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Top 10 Irish sportives 2012??
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22-01-2012 6:39pm#1
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Tour de Burren, Ring of Kerry, Sean Kelly are best I've done but haven't done any up the country so can't compare.
Views on Tour de Burren if weather is good make the effort well worth it! Corkscrew climb is a nice novelty with the hairpins (mini Alpe duHuez!)
Ring of Kerry is a great day with great crowd / atmosphere and good food stops etc.
Sean Kelly is tough but very rewarding.
Tour de Cure in Midleton was good last year although it's my local event so slightly biased as i don't need an early start for this one!
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ROK ON, this reminds me of one of the best posts I've read on boards to date. Good to see that you're still enjoying cycling.Iveragh 200 is pure hell but worth doing none the less (Killorglin CC).
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It's not badly organised at all. I think the main problem is that the food stops are a tiny bit chaotic. A lot of people complained about having to queue to get food and there being a poor selection. All I can really remember is sandwiches, Rice Krispie squares and tea/coffee.
The first stop in Donard while welcome, doesn't have much room for people to sit/stand around, so a lot of people either had to stand out in the rain, or fuelled up and went on without stopping for long.
There was also no real atmosphere at the end. A bit of pasta and some benches to sit on in a mostly empty hall.
The two sportives I did after the WW200 by comparison appeared to have a better selection of things to eat & drink, as well as more room at the stops.
To be fair on the WW200 though, the weather was absolute muck last year, which will always taint one's feeling about an event.
Ah OK, because I'm thinking of doing it this year.
I did hear about the weather though, that's nobody's fault I suppose.
I'll just bring a few extra Powerbar bars and use the foil wrappers as a blanket to prevent hypothermia
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Ah OK, because I'm thinking of doing it this year.
I did hear about the weather though, that's nobody's fault I suppose.
I'll just bring a few extra Powerbar bars and use the foil wrappers as a blanket to prevent hypothermia
if you are thinking of doing the w 200, then certainly go ahead and do it,. just other sportives have more atmosphere, more facilities and seem to better cater for a large crowd. If you can handle the w200, u can do any of them.
but the w200 was one of a few sportive for years and i reckon will still be there when the others fade.
personally, a friend talked me into the ROK, first time in 2011, and what a blast we had, leisure, crowds, masses of cyclists, pints in sneem in the middle of the event, atmosphere, even if it took me all day to figure out yer wan in the convertible merc was the rose of tralee !!
tour of the burren was class, the atlantic scenary on the last 40 K back to bally vaughan was stunning. Quite competitive in a lot of sections.
Sean Kelly tour well up there, but dont expect a soft ride. as said earlier class atmosphere, well handled and organised.
Sky Etape hibernia....tough last 40 K , just a race... no frills.
Tough ones :
Iveragh 200, has the name of a hill imprinted in my head : Coumanaspig .... a tough day in 2o11, and the Bobby Power Challange Carrick Wheelers, very tough in wintery conditions in June I think .
Nass three peaks, one of the few, to go up the wicklow gap
the SERC three peaks challange deserves mention as does the slieve bloom challange and the Chain Gang blasket blast for stunning scenary and up the Connor pass.
Yet to try:
tour of kilkenny
Mt leisnter challange
An post SLigo / meath
lough neagh0 -
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The Sean Kelly tour was my favorite from last year.
There's another tough one down south called the West Cork 200, which i suffered greatly at, missed a turn and only did 169 of the 200
http://www.westcork200.com/0 -
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torturedsoul wrote: »Christ it really bugs me when Irish races put the word "de" in there. Tour de kilkenny,tour de munster etc. Its sounds wrong! Why do we have to borrow a french word when we have our own "of" to use.
sounds much better and less cringe worthy. (anyway just a small matter)
Ring de Kerry is great for the obvious reasons
Fixed that for you
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torturedsoul wrote: »Christ it really bugs me when Irish races put the word "de" in there. Tour de kilkenny,tour de munster etc. Its sounds wrong! Why do we have to borrow a french word when we have our own "of" to use.
sounds much better and less cringe worthy. (anyway just a small matter)
The An Post Tour De Burren must give you multiple cultural crossover cramps then
Last year I did:
Tour of Louth - Crazy high average speed, one big hill, nice scenery once you get to Carlingford (so long as it's not foggy/misty, which it was when I did it). Also, you get a medal based on your time.
Ring of Kerry - Great day out, beautiful countryside, a lot of people on the road (this can be a problem with constant overtaking).
Orwell Randonee - Brilliant event, really well organised, some great photos made available to the participants, but you need to be in the whole of your health for those blasted hills (which are awful and great at the same time!).
Etape Hibernia - There are drawbacks to this event, it's expensive, you have to register the day before, and the photos that they try to sell to you after the event are no great shakes (especially compared with the excellent free photos from the Orwell one). However, there are big positives too. The route is good and challenging, the area is beautiful, the roads are closed, and the thrill of blasting into the finish line in Ennis with barriers, crowds, and a few other cyclists chasing you, but not quite catching you is amazing.
I did the Wicklow 100 on my mtb in 2010, and found it much as described previously, there is no group start, the food stops aren't worth bothering with, and I missed a badly signed turn at one point. The 200 would be worth doing to say you'd done it, but don't choose it over the raft of other better (imo) events available.
I'm based in Dublin, so I'm going to do the Tour of Louth and the Orwell Randonnee again for definite. The further away ones I'll have to think about. The SKT of Waterford always gets great reviews, so I'd like to do that one.0 -
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torturedsoul wrote: »Christ it really bugs me when Irish races put the word "de" in there. Tour de kilkenny,tour de munster etc. Its sounds wrong! Why do we have to borrow a french word when we have our own "of" to use.
sounds much better and less cringe worthy. (anyway just a small matter)
Ring of Kerry is great for the obvious reasons
Ok, we'll change it to 'De Tour of Kilkenny' then.
Happy?? 0 -
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