Confused about county roads

Precedens

Hello everyone. Recently I took an opportunity and enrolled on forklift training with fas. Just the thing is, company that gives this training is based in other town. I have no car, and since bus is not stopping at my destination (Doon, Co. Limerick), I was thinking about going there with my bicycle. It is not long distance since it's only 26km.

I am confused though about type of roads. If I understand I can not travel on my bicycle on E roads (E20 etc) - it's motorway afaik. But I don't know about other types - can I ride on non-motorways? (N roads)

My track: http://maps.google.ie/maps?saddr=Ballysimon+Rd,+Limerick&daddr=52.63723,-8.53254+to:Doon,+Co.+Limerick&hl=en&ll=52.633063,-8.389091&spn=0.14044,0.445976&sll=52.627775,-8.420785&sspn=0.140457,0.445976&geocode=FVBoIwMd-OB8_ymzEIDmBlxbSDHLeS46pB4pLw%3BFS4uIwMdxM19_ymZYfp9OVlbSDFQhW6Hoseecw%3BFaa0IgMdXxuC_ymrZbusQaVcSDFAnzGXqccACg&oq=Bally&mra=ltm&via=1&t=m&z=12

Stark

Yes, legally it's fine.

07438991

With or without stabilizers...?

Precedens

Thank you kind sir, last time I have been on Dublin road and everyone was honking, that's why I was concerned.

And saying "Legally it's fine" I feel like there is second bottom.

Cedrus

Motorways or M roads are the only ones you are not allowed to cycle on.

You may use all others N=National, R=Regional or L=Link and undesignated roads, this doesn't mean that they will be comfortable or safe.

E routes are Euro designations and will cover several categories of roads with different legal standings.

easygoing39

So this means its legal to cycle on the Naas Rd from Newlands Cross to Naas???But in real terms,it very dangerous,and I for one would'nt at all feel safe on it riding me bike??

Cookie_Monster

easygoing39 wrote: »

So this means its legal to cycle on the Naas Rd from Newlands Cross to Naas???But in real terms,it very dangerous,and I for one would'nt at all feel safe on it riding me bike??

yep it is perfectly legal to cycle it.
Why do you see it as dangerous? It's got a decent surface with a wide shoulder so traffic can give you plenty of room. Much safer than some narrow badly surface country road that runs alongside

langdang

I think a lot of that road is OK for cycling. There are some other regional roads in that area that are very narrow and carry a lot of commuter traffic - I wouldn't like to be sharing them with the average Irish motorist.

The stretch of the N24 you will be on is mostly ok, there is a short stretch with no hard shoulder soon after the flyover over the motorway.
Also, be careful near the Great Gas petrol station. It is a busy road at commuting times, and people entering and exiting that petrol station can cause dangerous situations.

Doon is like a village trapped in the 1950's! It's like a trip back in time :pac:

The "old" dublin road (I thought it was N7, but marked on the google map link you supplied as R445) is perfect for cycling on, the new dublin road is a motorway (M7)and you are not supposed to cycle on it.

smacl

Precedens wrote: »

Thank you kind sir, last time I have been on Dublin road and everyone was honking, that's why I was concerned.

And saying "Legally it's fine" I feel like there is second bottom.

Being a bit of a wuss myself, if I know I'm going to be doing a regular journey on a busy road under time pressure, I tend to cycle the route once before hand at a quieter time of the day at my leisure. It gives an idea of the time to allow, what to expect in terms of junctions etc.. when you're under pressure.

Looking at your route, I'd say the N road would be faster and have the better surface, but the surrounding r-roads would make for a pleasanter more relaxed journey. Personally, I tend to go for the latter, not because of safety concerns, more because I want to enjoy my cycling.

langdang

I agree with your suggestion of a practice run on the road Smacl.

I recently drove to Doon using the the R506 all the way from Lisnagry to Doon first. I used the route in the link to get back to Limerick.
The route in the link is a wider road and a better road in general.

Some of the R506 between Maddaboy and Moroe/Murroe is an absolute cattle track. Very narrow, lots of blind bends, and probably way too much commuter trafffic due to the dubious planning decisions to allow hundreds and hundreds of houses to be built in Murroe

ROK ON

Precedens wrote: »

My track: http://maps.google.ie/maps?saddr=Ballysimon+Rd,+Limerick&daddr=52.63723,-8.53254+to:Doon,+Co.+Limerick&hl=en&ll=52.633063,-8.389091&spn=0.14044,0.445976&sll=52.627775,-8.420785&sspn=0.140457,0.445976&geocode=FVBoIwMd-OB8_ymzEIDmBlxbSDHLeS46pB4pLw%3BFS4uIwMdxM19_ymZYfp9OVlbSDFQhW6Hoseecw%3BFaa0IgMdXxuC_ymrZbusQaVcSDFAnzGXqccACg&oq=Bally&mra=ltm&via=1&t=m&z=12

Hi. A few years back I cycled from midlands through Thurles to Limerick via Doon.
Road is grand until Grange.

The tipperary/Limerick road (Ballysimon Road) is a busy road, and it get particulalry busy the closer you get to town (ie the road over the M7).
It is a wide road however so you have that protection. Also the road into town (ie Mulgrave street direction) is wide and well light from memory.
Try it out some Sunday before you take the journey.

Lumen

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

yep it is perfectly legal to cycle it.
Why do you see it as dangerous? It's got a decent surface with a wide shoulder so traffic can give you plenty of room. Much safer than some narrow badly surface country road that runs alongside

Cycling on a hard shoulder is safe in the sense that you won't often die.

It is, however, a fact (FACT I say!) that hard shoulders on motorways are relatively very dangerous places to be stopped in a car, and a reasonable extrapolation that hard shoulders on high speed roads are generally best avoided whatever the mode of transport.

I cycled on the N11 near Dublin last Sunday for the first time and despite a number of people telling me that it's fine, my general feeling was "f*** that for a game of soldiers".

tomasrojo

Lumen wrote: »

Cycling on a hard shoulder is safe in the sense that you won't often die.

It is, however, a fact (FACT I say!) that hard shoulders on motorways are relatively very dangerous places to be stopped in a car, and a reasonable extrapolation that hard shoulders on high speed roads are generally best avoided whatever the mode of transport.

I cycled on the N11 near Dublin last Sunday for the first time and despite a number of people telling me that it's fine, my general feeling was "f*** that for a game of soldiers".

I had a similar feeling when I worked in Citywest. I always took the Tallaght bypass, as I just didn't want to be flanked by high-speed traffic every single day on the N7 as I went to work, or be crossing high-speed slip roads.

It would probably have been fine, but it was unpleasant, and daily exposure to the slip roads in particular struck me as elevating the chance of a collision to a level I wasn't personally happy with.

Captain Havoc

Lumen wrote: »

Cycling on a hard shoulder is safe in the sense that you won't often die.

Do you think the OP is a cat? "Cycling in the hard shoulder is safe in the sense that you won't often die, only five or six times but you've nine lives so that'll leave you with a few to spare, it'll be grand".

Lumen wrote: »

It is, however, a fact (FACT I say!) that hard shoulders on motorways are relatively very dangerous places to be stopped in a car, and a reasonable extrapolation that hard shoulders on high speed roads are generally best avoided whatever the mode of transport.

I cycled on the N11 near Dublin last Sunday for the first time and despite a number of people telling me that it's fine, my general feeling was "f*** that for a game of soldiers".

I too have cycled on the N11 a few time, it is a bit intimidating (not using google chrome is obvious) but you'd get used to it after a few goes, having said that, I'd probably prefer to take the old road out towards Bray and Graystones, cutting across at the right place.

Lumen

Captain Havoc wrote: »

Do you think the OP is a cat? "It's grand, you'll get killed five or six times but you've nine lives so that'll leave you with a few to spare".

It's more a case of the outcome being very binary. You're unlikely to have many near misses, but the one time someone decides to pull on to the hard shoulder at 100kph because their kid's just puked over the back seat, you're going to get spectacularly launched into the afterlife. Or that's how it feels to me.

Precedens

the road I take has a limit of 60kph, for few kilometers 80. Hope I won't have any bad accident. I was cycling these kind of roads couple years ago, as I recall it was fairly safe. One time I had to jump to the ditch with my bike though, stupid farmer tried to kill me with tractor.

Cookie_Monster

Lumen wrote: »

I cycled on the N11 near Dublin last Sunday for the first time and despite a number of people telling me that it's fine, my general feeling was "f*** that for a game of soldiers".

it's fine

:pac:

Maybe if you are not used to it it can be a bit unnerving but I used to cycle that stretch around Bray-Greystones junction a lot and was never bothered by it. Similar over here, often on busy main roads with no shoulders with traffic at 100kph and it doesn't bother me (apart from the odd prick who purposely moves in towards you)
Like everything else, you get used to it I suppose

Precedens

ironically my bike was stolen this evening. :rolleyes:

langdang

Precedens wrote: »

ironically my bike was stolen this evening. :rolleyes:

That's Limerick City!


Hard luck lad.

ROK ON

langdang wrote: »

That's Limerick City!


Hard luck lad.

LMAO

(On a slightly pedantic note, that pic is not Limerick city - it looks very like Oxmanstown Road in Stoneybatter, DUblin 9.)

AstraMonti

A couple of weeks ago me and mvt had a very close call on N11 with a driver who decided to pull across us missing by a couple of centimeters mvt's elbow. Scared the sh!t out of me. It's not enjoyable at all to cycle with traffic whizzing by you at 100km/h.