The Donegal Ultra 555 is a monster. 555km with nearly 7000m of climbing only tells half the story. Once you begin the race you quickly learn that there is no hiding place. If you haven’t put in the training then there’s no point in showing up.
If 555km sounds a little too far fetched for you then you can share the load by joining with a team of 2 or 4 riders. This will make it much more achievable.
This has been traditionally a supported event, meaning you need a crew with you to keep you fed and watered. However, this year they opened up an unsupported category. I was all over this as my only other option this year was the Transatlantic way race which is a bit too long for me at the moment due to family commitments.
The Day Before
I arrived Thursday evening in Letterkenny and checked in at LK bikes. It was a quick process for myself as they just had to give my bike a look over to make sure I had all that was required. There was a lot more to get through with everyone else as cars/vans had to be checked to make sure they meet their requirements.
There were only 2 other crazies that decided to do the 555 solo and unsupported so I was guaranteed a top 3 finish. 🙂
It was a staggered start and we all had our start times. I was second off the blocks with a 2 minutes gap between every competitor. My start time was 05.52 with the last of the relay teams starting over 2 hours later.
I stayed in Mount Errigal Hotel that night which was right across the road from the start/finish ramp.
Friday morning
I woke up at 04.52, thinking 1 hour would be plenty of time to get ready, however, it was 05.35 before I got out to the car where my bike was. There was no kettle in my room (because, you know, covid) so I didn’t have coffee either. Nothing went right and I ended up only eating a cup of trail mix and a piece of dry bread.
I still had to fill my bottles and double check my tire pressures. This was less than ideal and I was mad at myself for cutting it so short. But I suppose it’s all learning.
By the time I had all that done I had 4 minutes to get to the ramp and get my tracker. Luckily all was done with a minute to spare. This didn’t do my nerves any good and I kept thinking I was forgetting something.
Anyway, after the first guy was off it was my turn. This was so different to what I was used to, which are Audax events where you just start the ride as a group.
The organiser is on a mic and they introduce you to the (small) crowd and ask you a few questions about yourself. It’s all pretty light hearted and actually helped me settle my nerves a bit.
Before I knew it, it was 5.52 and I was off to start the Donegal Ultra 555.
On the Road
It was an overcast morning. It wasn’t raining but it wasn’t far away. The good thing was there was hardly any wind, which is pretty rare for Donegal.
For the first 30 km you’re on pretty big roads but because it was so early in the morning there was very little traffic. Only 3 riders passed me in the first hour which I was surprised about and made me check my effort.
Sure enough I was pushing harder than planned so I had to back off a little if I was to make it through to the end of the race. I had to remember that I wasn’t racing these guys. They all had support crews and their bikes were probably 5-7kg lighter than mine. The images below are from a stretch of road a few kilometers before Bridgend (27km).
I had planned on taking more footage and actually make a video but lost the mood to record so this is the only one.
After Burnfoot (30km) the race turned on to smaller roads and I backed off the pace in an effort to get my heartrate down to where I wanted it. This was hard to do because I was still feeling fresh but I knew I would thank myself later.
Sure enough I started to get passed by the riders that started after me. This was fine until the two other solo unsupported riders blasted past me. At the speed they were going there was no point in chasing. They also seemed to have far less kit than me, making me wonder about my strategy of going long without stopping.
Anyway, this was a nice stretch of lumpy country roads until you got to Muff (38km). It was only here that I realised that I was soaked. It wasn’t really raining. There was just such a heavy mist that everything was wet. Even my jelly beans stuck together.
From looking at the elevation before the race I thought the next few kms would be flat as it runs up along the coast. This was not the case as there were plenty of ups and downs all the way to Moville (60km) and the first checkpoint. When you get to a checkpoint you have to send a text that you got there and also the time you got there.
It took me 2hr 15min to get to Moville, which I was pretty happy with but I knew that this was just a warm up. The Donegal 555 really started to show its teeth now. I was about 20 min behind the other two unsupported riders so I decided to forget about them and just ride my own race.
Into The Hills
Straight after Moville you’re into some pretty big climbs. The roads here were narrow and I had to keep in tight to let the support vehicles pass. This is when I start to get passed by a lot of other riders. Some blasted passed with one thing on their mind, which was to go as fast as possible and others where more relaxed, even cycling alongside me for a while and having the craic.
For me, this is why I love these kinds of races. It brings together a bunch of like minded crazies that are always friendly, in my experience. Even the support cars from other riders were trying to give me food and coke but I had everything I needed and didn’t accept. I couldn’t take anything if I wanted to as this was against the rules. Being self supported ment not taking help from anyone.
I found it amusing that nearly everyone that passed me called me “mad in the head” for doing it unsupported. They weren’t too sane either was normally my response.
There were so many short sharp climbs here that don’t even show up on the elevation, but trust me, they’re there. It took me another 2 hrs to get to Malin head (103km) and the second checkpoint.
Although I was already used to short sharp climbs at this stage there was a particularly hard push up to the head. This is a short out and back trip but there’s something about doing loops or “out and backs” from the main route that really gets to me mentally.
I checked the gap to the other unsupported riders and saw that I was still 20 minutes behind one of them so they hadn’t pulled away on this section. Interesting!!!
Once you leave Malin head the route makes its way around the rest of the peninsula and towards the next target of the day, Mammor Gap (150km). Before you get to it you have to cycle more narrow lumpy country roads. When the climb eventually comes into view it looks daunting.
It’s steep from the very bottom. It’s 2km long in total with a 12.5% average and a 19.5% max gradient. Starts off with a few switchbacks at the bottom and then the wall comes into view. By the time I got near the top I was gasping for air and my legs were burning. There were plenty of people on each side of the road cheering you on so stopping wasn’t an option. I don’t think I would have been able to get started again anyway.
There was a squeak coming from my left pedal every time I pushed down hard. I actually used the annoyance of this to take my mind off my other pains. Anything that works.
When I finally got through the gap and sent my checkpoint text, it was a near vertical descent on the other side. It was only for 1 km but the road stretched out in front of you and the surface was good so you could let the brakes off and I clocked nearly 80km/h.
I noticed that I gained a few minutes on one of the riders. It was just 3 or 4 minutes but if the rider was tiring this early I would be sure to catch him before the end of the ride. I was still feeling pretty good.
After this the roads were a little less lumpy and I used this to recover from the climb. I still had an awful long way to go. The next unexpected hurdle was Buncrana (166km). The town was quite busy and it was frustrating to sit in traffic but it had to be done.
The roads started to get bigger and busier now but have a pretty decent hard shoulder so I didn’t feel in danger. This continued all the way back to Letterkenny (208km). I made good time on this section as there weren’t many steep sections, although it definitely wasn’t flat.
My car was in the carpark of the Mount Errigal hotel which was along the route. I just had to roll in one side of the car park, stop and restock with food and fluids, and exit the other side of the car park. This was the forth checkpoint so I also had to text in. It went pretty smoothly and was back on the road in 5 minutes.
This was when I really settled into the ride. I managed to get my heartbeat under control and everything was feeling good. Even the sun came out for a while.
From here I just used to checkpoints to focus on instead of thinking about the entire amount of riding I had to do that day. So my next target was the Knockalla Summit (242km). This is a really nice part of the ride, going through small towns and along coastal roads. Again, this isn’t flat. There were plenty of nasty wee climbs but I was enjoying the ride nonetheless.
Knockalla climb was much different to Mammor Gap. Instead of being really steep it’s more of a drag and to be honest I kind of enjoyed that too. I much prefer long climbs than steep ones.
After texting in the checkpoint I was into another very fast descent although this time I couldn’t let the brakes go as there were a few switchbacks.
Next checkpoint and target was the Harry Blaney Bridge (272km). The roads here were getting progressively remote. There were also a few more climbs that were starting to drain me. When the Harry Blaney Bridge finally came into view I was really impressed. Not just at the bridge but where it was.
The bridge is pretty big but the roads are so remote that you would wonder how many people use it. When I crossed it there wasn’t a single car on it nor did I see one for a few kilometers before or after it and it was at 17.30 on a Friday afternoon. I somehow forgot to take a picture of it but here’s an image from the web.
The next checkpoint was the Ozanam Center (330km). Just over 55km away but it wasn’t the distance that I was thinking about. This section has two significant out and back loops which drive me nuts!
When you get to Carrickart (276km) you start the first loop. It’s nearly 18km in total and 200m of elevation. It starts off pretty flat on the way on and I met quite a few other riders coming out of the peninsula.
Then things get nasty pretty quick. There are so many short sharp climbs while all along you’re getting higher. So it’s kind of 2 steps up and 1 step down. However, I can’t deny how amazingly beautiful the place is.
Once out and back on the main route the next target is Dunfanaghy (315km). This is where you start the Horn head loop. This is the third significant climb of the day and I’d have to agree that it is very tough.
The climb itself is about 3 km long with the steepest part in the first kilometer. This again finishes off with a very fast decent but you would want to be brave or stupid to let go of the brakes here. It’s a narrow road with stone walls on either side. The corners are not sharp but they are blind so if you meet a car you’d be in trouble.
Breaktime!
Anyway, I finally made it to the Ozanam center at 20.20 where I sent ahead a bag with food and fresh clothes. This was a manned checkpoint and I could go inside. They had soup and sandwiches for the unsupported riders which I had.
The stewards here were great. They couldn’t do enough for me. I took my time here as there was no point in rushing. The guy that was first in the unsupported category was hours ahead and the other guy looked like he had dropped out. (I later found out that he had been suffering from cramp). There was also few twinges from my thigh that I had injured a few years ago so I wanted to give it a little rest.
I stopped for an hour in total, filling up, restocking my bike for a long ride through the night, changing my clothes and ringing home to my family.
The next checkpoint was just up the road at Gortahork (342km) and then my sights were firmly set on getting to Dungloe (397km). As I rode, night fell. I was treated to an amazing sunset as I made my way through the remote and wide open roads of Donegal. It might not have been so enjoyable if the wind was up. I was told that this can be one of the hardest sections of the race if the wind is up.
I got to Dungloe at 00.20. We all had to take a planned detour out of town to avoid roadworks. Before this I was happy with how I was feeling. I still had plenty of energy but the next few kilometers took a lot out of me. There were a series of 6 – 7 % climbs that just cooked me.
By the time I got to Ardara (429km) I was struggling. I was considering finding a place to sleep when I got a text from my brother telling me to keep going. He must have read my mind. It was exactly what I needed so I pushed on to take the final significant climb of the ride, Glengesh.
Glengesh starts off so gently and gets progressively steeper and you get into it, to a point that there are switchbacks at the top. I came to one switchback and it was so steep that my lights could see the top of it.
By the time I got to the Glengesh Summit (439km) I wasn’t fit to fart. I was on open mountain now so it wasn’t a great place to stop for a nap so I freewheeled for a while and spun easily to recover. I knew I had one more pretty big climb before I got to Glencolumbkille (454km) so I just picked an easy gear and let the bike do the work.
By the time I got there it was nearly 4am. The sun was supposed to start to rise which I believed would have given me a new lease of life but it was so overcast that it was still pitch dark. It was also raining.
I was in serious need of sleep now as I kept dozing off. There was a shelter in the grounds of a primary school that was perfect. I whipped out my emergency blanket, wrapped up and lay on the hard ground and was asleep in 30 second and slept for 20 minutes when my alarm woke me. It was still dark and raining but I felt a lot better for the sleep.
A New Day?
I can’t remember much for the next few hours. There was a hard climb out of Glencolumbkille and then I was on open mountain for a while but it’s all kind of a blur. I eventually made it to Killybegs (483km) and text in for the checkpoint.
It was 06.15 and just started to get bright and the rain had eased as well. As I left Killybegs the roads got bigger again and there was a steady climb for most of the way to Donegal town but as the day was getting brighter I was starting to get my energy back.
By the time I got to Donegal (505km) I was feeling pretty good. I stopped for 5 minutes so I could get some treats from my bag that I was saving and ate them and had a bottle of coke that I had been carrying around for the last 500km.
This was exactly what I needed. Maybe it was also the fact that I knew I only had 50km to go and that I had no real climbs left but I was able to put in some good power again and was able make it back to Letterkenny by 08.37. This was all on national roads with two long drags and best of all the last 10km were nearly all downhill. We cycled through the Barnmore Bog Gap which is very impressive.
As I came near Letterkenny (555km) I was getting plenty of beeps from riders and crews who had finished long before me and were now leaving for home. The closer I got the more power I could give. I was feeling great and when I rolled up to the finish stand I was sorry it was over.
This was new to me. Normally when I finish a race of this length I usually feel beat up and swear to never ride my bike again. But this time it was different. It must have been the proper training I’ve put in. It really makes a difference. Or maybe it was the fact that the event was so well run and had a proper finish line. Normally, there is no one at an Audax finish and all feels a bit of an anti climax.
I already can’t wait to give it another go next year. Maybe I’ll even try to get a team together to see how I get on without having to carry everything with me.