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The Wicklow 200 (2009) Thread

Ghost Rider

I'm starting this thread in the hope that we can keep tips, maps, info etc. relating to this year's W200 in the one place. (Worth a try anyway...)

This will be my first year doing it so I'm keen not to miss anything that might help prevent me freewheeling backwards down Slieve Maan, half a chewed banana drooping from my semi-comatose mouth.

I'll start with two related questions: does everyone leave UCD at the same time? If so, how long does it take before the crowd thins out enough for riders to attain a decent pace?

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Ghost Rider

I hear ya. Then again, I imagine there are those for whom averaging 22kmph, or faster, over the first 88km (even in Wicklow) is a strong likelihood. And that makes me wonder: are there really people who finish the W200 around lunchtime...?

rottenhat wrote: »

Maybe if I started at 6 on the dot and had a tailwind....

barrym91

I'm new to this cycling game. I decided at the last minute to apply for Wicklow 200 for first time.

1). First question is, I'm not sure what the story is with my application. I applied on the last day on their website and my credit card has been charged. So far there's been nothing in the post. Surely, if I paid, I'm entitled to take part?

2). Second question. I did about 90k yesterday in 5hours (cycling time) on a mountain bike. I started in Hollywood, then down through Donard, Rathdangan, Slieve Mann and Shay Elliot, then across through Wicklow Gap and back to Hollywood. My god, it was tough! But when I got home I was delighted I did it. Will I be able for 200k? My question is, what's the cycle like from Rathdrum through Djouce and then onto UCD. Is it full of hills and mountains or is it relativey flat? I might take a nip out there next weekend and see how I get on.

Finally which climb is the toughest on the Wicklow 200?

Looking forward to your advice

penexpers

What kind of mountain bike do you have? It is possible to do the 200 on a mountain bike but probably not advisable. 90km in 5 hours probably translates into about 12 hours for 200km

Lumen

penexpers wrote: »

What kind of mountain bike do you have? It is possible to do the 200 on a mountain bike but probably not advisable. 90km in 5 hours probably translates into about 12 hours for 200km

It's only 190km.

tunney

Lumen wrote: »

It's only 190km.

Ah I'm not arsed doing it now............

unionman

Ghost Rider wrote: »

I hear ya. Then again, I imagine there are those for whom averaging 22kmph, or faster, over the first 88km (even in Wicklow) is a strong likelihood. And that makes me wonder: are there really people who finish the W200 around lunchtime...?

I was dealt a slice of humble pie on my spin today. Great 50km out to Laragh via Stocking Lane, Sally Gap, Lugalla, Lough Dan road. Felt great as I had my coffee n' cake in Organic Fayre. But heading back up by the waterfall I felt sudden and unrelenting tiredness in the legs. I stuck with my planned route back via Sally Gap and my nemesis climb in Kilbride (which was just horrible but I stayed the course anyway). 102km.

I got home a full hour later than I had originally hoped, which started to make my 10 hour W200 seem wildly optimistic. There was a strong headwind for much of the higher ground today but that's no excuse.

I did a lot better on the Orwell Randonee a few weeks back. That was my last spin of substantial distance (which I suspect is the real reason for my tiredness today - lack of training).

Am I hopelessly undertrained?

Feck it, I'm doing it anyway, even if I roll into UCD on Monday 8th June:P But I was definitely feeling stronger a few weeks back.

Greyspoke

That was a tough route you took to Laragh and you were into quite a strong wind for most of the way down. I went the same way to the Sally Gap and found it pretty hard going. Maybe stopping in Laragh caused your legs to sieze up a bit and that plus the cumulative fatigue from the ride down just made the return journey feel very hard. Apart from the coffee n' cake were you eating/drinking enough otherwise?
Re W200, it's like approaching exams - you never feel like you've done enough work. I'm sure you'll be fine on the day - just keep eating and drinking!

rflynnr

To be fair to yourself it is a bit of an excuse: Ghostrider and myself also went up to Wicklow on Saturday: Enniskerry, Devil's Glen, Glencree and then, because we knew we weren't going as far as Slieve Maan, we thought we'd have a bash at Kippure. As we did so, a day which had been stunningly sunny suddenly turned gothicly dark. Just as we reached the summit, the rain came down and we were standing inside a cloud. Cue a hurried decision to make for home. After 20 minutes of wind-driven rain my fingers were so cold they felt like fire (if you know what I mean) and when I finally got home an hour later I couldn't feel the tips of my toes (literally - I was prodding them with a pen to test).

I looked back at Kippure as we descended: the cloud looked like one of the alien spaceships from "Independence Day". A less than brilliant end to what will be my last spin before the 200. (There, back on topic.)

unionman wrote: »

I was dealt a slice of humble pie on my spin today...
I got home a full hour later than I had originally hoped, which started to make my 10 hour W200 seem wildly optimistic. There was a strong headwind for much of the higher ground today but that's no excuse.

QUOTE]

unionman

Greyspoke wrote: »

That was a tough route you took to Laragh and you were into quite a strong wind for most of the way down. I went the same way to the Sally Gap and found it pretty hard going. Maybe stopping in Laragh caused your legs to sieze up a bit and that plus the cumulative fatigue from the ride down just made the return journey feel very hard. Apart from the coffee n' cake were you eating/drinking enough otherwise?
Re W200, it's like approaching exams - you never feel like you've done enough work. I'm sure you'll be fine on the day - just keep eating and drinking!

Thanks Greyspoke, you've put the day in perspective for me. The wind didn't bother me so much on the way out, and I kept thinking it will be great to have a friendly tailwind coming back, but it was just a scary crosswind from Sally Gap to Kilbride.

You're right about the stop in Laragh, longer than it should have been and there was stiffness in the legs when I got up to go. Didn't think about it too much at the time. Drink-wise drank 3 litres of water over the day. Food-wise just two bananas apart from Laragh stop. Exams...:eek:

Well, onwards and upwards...:)

Ryaner

The rain only lasted for about 30 minutes on Saturday. How close do you live to Wicklow to be able to make it home with that?

Also Saturday didn't seem windy at all compared to recent weekend or was it only certain parts of Wicklow? I did the W100 route so did past through Laragh.

Lastly, what do you guys eat on these long runs? My garmin had me burning over 6500 cals for the journey. That'll mean around 10k for the W200 route. There is only so many Oat bars one can actually eat

[Deleted User]

Ryaner wrote: »

The rain only lasted for about 30 minutes on Saturday. How close do you live to Wicklow to be able to make it home with that?

Hrm, where I was in Wicklow it was off and on for I'd say around two hours.

rottenhat

barrym91 wrote: »

1). First question is, I'm not sure what the story is with my application. I applied on the last day on their website and my credit card has been charged. So far there's been nothing in the post. Surely, if I paid, I'm entitled to take part?

Yes, I think you'll be fine but you may have to pick up your pack morning of - there was a mail last week or the week before about how they might not have time to send the last 400 packs out but they'd do what they could. If it doesn't show up before the ride, I'd aim to arrive a bit earlier than you might otherwise have planned so you have time to sign on. And bring some safety pins so you can pin your number to your jersey.

If you managed the Slieve Maan/Shay Elliott combo then I think you'll be able to struggle through the rest. There's a bit of drag out of Rathdrum towards Moneystown, and Djouce much the same with a few roller thrown in for laughs. The tough climb you haven't done is up by Lough Bray towards Sally Gap but you'll be hitting it early in the ride so it shouldn't kill you.

Caroline_ie

Ryaner wrote: »

Lastly, what do you guys eat on these long runs? My garmin had me burning over 6500 cals for the journey. That'll mean around 10k for the W200 route. There is only so many Oat bars one can actually eat

best if you don't eat every calorie you use, a nice meal w/ carb the night before a good breakie, in the morning, a couple of fig rolls and a bar during the cycle. You don't want your stomach to be proccessing all day ...not a nice feeling.

Today did 160km, i had porridge at 7am, a banana 30 minutes before getting on the bike at 9, a small bar at 40 km, another at 80km, 1 sandwitch and a few biscuits, tea and scone at 103 or so, and i had a stitch after that for the following 30km...too much food...
had tea and a couple of biscuits at 160km, and about 2,5 litres of water ...

So eat enough, but over eating could make you uncomfortable.

tunney

Ryaner wrote: »

The rain only lasted for about 30 minutes on Saturday. How close do you live to Wicklow to be able to make it home with that?

Also Saturday didn't seem windy at all compared to recent weekend or was it only certain parts of Wicklow? I did the W100 route so did past through Laragh.

Lastly, what do you guys eat on these long runs? My garmin had me burning over 6500 cals for the journey. That'll mean around 10k for the W200 route. There is only so many Oat bars one can actually eat

Your garmin is wrong

6500 calories equates to about 6:50 of a protour rider in a bike race (this months procycling column from Dan Martin

) and he is 67kg

Lumen

tunney wrote: »

Your garmin is wrong

6500 calories equates to about 6:50 of a protour rider in a bike race (this months procycling column from Dan Martin ) and he is 67kg

Besides, the body can only digest so much carbohydrate (I've seen figures of 30-60g per hour), so it's better to work it out from that.

2 bananas - 35g carbs
3 cereal bars - 75g carbs
200g fizzy jellies - 160g carbs

= 270g carbs, enough for 4.5-9 hours cycling, and you don't really need to eat near the end.

Poncherello

barrym91 wrote: »

I'm new to this cycling game. I decided at the last minute to apply for Wicklow 200 for first time.

1). First question is, I'm not sure what the story is with my application. I applied on the last day on their website and my credit card has been charged. So far there's been nothing in the post. Surely, if I paid, I'm entitled to take part?

2). Second question. I did about 90k yesterday in 5hours (cycling time) on a mountain bike. I started in Hollywood, then down through Donard, Rathdangan, Slieve Mann and Shay Elliot, then across through Wicklow Gap and back to Hollywood. My god, it was tough! But when I got home I was delighted I did it. Will I be able for 200k? My question is, what's the cycle like from Rathdrum through Djouce and then onto UCD. Is it full of hills and mountains or is it relativey flat? I might take a nip out there next weekend and see how I get on.

Finally which climb is the toughest on the Wicklow 200?

Looking forward to your advice

I did Rathdrum/moneystown home yesterday and its fine, downhill all the way from Kilternan,the climb out of enniskerry will probably feel difficult after the distance you have covered at that stage
Not sure about the mountain bike tho !

tunney

Lumen wrote: »

Besides, the body can only digest so much carbohydrate (I've seen figures of 30-60g per hour), so it's better to work it out from that.

2 bananas - 35g carbs
3 cereal bars - 75g carbs
200g fizzy jellies - 160g carbs

= 270g carbs, enough for 4.5-9 hours cycling, and you don't really need to eat near the end.

Between 280 and 400 kcal an hour. Depends on the person. Its actually feck all - anything else makes your stomach upset.

niceonetom

barrym91 wrote: »

...I did about 90k yesterday in 5hours (cycling time) on a mountain bike.

With knobbly tyres and a squishy fork? You're putting yourself at a significant disadvantage on a mountain bike relative to those on road bikes, but lots of people do the W200 on all sorts of bikes. Do yourself a favour, if you can't get a road bike (that fits and is in good mechanical order), try and make your mountain bike as road-going as possible. Narrow slick tyres. Locked out suspension (or better still a rigid frame and fork). Maybe lower the handlebars a touch if you feel comfortable with that. You'll be grateful any increase in efficiency as the day goes on. Apologies if you know all this already btw.

barrym91 wrote: »

I started in Hollywood, then down through Donard, Rathdangan, Slieve Mann and Shay Elliot, then across through Wicklow Gap and back to Hollywood. My god, it was tough! But when I got home I was delighted I did it. Will I be able for 200k? My question is, what's the cycle like from Rathdrum through Djouce and then onto UCD. Is it full of hills and mountains or is it relativey flat? I might take a nip out there next weekend and see how I get on.

Finally which climb is the toughest on the Wicklow 200?

Looking forward to your advice

By the time you get to Rathdrum you've done all the major climbs - but you are by no means done with pain

. It's lumpy undulating stuff nearly all the way, with some steep little digs and some fast little descents.

The hardest climb? Individually, probably Slieve Mann. Sequentially, whichever comes last. Everyone has their own bête noire, for me it's the Pogio, which is the colloquial name for the climb into Enniskerry. You'll reach that with about 170km in your legs. It's not particularly long or even steep, but it's easy to forget about so it can seem like a sucker punch to the gut. Fun, fun, fun.

You'll be grand.

niceonetom

Lumen wrote: »

I've seen figures of 30-60g per hour

I've seen that figure too (Chris Carmichael recommends it over calorie counting). A nutrigrain elevenses bar has about 30g of carb in it, so I try to eat about one off those an hour and top up the rest from energy drink. Works for me if I remember to actually do it. They are more palatable and easier on my stomach that powerbars which I find a bit horrible.

Jellies FTW!

barrym91

Cheers for reply Niceonetom and other people.

Turns out I got a loan of a decent racer from a sound chap so I'm going to get practising on that. The mountain bike was just too slow with the thick wheels. Looking forward to getting a bit of practise in over the bank holiday weekend. It's going to be tough one on my first time out but it'll be worth it!!

short circuit

tunney wrote: »

Your garmin is wrong

6500 calories equates to about 6:50 of a protour rider in a bike race (this months procycling column from Dan Martin ) and he is 67kg

But they draft .....

wimps .. :pac:

Nietzschean

tunney wrote: »

Your garmin is wrong

6500 calories equates to about 6:50 of a protour rider in a bike race (this months procycling column from Dan Martin ) and he is 67kg

so are the garmin's prety inaccurate?

my forerunner died on me at the weekend(its not really got a good enough batt life for cycling) , but during the week there it clocked in 140km/6hr/4,835cals which would seem about right from experence with gym/other stuff that tells you?

tunney

Nietzschean wrote: »

so are the garmin's prety inaccurate?

my forerunner died on me at the weekend(its not really got a good enough batt life for cycling) , but during the week there it clocked in 140km/6hr/4,835cals which would seem about right from experence with gym/other stuff that tells you?

not that they are inaccurate - but perhaps not set up right?

RobFowl

Lumen wrote: »

Besides, the body can only digest so much carbohydrate (I've seen figures of 30-60g per hour), so it's better to work it out from that.

2 bananas - 35g carbs
3 cereal bars - 75g carbs
200g fizzy jellies - 160g carbs

= 270g carbs, enough for 4.5-9 hours cycling, and you don't really need to eat near the end.

For what it's worth this is the evidence based advice from the Aussies
http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/factsheets/basics/carbohydrate__how_much

Ryaner

@tunney. The Garmin figure matches every other figure I can calc from other methods when set right. I'm currently 95kg but it was set to 99kg (old figure) so brings the ride in under 5k calories.

I've no intention of eating what I burn however the most I've managed to eat on any long ride is 1k cals, 300 of which was liquid. I know I need more as I completely bonked just after 100k into the cycle. Took a good 20k to get back into doing any reasonable speed again.

Lumen

FWIW, I just did 101km from D15 to Sally Gap and back (duration 03:56 rolling, which is a fair bit faster than I plan to do the WW200 as I only did 900m climbing). My Garmin says 3316 calories burned, my Powertap says 2610 kJ at the wheel. I'm 66kg, which my Garmin knows.

The usual formula is 1kJ at the wheel = 1 calorie burned; this varies with the efficiency of the rider.

This suggests that Garmin is overestimating calories by about 25%, although without lab testing it's impossible to know.

Lumen

Sorry if this has been asked before.

From the WW200 site:

Start Time: 7.00am for all riders.
...
Checkpoint opening times: Start 06.00 - 08.00

How's that work then? Is it possible to start at 06:00, or do you have to wait up to an hour before they let you roll?

Raam

Lumen wrote: »

Sorry if this has been asked before.

From the WW200 site:

How's that work then? Is it possible to start at 06:00, or do you have to wait up to an hour before they let you roll?

roll out when you want, but the checkpoints out the course might not be open if you get there too early

barrym91

ouch!! Had the day free today. Decided to cycle for over 6 hours on the Wicklow 200. Started in Enniskerry. Did bout 120 to 130 round to Rathdrum. All was going fine and rosy til I hit Slieve Mann and then Shay Elliot. I was shaking when I had finished with both of them and I found the desent quite hard (seems fine when you've got some fuel in the tank). It's going to be an interesting Sunday week!

Previous to this cycle I was hoping to finish sub 10 hours. After today, I would be delighted just to finish it!!!!

Felt like I had bad dose of the shakes after Mann and Elliot episode. Back and neck were tense. Anybody got any tips to alleviate or lessen this problem as I get closer to the end?

kenmc

sounds like you bonked big time. what'd you eat and drink?