This was HARD! A very hilly 200k that was pretty early in the year probably for most people but certainly for me. My last two spins were a fairly flat 150k spin around Kildare and Meath a month earlier (January) just as the snow cleared, followed a couple of weeks later by a very hilly 150k in Wicklow during which I 'bonked' and suffered a lot for the last 60k. With this memory still on my mind I was pretty wary of this event. I decided to be very careful of the food and drinking and packed a good bit. 

Headed out to Bray and met up with the lads delighted to see 17 of them including Andreas over from Austria, as well as Doug, Marc, Niall, Paul, Bobby etc. The group strung out a bit as we headed out to the first (info) control in Wicklow at 29k. While I was there I got chatting to Bobby and we headed off. Met Doug on the way and he'd stopped for a puncture but told us to go on. We did after a bit and headed up through Ashford over Devils Glen (ouch) and then on through Laragh, over the Wicklow Gap down (against the wind and had to pedal to descend, the wind was so strong). On over the Hollywood Hills across the N81 to the Tea stop at Dunlavin (83k). This was a most welcome break and chance to fuel up and catch up with the others. Some decided to head back at this stage. Andreas, Bobby, Doug, Paul and myself headed along then and met up with some more and drove pretty well to the control at Tinahely (132k) short stop there before retracing steps and turning right to Knockanna 143k (info control). Paul headed back to work at this point. 

Headed on then to to Slieve Maan. Stopped for a photo of the mountains there, just before a climb, Andreas had a puncture so the four of us sorted it and had a bit of a laugh. Down the descent past a hairpin on to a split where the GPS said we had to cross a bridge but it was out. Unfortunately, got separated from Andreas and Bobby while we sorted out the route, though we did meet Alan. We decided that on a previous occasion, we'd turned left at the hairpin we'd passed so decided to go that way. This was correct as per the paper instructions but wrong going by the GPS map. Met up with Marc at this stage so now had Marc, Alan, Doug and myself in the group heading for Slieve Maan in another shower of rain. Climbed well enough but glad to get to the top. Took a couple more photos, then descended and up the Shay Elliott, again happy enough with the climb.

While talking at the top, Doug discovered he had another puncture so we had to sort this before the descent. Not a good place to be stopped long as the wind was cooling us especially now we were wet. Decided to make a stop in Laragh to fuel and warm up, though Alan decided to head on up the road. The rest of us were glad of the break and food before heading up past Glanmacnas and on to the route to Sally Gap. It was getting dark now and we needed our lights - Doug had a fantastic one that lit up the road like a car headlight. We picked up Niall on the appoach to Sally Gap. We got the info contol there and as we headed on we found ourselves in fog. This made the descent at Powerscourt Mountain to Glencree pretty ‘interesting’. After Enniskerry we met up again with Alan – down that hill to the N11 on the road that was in bits and very dangerous in the dark, in fact Marc's lamp fell off. Up the N11 and into Bray. I was very glad we made it there. This was a hard day but felt good to have managed it and had great company. Having forgotten to take a pic at the start, I took one at the end with Doug, Alan and Niall. Info on the Garmin has gaps due to my forgetting to turn it back on a couple of times as a result the distances are off by about 10k or so.

Aidan Creaner

Route: http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=90841

Stats:
Distance:206.84 km
Climb:3,039 m
Calories:9,376 C
Moving Time:09:38:03
Elapsed Time:11:59:21
Ave. Speed:21.5 km/h
Max Speed:63.5 km/h