Race Around Ireland - 2017 - Report

Short Version: 
Never bring a knife to a gunfight.

Long Version:

As best as I can determine I completed (approximately*) 331 km / 206 miles / 10,500 feet of climbing in 18.2 hours.  I ended my race at that point with plenty of energy in the tank and barely a hint of fatigue.  Succinctly, the climbs at the top of the rural Irish hills were too steep (15-20%) for a recumbent bike.  It's like a door slammed shut.  The `hills' came every 3 or 4 miles after the first 120 miles of racing.  The distance up each hill was between 1 and 4 miles (and, then of course, an equal descent).  The grade of ascent was very manageable for the most part, i.e., topping out at about 11%. Until. Until the last 100 - 150 meters of each hill.  Each hill crest reached 14+ - 18+ %. 

 I managed to ride up the first 15 or 16 hills, muscling my way past the 18%ers.  However, the hill crests just kept coming.  I found myself finally walking up the steepest sections of the last 5 hills.

 I could have continued to `muscle' it up the hills but at a terrific expense that would have depleted me in no time.  This is the likely RWGPS of the route: RAI Route Covered.  The steepness of the grade with RWGPS is not accurate.  Eleven hundred miles of similar steep hill crests ahead of me.

I came to the Race Around Ireland to bicycle, not to walk.

My actual time of arrival for the first two time stations was ahead of schedule by close to an hour at each station.  Good progress.  But from that point on the climbing and walking blew my time estimates completely off. At that pace I would never finish in the allotted time (132 hours).  I might not even have made the full RAI course in double that time.  I called a pow-wow with my crew and, though disappointed, we concluded that it was futile to continue on.

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In April I flew over to Ireland to drive the course to determine the feasibility of doing the RAI.  It was my error that I drove the course sections that were reputed to be the `leg breakers' and not the hundreds of miles of road preceding the `leg breakers.'  My expectation was that I would have had to walk up a few of the `leg breakers' but that the intervening terrain was not as severe and very doable. In hindsight I should have driven the very rural and remote single lane paths (good road quality throughout, despite).  My only reason (not an `excuse') was that it was very difficult to follow the course directions.  Many roads are unmarked.

 Many roads have markers that are hidden amongst the hedgerows and trees.  So, what I thought would be a few `leg breaker' climbs turned out to be literally hundreds of 15 - 20+ % `hills.'

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Though this was a very expensive (financially) endeavor it has afforded me a value beyond any cost.  I've mentioned before that though I am a traveler I am not much of a spectator.  I've traveled over a good deal of the globe, studied ancient and contemporary cultures, learned to communicate in several languages.  And though my heritage is Irish and Scot I feel both a remove and a familiarity with the culture of Ireland.  As my wife and I often say, when we tour or watch travel documentaries: "Yeah. That looks a lot like Wisconsin." 

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It is an error to compare ultracycling events.  The race course, the weather, the gear, the duration, the road quality, the nature of drivers of vehicles (trucks, passenger, etc), heat, climbing, critters, etc... all combine to a unique set piece.  That being said the Race Around Ireland is one of the most comprehensively challenging ultracycling events I know of.  Certainly it has no match in climbing steep ascents.

Me?  I like the weather.  Cold, wet and windy. Dress for it.  It is easier to get warm than it is to get cool (as in the desert).  Irish roads are as good as those with which I am familiar in the States. Often better.  And there is no question that Irish drivers are more considerate to bicyclists.  Much more considerate.

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What kind of bicycle can compete in the RAI?   Not recumbents. Not tandems.

Among cyclists there are as many contrasting opinions as there are cyclists.  Each cyclist has a right to his or her opinion.  I contend, however, that personal experience of a particular event or venue entitles one to greater weight in his or her opinion.  And, in my experienced opinion, RAI is an event for standard, upright, diamond frame bicycles.  On a recumbent one's only power comes from the legs.

Humbly, I consider myself an exceptional climber on a recumbent.  I can maintain upright balance at a speed as low as 3.8 mph.  I can climb grades of 11 - 13% for mile after mile.  Beyond this grade range the recumbent platform is simply not practical; especially if in competitive events.  On a standard bike the rider can rock the bike, stand on the pedals, pull on the handlebars.  It is these latter physical actions that make cresting 20% climbs over and over again remotely doable.  An example: Henk Verouden on the RAI route. Out of the saddle, rocking the bike, pulling on the handlebars.  A genuine athlete.

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The Race Around Ireland was not too hard.  It was not too fatiguing.  It was not too cold, wet or windy.  It was not too long.

The Race Around Ireland is a race for athletes who excel on standard, upright, diamond frame bikes. (I'll be getting my upright bike right and tighty when I return to Arizona. Every time we breathe in and breathe out we have another chance!!)

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So ... this wasn't as short as I had expected.  I have much to report and say about my wonderful crew.  I'm not one for empty flattery.  What I will have to say will be near clinical in character.

* It is difficult to calculate specific data due to navigation changes, reroutes due to local flooding.