lake drive, came across a good amount of suffering souls, passed a few guys hanging over tribars, not a great route for tribars . Well done to everyone today , can only imagine how tough Sallygap was into a headwind.

@ Wishbone Ash.... you know lake drive cycle is good for the soul

Zen0

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Was that yourself in the St Tiernan's jersey?

It was.

doozerie

TLDR: A long, hard, but worthwhile day on the bike, kudos to Orwell for a(nother) great event.

Last year I arrived late for the start of this and spent the first while chasing the majority of riders on the road ahead. This year was going to be different, I was going to get there on time and just sit in the middle of the bunch getting towed along with my feet up. It was going to be lovely.

I rode to Kiltiernan, arriving there at about 09h05. Not exactly early, but on time to jump into the big group as they went past. There was no bunch going past, the road was empty of cyclists in fact. I asked the marshal at the junction, she told me it had already started. Why am I always late? A question my parents asked time and again when I lived under their roof. I heard an echo of a disapproving voice from the distant past: “See now?! See what happens when you’re late? Well? THE DEVIL MEND YA!”. Charming.

So I turned towards Glencullen, thinking that there were some riders ahead but that the rest of the riders would come up behind me soon enough. I asked the next marshal, 100m up the road, if many riders had gone past already. “A fair few”, he said. Was that an Irish “fair few” I wondered - an irish “couple of riders” could mean literally two, or it could mean one hundred and two, how many does “a fair few” mean? I rode on, optimistically.

I’d been told when signing on the previous evening that 350 had signed up by then, they couldn’t all be up the road. ‘Course not, I wasn’t *that* late, for a change. This not knowing how many were ahead of me was nagging at me. A couple of hundred metres up the road, on the steep section, was another marshal. As I rode past I asked how many were ahead of me. “About 300”, he said. Well now I knew, but that knowledge wasn’t as comforting as I’d hoped. “Devil mend ya!”, said an inner voice of old. “I HATE you!”, was the indignant internal response.

I caught the vehicles driving behind the stragglers. When the pros ride through the rear cavalcade during a race it looks fun and exciting. This wasn’t a race so there was obviously no imperative for the stragglers to push themselves. In fact, there was every reason for them to take it slowly given the amount of climbing ahead. I’d packed my climbing cassette but even in my lowest gear of 39-29 it was a balancing act to stay upright behind the slow moving vehicles.

I took the first opportunity I could to overtake the vehicles and the stragglers. I had an open bit of road ahead before the next bunch of stragglers. Great. Then the vehicles overtook the stragglers behind me and slotted in between me and the next ones. Bastard. The relatively narrow and twisty nature of the road up to Johnny Fox’s meant I couldn’t safely overtake until just before the pub.

At the crossroad beside the pub a garda had stopped crossing traffic to allow us through. But the driver of the Range Rover just ahead of me saw the garda and just stopped. Despite the fact that he was waving her on. A sure sign of a guilty conscience garda, wha?! I rode past her and as I passed the garda I heard him sigh loudly and say “Oh, will you just… Oh, for god’s sake… Look, just… *sigh*” as he started to walk towards her.

I passed various bunches along the next stretch to Glencullen. I was reminded though of the perils of riding amongst other riders I don’t know, the fact that they can be utterly unpredictable. That’s not unique to sportive of course, it happens in races too. As I went to pass one group, a couple of riders on the right of the group pulled out and rode past the others. Which was fine. Less fine was the guy at the back left who swung out to follow them without even a hint of looking over his shoulder first. I’m pretty sure he didn’t register me even as I braked and swung right to avoid piling into him. Looking over your shoulder is one of the fundamental requirements when riding in any group as far as I am concerned, it baffles me that so many people don’t exercise it/

We were getting close to the descent to Cruagh Road now, the impending descent motivated me to get past a few more groups. Sitting in a group of strangers on a climb is one thing, doing so on a descent is entirely another. I like descending, and I knew this one well, I wanted to be able to enjoy it without having to worry about the riders around me so I pushed on. I must have seemed entirely anti-social. I’d started out saying hello and nodding my head to the riders I was passing but my head was going to fall off if I kept that up so I just rode on in silence instead.

I went round some sizeable groups on the road to Featherbeds. Again I was motivated by the tricky descent ahead, I definitely didn’t want to take that one on in a group. I got towed by a big guy (Broderick’s jersey) over Featherbeds. The headwind was strong enough there, I tried to come round him to share the effort but between his strength and that of the wind I sat behind instead until we reached a slightly more sheltered patch. That should have told me something about the state of my legs, but I ignored it. “You never listen. No good will come of it!”, said a distant voice from the past. I ignored it.

I turned onto The Wall behind a group of 10 or so riders and found the road full ditch to ditch in front of me. Feck. Thanks to some of the riders pulling left I was able to get past and rode on. My legs were cooperating but my heart rate just scoffed at requests from my legs to contribute. It had been a long week in many respects, not least for doing my first race of the year two days previously, my body wasn’t ready to go back to work yet it seemed. It looked set to be a long day in the saddle. “Devil mend ya!”, said the voice from the past again. I mentally stormed out and slammed an imaginary door.

The next few climbs were predictably hard work. Stupid body and its stupid need for stupid rest and recovery. In the midst of this I think I may have encountered Eamonnator, based on his description of his bike above. It was on the early stages of the climb to Sally Gap, I jokingly said “Snap” to him since I was riding the same frame. The joke was on me though, my legs thought “snap” was a command and they kindly heeded it with enthusiasm. So my legs clocked off as I trudged my way up the climb.

I felt rubbish heading down to Laragh, and I was passed by quite a few people I’d passed on the climb. Which didn’t do a whole lot to make me feel better. I didn’t stop at Laragh (“Get thee behind me, carbs!”, etc.) so I had the road to myself for the first part of Wicklow Gap, in keeping with my antisocial-ness.

The roads around the back of the lakes are tough at the best of times, and this certainly wasn’t the best of times. I was passed by a few more people (high on the Devil’s carbs, no doubt!). I encountered a curious bunch of people cycling in the opposite direction, every one of them wearing a hi-viz vest and the same helmet. It was obviously some organised cycling thing. Some of them seemed to be enjoying it more than others. As I was descending one steep hill, one of those people decided to overtake another of his party, towards me.

He must have been in his lowest gear. His legs were a blur of speed. If his legs were the hare though, then his forward momentum was the tortoise. His face had an expression that screamed “Look at me go. I am the winning-est! Vroooooooommmm!”. But he didn’t go vroom as he pulled out to overtake, he couldn’t have gone much slower if he was riding up a wall. I had just enough time to change my line to avoid him, he was almost “the colliding-est”, he’d have been scraping me off his glasses for quite a while afterwards if I hadn’t swerved.

The climb back up to Sally Gap was tough, but it always is from that side. The rain didn’t help of course. I was very glad that I’d chosen to wear my winter kit for the day, that’s for sure. Long sleeved windproof+waterproof (claimed) jersey, full-fingered gloves, winter tights, overshoes, and hat under my helmet. I was grateful for every stitch of it all.

From Sally Gap it was great though, the tail wind was brilliant and there is a lot of descending before you hit Enniskerry. I actually felt pretty good by then so I put in a bit of effort back from there. I didn’t turn right at Kiltiernan to head down to the start/finish venue, I rode straight on and home instead.

All in all it was a tougher day then I expected, my form has been encouraging recently but today was hard work from the start. I clocked up 164km door to door, for a ride time of 6h30m. Fair play to Orwell once again for a very well organised event, and thanks to all of the marshals as their day looked tougher than mine. And a particular thanks to the marshals that offered verbal encouragement to me and others as we went past, that really does help.

Mercian Pro

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Tights? In April??

Anybody manage to find the right combination of gear for yesterday's conditions? I was glad to have the tights and Mistral jacket at times but seriously overheated on some of the early climbs.

Some photos up already on Orwell's FB page and more promised: https://www.facebook.com/orwellwheelers/

lissard

Tights, base layer, Gabba and arm warmers for me. Had a light shower cape that came in handy for the Wicklow gap. Seemed to work in the conditions, I was pretty slow moving so overheating was never really a problem ;-)