No More Sean Kelly Tour

07Lapierre

greenspurs wrote: »

Unlucky .... The ones in 89 were much improved ....

In 1988, I didn’t get a medal either!

El Vino

I'll miss it, gave me some of my best days out on the bike, the old 160km route with Seskin and Mahon falls was a great introduction to serious cycling, and I did the 50km a few times with each of my kids which was the first "big" cycle for each of them. For Kelly it must have been a bit of a pain with his Eurosport commitments as it clashed with Vuelta most years. 
I would love to see a sportive based out of Clonmel which could avoid most of the crappy bits to and from the mountains and use both the Comeraghs and the Knockmealdowns climbs.

marvin80

El Vino wrote: »

I would love to see a sportive based out of Clonmel which could avoid most of the crappy bits to and from the mountains and use both the Comeraghs and the Knockmealdowns climbs.

What sort of route would that be? Could you do up a quick google map link.

Clonmel has the Suir Valley 3-day race on August bank holiday weekend - they did sportives before but haven't seen any recently.

El Vino

marvin80 wrote: »

What sort of route would that be? Could you do up a quick google map link.

Clonmel has the Suir Valley 3-day race on August bank holiday weekend - they did sportives before but haven't seen any recently.

I haven't got any that take in both the SK Comeragh Climbs and the Knockmealdowns but This is an 80km circuit of the best bits of the SK Route that I created on Strava. Someone who knows the area better could perhaps add in the Vee etc and make a cracking day out of it.
https://www.strava.com/routes/2923857

El Vino

Best bits of Sean Kelly
Apologies messed up previous post (twice)

ford2600

marvin80 wrote: »

What sort of route would that be? Could you do up a quick google map link.

Clonmel has the Suir Valley 3-day race on August bank holiday weekend - they did sportives before but haven't seen any recently.

What exactly are you looking for a sportive route or a route for a solo cyclist/small group? They are very different things.

I'd know the roads around Clonmel better than most; but given the amount there is I will probably never know them all. It is a brilliant place to ride a bike.

A route taking in small roads in foothills of Comeraghs and Knockmealdowns will be pretty brutal mind.

A route through minor roads around Grange Ardfinnian Burncourt New Inn Fethard etc won't be quite as hard.

It's all magic though.

Top tip(p) if you want to cross Suir do so in Ardfinnan, Newcastle or Two Mile Bridge

JMcL

El Vino wrote: »

I would love to see a sportive based out of Clonmel which could avoid most of the crappy bits to and from the mountains and use both the Comeraghs and the Knockmealdowns climbs.

If it runs this year - it got cancelled last year - , the Comeragh Tour might fit your needs. I've done it a couple of times and it was a good day out.

marvin80

JMcL wrote: »

If it runs this year - it got cancelled last year - , the Comeragh Tour might fit your needs. I've done it a couple of times and it was a good day out.

Did this before - takes in Mahon Falls and Seskin Hill.

https://www.comeraghtour.com/100112km-route-map.html

If it's going ahead this year it'll be later in the summer (not the usual end of May date).

cunavalos

Carrick Wheeler ran a sportif for 3/4 years that took in the best parts of the Sean Kelly route as well as some sharp kickers near the Tipp Kilkenny border and a gravel section in an old country estate near Portlaw. Definitely one of the toughest events i have done but despite excellent food stops and support it was never that well attended. The organisers (marcofan from Verge Ireland) had a thread here about it on the forum here about the cancellation of the last edition around 2013/2014 (IIRC)

https://ie.mapometer.com/cycling/route_3904165.html

greenspurs

As far as I can remember, I think the Bobby Power Memorial Carrick Sportive clashed with another ? Would explain the small attendance (and it was a really tough spin too !! )

marvin80

greenspurs wrote: »

As far as I can remember, I think the Bobby Power Memorial Carrick Sportive clashed with another ? Would explain the small attendance (and it was a really tough spin too !! )

Looked like a beast of a cycle:

https://www.strava.com/activities/57733375

marvin80

JMcL wrote: »

If it runs this year - it got cancelled last year - , the Comeragh Tour might fit your needs. I've done it a couple of times and it was a good day out.

August 26th this year - 100km/125km, climbs including Mahon Falls, Tickincor and Powers the Pot.

https://www.comeraghtour.com/

El Vino

Thanks for letting me know, looks perfect I'm in, had a play around with the Clonmel route but still needs a bit of work, 
Clonmel Leg Buster
It could flow a bit better if I did either the Knockmealdown or Comeragh route the opposite way round

harringtonp

I'm quite happy in general to see the decline of larger sportives.

There are many fine smaller club run ones to take up the slack and these have everything you want for a good social day on the bike.

As said above many of the larger ones lost the run of themselves when they went down the path of a reverse scale of economy. If smaller sportives with 200-300 entrants at 20-30 euro per head can cover their costs and donate excess to charity, how can larger ones with 1000+ entrants get away with charging twice this amount.

dahat

El Vino wrote: »

Thanks for letting me know, looks perfect I'm in, had a play around with the Clonmel route but still needs a bit of work, 
Clonmel Leg Buster
It could flow a bit better if I did either the Knockmealdown or Comeragh route the opposite way round

That will hurt and as I'm a local I can actually feel the pain but it is an enjoyable route.

ford2600

dahat wrote: »

That will hurt and as I'm a local I can actually feel the pain but it is an enjoyable route.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27062113

Here is a proper route around Clonmel, not as brutal or long, only 2km of regional road and almost empty of cars

dahat

ford2600 wrote: »

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27062113

Here is a proper route around Clonmel, not as brutal or long, only 2km of regional road and almost empty of cars

That looks a nice route actually, what are the road surfaces like? I know some of the route with a KOM on one segment.

The 520 isn't exactly map friendly so its the old fashioned way of learning the route.