Saggart to sandyford

jd83

<p>Hi can anyone post a good route to cycle from saggart to sandyford. Would it be to far to cycle 3 or 4 times a week to work? How long would it take? Thanks</p>

Highway_To_Hell

I commute to Citywest via Sandyford, it is only 18km so should be easy enough to do on a regular basis, for the past 10 months I have been doing 4-5 times a week. obviously the major problem now is the weather and the wind that comes down from the dublin mountains can be a bit annoying. here is a route that I use from Citywest, usualy takes less then 40 mins.

Crippens1

Hi, I commute from Booterstown to Citywest and the main thing to to plan is that it will take you significantly longer going west than east as hte prevailing winds are westerly/south-westerly and it is slighlty uphill overall. Its even hillier the more your route nears the Dublin Mts. but if you don't fancy that try a route via Dundrum-Templeogue rather than Firhouse-Ballyboden. Generally, I get out in about 42-44 minutes (40 minutes riding time and 2-4 minutes at lights). Coming home can be as quick as 32-33 minutes riding time.

Happy cycling!

jd83

Great thanks a lot. Also i dont have a road bike, i have a mountain bike it pretty old. Would a mountain bike be ok for this. I could buy a new bike but at least with my old bike if it gets stolen i wont care

Highway_To_Hell

I do my commute on a fixed gear bike so I am sure you could do it on a mountain bike, will probably just take a bit longer then a road bike would.

As Crippens1 said commute into Sandyford will be quicker then your commute out. I can get home in under 1 hr but for the life of me I cant beat 1:04 on the way in (combination of long drag up the N11 and always seem to have a head wind)

petethedrummer

Thats a fair old trek on a mountain bike. I'd put narrow slick tyres on it and get it serviced before starting.

If you don't cycle much, start off 2-3 days a week as it will take a while to build up to 5 days. Also try the route some weekend so you know where you're going and have a rough idea of how long it takes.

jd83

Thanks for the advice. I only work 3 or 4 days a week and in the beginning i might do it only for 2 days a week at the beginning. Plus i start work pretty early so there will be no traffic on the roads. But yes i am going to try it on my day off first a few times so i dont get lost on my way to work. or have a heart attack by time i get to the end of my road

I have mountain bike but im open to buying a new bike. I was thinking something like this:

http://www.thinkbike.ie/bike_shop/2011_TREK_7_3.aspx

Would this be ok for wintery\ crappy irish wet weather.

I prefer to do it on my crappy bike for a few weeks and then when i know im commited to doing it splash out of the above.

Crippens1

It's do-able on a mountain bike but do get some narrow tyres. I tend to use the mountian bike when the weather is truly foul. I use 1.3/4 inch tyres at about 70psi and find it max 4 or 5 minutes slower each way.

If you are new to cycling I would advise some longer spins on the week-end to build up some fitness and make it more comfortable when you're doing the shorter (:) commute or sprinting in to mke that 9 o'clock meeting.

jd83

yh well thats the plan to do a bit on days off to get used to it and to find a good route. Ill do it a few times on my day off before i do a live run into work Would the bike picked there be ok for bad weather.

Im hoping after i get over the initial shock of cycling long distances ( 18k is a long distance for me ) to turn it into a bit of a hobby. I need the exercise and also it will save money on car and public transport.

Crippens1

I wouldn't know commuter bikes well enough to give an opinion but do a search on this forum as I've seen very well-informed info on bikes & equipment of all kinds here (it's one of the best aspects of this forum in my opinion).

You will save loads on petrol. I estimate that I'm saving approx. €70-€75 per month ... however it's easy spent. See the "I should have left my credit card at home" thread for sobering reading on where you could end up!

jd83

Crippens1 wrote: »

I wouldn't know commuter bikes well enough to give an opinion but do a search on this forum as I've seen very well-informed info on bikes & equipment of all kinds here (it's one of the best aspects of this forum in my opinion).

You will save loads on petrol. I estimate that I'm saving approx. €70-€75 per month ... however it's easy spent. See the "I should have left my credit card at home" thread for sobering reading on where you could end up!

Thanks for your replies. Yh already had a browse through it, ill have to be careful