Mille Failte 1200K Ireland 6-2014

I saw a small post on an internet list in December 2013  for a premier 1200K ride in Ireland the following June. It was snowing, a few funerals of youngish friends had just happened, my back hurt from work….so I signed up.

It sounded low key.  Day rides of 300k or so through the Southern Irish countryside with night accommodations at local hostels and hotels.  Mille Failte means “a thousand welcomes” in Gaelic and was promised to be a friendly and welcoming ride.

The entry was easy and not expensive.  The goal was for cyclists to follow the route using local business to re supply during the day.  The route was a zigzag of routes along the southern and western coasts of Ireland with some inland farm scenes on Day 1 and 4.  Controls would be mostly receipts from stores with the option of “selfies” at town lines to identify your location with a time stamp.  The bike inspection pre ride was a single question “Do you have a bike?”  I am not sure that PBP will ever endorse such a relaxed approach.

I packed my bike and gear in Boston for the flight to Shannon, Ireland.

From there I asked information desk for the best way to Cork and was told their was a direct bus line leaving in one hour.  20E and I was on my way to Cork.

I then took a short bus shuttle to Midleton where our ride would start. Finally I had a place to dump my back pack and bike! The An Stor Hostel would become a great home base for my ride.

Maria Murphy was our host there and she was awesome. She made us very comfortable with cheap rooms and super breakfasts. I did a few short rides in the area with the VC167club out of the UK to get used to the left side of the road thing after I put my bike together with my new friend Molly.

The afternoon before we were scheduled to start we had a short briefing with the host club, Audax Ireland.  A few road hazards were pointed out along with a lot of dark Irish humor regarding the ride.

That night I met my roommate for the next few days.  Birgit Zimmerman was a an energetic cyclist from Germany.  We were both traveling alone so she was welcome company.

At 8AM on Saturday we were off from the start.   The weather was gorgeous and the laughter among the riders set a tone for the ride. We traveled east along the coast, winding inland and then back out to the water many times. Part of the morning was spent along the so called “Copper Coast”  of Ireland.  Waterford was lunch and the largest city that we would pass through on the ride

I met a group from Pennsylvania Randonneurs at the start.  I had met Bill Fischer at another ride once so I tagged along with his group of Tim, Matt, Chip and Gavin that morning, and as it turns out, for the entire ride.  Their navigation skills were flawless and they laughed all lot so I wasn’t going to let them go!

After a lunch at a convenience store we headed up into some small hills west of Waterford.  The roads become very small and the only other traffic was farm equipment.Our progress on the day was slower than I had thought it would be.  Between route finding, checking in at stores for controls and stopping for the endless photo ops, we were still riding late into the evening.  We were to return to Midleton on this first day’s loop.  Around 7PM we ran into the one manned control of the day and were treated to sandwiches and rice pudding before the final 100K of the day.

The last stop was in Linsmore at a pub.  It was the only place to get a receipt for our control.  I had a 1/2 pint and listened to live music. Finally some nice Irish music at a pub.  How Irish can it get.  It was actually a guy doing Eagles and Jackson Browne covers. Pretty awful.  The next last 50K featured tricky turns in the dark and some surprisingly steep short hills. Some of the roads looked more like jeep tracks than roads.  At one point I heard my front fender crack and partially fall off. I removed it for the remainder of the ride.   This section was slow so we didn’t get back to Midleton until 1AM.  Supper ,shower and I fell into bed with a 5AM wake up call for the next morning.

Day 2 dawned sunny and calm again.  Full Irish breakfast of eggs,toast, mushrooms, tomatoes and sausage went down with some tea and we were on the road by 6AM.  We had an easy 20K to a ferry in Cobh. 

We were packed tight for the 5 minute ride across The Passage West.

The morning control was in Kinsale, a very picturesque seaside town on Ireland’s south coast.  Out of Kinsale the climbs began to announce themselves with steep ups, speedy descents and gorgeous scenery around every corner.

We were now on the West Cork coastline which is wild and beautiful.   The hills were steep and the pavement was getting bad. After rounding the peninsula we headed into Durras for lunch at a lovely cafe.

Next up was the Sheepshead peninsula.  Very isolated and pretty we flew down the southern tip, awed by the views.  Then we turned right.  Uh oh, is that a car way up on the hill on a switchback?  We were heading over the peninsula which meant a brutal climb an a barely paved road.  Parts of the climb were around 15% gradients.  Finally at the top the view was breathtaking, literally.  We rocketed down the other side with cliffs dropping off to our left.

Arriving in Bantry we had one last pennisula for the day.   The Beara penisula is very primitive looking with barren landscapes and nothing but sheep for company.  The afternoon was getting long and our progress was slow over the short, steep hills.  We had a control at a hilltop store that featured homemade meat pies, baked potatoes and pastries.  That really hit the spot as we headed out for the last kilometers into Killarney, our overnight destination.

We arrived at the Killlarney hostel around midnight.  Being one of the few women on the ride, my dorm room was small and not full.  My only roommate was my new friend Birgit, who had cut her day short and headed to the hostel early. The guys were all in rooms of 10-14 snoring men.   Good to be girl as I headed to sleep with a 4:30AM wake up call.

Our last long day and it was going to be a beauty.  Another sunny day in Ireland and we had some much anticipated roads in front of us.  First off was the Killarney National Park.  Climbing up to Moll’s Gap in the early morning was beautiful. Lots of wildlife was out with us including red deer, billy goats and sheep.A long descent into Sneem and it was time for a nice pastry break at a cafe.  We then headed onto the famous Ring of Kerry.  We had been warned about tourist traffic on this popular drive but it was still early.  Sweeping ocean views awaited us around every corner.   The sun was out and the wind was calm. S

Just after we headed off of the peninsula the tour buses began arriving.  Dozens and dozens kept coming as if the whole country was celebrating this picture postcard day.  

The trip to our last peninsula of the trip was busy with traffic on a narrow, bumpy road.  Our group was uncharacteristically quiet as we all tried to power through this stretch.  A few detours along smaller roads near the ocean helped but we were getting tired and sunburned out on this open stretch.  The three long days were starting to take their toll. We finally arrived in Dingle with a ton of traffic and pretty warm sun beating down on us. We headed to a pub for some lunch before doing the loop out to the Dingle penisula and back.  Dingle was really busy so I couldn’t wait to get out of there.  The 40 kilometers around the penisula made up for all of the traffic and tourists.  At Slea Head we reached the farthest point west in Europe. When we turned back we felt like we were heading home.

We rode back to Dingle and had one more(we thought) big climb for the day-Connors Pass. It was a couple of kilometers to the top.  Quite steep and exposed but so pretty.  Sheep everywhere.  We got to the top and were awestruck by the view.The descent was terrifying!  No guard rail and sheer drops on either side.  My arms and hands were killing me at the bottom from hanging on for dear life the whole descent.

Now an easy ride back to Killarney(we thought!).

Through Tralee and then a gently climb up a ridge.  It was very pretty at dusk.  We had our last control with Audax Ireland treating us to snacks before the last 50K.  We figured 2 hours and we would be back in Killarney.  I should have been scared when Paul O’Donohue tells us that it is “a wee bit hilly”.

Right away out of the control we got lost.  After finding the way the road went up and up and up.  The pavement was narrow and bad making any descents no fun.  It felt like we were going in circles in the dark with no sign of Killarney.  At one point I just gave up on a steep and rutted climb and fell sideways off my bike.  I wasn’t the only one to lose traction as a few others went down as well.  Finally after 3 hours we made it to the hostel.  I was done, mentally and physically.  The only consolation was that we only had 160K back to Midleton the next day and all day to get it done.

We “slept in” and left the hostel at 8AM.  Happy to be on the road after a big breakfast, the sun was out again!  A busy road out of Killarney but we eventually turned off into the country.  Our control at Millstreet featured a superb pastry selection for breakfast #2 of the day.  A few ups and downs into the afternoon but nothing like the previous few days.  Our last control in Tallowbridge was the celebratory lunch.  We all had a beer and Tim from New Jersey had an entertaining discussion with the bartender about sports and much more.  Finally to convince Tim that Cork City rugby was the greatest team in the world he presented Tim with a Cork City banner to take home.  Tim promised a NY Giants banner in return.  In the meantime some of the boys were helping a local with car repairs.

They must get a time credit for helping the locals?

Big pacelines started forming as the whole field was starting to move in on Midleton.  We had a little competitive fire left as we cruised into Midleton.  The roundabout that had freaked me out the first day was no problem. Cruising through that and on to the finishing pub at the Midleton Park Hotel was a joy.  We got our medal and a round of applause.  Beer all around for the great bunch of riders and the hosts of Audax Ireland! Cead Mille Failte!