Tour de Kilkenny 2017

Where did August go? Too many evenings spent watching La Vuelta and not enough time out on the bike! That said, I did complete the monthly strava Fondooo grand and early in the month, in the form of the Tour de Kilkenny. I was invited to partake by a friend Liam, who I'd first cycled with when I accompanied him from Clonakilty to Skibbereen, as part of his Wild Ireland Tour back in 2014. In fact, that was the first 100 km day I'd done. You can relive all of the Wild Ireland cycle tour here, it's well worth a look.

Anyway, Liam had suggested that we do the 160km route, as it would be a good challenge. But almost immediately after arriving chez liam, the excuses began to bubble up. There was talk of the 160 route being "a bit hilly" and "maybe we'll just take a right turn back to town before it gets difficult" and the like.

It was very tempting to sit and drink beer and talk bike nonsense long into the night, but we took the more sensible option and got an early night. Up at 7am for a good breakfast before heading in to the start of the day. The sun was shining and the forecast was good! I'd brought the Orbit as I always like to see how many retro steel bikes feature on days like these. As it was, I only saw one other vintage bike, a cracking looking old Mercier, ridden by a very definite audax rider! Shame I didn't get a chance to speak to him though.

Waiting for the off

The first 40 km were fairly swift, as we passed through rolling countryside with few hills. This was grand, but Liam assured me things would get harder after the first food stop. He was right too. The road kicked up quite savagely up Woodstock, and from then on it was up & down for the remainder of the day! It was a relief to get to the lunchstop, where plenty food was on offer by the friendly volunteers.

Onwards, and upwards after lunch, although Liam seemed to take the wrong way at the vital moment, heading right when the 160 sign was definately pointing left! Burning up Woodstock had taken too much out of him apparently. I pressed on anyway, climbing ahead of a club and up into the higher scenery.

Empty roads once the 110 lads all bailed out...

The kilometres slowly clicked by. Another roadside stop for melon and oaty bars, and then back to the grind. The next 20 km climbed slowly up and up, before the final steep but thankfully fairly short climb at about 150km. The last 10km was mostly downhill, which was a welcome relief by this stage of the day.

The rolling Kilkenny countryside

Liam was still waiting for me when I finally crawled over the finish line! The big finish banner was gone so I guess I must have been quite slow, though the average speed of over 24km/h was pretty good for me! All in all, a great day out, in a part of Ireland I hadn't ridden in before. The day was well organised with plenty food and its a great route! Refreshingly well priced too, at only €25 for an early bird booking. Half the price of many other such days. Well worth a go next year if you get the chance!