Cycling from Dublin to Maynooth

SuperCereal

How long does it take? Is it safe and whats the best route? Google Maps and Map my ride are not proving very fruitful on this matter!!

Any help/tips/advice greatly welcome.

Sup!

LeixlipRed

On a proper road bike? Assuming that's the case then you're talking just under an hour. Safest route is to avoid the N4 unless you're travelling on a bright weekend morning with no traffic. So then you're talking about cutting through the Park, Ashtown exit, down the strawberry beds maybe or down towards clonsilla and then into Leixlip and you can come down Captains Hill or head out to Intel and come onto the Dublin Road there. To be honest, not a safe journey in any form of busy traffic!

liamo22

LeixlipRed wrote: »

On a proper road bike? Assuming that's the case then you're talking just under an hour. Safest route is to avoid the N4 unless you're travelling on a bright weekend morning with no traffic. So then you're talking about cutting through the Park, Ashtown exit, down the strawberry beds maybe or down towards clonsilla and then into Leixlip and you can come down Captains Hill or head out to Intel and come onto the Dublin Road there. To be honest, not a safe journey in any form of busy traffic!

You could just come by the path along the canal. There is a straight path along the canal from Dublin to Maynooth, no traffic.... no idea how long it would take might be a good idea

LeixlipRed

Yep and a road bike you'd get 5 minutes down that path before you either buckled the frame or suffered about 7 punctures

You could take the canal out on a mountain bike, it'd take over 2 hours though.

granturismo

An ex staff member used to cycle most days from D2 and used the N4. He had one serious accident in Maynooth village in 4 years and none that I remember on the main route. He was very fit and I cant remember how long it took him.

LeixlipRed

Wouldn't recommend it unless you have a proper reflective suit and are an experienced road cyclist. Cars go a lot faster along those good roads and can be scary if you've never been in that traffic before.

dowlinj

Hi, just came across this thread while searching out the same info. I recently got a road bike and have been cycling into work in D4 one or two days a week from Maynooth. This is the route I take - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/105945392

For the most part it's fine but the ramps along the Strawberry Beds are a bit of a pain. The N4 actually has a cycle path most of the way though so I'm thinking of trying this out one of the days.

winnie the poo

did this a few times. went from dublin to chapelizod town centre, up that big hill (urg!) and down the strawberry beds into lucan village. from there i went from lucan demense into st.catherines park in leixlip and took the main road from leixlip village into maynooth. Iv a pritty good racing bike and on a good day I did it in pritty much one hour exactly.

Torque

N4 is very safe all the way from town to Leixlip, with cyclelane/ buslane majority of the way. Only dodgy part is crossing over the M50 junction apart from that its cake. Shouldn't take more than an hour.

Though be sure you're well lit up if you're out in the evening.

CaoimH_in

To reawaken this thread for a minute:

Has anyone any 'must cycle' routes in Ireland?

And more specifically, any 'must cycle' routes in the Greater Dublin area? I'd imagine Howth or Skerries would have some nice routes.

fatwarren

hi op, i did this route yesterday along the M4. i must say it was a great experience. came down some of the hills at 50/60 k. theres a bus lane along the m4 towards dublin and as you may know cyclists can cycle here. the most dangerous part of the journey would be the road from maynooth to leixslip. i encountered serious potholes in the road and one at the very beginning of the journey across from tesco. theres unrepaired damage done to the road where there have been pipes laid so be careful there. i'd imagine this journey is quite dangerous at night but i would definitly recommend it. took me about an hour to get to heuston station.

stef89

Btw does anyone know how long way is from Dublin connolly to Maynooth via Royal canal road? I've been planning to run it some day. Something around 30 km maybe?

karl_m

I was just wondering how long it took to cycle if you took the http://connect.garmin.com/activity/105945392 route for a casual cyclist like myself
I did it yesterday and today and in total it took me 2 hours. (I got lost both times, and the first time another cyclist had to show me the way). I was dying

The road to Maynooth from Lexlip, the 6km stretch, is a death trap :L

itac

Slightly OT, but I cycled to Leixlip & back once-took the main road out past Tesco, and swore never again! Came back via Carton House/Carton Ave to Main St....mostly all downhill too, and it was a nice scenic change from the main road. It did add a fair bit on to the route, but I was only out for a meandering kinda cycle, and wasn't too bothered about time!

dowlinj

karl_m wrote: »

I was just wondering how long it took to cycle if you took the http://connect.garmin.com/activity/105945392 route for a casual cyclist like myself
I did it yesterday and today and in total it took me 2 hours. (I got lost both times, and the first time another cyclist had to show me the way). I was dying

The road to Maynooth from Lexlip, the 6km stretch, is a death trap :L

Best way to find out is get the watch out and time yourself. I'm sure it could take anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours depending on a number of factors. Regardless, I don't think there's any true cycle friendly route between the two points.

karl_m

Thanks man, I will time myself sometime. Good for the legs :L