Club League 2013 Round 1- Pine forest TT 04/04/13

The new club league is kicking off this Thursday with the Pine forest prologue TT. This course has been used by the women's league for past three years, and has proven a popular starting point.

The course is just short of 5K, and rises gradually for the first 4 of that before kicking up sharply in the final kilometre. Mapmyride link.

Sign-on will be in the Pine forest arts centre , at the halfway point along the course. There is car parking there, but not a huge number of spaces, so the more people who cycle up to it the better.

Sign-on will be open from 18:00-18:50, and the first rider will be off at 19:00. You will be given your start time when you sign on, and you should be at the start line a minimum of 3 minutes before your allotted time.

There is to be no warming up on the course, so when you are ready to go you should spin down to the start (2.5k from the sign-on), and do any further warming up in the area of Glencullen village.

TT bikes/wheels and aero kit are all allowed, though they won't provide a massive advantage on this course. I strongly recommend using a rear light, as it will be getting dark as later finishers are returning.

If you catch another rider (good for you!) check that there is no traffic coming up behind you before pulling out, and give them loads of room as you pass. Remember they may have no notion that you're steaming through until you have actually passed them. On the other hand, if you are caught, keep on going at your own pace, don't be tempted to try sit on to the rider who has passed you.

When you cross the finish line roll on through, pull over further down the road and don't turn around before checking that it is safe to do so. Anyone doing a U-turn in the vicinity of the finish line will be disqualified. Please don't hassle the timekeepers for your time- there's no problem asking, but make sure to do it at a time when there aren't any riders coming in.

There are placings (points) for the 6 fastest riders in each ability group, so 24 placings to compete for altogether, but beyond that every finisher will get a time, so no matter how badly you think you might fare it will be worth your while giving this one a blast.

The marshals for this race are-
Colum Bradley;
David Halpin;
Marina Bakhtiva;
Stephen Hayden;
Nick Watson.

Just to give people an idea of times to be aiming for, the current course record is 9'20", set by Mel Spath, and the Orwell record is 9'59" set by Anne Dalton on a non-aero bike.

If the wind on Thursday will be like it was this morning then a record or two might get broken.
Dave's advice on ditching the aero gear for this one is spot on, the last 1.5k or so will make you pay for it.

I'm not in the league but might come out with my son to have a look, it's a great course.

Yeah, I did this with the easterly tailwind over the weekend and it makes a big difference. If the wind stays easterly I reckon the fastest times on Thursday will be well under 9 minutes.

I won't say what time I did on Sunday because my Garmin file was corrupt when I got home so I have no corroborating evidence.

Plus I don't want to look silly when I roll in with an 11m+ time...

Brian wrote:

What are the facilities like in the arts centre? Much shelter, or are we just in the car park?

We will have the use of car park, tables and toilets, though if the weather is nasty we may have the use of a cabin as well.

1st Liam Rowsome 08:50
2nd Tom Blennerhassett 08:53
3rd Graham Hurley 09:00
4th Diarmuid Collins 09:04.18
5th Peter Gerrard 09:04.27
6th Ed O'Mahoney 09:06
7th Neal Hudson 09:08
8th Cormack Bracken 09:14
9th Pat Conlon 09:18
10th Gavin Dodd 09:19
11th Aidan Collins 09:20.77
12th Fionn Griffin 09:20.9
13th Jamie Busher 09:27
14th Brian McNally 09:32
15th Jules Cantwell 09:35
16th Philippe Bourdarias 09:36
17th Seamus Fitzgerald 09:37
18th Donal Brady 09:45
19th Oisin Boland 09:50
20th Paul Brosnan 09:51
21st Ronan Foley 09:52
22nd Ryan McCarthy 09:54
23rd Fergal Daly 09:56
24th Donnacha McCormack 10:02
25th Monica Marconi 10:07
26th Dave Tansey 10:08
27th Paul Burgess 10:15
28th Brian Doyle 10:17.02
29th Fionn Sheridan 10:17.15
30th Lucy Soden 10:19
31st JP Flynn 10:22
32nd Isabel Cogan 10:23
33rd Paul Kane 10:28
34th Ivan O'Brien 10:32
35th Mark Mulcahy 10:35
36th Jeffrey Hoare 10:37
37th Jim Carey 10:40
38th David Hendron 10:46
39th Peadar Corbally 10:48
40th Darragh Boyd 10:54
41st John McElligot 11:01
42nd Barry Keogh 11:02
43rd Konstantinos Michalitsis 11:09
44th Aidan Ryan 11:10
45th Fergal Quinn 11:12
46th Barry Browne 11:22
47th Darragh Sheeran 11:27
48th Diarmuid Donnelly 11:29
49th Douglas Smyth 11:34

Lots of really good times there this evening, but best of all was by one unidentified rider who smashed the course with a time of 08:10, but he missed the sign-on so it counts for nothing...

Congrats to all the upgradeés! (if such a word exists)