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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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estariol

Curious to know from a pace point of view what would be considered, fast medium and slow in KPH terms?

Am still trying to pick up a transfer for the 200!

neal

Raam

estariol wrote: »

Curious to know from a pace point of view what would be considered, fast medium and slow in KPH terms?

Am still trying to pick up a transfer for the 200!

neal

Transfer:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055580687

Chips Lovell

blorg wrote: »

Would quite like the weather to be like yesterday myself It never gets too hot for me in this country.

Big +1. This is ideal cycling weather we're having now.

kenmc

Starting early means you're up over sally before the heat kicks in - should be down in Donard by around 11 or so. Unfortunately it also means you're up on SlieveMaan when the midday sun kicks in though, and there's no shade there either. Ah well, sure what better way to have people asking "What the hell were you up to yesterday" when you go back to work on Monday walking funny and red as a lobster.

ROK ON

kenmc wrote: »

Starting early means you're up over sally before the heat kicks in - should be down in Donard by around 11 or so. Unfortunately it also means you're up on SlieveMaan when the midday sun kicks in though, and there's no shade there either. Ah well, sure what better way to have people asking "What the hell were you up to yesterday" when you go back to work on Monday walking funny and red as a lobster.

We should have a bit of shade for the first 2km of Shay Elliott though. Then once out in the open, we should have direct line of sight up the last 1.5km to the water stop at the top.

steinone

kenmc wrote: »

Starting early means you're up over sally before the heat kicks in - should be down in Donard by around 11 or so. Unfortunately it also means you're up on SlieveMaan when the midday sun kicks in though, and there's no shade there either. Ah well, sure what better way to have people asking "What the hell were you up to yesterday" when you go back to work on Monday walking funny and red as a lobster.

P20 FTW!

tunney

estariol wrote: »

Curious to know from a pace point of view what would be considered, fast medium and slow in KPH terms?

How long is a piece of string.

Raam

tunney wrote: »

How long is a piece of string.

Easy, it's 53-11.

The tax man

Both were scorchers yesterday. Not a whiff of wind around. Got some brief shelter on SM along the forest on the right.(had to keep right though)
SE didn't have much shelter once over that narrow bridge.Possibly down to sun height angled to the road. Reached SE summit at 12:40 prefect timing for a roasting.

kenmc

steinone wrote: »

P20 FTW!

Wimp.

steinone

Indeed ;P

unionman

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Sounds like we have a few takers for another slow boards group Caroline. I think we should stick together for as much of the day as possible. Personally I'm not really interested in what time I finish in as long as I finish, and I would prefer to head back to UCD with a group of people I know rather than on the tail of a group I don't.

All things going well I can see this group forming on the right turn out of Enniskerry. At least that is what happened (more or less) on the Orwell Randonee:D

I hope to complete the 200 in 10 hours (riding time) but I am focused more on completing than anything else. I know that I'm slow, and it no longer breaks my heart to admit it! (Though I remain surprised at how long I was able to stay with the 34-38kmh group on the Swords club tour on Sunday).

I will be keeping an eye out for some people I know whose average speed is similar to mine, as it would be great to finish with a few familiar people.

@The tax man - thanks for the great descriptions of SM / SE et al from the weekend. You covered ground that will be new to me next Sunday, so your account is really very helpful. Many thanks.

DirkVoodoo

unionman wrote: »

All things going well I can see this group forming on the right turn out of Enniskerry. At least that is what happened (more or less) on the Orwell Randonee:D

I hope to complete the 200 in 10 hours (riding time) but I am focused more on completing than anything else. I know that I'm slow, and it no longer breaks my heart to admit it! (Though I remain surprised at how long I was able to stay with the 34-38kmh group on the Swords club tour on Sunday).

I will be keeping an eye out for some people I know whose average speed is similar to mine, as it would be great to finish with a few familiar people.

@The tax man - thanks for the great descriptions of SM / SE et al from the weekend. You covered ground that will be new to me next Sunday, so your account is really very helpful. Many thanks.

Ah yeah, sure I would have imagined that if we manage to get the photo going before the start, there will be a big boards posse heading out and we can just work it out amongst ourselves. It won't be a tight bunch, but if it is anything like the slow group we had at the Sean Kelly, it will be enjoyable company at a leisurely pace.

[Deleted User]

Just reading the ROK thread there about road surface and it reminded me to ask - I know the road surface for here is all gravelly stuff, is there anywhere else that's particularly bad along the route?

ROK ON

Dónal wrote: »

Just reading the ROK thread there about road surface and it reminded me to ask - I know the road surface for here is all gravelly stuff, is there anywhere else that's particularly bad along the route?

The road surface from Crone Wood to Liam Horner memorial is poor IMO, but given that the last few km are a steepish climb it wont be too bad. (It is a very bumpy road to descend however).
Also the sharp dip in the road around the entrance to Kippure Holiday village is often a bit gravelly (have almost lost it here on the descent a fair few times, and I still go nuts on that road - never learn).

Gavin

I'm all on for a slow group. Happy to just complete it first time around. Lack of distance cycling recently is scaring me.

I have roped in a support driver though, haha.

Ghost Rider

I'll probably be doing a similar speed so if you see someone in a Kraftwerk jersey like yours*, that'll probably be me - so give me a holler!

* Assuming you have the TDF one, not the Autobahn one...

unionman wrote: »

All things going well I can see this group forming on the right turn out of Enniskerry. At least that is what happened (more or less) on the Orwell Randonee:D

I hope to complete the 200 in 10 hours (riding time) but I am focused more on completing than anything else. I know that I'm slow, and it no longer breaks my heart to admit it! (Though I remain surprised at how long I was able to stay with the 34-38kmh group on the Swords club tour on Sunday).

I will be keeping an eye out for some people I know whose average speed is similar to mine, as it would be great to finish with a few familiar people.

@The tax man - thanks for the great descriptions of SM / SE et al from the weekend. You covered ground that will be new to me next Sunday, so your account is really very helpful. Many thanks.

Raam

Do you know, that excluding stickies, this thread is the third most viewed of all the cycling threads? First is Top Bike Shops, second is Boards Jersey Sightings. That is all.

unionman

Ghost Rider wrote: »

I'll probably be doing a similar speed so if you see someone in a Kraftwerk jersey like yours*, that'll probably be me - so give me a holler!

* Assuming you have the TDF one, not the Autobahn one...

Yes it's the TDF one, I'll keep an eye out for ye.

Come to think of it, we will probably heading to UCD from about the same direction on Sunday morning? I'll keep an eye out then, there can't be that many Kraftwerk jerseys out and about at 5.30am (:eek:)

Ghost Rider

Actually, I'm not heading out til about 6.30. Hoping to register in UCD around 7 and be out of there by 7.30. So I guess I won't see you.

unionman wrote: »

Yes it's the TDF one, I'll keep an eye out for ye.

Come to think of it, we will probably heading to UCD from about the same direction on Sunday morning? I'll keep an eye out then, there can't be that many Kraftwerk jerseys out and about at 5.30am (:eek:)

estariol

at the risk of another slightly unhelpful reply, how does the w200 compare to the ROK (to anybody who has done both). I am trying to establish how long the w200 would take me.

thanks

Raam

estariol wrote: »

at the risk of another slightly unhelpful reply, how does the w200 compare to the ROK (to anybody who has done both). I am trying to establish how long the w200 would take me.

thanks

WW is much hillier and a bit longer.

unionman

Ghost Rider wrote: »

Actually, I'm not heading out til about 6.30. Hoping to register in UCD around 7 and be out of there by 7.30. So I guess I won't see you.

I'm pretty slow, ye might catch up:o

[Deleted User]

Raam wrote: »

Do you know, that excluding stickies, this thread is the third most viewed of all the cycling threads? First is Top Bike Shops, second is Boards Jersey Sightings. That is all.

Well yeah, our enemies have to keep checking up on us.

blorg

estariol wrote: »

at the risk of another slightly unhelpful reply, how does the w200 compare to the ROK (to anybody who has done both). I am trying to establish how long the w200 would take me.

thanks

The Wicklow 200 is a lot tougher. I did it last year in 7h39, the ROK in around 6 hours. Both cycling time. There is not much difference in the distance (the W200 is well below 200km) but as Raam says it is a lot hillier.

ROK ON

blorg wrote: »

The Wicklow 200 is a lot tougher. I did it last year in 7h39, the ROK in around 6 hours. Both cycling time. There is not much difference in the distance (the W200 is well below 200km) but as Raam says it is a lot hillier.

Have not done WW200 yet, but would concur in general.
Was in Kerry last week around the Ring route. 120km spins at 27.3km avg.
On most training routes in Wicklow of similar distance I am happy if I manage 22km avg.

Chips Lovell

blorg wrote: »

The Wicklow 200 is a lot tougher. I did it last year in 7h39, the ROK in around 6 hours. Both cycling time. There is not much difference in the distance (the W200 is well below 200km) but as Raam says it is a lot hillier.

I'd second that. The ROK is basically a flat spin with one big hill at the end. The W200 is a much more testing day. The fact that its so hilly means that any big bunches tend to get blown apart very early, whereas in Kerry last year I spent the first half of the event in a massive bunch.

FrankGrimes

I think sorting out a few start groups for this would be a great idea, though I don't think anyone should feel obliged to stay with the group they start with.

Main rationale behind that is personally it'd make me feel worse if I was slowing others down than it would be if I was just grinding it out on my own or with a random group. That's not cos I think anyone here would be impatient - it's the complete opposite: I reckon people would be too obliging if they felt the need to stick with me/others. And everyone has their own natural pace and slowing that down may ultimately make it tougher/more sapping on those people so it's not just a simple case of courtesy - those people slowing down might be taking on more punishment than they otherwise would.

But yeh, defo would be great to meet up with a few boardsies at the start and I reckon there'd be a good few Kms under the belt before the group splits, but feel free to bail off at any time.

Are we gonna do a separate start times thread or post them in here? As I'm looking at a fairly long cycle time (optimistically aiming for 9 hours but would be happy with 10 - main goal is completion), I'd be on for starting early.

Ghost Rider

Doubt it!

unionman wrote: »

I'm pretty slow, ye might catch up:o

Lumen

Apologies if this has been asked in one of the preceeding 32 pages, but....

Does anyone have the "total ascent" number for the 200 route according to Garmin?