Audax Rides

Did the Antrim 300 yesterday. 300km in the mountains with 20 hours to complete the route...

A tough day. Up at 02:50 to get a bus from Dublin. Got to the 06:00 start with 5 min to spare.

Off out the road and within 10 minutes I was climbing. This set the tone for the rest if the day. Weather was colder than recently, chilly descents in dark first thing were a foretaste of the last 100k.

Vicious climbs were followed by equally vicious descents where I had to hang on the brakes. Traffic was a pleasure. Lots of it but everyone hung back until it was safe to pass and left plenty of room.

Amazing scenery all over and so many bays and inlets to route around.

I had made good time to Cushendun, 12:30 though it took 30 minutes to get fed. The next 12km over Torr Head took 90 minutes leaving me behind on time. I had to make pace to make Bushmills at 16:00. Halfway around in exactly 10 hours. At least that was the hillier half... Ha!

Made good time on the loop from Ballycastle to Portstewart and back to Ballycastle at 200k, just 5min ahead of the close of control. Picked up a can of coke for later. Headed off into the evening and the last 100k. Little hints like 'Caution on descent' on the route sheet didn't bode well for making time. Neither did the very pretty but slanty Glendun where the road went ever upwards for what seemed like hours.

As the night came on under clear skies, the stars came out in all their glory though it was difficult to look up with a stiff neck. Temperatures dropped and, despite multiple layers, the descents got very chilly. I was in shorts so my legs got very cold and then had to work again.

In the meantime, my GPS which had given me an eta at belfast of 00:30 at 200k started pushing that outwards so that, by the top of Glendun eta was 01:30. That was most of the heavy climbing done but plenty of rolling 'B' roads yet to cover with the eta creeping up all the time.

Much time was spent in calculation of how fast I needed to descend to make up for 5-10kph ascending. Descents were getting even colder now and I was welcoming the climbs 'cos I'd get to warm up a bit. At one point the eta went to 02:02!

A bit of TT over the last 20k pulled back the time while the traverse of Belfast's pubs out time was 'interesting'.

I got to the finish at 01:58, woke the organiser who was asleep in his car waiting for me, handed in my brevet card and set off to catch my 02:30 bus home. In order to allow for possible issues, I had booked the 06:30 bus 'you can get an earlier bus if there are empty seats'. I got to the bus station to discover a crowd waiting for the bus. Driver looks around, says 'You won't get on, have to wait for the 06:30'. Feck!

Turned out there were spare seats so I got on and back to Dublin at 04:30. Feckin freezing now, shivered for the 30min spin home and into bed by 05:30 for 12 hours sleep.

That's my Four Provinces completed...

ford2600 wrote: »

There is a discipline in getting that. You picked two handy rides for Munster/Ulster:eek:

Mick Byrne for Leinster and Adrian Nealon for Connaught were no flatter. I had come up with the idea of doing a hilly four provinces already and then my Ulster options were taken away when Around Down was cancelled.

The scariest bit of the whole thing was at around 00:30 with around 34km to go and the GPS giving me an eta of 02:02 and thinking "Oh crap! Missing out on a four provinces by going over time in the last 30km of a 1000km FP and having to do it all again next year!"...

Should be fine. The organiser is fond of narrow boreens and occasional dirt tracks but you should get through. Plenty of riders use skinny tyres.

It's a lovely spin on lovely quiet roads, recommended.

I'll be tackling the Pink Elephant on Saturday. It'll be my first time on a bike around the roads of West Cork and I'm really looking forward to it. Do any Cork natives have a suggestion for somewhere for breakfast because my hotel doesn't do one before I leave? The route is here Pink Elephant

I certainly haven't described the route as "easy", the organiser has described it as like a Cork version of the Mick Byrne with a bit less climbing. It'll be grand if I've got the legs on the day.

I was chasing damp bike tracks on the route yesterday, ye were somewhere ahead of me but I never saw you. I knew where you'd been by the half-empty bottle of water and the crumbs at Kealkill.

I travelled down to Cork by bus late on Friday evening, arriving in the lashing rain at my hotel just before midnight. Up at 7am but I lost time trying to wrestle a brand new pair of overshoes onto my shoes and trying to get them closed! I was late leaving with nearly 13km to ride in the dense fog to the start in Ballincollig. I sent a text to the organiser at got there at 8:12. I started at 8:22 and rode the whole way round on my own. I was glad I'd opted for full winter kit because it was cold with the promise of rain showers later.

The fog lasted for the first 20km until after Coachford when the sun burnt through the cloud revealing the rolling landscape around me. Tea and a brief stop in Ballyvourney before pressing on up the major climbs of the day on the way to Gougane Barra.I may have had "Whiskey in the Jar" as an earworm. Met a large group of tourists walking the back roads near Gougane. The weather was still good but cold and the clouds were massing to the south. The descent after the climb of Keimineigh was fantastic to Kealkill. The rain showers started coming down on the way to Dunmanway. I met a large group of old fellas playing that uniquely Cork sport of road bowling outside of Dunmanway. a brief but cold soaking in Dunmanway and then the ride for the coast.

Quick stop in Roscarbery and then some calculations to make sure that I'd get back to Cork in time to catch the last train back to Dublin. When I reached the coast at Owennahincha I noticed that the tide was in but thought no more about it. On to Clonakilty via the woods of Castlefreke. After Clonakilty the route hugs the coast via Ring and Timoleague. As I turned for Ring I met the first of the spring tides covering the road completely. All I could do was look for the middle of the road, find a low gear and keep pedalling and pray I didn't fall over! Timoleague was completely covered and I was cycling in water up to my knees. The wind had picked up from the south and the sun was setting.

On to the Pink Elephant restaurant, a picture sent to the organiser with an ETA. through Kilbrittain and on to Bandon and then over the final climb to Cork and into Ballincollig at 20:06. Ten hours of riding and about two hours total stopping time. It's a good route, the climbing is evenly spread and not too technical, there's nothing over 15% and it's mostly 4% drags. The weather was good for me apart from one shower and a bit of rain into Cork.

Thanks to the organiser I made the last train home and arrived in Dublin at midnight with a ride home in the pissing rain.
Pink Elephant 200

It was a combination of a full moon, spring high tide and a southerly wind pushing the tide onto the road. There were signs warning of the occurance. Timoleague was particularly bad. I was in the middle of one flood when a car tried to enter the other end. I managed to signal them to wait until I'd got across because I didn't want to be knocked over by the wave from the car.

A tide table and faster legs would have saved me a soaking. It wasn't particularly cold and I'd mostly dried out by the time I reached Cork.

Will there be Audax "Beginner" rides over the next few months, like there were at the end of last year/possibly start of this year?

Weepsie wrote: »

paul a newman wrote: »

Am planning on running a 100k on the first sunday in Nov (6th I think) from Humphries bike shop. Leaving at 9 am going to St Margarets, Oldtown, Garristown, Ardcath, Slane, Hayestown and back via Skryne, The famous Borrowaddy Road, Ashbourne, Ballymadun and returning around 2pm. Post a reply if interested. We hope to get a few in before end of year.

I could be interested. First half of that are roads I know, but i tend to go for Tara if going further and not slane so a new route there for me

paul a newman wrote: »

Am planning on running a 100k on the first sunday in Nov (6th I think) from Humphries bike shop. Leaving at 9 am going to St Margarets, Oldtown, Garristown, Ardcath, Slane, Hayestown and back via Skryne, The famous Borrowaddy Road, Ashbourne, Ballymadun and returning around 2pm. Post a reply if interested. We hope to get a few in before end of year.

I could be interested too, never cycled around there but always fancied it. Will watch this space.