Gravel ride series - biking.ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123920886#Comment_123920886

really enjoyed that, cracking course. signed up for 65, but had a 4 hour window to be back for a lift home at 1430 - thought that would be achievable enough based on previous events average times (lakelander, GGG each a few times) but no. made the 40/65 cutoff with about 25 mins to spare but knew there was no way in hell I'd do the 25 and be back for that lift so called it a day and handed in the tracker.

was very excited to see wicklow wolf as a supporter/sponsor, but in no world does an n/a beer wash away the taste of pain lingering in your mouth - my only gripe on an overall excellent course and event. will do again. maybe without the hard deadline though

MojoMaker

With the benefit of hindsight now available, what's the consensus on the perfect bike for this event? If even such a thing exists…

padjo5

Did the 65k route, and enjoyed my first gravel event. Buddy had a major blow-out early doors so I tipped along solo, just about making the cut-off at the c40km stop. Fell-in with another guy and we completed it together.

Did it on tubeless 40mm on gravel bike. Felt seriously under-biked a lot of the time, particularly on the descents (where a hard-tail would have been sweet!). If doing it again on very same route I'd opt for gravel bike on knobbly 45-50mm tyres with low pressure.

Catering & supplies at food stops was iffy, as mentioned earlier. Overall found it well organised, well-marked and the staff crew were top class.

fat bloke

Can anyone link to the route please? I'm curious as to where and what the roads are. Is there really a non-stop uninterrupted 100k of gravelly riding there? Or were you criss-crossing regular roads? Or was it laps?

I've tried a bit of gravel riding up the Dublin mountains but I've found the available sections to be quite short and you very quickly get spat out onto tarmac and traffic again.

Bluejohn1

Yeah the descents are what really battered me, just knocked the life out of you and i'm not the most confident on them, not to mention the constant look up for rocks and ruts. Still only managed to fall twice, bike thankfully only came out with a bent shifter. Bikes limited to about 40-43mm, would like something a lot bigger if I was to do descents like that again. Really enjoyed the climbing, that long one after the second food stop was tough but great.

100K https://www.strava.com/routes/3401338733870196730

65k https://www.strava.com/routes/3408939461809088734

The first 20-30k goes through some private land, so dunno how doable it would be.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123921155#Comment_123921155

some short road sections, but it was mostly forest. Here's the 100km route (the shorter routes were sub-sections of this). Note some of the route is on private land that the organsisers had arranged access for.

https://www.strava.com/routes/3401338733870196730

koutoubia

4 of us planned to do the 65k route and ,naively, thought if we felt good we would do the 100k.

That plan went off a cliff at less then 20k in and we all opted for the short course. Do it next year? Deffo need to get the fitness a lot higher then now cause that was a tough course!

I had a tumble on the deep rutted section just after the first farmyard and my saddle and left shifter kept moving afterwards which made descending errrr nervous and not fun!

For my 1st ever gravel event it was a rude awakening and found the lack of sections in which to recover tough.

Anyway I have a few free hours next sat afternoon around the sandyford area so have a question.

If I go up to Ticknock are there gravel friendly fireroads up there or am I better off going to Ballinastoe or does anyone have a link to a nice 30-40k route around that area?

For my 1st ever gravel event it was a rude awakening and found the lack of sections in which to recover tough.

plus climbing on gravel, it's so hard to get any rhythm going, you're constantly losing momentum. 1000m climbing felt more like 2000m. As mentioned above the 65km section started with a 6km climb so not sorry I missed that!

MojoMaker

Sounds like it would be better tackled on a full-on mtb of some description?

koutoubia

Well for sure ,and was pointed out by a club mate, it was organised tby the MTB crew so we expected some MTB single tracks thrown in.

so yeah it was more suited auito MTB than gravel.

But thats just my opinion.

judging by the tracking site, either the trackers didn't work properly, or the number of finishers in each category (as registered, not counting those who dropped to a shorter course) was shockingly low - only 23 of 101 in the 65km not down as "n/a", and 32 of 203 in the 100km

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123921411#Comment_123921411

loads around ticknock/ kilmashogue/tibradden/cruagh/hellfire.

of course as these are all coillte land, you should definitely not ride these 😉

https://strava.app.link/g8PPSmzICXb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123920886#Comment_123920886

fat ebike with full sus 😀

For a follow up event Slaney are running a Gravel and MTB event on the 16th November. MTB is shorter, based around White Mountain. They did one there a few years ago which got positive feedback IIRC.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123922183#Comment_123922183

I'm listed as n/a for the 65km but it shows my progress as far as the 40km cut-off. So I guess it's due to the large numbers dropping down to a shorter route.

They explain in their post-event note that they had restrictions on both start and finish times which dictated the cut-off times (though I'd imagine many like me just didn't have the legs).

yep, just shows how tough it was at that level of "drop downs"

Macy0161

When they announced last year it was to be 4 events iirc. That was before the coillte ban though - I wonder was the private landowners restricting access times or Coillte. Wouldn't be at all surprised if it was the latter…

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123923948#Comment_123923948

"Just on the tight cut offs, we had access restrictions due to hunting which meant we couldn't enter the forest until 11am and then we obviously had to finish by dark, which we just about did!"

Skiup

I did this as my first gravel event and managed to do the 100km on a gravel bike. Thought it was very well run and the route very well sign posted and the feed stations had ample water, sweets and cakes etc. This may have been better for the 100km as obviously fewer completed. Was a long day in the saddle at 6 Hours moving time but I really enjoyed it. It was all either up or down. Very little paved surface (maybe 10km max), a mix of single track which I struggled with and then all types of gravel. I was only going to do one event in this series but I may now do the others as it was such a good day.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123922473#Comment_123922473

Black and White 2025 Pre registartion.jpg

Also partially on Coillte lands, permission given. Gravel route uses private land for a bit but permission has been got for that as well. As far as I know it starts in the village with an escort/neutralised start to the actual off road section. I don't know the official route but if you gander at some of the Slaney riders on Strava they have obviously been testing the route, with one section looking like a 7km climb

dom_1000

Thought it was a great event. I loved the mixture of surfaces. WAS 11 minutes late on the 55 km cut off, carried on anyway and made the 75 km cut off on the dot. Decided to call it a day as it was raining and getting dark.

I would love to see some of the photos taken as there were loads of photographers but have no idea who was taking them or where to find them. Any ideas or suggestions?

Slaneys event is up : https://eventmaster.ie/event/5WQMUQvsEz

This popped in to my youtube feed: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/d0PPxMfoLx8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123967059#Comment_123967059

As a matter of interest, what gearing are people use for the various gravel events?

Bluejohn1

Have a 46-30 with an 11-40, think its something like 550% range. Dunno if I would have survived GRS Wicklow on something near road gearing.

Macy0161

Didn't do the GRS and sold the bike, but 46-30 with 36-11 got me around the Lakelander previous years, and anything I've encountered in Wicklow (any hike a bike hasn't been gearing related). A project down the line I'm thinking 1x and mullet.

cletus

I did Gravel Grind West on 48/32 and 11-34.

Only one hike a bike there related to steepness, and that was a fella stopping dead in front of me, I stopped, and couldn't get started again.

Have done a bit of cycling around Wicklow fire roads, getting off the bike has more to do with fitness than steepness I think 😂

I have been toying with the idea of an 11-40 by way of one of those Wolf Tooth adapter things, but that's really just for something to be tinkering at.

saccades

Probably doesn't count but 32 front then 10-50 rear.

Get up anything.