Boards Spin Saturday November 1st

Chips Lovell

TinyExplosions wrote: »

I reckon I could possibly out sprint him, but the problem is staying with him until it's time to sprint!

I don't know, you've had no trouble staying on my wheel in recent months.

Gavin

Any idea of route?

scottreynolds

Hope you guys have a good ride.....Took today off as I'm away for the weekend .. great day for a ride clear skies, no rain,

---

Have fun

TinyExplosions

el tonto wrote: »

I don't know, you've had no trouble staying on my wheel in recent months.

Until it starts to go uphill... and I reckon it mostly cos you've been riding with a compact double

Sure, we'll maybe see on Sunday!

blorg

Alarm failed Anyone on for a 10am (or 10:15)

kenmc

Haha, you're on Carolines list now!

blorg

Well I am cycling out to Trim this afternoon on my fixie instead, with panniers.

Chips Lovell

Trim, schrim. You weren't cycling through snow and ice this morning.

blorg

el tonto wrote: »

Trim, schrim. You weren't cycling through snow and ice this morning.

Was there snow and ice? Sounds good. Any photos? Kicking myself for missing it :mad:

Chips Lovell

blorg wrote: »

Was there snow and ice? Sounds good. Any photos? Kicking myself for missing it :mad:

We had to turn back on the Sally Gap because of the amount of ice on the road. Probably would have made it up alright, but descending would have been very dangerous. There was also a lot of snow on the road between Glencree and Enniskerry. We all went down that one very gingerly.

No pics. Was too preoccupied with keeping the rubber side down. Did snap one pic on the way home of how filthy my bike was after the morning's riding.

Gavin

I recently bought a fantastically cheap road bike for 200 euro. A mercurio frame. XTR(!) rear derailleur. 105 front derailleur, sora 7speed shifters, Aksium front wheel and crummy rear wheel. Time to join in with boardsies for road spin!

9 is early though. Slept in. Still, I need to start getting in some distance, the commute don't cut it and the mountain biking so far doesn't have long continuous cycling. I figure 60k is a reasonable distance to start with. The route is out to Enniskerry, past Balinastoe, get to junction of road going to Roundwood and Sally Gap, head up to Sally Gap, and from there straight back into town.

So all ready and I left at around 1. Straight away, wow the bike was easy to cycle and it's fast compared to the Banana and Rockhopper ! Somewhere near Stepaside I saw an approaching convoy with a familiar face and jacket at the head. Kenmc shoots by followed by boardsters. Lots of waves and hellos. It was quite the nice cheery start. At this point all was well, the hill at Djouce looked tough but was ok. Passed by lots of MAD people at their Balinastoe improver spin which I couldn't make due to no car. More waving and hellos and good humour. Kept saying I'd stop soon and have a bit o grub, but ended up going to the junction of roundwood/sally gap road. Stopped, ham and cheese roll, figroll, water and off towards the Sally Gap.

This was fairly slow going, I started quickly after the break, but my legs seemed to get tired similarly quickly. Just kept grinding away though, grateful that this bike had easier gears than the banana. Went up the road coming up to the viewpoint over Lough Tay and stopped for a few minutes to ogle. Fantastic view. Off again, descending fastish and noticing it was getting cold. Eventually got to the Sally Gap and congratulated myself. Then I saw the sign for Dublin, 27km!! Holy cow, I didn't think it was that far. ****. More figrolls and some water. A chap on his bike passed by at this point, so I just said right I'll keep him in view. Head down and just pumping away. He was a life saver, I wouldn't have gone as fast if he wasn't always there just on the horizon.

Anyway, this post is getting ridiculous. After much concern about it getting dark and getting stuck out, feeling bad because my feet were like blocks of ice on the descents and general tiredness, I eventually made it back into Dundrum and home. Cue hot shower and excessive groans of pleasure.

59.8km according to Google Maps. 3 hours including food stops. First trip on road bike! Torturous but fun.

amjon

I went by myself,did rockwell,sally gap,wicklow gap, blesso,avg about 29kph(is this any use?).Sally gap wasn't too bad from the way I approached.Tried to go flat out from the wicklow gap to home:got to blesso,bonked(a mars bar and danish dosen't cut it for a 4 hour spin) and rolled home.Had a nasty spat with a bus driver in town,the expletives flowed like the proverbial rivers of lactic acid in my leg!What is a good time for the the ascent up the wicklow gap?From the largh side,timing starting from were the road splits at the bottem?

Chips Lovell

amjon wrote: »

avg about 29kph(is this any use?)

For the whole spin, yes that's incredibly fast.

Chips Lovell

Verb wrote: »

Somewhere near Stepaside I saw an approaching convoy with a familiar face and jacket at the head. Kenmc shoots by followed by boardsters. Lots of waves and hellos.

Ken told us it was you. Always nice to meet one of the brethern on the road.

kenmc

Verb wrote: »

I recently bought a fantastically cheap road bike for 200 euro. A mercurio frame. XTR(!) rear derailleur. 105 front derailleur, sora 7speed shifters, Aksium front wheel and crummy rear wheel. Time to join in with boardsies for road spin!

9 is early though. Slept in.

I tried to give you a call to see if you were coming along but i didn't have the number in my fone damnit. sorry! Will add it for next time.......

paddyb

i passed someone with a boards jersey (and wooly hat!) when i was driving back from ballinstoe - must have been you, verb

Gavin

haha yeah that was me with the woolly hat. I was seriously glad that I decided to go with woolly hat instead of helmet, it was so bleedin cold.

Cheers for the thought Kenmc ! I'll have to start getting out more to build up some distance and keep up with yee lot.

kenmc

Verb wrote: »

Cheers for the thought Kenmc ! I'll have to start getting out more to build up some distance and keep up with yee lot.

no worries. texted you just a few mins ago but i notice it's gone unanswered ZZZZzzzzz....

Gavin

Yeah, just awake now. Out a bit late last night. I'll probably pass on the orwell spins for a while, my legs are still tired from yesterday, I don't think I'd be able to keep up. Thanks though!

Lumen

Was out today (Sun) to see if I could do more than 45 mins on a bike (usual commute, which I've done a grand total of 5 times this month/millenium!).

Managed 43km at avg 22.5kph, 150bpm, 86rpm, no proper hills. A little under two hours, and though generally comfortable my back was beginning to twinge at the end, but that might have been the hill in Chapelizod (think I need a granny cog).

I also had a major row with my Garmin, after it dumped me in the middle of Tallaght then turned itself off. Ended up navigating by the sun, whilst Miss Garmin stared out the window (metaphorically speaking).

At least a few more weeks until I'm "bike fit", but then I hope to be join a boards spin - the weekly war stories are very motivating!

blorg

amjon wrote: »

I went by myself,did rockwell,sally gap,wicklow gap, blesso,avg about 29kph(is this any use?).Sally gap wasn't too bad from the way I approached.Tried to go flat out from the wicklow gap to home:got to blesso,bonked(a mars bar and danish dosen't cut it for a 4 hour spin) and rolled home.Had a nasty spat with a bus driver in town,the expletives flowed like the proverbial rivers of lactic acid in my leg!What is a good time for the the ascent up the wicklow gap?From the largh side,timing starting from were the road splits at the bottem?

My own stats from the last time I did it (on my fixie a few weeks ago, 46-17 gearing):

6.8km
149m-484m (334m ascent)
23m56s
17km/h average speed
170 BPM average HR
5.4% average grade

I'd say I'm an OK climber, not the best, not the worst. If you were doing an average of 29km/h over that course I suspect you may have done it around the same sort of time, maybe a bit faster.

amjon

blorg wrote: »

My own stats from the last time I did it (on my fixie a few weeks ago, 46-17 gearing):

6.8km
149m-484m (334m ascent)
23m56s
17km/h average speed
170 BPM average HR
5.4% average grade

I'd say I'm an OK climber, not the best, not the worst. If you were doing an average of 29km/h over that course I suspect you may have done it around the same sort of time, maybe a bit faster.

Cheers did it in 20 min plus or minus a couple of secs.Was thinking I was on a really bad day for the first bit but then realised that I'd forgotten to switch down to the small front chain ring:o

Andrewf20

Id be up for a cycle if it wasnt so earlier. I love my ly in's too much!

Raam

Andrewf20 wrote: »

Id be up for a cycle if it wasnt so earlier. I love my ly in's too much!

Jaysus, if I had my way the meets would be at 8am!

Chips Lovell

I got home at 3:30am reeking of drink on Friday night. Was up again at 7:30am for the Boards spin. If I can do it, there's no excuse.

72hundred

el tonto wrote: »

I got home at 3:30am reeking of drink on Friday night. Was up again at 7:30am for the Boards spin. If I can do it, there's no excuse.

:pac::pac::pac:

sy

el tonto wrote: »

I got home at 3:30am reeking of drink on Friday night .....

Bioethanol..... so your secret is out el tonto Mind you, wouldnt fancy being on your back wheel on Saturday!