Driving the Race Around Ireland Course - V.1

I just returned from an eight day trip to and from Ireland.  The purpose was to get a sense of the roads, drivers, terrain and anything else I could observe.  

Driving the Race Around Ireland course was draining.  In fact I didn't drive every road, turn and twist of the course. For that I would have needed another passenger, a navigator.  Speaking with Alan Heary, the RAI owner, he noted that he drove it with race director, Emmett Roche, a few years ago and it took 12 hours a day for four or five days.

Rather, I drove several well known challenging sections of the course. This was done to assess the road surface quality and other aspects of the environs and terrain. I've concluded that the course is eminently doable. And, of course, I am referring to the recumbent.

Roads, Traffic and drivers. Most of the course is good quality chip seal.  The route roads are typically narrow, sometimes allowing only the width of one vehicle.   And on the other roads barely big enough for two vehicles. (I damaged the passenger side 'wing' mirror when driving through a short section of road repairs, hitting a 'men working' sign).

Safety. I saw many, many bicyclists on these roads - even the most narrow roads.  In every case the drivers slowed down and (apparently) patiently waited for a safe way to pass them. I didn't see any drivers texting!

Weather. Though many Irish say that late August and September are the "best" months for this event they also warn of rain, wind and the tail end of hurricanes. Still ... doable.

Hills and Climbing.  The course is 1,336 miles long.  With the exception of a few very short `novelty' climbs (where the rider might be better off just walking - they are that short) the 60,000 feet of climbing is `cumulative.'  That is, there is nothing like my local climbing in the mountains of Arizona.  RAI has several sections of 2% - 4% grades.  Many of these occur toward the end of the course, making them that much more unpleasant - but doable.

This trip confirms my training regimen and training goals: consistency, volume and careful but necessary intensity.  Endurance cycling and sleep management.  Hydration, nutrition.  

Having a follow vehicle behind me will be very reassuring.  Many times during this trip I said to myself: I'd rather ride this course than drive it.

I took a generous amount of video of the more challenging (and beautiful) sections and will post it all later.

`Later.'  This is a short 4.5 minute video clip (Garmin VIRB-XE) I took while driving a section of the Gap of Dunloe.  

Gap of Dunloe - April 2017