Photos taken on your cycle.

smacl

A couple from Grassamucky yesterday;



Looking back there seems to have been an easier way up than the way I came.



Not so many easy options for the next bit.



Sun up in Kilmashogue woods this morning



Pinhead!

Idleater

Nice spin in the sunshine on the back road to Ax les Thermes

DaveR1000

Taken at the Cut a few weeks back on a 30 degree day - god i miss the heat.

lennymc

@ideleater - i was literally just looking at the pics from last year thinking I will have to do that trip again.

buffalo

View from Howth back towards the Marine and Clontarf at sunset tonight, taken on my five year old phone, so excuse the quality.

Mercian Pro

Was out in Howth last night and cursed the fact that I didn't have a camera with me. It was a stunning sunset. Maybe it's time I bought a smart phone!

Mercian Pro

Some photos from last week's Hospice Foundation Atlantic to Med cycle:


A few k west of Bayonne


The last few k on the east side of the Tourmalet


It's the man not the bike that counts!


Trying out the west side


A cooler misty day (thankfully)


By the Canal du Midi


Between Narbonne Plage and Narbonne

Idleater

Mercian Pro wrote: »

Some photos from last week's Hospice Foundation Atlantic to cycle

Great stuff, what was the route? Portet d'aspet is a beautiful climb actually. Did it last year, but just not close enough this year.

Mercian Pro

This was the tougher route devised by the sadists in Cycling Safaris but there were some (slightly) easier options as well some days. The original intention was to tackle Tourmalet from the west but following the floods we went up and down from the east. The Pyrenees are really stunning and well worth a visit as you know. The Hospice cycle may be heading in that general direction again next year so keep an eye out for it.

Idleater

Nice route, the heat makes it all the more difficult, though that's a nice complaint to have.
Well done to all who took part.

Seweryn

What a great idea to built cycle lanes on the old railway tracks, which are now removed. These tracks go through some lovely, wild places and what a pleasure it would be to to cycle through these areas...

enas

Can't compete with most of you guys on the quality of the photo, but I had a very enjoyable ride on a beautiful rental tandem (first time for me), somewhere in Provence. The machine was absolutely gorgeous, and so was the ride.

It's been pretty active holidays, cycling-wise. I also did my first ascent of the Ventoux (on the 14th of July, before the arrival of the Tour de France stage), unfortunately, no photo (and no video either, had my helmet cam, but ran out of storage). But how amazing it was!

Paul Kiernan

enas wrote: »

The machine was absolutely gorgeous, and so was the ride.

Any pictures of the ride?

buffalo

Mercian Pro wrote: »

Was out in Howth last night and cursed the fact that I didn't have a camera with me. It was a stunning sunset. Maybe it's time I bought a smart phone!

I don't have a smartphone, my current phone won a Phone of the Year award in 2006.

enas

Paul Kiernan wrote: »

Any pictures of the ride?

Not many unfortunately (and I appear on most of them, and I'm unfortunately too shy to post those).

To compensate, here's a nice still from one of the few films I got from the Ventoux. I like how the fish eye effect and the inclination of my head exacerbates the impression of the slope. Although, if you compare with the horizon line, it still looks pretty steep, which it surely was in the last few kilometres.

enas

OK, I got caught in the game. Here's me reaching the 2km mark, with the summit in sight. Probably the toughest 2km. Sorry again for the quality, as they're stills from the video.

What's funny in the clip I took it from, is to see how much people seem to suffer and struggle at that stage, making you think that you have to be mad to be doing that, at which point you remember that you were one of them too.

Wishbone Ash

Seweryn wrote: »

What a great idea to built cycle lanes on the old railway tracks, which are now removed. These tracks go through some lovely, wild places and what a pleasure it would be to to cycle through these areas..

I did one in the US recently. It was 75kms long (to a dead end) so a 150km round trip. It was flat and fully paved and the first hour or so was a novelty but it then became exceedingly tedious and boring. The fact that I only encountered 3 or 4 others in the 150kms didn't help either. It made me long for traffic, pedestrians and busy junctions!

Paul Kiernan

Here's one of me being eaten by a cow on Col d'Aspin recently ......

velopeloton

Paul Kiernan wrote: »

Here's one of me being eaten by a cow on Col d'Aspin recently ......

Lots of people get injured by cattle in the Pyrénées each year. Mostly it's people who try to pet a calf. A hiker was killed by a cow on Col d'Azet a few days ago.

Much more dangerous than the wolves and bears.

Seweryn

Nice scenery in the park in town. Pleasure to cycle through .

Paul Kiernan

velopeloton wrote: »

Lots of people get injured by cattle in the Pyrénées each year. Mostly it's people who try to pet a calf. A hiker was killed by a cow on Col d'Azet a few days ago.

Much more dangerous than the wolves and bears.

Bloody hell! I didn't realise they were dangerous. I was covered in salt so probably tasted pretty good. I was just posing for a photo when a tongue the size of a small car wrapped itself around my arm. Next thing I knew my whole forearm was in it's mouth. I started getting a bit nervous at that stage. Are there really bears and wolves too?

velopeloton

Paul Kiernan wrote: »

Bloody hell! I didn't realise they were dangerous. I was covered in salt so probably tasted pretty good. I was just posing for a photo when a tongue the size of a small car wrapped itself around my arm. Next thing I knew my whole forearm was in it's mouth. I started getting a bit nervous at that stage. Are there really bears and wolves too?

The one in the photo is a Blonde d'Aquitaine, they are usually docile but a cow with a calf can still be dangerous. The Bérnaise which is grey in colour is more aggressive and does not like to be handled. There was a Dutch tourist knocked unconscious on Col d'Aspin a few months ago by a Blonde d'Aquitaine cow after trying to pet her calf.

There is a small and growing population of wolves and bears. It's over century since the last fatal attack on humans. This photo is up the road a few km from my house. It's the track of a bear crossing the road not too long before. Looks like it was following some hikers.

Laundry_Hamper

velopeloton wrote: »

This photo is up the road a few km from my house. It's the track of a bear crossing the road not too long before. Looks like it was following some hikers.

Spooky.

GreyEagle

Paul Kiernan wrote: »

Bloody hell! I didn't realise they were dangerous. I was covered in salt so probably tasted pretty good. I was just posing for a photo when a tongue the size of a small car wrapped itself around my arm. Next thing I knew my whole forearm was in it's mouth. I started getting a bit nervous at that stage. Are there really bears and wolves too?

No need to worry Paul. You don't need to outrun the bear, you only need to outrun the others in your group.:)

feck sake lads

Paul Kiernan wrote: »

Bloody hell! I didn't realise they were dangerous. I was covered in salt so probably tasted pretty good. I was just posing for a photo when a tongue the size of a small car wrapped itself around my arm. Next thing I knew my whole forearm was in it's mouth. I started getting a bit nervous at that stage. Are there really bears and wolves too?

sorry just as a side note i painted a farmers house one time i asked him about camping in a field with cows he said if there were calfs forget it the cows would stamp you into the ground. so be warned.:eek:

Idleater

The guy in the picture was doing the raid pyrenees, good aul day 4 to prades. Certainly not taking the easy option like we did :O . He was asking me about what the col du jou and any other prospective hills were like. Obviously I said they were fine, it was basically downhill from here.
Temperature got to 38.x in the shade and I saw 45.x in the sun while climbing in the afternoon.

lg123

velopeloton wrote: »

The one in the photo is a Blonde d'Aquitaine, they are usually docile but a cow with a calf can still be dangerous. The Bérnaise which is grey in colour is more aggressive and does not like to be handled. There was a Dutch tourist knocked unconscious on Col d'Aspin a few months ago by a Blonde d'Aquitaine cow after trying to pet her calf.

the Blonde d'Aquitaine, a skinny cow but apparently one of the tastiest you can find around Europe.

lg123

Paul Kiernan wrote: »

Here's one of me being eaten by a cow on Col d'Aspin recently ......

its not like we don't owe them a nibble or two!!

velopeloton

lg123 wrote: »

the Blonde d'Aquitaine, a skinny cow but apparently one of the tastiest you can find around Europe.

They are a beautiful animal on the mountain and on the plate.

Jawgap

The Boyne at Ardbraccan this morning....