I did the Marathon World Cup in France at the weekend (great event - amazing course - http://www.extreme-sur-loue.com/fr/index.php) but I am 80% sure I'm going to do one last long event before I hit my 'off-season'.
It looks like I will do the Wicklow Way in one go tomorrow. Basically starting at Marley Park and riding the 127km from 10am (earlier if I can get around the park opening hours).
I have ridden to Glenmalure a few times but have people ridden the last part? Any GPS files/advice etc...?
Mel will be giving me a hand all day, any other help/advice is appreciated too... I'm thinking somewhere in the 8-9 hour range. It could be done faster but I don't want to suffer too much - it is my 'off-season' after all.
Also - I would like to have it as an 'official' record (which means walking my bike in the park etc...) - anyone have any ideas on how I can make if 'official'?
tough question alright - your GPS trace/record will be a good 'proof' of
distance covered/route taken/time taken etc..
just make sure there's plenty of juice in it's batteries...
and don't forget to turn it on...
and you say this is your off-season...you mad yoke - good luck with it
To make it official, make sure ride all the WW without deviations, including the "mad" bits that are normally skipped/shortcutted. Start and stop the timing at the information boards at either end. Have Mel as your timekeeper rather than trying to do it yourself. The GPS will be great proof.
Cycle through the park. There is nothing to stop you. When we did it by bike we lifted the bikes over the railings at the south gate to get in and out at 5am. When I ran it a few weeks ago they were replacing the bikes so you coul easily get through there in the middle of the night, even with a bike.
Keep the stops to a minimum. At your level you should be able to go pretty much non-stop apart from reloading food and liquid supplies.
The bottom half is much easier than the top half. Mostly roads and fireroads. The worst terraine is likely to be the bit of the WW near sleive man that runs parallel to the road, and the extremely boggy bit that leads into it. Won't slow you up for long though. There is a bit of a farmers path in the Shilelagh area that goes on for about a mile that will be crappy as well. But apart from that it'll be all very high speed stuff that could be done on semi slicks.
Did the complete thing in 8:17:19 in some very tricky conditions. Everyone told me that the last 50k was easy - it was the hardest! If you were not on a road (which was nice) you where on some slompy path. It was so so wet! The rain didn't bother me, the soaked ground did!
I'll be writing a report about it some time next week.
I did the Marathon World Cup in France at the weekend (great event - amazing course - http://www.extreme-sur-loue.com/fr/index.php) but I am 80% sure I'm going to do one last long event before I hit my 'off-season'.
It looks like I will do the Wicklow Way in one go tomorrow. Basically starting at Marley Park and riding the 127km from 10am (earlier if I can get around the park opening hours).
I have ridden to Glenmalure a few times but have people ridden the last part? Any GPS files/advice etc...?
Mel will be giving me a hand all day, any other help/advice is appreciated too... I'm thinking somewhere in the 8-9 hour range. It could be done faster but I don't want to suffer too much - it is my 'off-season' after all.
Also - I would like to have it as an 'official' record (which means walking my bike in the park etc...) - anyone have any ideas on how I can make if 'official'?
tough question alright - your GPS trace/record will be a good 'proof' of
distance covered/route taken/time taken etc..
just make sure there's plenty of juice in it's batteries...
and don't forget to turn it on...
and you say this is your off-season...you mad yoke - good luck with it
To make it official, make sure ride all the WW without deviations, including the "mad" bits that are normally skipped/shortcutted. Start and stop the timing at the information boards at either end. Have Mel as your timekeeper rather than trying to do it yourself. The GPS will be great proof.
Cycle through the park. There is nothing to stop you. When we did it by bike we lifted the bikes over the railings at the south gate to get in and out at 5am. When I ran it a few weeks ago they were replacing the bikes so you coul easily get through there in the middle of the night, even with a bike.
Keep the stops to a minimum. At your level you should be able to go pretty much non-stop apart from reloading food and liquid supplies.
The bottom half is much easier than the top half. Mostly roads and fireroads. The worst terraine is likely to be the bit of the WW near sleive man that runs parallel to the road, and the extremely boggy bit that leads into it. Won't slow you up for long though. There is a bit of a farmers path in the Shilelagh area that goes on for about a mile that will be crappy as well. But apart from that it'll be all very high speed stuff that could be done on semi slicks.
Did the complete thing in 8:17:19 in some very tricky conditions. Everyone told me that the last 50k was easy - it was the hardest! If you were not on a road (which was nice) you where on some slompy path. It was so so wet! The rain didn't bother me, the soaked ground did!
I'll be writing a report about it some time next week.
