Extreme Slieve Bloom challenge Sat Oct 7th Birr.

The Noble Nudge

Has any boardsies done this?
170km 2500m climbing....

https://www.facebook.com/WolftrapCC/

Might be nice to finish off the sportive year with this...??Any feedback

Borderfox

Id say it would finish me off

seanin4711

never done it before
but seems like its going to be epic!

nilhg

Hoping to do it, though if I'm totally weather dependent, if we can travel the land at home I'll be working.

I've never done the event but I'm well familiar with all the climbs, you'd definitely want to be holding plenty in reserve for the Glendine from the Laois side (#4) and the final climb, the Wolftrap from the Cut side is no piece of cake either to finish the day.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/25493745

The only other sportives I've done so far this year are the Orwell Randonnee and the WW200, this would be well in the same league I reckon, the Blooms are gorgeous, well worth a visit for anyone who can make it.

ford2600

nilhg wrote: »

Hoping to do it, though if I'm totally weather dependent, if we can travel the land at home I'll be working.

I've never done the event but I'm well familiar with all the climbs, you'd definitely want to be holding plenty in reserve for the Glendine from the Laois side (#4) and the final climb, the Wolftrap from the Cut side is no piece of cake either to finish the day.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/25493745

The only other sportives I've done so far this year are the Orwell Randonnee and the WW200, this would be well in the same league I reckon, the Blooms are gorgeous, well worth a visit for anyone who can make it.

Same here busy Saturday but thinking of cancelling the lot and heading up.

Very little done all year but have never had bike in Blooms

Daroxtar

I was really interested in this but can't make it on Saturday. Glendine is a tasty climb alright
Ford, go. The Blooms really are gorgeous.

delynet

Did it last year. Starts out flat for a bit and then you hit the hills for a sufferfest. Weather last year was okay, cool but you are thankful of this on the climbs.

Group broke up very early but does not matter too much when climbing. Surfaces good but watch the decents. Smooth tar with moss in sheltered spots so if it is damp it gets slippy.

I thought about bailing out after 4 climbs last year but stubborn streak kicked in and I completed it. Soup and sandwiches half way but you need to bring bars\gels. Any time you see the organizers handing out bars grab them even if you are not hungry. I bonked on last climb and it was a nightmare cycle back to Birr. Fell in the door of some greasy Italian and ordered the menu, I was gone delirious with hunger.

Plan to do it again this year. Pic from last year heading up the 5th climb I think.

manafana

Climb at 85km is bitch a good km at 10%, laois side is usually best road. first part of last descent after 145km is horrific, got be one of worst pieces of road. then few km down it turns into a national road with cat eyes

seanin4711

anyway of knowing the max gradients of each climb
plus where is/are the foodstop(s)? is there bars/gels
thanks
John

fat bloke

Hoping to go. 3 of us. Going to be an early shtart!

nilhg

seanin4711 wrote: »

anyway of knowing the max gradients of each climb
plus where is/are the foodstop(s)? is there bars/gels
thanks
John

Off the top of my head, glendine offaly side 12%max, Glendine laois 17%, Wolftrap Offaly side 10% Laois side 14% Cut 6% both sides.

Food stop in Kinnity after 100km, water station on top of the Wolftrap at 70/150km, not sure if they'll have bars there, though it's be no harm if they took a leaf from the Ranndonee's book and had a few cans of Coke there too, always feels well earned

fryup

seems like torture, no thanks

Andy Magic

I'm doing this, there is 5 of us going. Looking forward to a drink after :pac:

Andy Magic

Does anyone know how this compares to the Wicklow 200? Easier / harder?

benneca1

I've done both id say this is harder as there is less recovery time between climbs and there the gradient is steeper. I guess it depends on how heavy you are. If you are heavy Glendine from Mountrath side and the climb to Wolftrap starting at 60k are pure torture. That said if I was free I would have done it. Unlike wicklow as you are doing all the climbs twice you can bail out anytime you like. In a way though that also makes it harder if you get tired.

Andy Magic

benneca1 wrote: »

I've done both id say this is harder as there is less recovery time between climbs and there the gradient is steeper. I guess it depends on how heavy you are. If you are heavy Glendine from Mountrath side and the climb to Wolftrap starting at 60k are pure torture. That said if I was free I would have done it. Unlike wicklow as you are doing all the climbs twice you can bail out anytime you like. In a way though that also makes it harder if you get tired.

Cheers that makes sense with recovery.

fat bloke

If the gradients are that steep, the climbs must be shorter, are they? Are they just sort of outta-the-saddle-ramps and off about your business?

Like I didn't think there were any alps in the midlands! and 2500m climbing isn't outrageous over 170k

benneca1

fat bloke wrote: »

If the gradients are that steep, the climbs must be shorter, are they? Are they just sort of outta-the-saddle-ramps and off about your business?

Like I didn't think there were any alps in the midlands! and 2500m climbing isn't outrageous over 170k

Shure twill be no bother to you then maybe you should do it twice

benneca1

benneca1 wrote: »

fat bloke wrote: »

If the gradients are that steep, the climbs must be shorter, are they? Are they just sort of outta-the-saddle-ramps and off about your business?

Like I didn't think there were any alps in the midlands! and 2500m climbing isn't outrageous over 170k

Shure twill be no bother to you then maybe you should do it twice

Any how to answer your question Glendine is ramp after ramp after ramp just is a killer dunno easy bits 10% hard bits 14% +  Has about 2 km over 10%. The other one has  about 2.5 K over 8% maxing at 12% which might be handy for you but kills me.

fat bloke

benneca1 wrote: »

Any how to answer your question Glendine is ramp after ramp after ramp just is a killer dunno easy bits 10% hard bits 14% +  Has about 2 km over 10%. The other one has  about 2.5 K over 8% maxing at 12% which might be handy for you but kills me.

Yerra sure I'll bring the small ring anyway, just in case.

andy69

fat bloke wrote: »

If the gradients are that steep, the climbs must be shorter, are they? Are they just sort of outta-the-saddle-ramps and off about your business?

Like I didn't think there were any alps in the midlands! and 2500m climbing isn't outrageous over 170k

They're all kind of in-and-around 300m of climbing each (hence the 7x 300m and ye come up with the near 2500m or so overall for your spin)

Cut is about 7km from both sides
Wolftrap about 4km (from the cut side), and about 7km from Kinnitty side
Glendine (from tough side) is about 6km. From Kinnitty side it's too awkward to measure...but about 8km from the turn off the Roscrea Rd, not climbing all of that time though.

Probably that's made it more confusing now! ha!

The Cut I think is the only sort of 'steady' climb, whereas the others have steep ramps, or 'steps'.

Fantastic view as ye crest the Wolftrap headed towards Kinnitty...love that! Blooms are a great little mountain range, and so quite too!

fryup

could i use an e-bike ? or would that be frowned upon?

Charlie69

Was up the slieve blooms this morning for a spin, beautiful morning for it but the descents were lethal with wet leaves and greasy surface.

benneca1

Moral of story take it handy.

fat bloke

I reckon the event will be a piece of cake by comparison with pinning down the details of the event. It has to be the worst I've come across, and sportives are generally bad.

How hard is it to have one page with all the relevant details present and correct. I've got Facebook links to the 2015 cycle, links to photos and testimonials from the 2016 cycle, links which ask me if I ready for the 2017 extreme challenge.

There are so far 5 riders that I've encouraged to do the event and no clear and plain page to direct them to.

benneca1

Turn up in Birr its not that big someone will point you to the rugby club. Details are on their facebook page

secman

fat bloke wrote: »

I reckon the event will be a piece of cake by comparison with pinning down the details of the event. It has to be the worst I've come across, and sportives are generally bad.

How hard is it to have one page with all the relevant details present and correct. I've got Facebook links to the 2015 cycle, links to photos and testimonials from the 2016 cycle, links which ask me if I ready for the 2017 extreme challenge.

There are so far 5 riders that I've encouraged to do the event and no clear and plain page to direct them to.

And don't crack a joke about it being cold......they have heard it a million times 😎
Best of luck with the spin.

nilhg

Nose to the grindstone for me in the morning I'm afraid, best of luck to all in the Blooms tomorrow, hopefully I'll get to follow in your wheeltracks in a week or two.

devonp

8am or 8.30am start to this?, email said 8.30 , facebook 8am ?? ok i see its 8.45 further down in the options ...

selwyn froggitt

devonp wrote: »

8am or 8.30am start to this?, email said 8.30 , facebook 8am ?? ok i see its 8.45 further down in the options ...

Roll out at 8.45am

fat bloke

benneca1 wrote: »

Shure twill be no bother to you then maybe you should do it twice

Well that's me told. Fcukin hell that was hard.

benneca1

fat bloke wrote: »

Well that's me told. Fcukin hell that was hard.

Andy Magic

Toughest sportive I've ever done, this was not easy at all. I crashed coming down the 1st decent, glasses steamed up from the clouds and I couldn't see a thing so ended up in the ditch and tried to get out only to land on the road sideways!

Fairly bad road rash all over. my right hand needs some stitches and my left thumb feels broke but not sure . The medical team were absolutely brilliant and also Warren (I think that's his name) from Velo.ie were extremely helpful, can't thank them enough tbh.

Anyway got the thing done, I wanted that medal (hardest one I've ever earned!)

https://www.strava.com/activities/1219578237

selwyn froggitt

My first time doing this event today,didn't get to see the Slieve Bloom mountains at their finest as it was pretty wet and misty up until about 1pm.
Great event,really bloody tough day on the bike,the roads were in great nick and plenty of them have been resurfaced.The organisation was first class,great food stop with beautiful hot soup that hit the spot.Met some really nice folk out on the road today and thanks to Wolftrap CC and all the volunteers

devonp

did this today, a bit damp and felt the cold all the way through, good job there was enough climbing to warm me up!!:)
good organisation and a good food stop in Kinnitty, soup was great, plenty of sarnies bread cake and fruit salad

felt the pace a bit on the flat sections but did ok on the climbs, some tricky decents with the pine needles, surface water and leaves but stayed upright

thanks to Wolftrap and all the organisers/marshals etc

didnt see any boards.ie jerseys(just had the cap on myself)

https://www.strava.com/activities/1219644170

delynet

devonp wrote: »

did this today, a bit damp and felt the cold all the way through, good job there was enough climbing to warm me up!!:)
good organisation and a good food stop in Kinnitty, soup was great, plenty of sarnies bread cake and fruit salad

felt the pace a bit on the flat sections but did ok on the climbs, some tricky decents with the pine needles, surface water and leaves but stayed upright

thanks to Wolftrap and all the organisers/marshals etc

didnt see any boards.ie jerseys(just had the cap on myself)

https://www.strava.com/activities/1219644170

My second time doing it and it has improved from last year. Mountains did not get any easier though.

pat.folan

2017 was my first attempt and I made it. I am a beginner cyclist only having taken up cycling in the last year. I started out on a hybrid I bought on the Bike 2 Works scheme then in May I bought a road bike.

I can't believe I completed this difficult challenge. It almost killed me. I got up the last three hills on sheer willpower. The fourth hill was a nightmare, many of my fellow back markers got off and walked. I managed to stay pedalling thanks to my training and more thanks to my compact gearset. I had 11-32 on the back. It looked like a Frisbee but I was glad of it on the day.

I was as slow as Xmas. I think only a few people finished after me but I suppose plenty didn't finish at all. If you are thinking about trying this but question your fitness/strength then my advise is eat small amounts often, drink plenty, use 50/34 gearset, for God's sake don't give up after hill four. The last three are much easier except that your legs just did one through four so you will be weak and slow but if you got to the top of four you can get over five, six and seven eventually.

Cyclists way stronger than me quit because they went out too strong. Err on the side of caution unless you love hills because it's unrelenting, hill after hill after hill. To put it in context my average speed ended up below 20kph. Properly fit cyclists I know finished with a mid twenties average. Go out there looking for a high twenties or more average and most people would be in real trouble no matter how strong they believe they are IMHO.

delynet

pat.folan wrote: »

2017 was my first attempt and I made it. I am a beginner cyclist only having taken up cycling in the last year. I started out on a hybrid I bought on the Bike 2 Works scheme then in May I bought a road bike.

I can't believe I completed this difficult challenge. It almost killed me. I got up the last three hills on sheer willpower. The fourth hill was a nightmare, many of my fellow back markers got off and walked. I managed to stay pedalling thanks to my training and more thanks to my compact gearset. I had 11-32 on the back. It looked like a Frisbee but I was glad of it on the day.

I was as slow as Xmas. I think only a few people finished after me but I suppose plenty didn't finish at all. If you are thinking about trying this but question your fitness/strength then my advise is eat small amounts often, drink plenty, use 50/34 gearset, for God's sake don't give up after hill four. The last three are much easier except that your legs just did one through four so you will be weak and slow but if you got to the top of four you can get over five, six and seven eventually.

Cyclists way stronger than me quit because they went out too strong. Err on the side of caution unless you love hills because it's unrelenting, hill after hill after hill. To put it in context my average speed ended up below 20kph. Properly fit cyclists I know finished with a mid twenties average. Go out there looking for a high twenties or more average and most people would be in real trouble no matter how strong they believe they are IMHO.

Well done you!

I agree, lots of good cyclists gave up after 4 as they attacked the climbs. Not a day for that.

Arthurdaly

Well done lads, gutted to have missed it due to injury. I done Pedal the peaks earlier in the year and enjoyed it, the extreme is a proper challenge.

Andy Magic

pat.folan wrote: »

2017 was my first attempt and I made it. I am a beginner cyclist only having taken up cycling in the last year. I started out on a hybrid I bought on the Bike 2 Works scheme then in May I bought a road bike.

I can't believe I completed this difficult challenge. It almost killed me. I got up the last three hills on sheer willpower. The fourth hill was a nightmare, many of my fellow back markers got off and walked. I managed to stay pedalling thanks to my training and more thanks to my compact gearset. I had 11-32 on the back. It looked like a Frisbee but I was glad of it on the day.

I was as slow as Xmas. I think only a few people finished after me but I suppose plenty didn't finish at all. If you are thinking about trying this but question your fitness/strength then my advise is eat small amounts often, drink plenty, use 50/34 gearset, for God's sake don't give up after hill four. The last three are much easier except that your legs just did one through four so you will be weak and slow but if you got to the top of four you can get over five, six and seven eventually.

Cyclists way stronger than me quit because they went out too strong. Err on the side of caution unless you love hills because it's unrelenting, hill after hill after hill. To put it in context my average speed ended up below 20kph. Properly fit cyclists I know finished with a mid twenties average. Go out there looking for a high twenties or more average and most people would be in real trouble no matter how strong they believe they are IMHO.

You are very knowledgeable for a beginner cyclist and that's a credit to you. I'm cycling years and I went on Saturday with a 52/36 on the front and a 27 on the back. On Glendine I wished I had either a compact or a 30 tooth cassette on the back, only thing is it made me do the hills quicker but it was tough.

Well done for finishing, what time did you get in at?

pat.folan

Andy Magic wrote: »

You are very knowledgeable for a beginner cyclist and that's a credit to you. I'm cycling years and I went on Saturday with a 52/36 on the front and a 27 on the back. On Glendine I wished I had either a compact or a 30 tooth cassette on the back, only thing is it made me do the hills quicker but it was tough.

Well done for finishing, what time did you get in at?

9 hours moving time with the guts of an hour resting time if you add up all the little stops plus the food stop. I tended to reward myself with a few minutes every time a crested a peak and I would take some water and a gel or energy bar.

I am less than a year cycling but in my defence i've clocked up over 9000k in that time and have gone from thinking a 100k sportive was challenging even in a slow group to now banging out 100k - 120ks in the fast group doing my fair share of being in the front.

I do most of my cycling on my own , though I do at least one club spin a week to get used to riding in a group and all the important skills that come from doing that.

By myself I am a high 20's to low 30's average speed cyclist over distances up to 100k and elevation gains of less than 1000M. I can hold an average in the mid to high 30's over short distances of less than 30K on a flattish course. In a group I can do a whole lot better of course.

All in all I am pleased with my progress. Not bad for a guy that turned 50 this year and took up cycling recently. Youtube and listening to experienced lads in the club has taught me a lot of the technical stuff and putting in 200k to 250k a week really pays off after even as short a time as 8 or 9 months.

All that said I knew the Wolftrap Challenge was at the bleeding edge of what I am able for. At 86KG and 6'2" I am not built for climbing. At least I had my new winter bike with its compact gearset. If I were using my regular bike with its 11 speed 11-28 , semi-compact gearset I would have had a harder time. I do okay on hills, don't get me wrong but I can't keep up with the top guys especially when they weigh 15KG less than me!

The main thing is I have a big smile on my face when i'm out on the bike. If I buy another one my wife will leave me. I think I have arrived as a cyclist.