Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle 2018

monkeysnapper

On numbers

I park in field on bypass and in previous years that field was full of cars ' I left at 5:30 and there wasn't many cars There, I put it down to me being early ' I came back to car at 12:45 and car park was same as when I left .

I've done 7 or 8 ROK and numbers defo felt a lot lower this year . Ie food stations/ on road . No where near amount of club cyclist.

I think if getting numbers up is something they want then they got to change a few things.

I did notice a lot more new ROK jerseys this year , they actually look much nicer which seems to be a hit with riders .

boredatwork82

Great day out. Some of the people volunteering said the numbers were 7500. The feeling was that price is. But too steep for what it is.
I kind of have to agree. If you see what you pay for the Skoda Series cycles and what you get it doesn't show the rok in a positive light.
On another note they was a good crew of novice cyclists, but there seemed to be a decline in the type of hybrid once off occasion cyclists. The kind who have no fitness and no fancy bike and you have so much respect for how they push in through for the day.

Anyways , as always a fantastically organised cycle. Great positivity from the volunteers. We were late starting and the roads weren't too busy.
This year we took a break from the prepackaged sandwiches and stopped in coffee shops for food and coffee. As well as the food stops for a bit of brack! And took our time and had a few extra stops. No hero's and made it much more enjoyable.

The weather was perfect for the cycle. Got a bit of rain at commakista but it was gorgeous.

Felt really strong this year and had a new bike with good brakes like the poster above and descended like a man possessed from Molls Gap.
Overall great day, but the lower numbers were very apparent, and while it made better cycling it probably took away a little of the buzz that is the Ring of Kerry.

And the jerseys were lovely this year!

Boilermaker1

I completed the ring of Kerry cycle yesterday.
This was my fourth year in a row.
Number of cyclists noticeably down again this year..my guesss around 6000.
But what a day out it was... perfect weather,
No over crowding in the food stops..
good open space on the road ..
And as usual it was very well organized.

Seadin

Did ROK for the 7th time yesterday. Great day out. numbers definately down from 2015-16 levels it was alot more noticeable on the roads too with gaps between cyclists. this wasn't the case years ago when there was a line of cyclists all the way. Fair play to the killarney cc rider who completed it on a penny farthing. A mad thought but some going to finish the ring on that, i met him near sneem. Saw another guy with a old green trike that dated back few decades but looked the business. Saw one guy with a high nelly doing it and few with mountain bikes and cx bikes. Saw lots of bad cycling too and some that thought it was a race. If people want to race it I think myself it's best doing it at another day and not on the actual day of the charity cycle. Great day out all the same.

DeepBlue

DeepBlue wrote: »

If I remember correctly there used to be cars/vans blasting music along the route several years ago and that's gone now. Probably because the increase in numbers made it less safe or maybe there's an issue of paying royalties for the music or something.

Maybe the ROK committee are reading this thread :eek: 'cos the cars/vans/motorbikes with music blaring was back this year. Now we just need to get to work on some of those playlist choices. :pac:
Still, good to see them back.

Jaysci20

A previous poster said the guards wanted the numbers capped on health and safety grounds. That makes sense, especially given the number of novice cyclists, myself included. The amount of money generated will be down due to lower numbers but offset somewhat the higher amount that is charged to the 6000-7000 who did take part.

kerry cow

Rok has run its race .
I was there last few years and agree the numbers were down .
The boom is back and people are begining to turn to luxuries again .
The bike became popular in the burst but other things are becoming more attractive .
Its will be a quiter road each year from now on .
Can see it be a 2k bike ride in 3 to 4 years .

Atom Ant

kerry cow wrote: »

Rok has run its race .
The bike became popular in the burst but other things are becoming more attractive .

This article paints a different picture. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/number-of-daily-dublin-cyclists-doubles-to-more-than-95-000-1.3230465

A fundamental of cycling is to improve our health/ wellbeing and with an improving economy, we simply go out and buy better bikes.I think the ROK committee simply became greedy and a majority (12k down to 6K) did not appreciate it. This is reflected in the large decline in numbers attending the event this year.

Chiparus

kerry cow wrote: »

Rok has run its race .
I was there last few years and agree the numbers were down .
The boom is back and people are begining to turn to luxuries again .
The bike became popular in the burst but other things are becoming more attractive .
Its will be a quiter road each year from now on .
Can see it be a 2k bike ride in 3 to 4 years .

Great day , but too expensive both entry and hotels.

Brendan Hennessy

Seadin wrote: »

Fair play to the killarney cc rider who completed it on a penny farthing. A mad thought but some going to finish the ring on that, i met him near sneem. Saw another guy with a old green trike that dated back few decades but looked the business. Saw one guy with a high nelly doing it and few with mountain bikes and cx bikes.

Cheers Seadin - it was me on the Trike! It took 90 miles to get the courage up to get down Molls Gap, but phew, I made it. Ian O'Connell was a great inspiration for us in OldVelos, but especially Anto Butch on the 'penny' and the bigger high nelly team. What will next year bring?

Rowley Birkin QC

Did it for the first time yesterday.

Registered on Friday lunch time and was no.7088. First ever sportif, first ever centuries (imperial & metric ) yesterday, really enjoyed it! Can only compare coming down Molls Gap to a nice fast flowing ski run, great craic!!

Hopelessone1

Brendan Hennessy wrote: »

Cheers Seadin - it was me on the Trike! It took 90 miles to get the courage up to get down Molls Gap,

ILIKEFOOD

did it and really enjoyed it. headed out at 8 so it was a bit quieter to start but caught up eventually with more. very well organised. Really liked how the town gets behind it, nice touch with the 'thank you' messages along the way. we got really lucky with accommodation being 10 minutes from the start and very reasonable (airbnb). I'd do it again in a couple of years. Didn't mind the €100. I'm not doing a load of events this year so happy enough to pay it this time round. Probably should be a bit lower for those who like to do it every year..

jon1981

kerry cow wrote: »

Rok has run its race .
I was there last few years and agree the numbers were down .
The boom is back and people are begining to turn to luxuries again .
The bike became popular in the burst but other things are becoming more attractive .
Its will be a quiter road each year from now on .
Can see it be a 2k bike ride in 3 to 4 years .

It's not that people are giving up cycling and reverting to fine dining and weekends in Monaco... It's just there is far far more choice when it comes to sportives and adventure races in Ireland... ROK has much needed competition. Also Killarney is just getting more and more expensive when you include accommodation... ROK is held in one of the most popular tourist destinations and at the absolute peak of the summer.

outfox

funnights74 wrote: »

one guy with a 4,000e bike whose Di2 died so he spent 165 Kms in his 13 sprocket, no thanks, at least he was in the small front ring.

165 km of serious cross chaining :pac:

seamus

Enjoyed that meself. I had stuck out a challenge on bookface for myself to get extra donations, so ended up powering ahead of the guys I was with in order to get in under 6.5 hours. Still took it easy until the top of Coomakista. I didn't have the conditioning in the legs, this was my first ride over 100km since last year's ROK. Pushed it on then for the second half and really felt the lack of conditioning going up Moll's gap.

Definitely much quieter on the roads than previous years, much more relaxed. In previous years there was always a massive problem at certain key points - garages and cafes, where people would stop in the middle of the road or pull to the right to stop, making it quite dangerous. None of that this year, which was nice. Also basically no queueing at the food stops; Caherciveen was always a cattle mart, but not this year.

Although a new phenomenon I encountered was people jamming on the brakes when there was oncoming traffic. Pretty odd. It was like they were expecting the bikes on the right to all try and pull left instead of just keeping within the lane.

Conditions were perfect, I don't think I could have asked for better. A couple of mates mentioned they got a downpour at the top of Coomakista which made the descent very hairy, but for me it was warm and dry. But overcast, so no intense sun.

The only thing I regret was the one pint too many the night before . I had a banging headache till Sneem.

Rowley Birkin QC

There was an official-ish looking photographer on the course at the finish line. Bit of a long shot but does anyone here know who that might have been?

I'd love to get a snap of out group finishing, completely slipped my mind to ask him at the time.

seamus

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

There was an official-ish looking photographer on the course at the finish line. Bit of a long shot but does anyone here know who that might have been?

I'd love to get a snap of out group finishing, completely slipped my mind to ask him at the time.

They usually stick the photos all up on facebook towards the end of July, they'll have them separated by finishing time. If there's a decent shot, you can get in touch with the photographer then to request a copy.

_Puma_

First time doing the RoK myself. 3 of us came down Friday night. We were intending on heading out at 7am but didn't make it out in until around 8am. In hindsight it was a great call. A group we were to go out with at 7am said the start was quiet congested for them, where-as we didn't come upon too many until after the first food stop in Cahersiveen. Ended up catching the first group just before Kenmare so we climbed Molls together.

Happy enough with day all in all the volunteers and marshaling was excellent as were the foodstops. Some ball bag ran into the back of me coming up to the t-junction in Kenmare(Garda was flagging to slow down), I can only assume the fatigue was getting to him and the head was down. Managed to keep upright and the guy was apologizing profusely but could have have ended a lot worse as he clipped me at some pace.

Feedback for RoK commite for next year.

• Food at the finish, Burger token etc....
• Year on the medal
• Consider lowering the entry price or building in some added value for the entry. 2 nights accommodation in Killarney along with food costs means this will not be something we would be considering every year due to cost.

Brendan Hennessy

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

There was an official-ish looking photographer on the course at the finish line. Bit of a long shot but does anyone here know who that might have been?

I'd love to get a snap of out group finishing, completely slipped my mind to ask him at the time.

The great Valerie O'Sullivan was taking lots of pictures https://www.facebook.com/valerie.osullivan.5203

Speakerboxx

_Puma_ wrote: »

Feedback for RoK commite for next year.

• Food at the finish, Burger token etc....
• Year on the medal
• Consider lowering the entry price or building in some added value for the entry. 2 nights accommodation in Killarney along with food costs means this will not be something we would be considering every year due to cost.

also the rok jersey should be included with every entry. Not a big ask to include. Lots of money there to do that. 30 euro is a bit much for a jersey as well on top of entry fee.

FastFullBack

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

There was an official-ish looking photographer on the course at the finish line. Bit of a long shot but does anyone here know who that might have been?

I'd love to get a snap of out group finishing, completely slipped my mind to ask him at the time.

It's Killarney Camera Club. All photos should be here by the end of July
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kcc_ringofkerry/

Seadin

Brendan Hennessy wrote: »

Cheers Seadin - it was me on the Trike! It took 90 miles to get the courage up to get down Molls Gap, but phew, I made it. Ian O'Connell was a great inspiration for us in OldVelos, but especially Anto Butch on the 'penny' and the bigger high nelly team. What will next year bring?

Fair play to you Brendan. Always a joy to see old bikes on the Ring of Kerry.

blarney_boy

Have done the RoK a number of times but would echo the sentiments of a lot of other poster where the entry fee is somewhat divorced from the value of the event for the actual participant.


The 'committee' have pushed their 'charidee' agenda beyond the realms of believe-ability - the first RoK I participated was for a nominated charity so I collected funds for a sponsor card, the following year I didn't want to go back to the same family / friends so I paid the entry fee €70, the following year was the for mentioned lottery nonsense, then after that the RoK couldn't give away entries, not that they were dropping their prices mind.



End result, this July I went to Italy to do the 'Marathon of the Dolomites' http://www.maratona.it/en/ instead of slogging around the Ring of Kerry in the rain (yes I'm aware there's a heatwave in Ireland currently but when I booked my holiday last year this forecast was not available)!


My entry fee €120 for the Marathona got me :


1 Castelli Jersey http://www.maratona.it/en/news/castelli-and-maratona-unveils-2018-race-kit-094
1 Carvico Gillet http://www.maratona.it/en/news/carvico-an-eco-sustainable-waistcoat-for-the-queen-of-gran-fondos-174
2 Water Bottles
1 Bottle Prosecco (33cl)

1 Baseball cap (on return of timing tag)
1 Finishers medal (on completion of event)
1 Meal (Pasta, Burger, Dessert, Beer / Wine) in main event village



okay I had to pay for return flights, hire a bike for the weekend and pay for accommodation but I still got a whole lot more bang for buck than the RoK are offering ATM (and yes I'm aware it's for charidee) . . .


Ring of Beara - sign me up.
Marathon of the Dolomites - will do again (places are limited due to demand)

Ring of Kerry - fire the committee (out of a cannon)
Cork Rebel Tour - bring it on (climbing verticals in the Italian Alps has given me a 'lust for pain')

harringtonp

What I don't fully understand is why people are giving out about it and still doing it at the same time.

There are so many well run great value smaller club sportives why go back to Rok ? What do you really get out of cycling something with the knowledge that there are 5000 others doing the same thing...

barleyman

Good question!! the reason I do it and will continue doing it is this https://www.independent.ie/regionals/kerryman/localnotes/ring-of-kerry-ready-for-2018-36237660.html

We should never lose sight of what the ROK is about

2017 €1.5M raised 48 charities helped


Also, all profits from the jersey sales go to charity.


This is a not-for-profit charity cycle unlike most of the other sportives mentioned in this thread and that I believe is the big difference and why I will continue doing it.

Plus, its well organised and a great day out!!

Olsky

...

CramCycle

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Roger Hassenforder

barleyman wrote: »

Good question!! the reason I do it and will continue doing it is this https://www.independent.ie/regionals/kerryman/localnotes/ring-of-kerry-ready-for-2018-36237660.html

We should never lose sight of what the ROK is about

2017 €1.5M raised 48 charities helped

"The Killarney venue hosted a dinner and drinks reception to honour the charities and volunteers central to Munster's biggest one-day fundraising event..."There were around 500 people in the INEC on Friday..."

That's a lot of mouths to feed and water...

Just saying.

DeepBlue

Roger Hassenforder wrote: »

"The Killarney venue hosted a dinner and drinks reception to honour the charities and volunteers central to Munster's biggest one-day fundraising event..."There were around 500 people in the INEC on Friday..."

That's a lot of mouths to feed and water...

Just saying.

I think there was something like 1400 volunteers on the day. If you paid them for their time it would cost a hell of a lot more. Besides it's a good idea to give some recognition to the volunteers who will then be back next year. It's quite easy to take volunteers for granted and then you wonder why they don't return.
I wouldn't really have a problem with them getting a few drinks and a bite to eat for their efforts.