The Wicklow 200 (2009) Thread

Nietzschean · 07-06-2009 06:15AM

who's putting on sunscreen in this weather?

Timmah! · 07-06-2009 01:52PM

Did the 100 today, I'm a lurker here and don't post much but a quick thanks to all you good folk who have inadvertently given me lots of sound advice.
Hope everyone's day went well.

TinyExplosions · 07-06-2009 01:56PM

Timmah! wrote: »

Did the 100 today, I'm a lurker here and don't post much but a quick thanks to all you good folk who have inadvertently given me lots of sound advice.
Hope everyone's day went well.

Glad you enjoyed it!

My knee went 'pop' about 70k in.... limped to Donard and abandoned. Much thanks goes out to Verb's OH who gave me and pinky a lift back home. It's up, strapped and on ice at the moment.

Timmah! · 07-06-2009 02:01PM

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Glad you enjoyed it!

My knee went 'pop' about 70k in.... limped to Donard and abandoned. Much thanks goes out to Verb's OH who gave me and pinky a lift back home. It's up, strapped and on ice at the moment.

That's a bit **** for you, sorry to hear it.

Planet X · 07-06-2009 02:12PM

Sorry also to hear that Tiny. Hope you're OK for the Marmite!

TinyExplosions · 07-06-2009 02:20PM

Timmah! wrote: »

That's a bit **** for you, sorry to hear it.

Planet X wrote: »

Sorry also to hear that Tiny. Hope you're OK for the Marmite!

Cheers Timmah!, and Planet X -that's what I'm really hoping myself. Very sore atm, but lets see what it's like tomorrow. Gutted to have to abandon though

Planet X · 07-06-2009 02:22PM

Get a few cans in and let your mind wander.

short circuit · 07-06-2009 03:32PM

Sorry to hear that Tiny .. Get well soon .. and as Planet X suggests .. there is nothing better than a pint in hand .. wandering thoughts .. browser open with a different online shop in each tab .. and think where you can send some money ... I think I've finally begun to understand why my other half get's so excited with shopping.

By the way ... just back from the hundred ... cycled to and from UCD .. so a grand total of 142kms. It wasn't easy with the wind in your face all the way back ... so respect to the people doing the 200kms ... safe journey.

1 puncture in Laragh on the way out ... it nearly sliced open a quarter of the tyre ... got a patch in .. and it got me back home safely on a prayer.

@Aquinas .. thanks for the company .. it made it all the more easier .. or less harder. Hope the kids were suitably impressed by dad winning all the sprint points throughout the day.

@Fenris .. hope you made it around safely ... see you on a boards spin soon.

@RAAM ... your father is a hero ... and you are a very good son domestique

Vélo · 07-06-2009 03:45PM

Had a great day, thanks to all I cycled with. It made it alot easier.

Jaysus Tiny sorry to hear about abour knee, hope you get better soon.

blorg · 07-06-2009 04:08PM

7h02 cycling time for me, 193km, average 27.4km/h. Got in around 15:00 so 8h scan to scan. Was on my own or cycling with one other person for much of it but got in with a great group coming back from Rathdrum when I really needed it, there was a fierce headwind and I was starting to feel very ropey.

Just going to have a shower and head back up to UCD for me free chips. Second boardsie back to UCD was Greyspoke on his fixie! Saw petethedrummer come in just as I was leaving.

Vélo · 07-06-2009 04:43PM

Holy Jesus!:eek:

TinyExplosions · 07-06-2009 04:46PM

Aquinas73 wrote: »

Holy Jesus!:eek:

Yeah, Greyspoke passed me and was looking mighty strong. Chapeau to him, and bloody good time Blorg!

c0rk3r · 07-06-2009 05:42PM

Ouch tiny. I can only imagine the horror of trying to turn your knee inward to unclip while you popped your knee.

Heres my stats from the day. Done the 100km

4H15mins22secs
Average heart rate 164, max 197
4090Kcal
distance 103.2km
Average speed 24.2km/h
max 71.2kmh
average cadence 78

Pretty happy with that. The headwind returning to UCD killed my sub 4hour hopes. Spotted two boardsies along the way. Once again the staff were brilliant at the check point. Efficiently herding everyone in and out while offering encouragement. I was the guy wearing knee warmers, red rain jacket and blue overshoes. Saw one other guy wearing blue overshoes out of the hundreds of cyclists that were out there today. Trendsetters

fenris · 07-06-2009 05:43PM

That was a great day out!
Thanks to Aquinas and Shortcircuit for geeing me up around moneystown until i got my second wind when it felt like the only way was up a too big hill into a too strong wind!
Shortcircuits advice about lois of little breaks made a big difference.

Got around the 100 in 6:35, then spent half an hour looking for my car in UCD!

Nietzschean · 07-06-2009 06:50PM

8:30 for me on the 200, spent most of the day on my own, but thanks Caroline/Dónal for the company from SM , doubt i'd have made it up those climbs without the distraction!

Now do i dare attempt chinese on a pizza? hrmm

petethedrummer · 07-06-2009 06:50PM

Got in at 15:50. When did we start? I forgot to check.

Alot of it was painful. Particularly trying to follow a very strong group somewhere between Rathdrum and Enniskerry. Couldn't hack the pace after a while, so made my way home with a Polish guy who felt the same. It was nice knowing most of the climbs in advance.

Nap Time.

DirkVoodoo · 07-06-2009 07:26PM

Ride time was 7hrs 52mins for me, Gavin and Sy. Did about 210/212km in total, very happy with today.

Great to see everyone out, too many people to mention but thanks to Tonto for the "Tonto Express" over the top of the Sally Gap, to The Claw for chatting to me for the first half. Had a great day around with Gavin and Sy, the guy is a total tank on the bike and was really friendly to boot. Did my first paceline too, badly and started to feel a little woozy coming up to Djouce so fell back a bit. Got my second wind and the three of us pegged it back to UCD. It was also good to see rflynnr for the first time in ages, great person to follow down a descent.

Overall, very pleased. Weather was good, food was mediocre and company was great.

Hope to see everyone next week for pints. I think Saturday in the Church is the plan.

Raam · 07-06-2009 07:28PM

c0rk3r wrote: »

Saw one other guy wearing blue overshoes out of the hundreds of cyclists that were out there today. Trendsetters

I had blue overshoes on today.

fletch · 07-06-2009 07:37PM

Just did my first wicklow 100. Had a great day overall, even if I did fall twice (read below) and had to stop 3 times to fix punctures/adjust tube and got lost

Only bought pedal clips for my bike yesterday so wasn't quite used to them which resulted in me falling over just as I stopped....was more embarrassed than anything!

No idea how long it took me but I had a great time.

AstraMonti · 07-06-2009 07:52PM

Almost 215 kms and 9h and 10m on the bike for me door to door..

First 50kms, i was feeling absolutely great!
From blessington lakes until the first stop i lost my legs.. which got me crazy scared as i was thinking (wtf i am doing here!)
After the stop legs magically reappeared, really.. whats so scary about slieve mann? It was just another hill, i found wicklow gap worse.
From rathdrum to ucd.. that was the worst part of my day. The knee was getting sore and i was in pain, the headwind was on my face, everyone was passing me.. But neverthless.. i finished!

And now we are going to the thanks part:

First of all a big thanks to Neil for keeping me so good company in the whole ride, man i know you could it faster if you didn't have me around

Thanks to all of you who made me do this, i didn't know i could do it, i wasn't even remotely imagining it when i got the bike 6 months ago. Now i can say i deserve the new bike (i still cant justify it though).

Lastly.. it was the most difficult physically thing i have ever done, even when i was swimming 50k a day, that was nothing compared to today.

I almost cried when i got the medal.. Cheers guys

P.S. Feck off Garmin, it died at 50k

fletch · 07-06-2009 07:55PM

AstraMonti wrote: »

Lastly.. it was the most difficult physically thing i have ever done, even when i was swimming 50k a day, that was nothing compared to today.

swimming 50k a day!

AstraMonti · 07-06-2009 07:56PM

fletch wrote: »

swimming 50k a day!

I was young.. really young.. and without a brain.. so it doesn't count! I just couldn't get tired back then!

Gavin · 07-06-2009 07:58PM

Tough going, but not as horrendous as I expected. Garmin died multiple times, rather annoying.

The rolling peloton from Rathdrum to just after Roundwood was the toughest part, but it really helped to cover a good distance quickly. After that, Dirk & Sy were good company for a nice calm paced cycle in and the descent down Djouce was really great fun. (First time doing it!)

Cheers to PlanetX for the photos and sincere thanks to my support crew for their combined ambulance/food/transport. Roll on Ring of Kerry and Sean Kelly.

TinyExplosions · 07-06-2009 08:04PM

Gavin wrote: »

sincere thanks to my support crew for their combined ambulance/food/transport. Roll on Ring of Kerry and Sean Kelly.

+1,000,000 on that -especially the ambulance bit.

Must also say thanks to Ann (I think), the steward at Donard who did her best to sort me out, and came up a couple of times to see if I was ok. There may be some problems with the organisation of the event, but I can't fault her!

souter · 07-06-2009 08:35PM

Achieved my modest ambition (100k, no walking) and feeling quite pleased with 4:40 and not too tired till I read The Legend of Greyspoke in this thread.
Holy moly! I wish I'd had even a glimpse of that - visions of a Hanna Barbera cartoon with a blur of pedals downhill and scorch marks up hill.

Fairplay to all taking part and organising, and a tip of the hat to the weather, after teasing us so much yesterday.

200 next year?

vektarman · 07-06-2009 08:36PM

Kudos to all of you for tackling that tough course, especially in that headwind, I'm not sure if my fitness levels are quite up to scratch for it yet (I'm only back cycling a couple of months) but you've set a target for me for next year, hope to see some of you on the Ring of Kerry.

TinyExplosions · 07-06-2009 08:46PM

After seeing the picture of Greyspoke, I now know he wasn't the chipper boardsie that passed me on the way into Donard. Afraid I don't know your username (though I should!), but who were you on the Paddy Wagon with the TE recommended Sugino 75 cranks

xz · 07-06-2009 08:50PM

TinyExplosions wrote: »

After seeing the picture of Greyspoke, I now know he wasn't the chipper boardsie that passed me on the way into Donard. Afraid I don't know your username (though I should!), but who were you on the Paddy Wagon with the TE recommended Sugino 75 cranks

How's the knee, I spoke to you briefly on the way into Donard, was on a "normal" coloured PX;)

EH · 07-06-2009 08:52PM

A great day out for me. I was around the check in area at 6.50 but couldn't see anyone and presumed you'd left already so I met up with two guys from my Kilkenny club and headed out the road. I couldn't keep up with them on the ascent of Sally Gap so I was on my own until Donard. I met Ken in Donard and we headed off to Rathdrum. I couldn' keep up with Ken on Slieve Mann so I met up with him again in Rathdrum. We regrouped and then headed back to UCD. This was pretty tough but we hooked up with a good group which eased the pain. Overall it took me about 9 hours, with 8 hours cycling. Before today the longest I'd cycled was 120km so I'm very happy.
Thanks to Ken for doing most of the work from Rathdrum to UCD

TinyExplosions · 07-06-2009 08:53PM

xz wrote: »

How's the knee, I spoke to you briefly on the way into Donard, was on a "normal" coloured PX;)

There were a few people on them... were you the one offering the painkillers? If so thanks, if not -thanks to whomever that boardsie was!

Knee is ok, so long as I don't put much weight on it. It's strapped up, elevated and has been well iced, so I'm hoping it'll be ok

The Wicklow 200 (2009) Thread

Comments