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Kellogg's Tour of Ireland Cycle Challenge
Report by Mark, 15/05/07
The Tour of Ireland Cycle Challenge, four days and lots of Ireland ridden in a rare stage sportive involving rolling road closures with full police back-up, from both sides of the border. Participants were also raising money for the National Council for the Blind in Ireland.
THE STAGES :
1. May 11, 2007 – Ulster Stage 1: Lisburn to Cavan Town - 90 miles
2. May 12, 2007 – Connaught Stage 2: Cavan Town to Galway City - 130 miles
3. May 13 2007 – Munster Stage 3: Galway to Kilkenny City - 140 Miles
4. May 14 2007 – Leinster Stage 4: Kilkenny City to Dublin City - 115 Miles
This adventure began with Amy returning from travels in the southern hemisphere and somewhat nervous about riding 500 miles in four days, despite not being on a bike - properly - for two months (broken collar bone)....mmmmm.
We took a flight from East Midlands to Belfast and then a short cab ride to Lisburn for the official start proceedings - a civic reception involving the Mayor ! There was no doubt the organisers were taking this pretty seriously with a buffet meal, lots of speeches and the presence of Dame Mary Peters, MBE and Olympic gold medallist. Unfortunately a finger buffet may be great for local dignataries but it doesn't make great pre-ride food, so I had to make a couple of re-visits to the mini-sausage and puff-pastry plates.
........................At the start in Lisburn
After a comfortable night in a local hotel, the riders were next spotted decked out in flashy lycra at breakfast before heading to the start. The first stage was a relatively gentle introduction involving 90 miles to Cavan across the border. What was immediately obvious was the support from the local police, the Blazing Saddles motorcycle outriders, a dedicated ambulance, media car, Tour Director's car, mechanics van, broom wagon and numerous other official Kellogg's stickered support vehicles, including a BMW 6 series coupé, not sure you can fit many bikes in that. This was clearly no ordinary Sportive and it slowly dawned upon us that we were in for four very special days.
The flat nature of stage one meant that the 120 riders largely stayed together in a large peloton, although we did get harrangued by the Tour Director (the brilliant Eamonn Duffy) for going too fast at the start. The presence of ex-pro Dave Lloyd and some of his protogés meant that the pace soon whipped up to something approaching very fast on the run in to the lunch stop, in a local community centre.
The police (PSNI) were fantastic as we rode at pace through the lush green countryside, providing a motorcycle escort at both the front and rear of the bunch and halting all cars at junctions and roundabouts. This allowed us to ignore all traffic regulaltions. We don't get that in England - it was brilliant.
As we crossed the border, the Irish Garda seamlessly took over and we had the same treatment into Cavan. We stayed at the four star Cavan Crystal hotel, launched into some serious food, had a couple of cheeky beers and got some rest for the next, longer day.
..........................ToI Support
The highlight of day one had to be the entire school (pupils and teachers) that was assembled at their gates and applauded and cheered us as we went by...the peloton was very appreciative and we hoped they enjoyed seeing the cyclists whizz by.
Stage 2 involved 130 miles to Galway, a town I had heard was very nice and was keen to see. Again the parcours was mostly flat and the bunch stayed together until lunch when three groups emerged, the fast group led by Dave Lloyd, a middle group (which ballooned with new riders dropped from the fast group over the next two days) led by Alister Irvine from Sportactive and a slower group that contained the lanterne rouge which was followed by the Broom Wagon.
Amy and I chose group 2 and sat in the bunch for most of the day. The second feed stop fortuitously coincided with a torrential rain shower that we managed to largely avoid, but we still rode through a couple of heavy showers that stretched tolerances before the outskirts of Galway appeared. We hit Galway town centre at speed and were impressed to see the Garda with full sirens on and lights flashing stopping all traffic and pedestrains to clear the way for us to the finish line. It was amazing to power through a busy town centre like this, onlookers clapping as we fought for a few seconds advantage on our electronic timing chips.
Stage 3 was even longer at 140 miles and involved some blustery conditions, especially on a long dual carriage-way as we skirted Loch Derg. We were again safely in a large bunch, taking turns at the front every 20 minutes or so.
As we approached Kilkenny, suddenly a small group broke off the front of the bunch and as it drifted away, several riders jumped across to join them. I left it for a few minutes until I followed another rider and increased the pace as riders spread across the road. The pace got even quicker and moves were quickly ridden down to avoid anyone getting a break. Despite us not really knowing where the finish was, this was clearly going to be a sprint for the line....and it involved racing through the middle of Kilkenny ! The Garda once again cleared the road in front of us with sirens and lights and at 30 miles an hour riders were literally taking off over the speed bumps in the high street. Adrenaline was pumping as each rider attempted their sprint and as we swung into the gates of the college that was hosting the finish we desperately tried to fish out our timing chips as quickly as possible.
...........Dave Lloyd & his flash bike
It really was fantastic fun and despite the 140 miles in our legs, everybody found a burst of energy. I haven't raced before, but if it is anything like that I need to to give it a go. A real high....and no-one crashed into random shoppers or high-street sign posts - which was a bonus.
Stage 4 was the only really lumpy stage as it took us over the Wicklow mountains. I had been looking forward to this as I guessed it would be like my local training rides in the Peak district and I had been keeping my powder relatively dry in group 2 up to this point. But I was definitely tired after the prevous day and started to wonder if I would only get worse.
The now familiar bunches stayed intact until the base of Slievemane, the first major climb. My strategy was to up the pace and see how far I could get up the field over the three climbs ending with the Wicklow Gap. A headwind blew hard as I made my way to the top and then carried on over to eventually join four other riders to form a small group that finished in 7hrs 19 mins, 25 minutes or so after Dave Lloyd's group who predictably came in first. Dave is 58 years old and is still a top rider, very impressive. Results here.
Overall the Tour of Ireland sportive far exceeded anything I had hoped for. Virtual racing at the front if you wanted it, and a more leisurely pace at the back if required.
.......................The bunch on stage 4
125 riders was about right, large groups on the road but not so big that you couldn't meet up for a beer with friends in the evening. The scenery was pretty (can see why it's called the Emerald Isle) and the organisation and support was very impressive.
Showers and towels at the ends of stages and lavish buffets available within an hour of finishing to re-fuel for the next day. We also met a like-minded group of people who became friends over the duration.
But it was the closed roads and the amazing police support that really made it special, it was like being a pro for four days without most of the pain. It is very hard to describe how good the rolling road closures were...believe me very good. Mark Harding from cyclosport described the police efforts as better than he has experienced in France for an ASO (Tour de France organisers) event - this is praise indeed. Make sure you sign up for next year.
..................'Team' photo, stage 4
Some video I took on the event
After thoughts - As for prep for the Tour de France, this was a very interesting experience. In the main the legs held out well, it's just general weariness that sets in after a couple of days. Bikes and bodies gradually get worn down and I think overall the realisation is even stronger that doing this type of riding for 21 days will ask some very serious questions of our mental and physical resilience. I also lost a surprising amount of weight in just fours days, can't get back over the 12st mark at the moment.
Right now I'd say there's probably a 40/60 chance we'll complete all the stages in three weeks and make it round all 2000 miles of France, but we'll give it our very best shot.