If you are on facebook, join the groups "ironman ireland journey" and "ironman ireland, cork" - there are a lot of folks riding, running and swimming the course beforehand and commenting on conditions

Apparently the roads are a little rough but they are working on patching the worst spots

Water is 11 degrees C at the moment but should warm up a few degrees...

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Strava

Don't forget they ride on the left side of the road. Just takes a bit of adjustment, but Ireland has a lot of 1-1 1/2 lane roads so you sort of ride in the middle. In panic mode I tended to try and hold right a couple times instead of left. It is a bit weird to learn to feed from the the left side too. I have grabbed thousands of bottles from the right and tens of bottles from the left.

I lived there 2005-2006 so roads might be a little better nowadays. I was in east Galway for a job but also lived 6 months outside of Ennis, Clare. Back then I never once rode a bike over there. The country roads were narrow and the pavement was rough (sort of like chips) and weathered in many places, not the smoother tarmac. Some of the main roads were better but way too dangerous to ride. No shoulders and they drive fast over there. I don't even remember seeing any cyclists while there but I wasn't really looking for them either. I did some jogging and my Irish friends called it "daft". Everyone smoked. Now I'm thrilled to hear about triathlons. Exciting about the Ironman! Tempting to go back. I loved Cork. That will be an amazing Ironman! Just bring your most rugged tires! And do some hill work! Those roads through the mountains are steep, narrow but gorgeous scenery.

Once thing to note is that "riding" means something else in Ireland ;-)

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

The roads are fairly rough.

Yep, the roads in east Galway are fairly bad!

No need for unusually rugged tires. I've been riding GP4000S almost exclusively for several years, summer and winter, training and racing and I've averaged less than 1 puncture per year. Mostly around Wicklow, Dublin, Kildare, Meath, areas but I've ridden a fair amount in Waterford, Galway, Tpperary, Cork, Clare and elsewhere too and it's not much different.

I agree that there are a lot of bad road surfaces in Ireland. Although it's all relatvie, I've seen better, and worse elsewhere. Main roads are generally good. But quite a few minor roads suffer from poor quality repairs and maintenance resulting in either rough surfaces or potholes. There are plenty good roads and beautiful scenery in Cork, hopefully Ironman have chosen wisely!

I would think any typical bike setup will be absolutely fine. No special measures required. Unless you typically ride with 150psi in 20mm tyres on narrow rims. In which case a change may be prudent, regardless of the country you're riding in!

70Trigirl - Ireland is full of cyclists! It's become more popular since you were here but I reckon you just weren't looking for them! Surprised about the smoking comment too. Nothing terribly exceptional about smoking habits in Ireland, except that it was the first country in the world to ban it in all workplaces including bars, and that was before you were here.

Like I said I wasn't looking for cyclists. It just wasn't something I ever saw in the West of Ireland. The whole time I was there I did encounter one other runner in Portumna. But I felt like I was the only runner in Clare back then. Farmers on tractors used to wave to me all the time. I'm sure I was a quite a sight in my lycra and neon colors on the country roads.And all my friends and co workers did smoke. Not throwing stones. Just my observation. I loved Ireland. So please don't take offense.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

Don't worry, not taking offence, just surprised. But then, I'm less familiar with the more rural western areas. I've been there often on holiday but never lived there.