Mizen to Malin - Cycle Against Suicide Sept 18th - 25th 2021

McBluffin · 11-02-2021 12:42pm #1

Hi all,

I just signed myself up this morning for Cycle Against Suicide Mizen to Malin Head challenge that is due to take place Sept 18th - Sept 25th. From what I can see there is no forum creating for this yet and I am sure so many people including myself have many questions around training/nutrition tips and everything in between.
So I like to start off with some questions of my own.

1.) Has anyone done this trip before? What did you learn from it e.g. pacing etc.
2.) What gear is a must have (apart from the basics)
3.) Advise on training structure

I believe there will be 50 people participating and the average pace been set will be 25km/he

Approx 750km over 6 days

Day 1/Sunday September 19th — Mizen >> Killarney – 122km
Day 2/Monday September 20th — Killarney >> Lahinch – 126km
Day 3/Tuesday, September 21st — Lahinch >> Oranmore – 86km
Day 4/Wednesday, September 22nd — Oranmore >> Castlebar – 118km
Day 5/Thursday, September 23rd— Castlebar >> Donegal Town -148km
Day 6/Friday, September 24th — Donegal >> Malin Head – 123km

Boscoirl · 11-02-2021 12:48pm

Have been on plenty of the previous CAS Main Cycles and typically the pace is fairly handy, if you are regular enough cyclist, it can be slow at times, but they are good craic.

must look at it myself

statto25 · 11-02-2021 1:02pm

Not sure how the shared accommodation would work with Covid-19 but its something Id love to do also.

Boscoirl · 11-02-2021 1:22pm

yeah, wouldnt been too keen on that even with someone I know at the moment. would prefer to book my own accomm
m

McBluffin · 11-02-2021 2:22pm

Ye the accommodation piece was the only concern I had. Hoping that by 3rd week in Sept we are in a better place vaccine/restrictions wise. We will have to wait and see I guess.

I believe the event is capped at 50 people.

Kaisr Sose · 11-02-2021 3:12pm

I would say there is a big question mark over that at the moment. I suppose they have to plan for it but speculative and questionable doing so.

Lots of issues need to be resolved by then and the vaccine rollout is not currently scheduled to be completed until late October. That could move either way, but most likely to slip is supply issues continue.

I wonder also what the insurance issue is. Could they get cover at all?

David6330 · 11-02-2021 10:37pm

Use a bivvy sack or tent for accomodation?
Hopefully there will be inter-county travel by then.

McBluffin · 13-02-2021 6:52pm

Would anybody have some guidance/advise on how to build of a structured training plan to get through this. Currently I can do 100km at 20km/r but I find my knee hurts me doing that distance as I prob haven't built up slowly enough.

I am looking for advise on how many days a week I should train?
Dstances I should be doing?
Should I do some legs strength work?

Date: Sept 2021
Approx 750km over 6 days
We have been told we will be traveling at 25km/r

Day 1/Sunday September 19th — Mizen >> Killarney – 122km
Day 2/Monday September 20th — Killarney >> Lahinch – 126km
Day 3/Tuesday, September 21st — Lahinch >> Oranmore – 86km
Day 4/Wednesday, September 22nd — Oranmore >> Castlebar – 118km
Day 5/Thursday, September 23rd— Castlebar >> Donegal Town -148km
Day 6/Friday, September 24th — Donegal >> Malin Head – 123km

nilhg · 13-02-2021 7:26pm

McBluffin wrote: »

Would anybody have some guidance/advise on how to build of a structured training plan to get through this. Currently I can do 100km at 20km/r but I find my knee hurts me doing that distance as I prob haven't built up slowly enough.

I am looking for advise on how many days a week I should train?
Dstances I should be doing?
Should I do some legs strength work?

Date: Sept 2021
Approx 750km over 6 days
We have been told we will be traveling at 25km/r

Day 1/Sunday September 19th — Mizen >> Killarney – 122km
Day 2/Monday September 20th — Killarney >> Lahinch – 126km
Day 3/Tuesday, September 21st — Lahinch >> Oranmore – 86km
Day 4/Wednesday, September 22nd — Oranmore >> Castlebar – 118km
Day 5/Thursday, September 23rd— Castlebar >> Donegal Town -148km
Day 6/Friday, September 24th — Donegal >> Malin Head – 123km

It's really just a case of building up hours on the bike and putting in back to back long days, perhaps even longer than you expect any individual day to be.

The good news is that you have plenty of time to build yourself up, and also that once you are on the road each day it will be easier than you think if someone else is doing the logistics, you won't have much to do but cycle, eat and recover.

Weepsie · 13-02-2021 8:13pm

Make sure the bike fit is right, saddle choice is right and shoe /pedal combo right. I'd work on back/core rather than legs. Legs will be fine once you put in the miles.

You'll be in a group so 25kmph will probably be easy enough.

On the other hand, I'm a bit stunned their even trying to organise this given the restrictions that are and will still be in place. I know it's restricted numbers, and probably considered a bubble, but to travel one from place to another, to another and on. It's a risk when it's costing 2 grand and people are having trouble getting much smaller fees back from other organisations.

iwillhtfu · 14-02-2021 12:38am

I looked at this event myself having done numerous CAS spins and to be honest I can't see it going ahead. The shared accommodation would be a no straight away and then the costs don't seem to add up and it's pretty expensive.

If you're a regular cyclists the pace can be frustrating slow but there's usually a good vibe around them and plenty of breaks.

Time in the saddle and as mentioned building up lower back and core muscles will help massively as they'll be long days in the saddle.

Best of luck with it if it does go ahead.

delynet · 15-02-2021 1:59pm

I did the route a few years ago and have some info here including a link to some training plans. The training was really just plenty of miles and a few decent spins leading up to the event.

https://www.dely.net/cycling-blog/mizen-to-malin-in-less-than-24-hours/

To be honest it will be a miracle if the event goes ahead. When I did Mizen to Malin the route worked out just shy of 600km. The perimeter of Mayo is the same at 601km. My plan is to do this later this year with tent and other camping bits on bike. I am assuming I will be able to cycle within my county and that hotels etc... will be limited. Just need something to look forward to

McBluffin · 06-05-2021 8:55pm

looking more and more likely this event will go ahead. I wonder what type of numbers have signed up so far. I see they are now allowing people to choose to just do certain sections of the cycle of they wish.

jimmyging · 15-09-2021 10:38pm

apparently there are over 100 doing the Mizen to Malin and the weather looks like it might be ok .has anyone heard about the bike drop off location yet ?

skerry · 16-09-2021 8:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/116289373#Comment_116289373

Recent thread bump reminded me to post and say thanks for posting this info. Me and a group from work did Malin to Mizen in June and used a lot of the route info and stops strategy from your blog post. Worked out really well. Ended up doing 589km for a finish.

WheelsGoRoundAgain · 28-11-2022 10:24pm

I am doing M2M in 2023 and I tried the link but sadly doesn't work now @delynet @skerry - would you be able to share the information to help a eager but scared cyclist:)

delynet · 29-11-2022 10:01am

I had to change domain names,

https://gravelandroads.com/cycling-blog/mizen-to-malin-in-less-than-24-hours/

skerry · 29-11-2022 12:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119933145#Comment_119933145

I just seen @delynet reposted the link, its a great write up and our group took a lot of queues from that for our planning so thanks again for putting that together delynet.

Our group ended up doing it 40 mins outside of our planned 24hrs but to be honest I was just happy to finish it. We had about 12 cyclists that started and I think 7 of us finished it. There was quite a varied mix of experience levels in the group, some had very little experience of riding in a group but this didn't turn out to be a huge issue and we got it together pretty quick. The whole group had never cycled together cos there was some from Clare/ Limerick, some from Dublin and a few from up North. Training together would definitely have been an advantage.

Training wise - I have 2 small kids so I knew my training time was going to be limited so I focused on keeping it consistent. I signed up for it in February and started training immediately doing 2 x 1hr high intensity turbo sessions on Tuesday and Thursday and then getting a long spin in on Sunday which was usually 100-120km. Longest training spin I did was 200km and that was just one time a few of us met up and did that, others in the group had several 200km spins in the legs by the time the event came around.

We stopped every 50km or so, and I think we might have used the stops in the article posted too. One thing to watch out for is random toilet breaks outside of the stops, they add up over 24hrs so you have to be regimented. I stuck to solid food as much as I could, only had a couple gels when really needed. Keeping eating every 20 - 30mins is essential.

Other than that, not much to add that's not covered in the blog post but happy to answer any specific questions if you think of anything. Its a great experience/ achievement and well worth putting the effort into getting checked off the list.

WheelsGoRoundAgain · 12-12-2022 10:44pm

Thanks very much

Mizen to Malin - Cycle Against Suicide Sept 18th - 25th 2021

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