Tell us about your new improved government regulations compliant cycle part II

Daroxtar

The Sunday club spins had gotten a bit stale recently, constantly repeating the same 3-4 flat 80km routes which were fine but just a bit bland. So last week a few of us chatted about doing something just a little bit different and I volunteered to plot a route. We went Longwood, Ballivor, Athboy, Crosskeil and then for pure devilment I took us up the really steep side of Loughcrew past the cairn and back down to Loughcrew House and gardens for coffee. The 15-20% the gamin was throwing out briefly transformed a couple of lads from cyclists to hill walkers and caused one strong climber to actually snap the 25 sprocket on his cassette when he got out of the saddle to power up.
After coffee we turned into a dirty headwind for a solid 35km on very rolling road all the way down through Castlepollard and Crookedwood to Mullingar which then turned to a nasty crosswind with little respite back through Kinnegad and home. It was like climbing all the way even when trying to shelter in the bunch.

Nearly 130km with 800m climbing @29kmh. Legs shredded everywhere. My popularity has soared amongst the other members with compliments flying on the WhatsApp group, all of them looking forward to avoiding the next route I plan

magicbastarder

i have heard a claim that the top of loughcrew is where you can see more other counties from than any other place in ireland. supposedly if you get a freakishly clear day, you can see the wicklow mountains, mournes, twelve bens and benbulben.

triggermortis

Headwind into work this afternoon was torture and gave me probably my slowest time ever. I went to check on strava but got side-tracked after I saw that I've done 316Km this week - a new record for me !

patrickc

I cycled 83k yesterday the waterford greenway from wit to dungarvan and back.
Today I cycled 86k carlow to shillelagh, tinahealy, hacketstoen and back to carlow.

My legs are fecked now

mloc123

90km for me today, Kildare to Dundalk.. nice tailwind

thebourke

was cycling up to sally gap today from rathfarnham..got hit by a gust of wind and went straight into the ditch..managed to loose my phone as i had it in my back pocket..i only realised this when i was near home...

MacAttackJ

I did a spin from Rathfarnham up Sally Gap this morning too. Wind was horrific all right. Kudos to the chap arriving back down to the main road from the access road up Kippure by 8.45am.
Down to Laragh, over the Wicklow Gap and back via Blessington lakes. I did the latter section with a very pleasant random chap from Orwell Wheelers which made the kms tick along nicely. I then met another very fast group from the same club later who I followed for the last section home. I didn't want to cramp their style so hung back. The gentleman at the back turns to shout at me and I expect him to say to back off. Instead he cries, "stick onto our back wheel, it makes it much easier!"
Only out on the bike as injured from running, but I must say, if cycling is always so pleasant and social, I may hang up my runners yet! Would need to buy a proper road bike though as my trusty Giant Rapide won't cut it on club cycles.(understandable for safety reasons).

secman

No spins at all Mon to Sun due to getting cellulitis following a porridge burn 2 weeks ago
First heard of cellulitis about a year ago, a work colleague was hospitalised with it. Bloody painful and dangerous if not treated quickly with strong course of antibiotics. Hope to be okay by midweek., fecking porridge of all stuff !

RacoonQueen

Wind was horrific up there alright. Got I think a *slow puncture on my way up and realised as I neared the gap. My usual CO2 adapter and cartridges were lent to a friend pre Dun Laoghaire Ironman and have not been returned so I've been carrying my spare that I have never used on the move before. Trying to use it, was not a success. Was in the process of trying to find a taxi company who would come rescue me when a couple stopped in their car and offered me a lift which I gratefully accepted. I only went out in shorts and a windbreaker, which was grand when on the move but as soon as you stop it got pretty cold...
Morto to need to be saved :pac: but what nice people there are out there!


*took me 80 minutes to get up there which is excessively slow and tyre wasn't totally flat when I stopped so assuming I was losing air on the way up as weather really wasn't bad enough to be going that slow

Was pretty dreading the descent to be honest, figured going down would be a bit hairy given I was struggling to stay upright some of the way up. Few extra kilos should help that problem though

secman

secman wrote: »

No spins at all Mon to Sun due to getting cellulitis following a porridge burn 2 weeks ago
First heard of cellulitis about a year ago, a work colleague was hospitalised with it. Bloody painful and dangerous if not treated quickly with strong course of antibiotics. Hope to be okay by midweek., fecking porridge of all stuff !

I assume you weren't playing Goldie Locks and the three bears and got burned by the one that was too hot :P

Seriously though my partner had it a few years ago, and it's something that can happen very easily from burns and bites in her case if not looked after.

secman

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Wind was horrific up there alright. Got I think a *slow puncture on my way up and realised as I neared the gap. My usual CO2 adapter and cartridges were lent to a friend pre Dun Laoghaire Ironman and have not been returned so I've been carrying my spare that I have never used on the move before. Trying to use it, was not a success. Was in the process of trying to find a taxi company who would come rescue me when a couple stopped in their car and offered me a lift which I gratefully accepted. I only went out in shorts and a windbreaker, which was grand when on the move but as soon as you stop it got pretty cold...
Morto to need to be saved :pac: but what nice people there are out there!


*took me 80 minutes to get up there which is excessively slow and tyre wasn't totally flat when I stopped so assuming I was losing air on the way up as weather really wasn't bad enough to be going that slow

Was pretty dreading the descent to be honest, figured going down would be a bit hairy given I was struggling to stay upright some of the way up. Few extra kilos should help that problem though

I carry a partially used decent tyre, a tube, tyre levers and track pump in my car, have yet to come across a cyclist in need since I thought of it, having come across a cyclist stuck and no way of helping him .

secman

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I assume you weren't playing Goldie Locks and the three bears and got burned by the one that was too hot :P

Seriously though my partner had it a few years ago, and it's something that can happen very easily from burns and bites in her case if not looked after.

A half asleep effort to make porridge at about 6:30 am to get out for an early spin, my Goldie locks came running down to help me though

RacoonQueen

secman wrote: »

I carry a partially used decent tyre, a tube, tyre levers and footpump in my car, have yet to come across a cyclist in need since I thought of it, having come across a cyclist stuck and no way of helping him .

It's actually something I've previously thought I should carry in car with me for the same reason, after today I'll pick up a spare pump too. Absolute lifesavers for me today, I'd probably still be up there without them

magicbastarder

i have tubes in the car, never needed them. gave someone a lift home during the summer though.

triggermortis

I was stopped changing a tube on the way to work one day and some guy stopped and gave me a lend of a track pump he had in the back of his van. Since then I have a spare pump in the boot of my car, just in case I can help someone else

Luxman

triggermortis wrote: »

I was stopped changing a tube on the way to work one day and some guy stopped and gave me a lend of a track pump he had in the back of his van. Since then I have a spare pump in the boot of my car, just in case I can help someone else

Snap! Exact same thing happened to me. Guy stopped but I didn’t get the company name. I carry a track pump in the car now too. Pay it forward.

saganfan

Commuted to the new job today, clontarf to tallaght. 18km because I took a wrong turn. Not a terrible cycle, way too many close passes on the Greenhills Road though and horrible windy. Should be fun on the way home

triggermortis

Brutally windy 65km around NCD. I tried to spot some of the post boxes that WA pictured in another post here and managed to spot 2. I probably passed a good few more of them but was trying to not get blown out of it most of the time. It was warm enough to go on shorts and arm warmers with my summer shoes and no gloves, plus I was on the good bike still.

Daroxtar

magicbastarder wrote: »

i have heard a claim that the top of loughcrew is where you can see more other counties from than any other place in ireland. supposedly if you get a freakishly clear day, you can see the wicklow mountains, mournes, twelve bens and benbulben.

There's a great view from up there alright but I doubt you'd see Benbulben, I'm fairly sure the Curlews and the rest of the Dartry mountains would be in the way

smacl

Daroxtar wrote: »

There's a great view from up there alright but I doubt you'd see Benbulben, I'm fairly sure the Curlews and the rest of the Dartry mountains would be in the way

What you need is a nice little cottage in Corkadoragha, as recounted by one Jams O'Donnell

"Looking out from the right-hand window, there below was the bare hungry countryside of the Rosses and Gweedore; Bloody Foreland yonder and Tory Island far away out, swimming like a great ship where the sky dips into the sea. Looking out of the door, you could see the West of County Galway with a good portion of the rocks of Connemara, Aranmore in the ocean out from you with the small bright houses of Kilronan, clear and visible, if your eyesight were good and the Summer had come. From the window on the left you could see the Great Blasket, bare and forbidding as a horrible other-worldly eel, lying languidly on the wave-tops; over yonder was Dingle with its houses close together. It has always been said that there is no view from any house in Ireland comparable to this and it must be admitted that this statement is true."

Regular lunchtime spin for me up to the Hellfire club which to be fair has pretty decent views of the city as well. Beautiful autumn day here, probably one of my favourite times of the year for cycling.

magicbastarder

are they sweet chestnuts or horse chestnuts?

smacl

magicbastarder wrote: »

are they sweet chestnuts or horse chestnuts?

Those ones are sweet though still quite small. Plenty of big conkers on the go too, much to the delight of various kids wandering around.

rushfan

Woke up at 12 after a night shift expecting to see trees blowing wildly etc. Not so. Quick brekky & off with me for 56km. Mrs Rushfan brought me back a cycling jersey from the Camino a fortnight ago but I genuinely didn't think I'd be wearing it until Spring. Beautiful day but it's getting blowy now.

mloc123

45km... In shorts and short sleeves... In October

Justwinginit

mloc123 wrote: »

45km... In shorts and short sleeves... In October

I know, I wore long sleeves over jersey, but had to take it off after 10mins. Weird feeling cycling in the dark in shorts and sleeveless jersey...2pb last night though:-) Nothing to do with a tail wind at all:D

Tell me how

70Km in mid Clare today. Long sleeves but still shorts and fingerless gloves. Reckon that's it for the summer gear.
Tights, full fingered gloves and overshoes will be ready for Sunday.

mloc123

A grim 20km this afternoon... Planned more, was not feeling it.

Justwinginit

Gorgeous spin this morning. Great start to the day...

Daroxtar

Sleive Bloom Extreme yesterday. 170km,nearly 2700m climbing.
It was utterly fkking wretched from start to finish. The rain never stopped, even when it felt like it had stopped it was just an illusion caused by less rain than previously and then it would return heavier. A puncture after only about 10 km left me off the back briefly but within a few hundred metres there were half a dozen more, all victims of some muck savage farmer who decided to trim the whitethorn and not bother his hole to clean the road after himself. Anyway....
That was shortly before the first climb of Glendine, from the easy side. I picked up the pace a little to try and close ground on my clubmates and met with them when they waited for me after the descent. The descent, like all the descents yesterday were pretty hairy. Despite great efforts from Wolftrap CC, there were still plenty of leaves and debris on the roads after the rough conditions the previous day.
Glendine was followed by the Cut, then a bit of flat from Clonaslee over to the climb of Lackaroe and over the Wolftrap and then Glendine from the nasty side. That's a tough one with fresh legs on a good day. It was seriously tough after 85km in the pissing rain. After descending to Kinnity I had one of the finest bowls of soup I ever tasted. At that stage, one of the clubmates had jokingly suggested packing it in, but the soup and strong sugary coffee clouded my judgement and we agreed to push on.
Back up the Wolftrap, back down Lackaroe. Over the road again to Clonaslee and up the Cut from that side. Down again and one last climb, this time the Wolftrap going east. At that stage my hands were completely numb, my shoulders and neck were aching and my ankle which had just come right after a sprain at work was beginning to seize. The last 13km from Kinnity to Birr was probably the quietest part of the day with me and a mate silently taking turns to get ourselves back home.
Rolled in after 7.41 moving time and straight into the shower for 10 minutes to try and warm up.
After that a few of us stayed over in Birr and enjoyed a bit of grub and a few pints with the members of the Wolftrap crew.
They deserve a special mention because despite the utterly poxy day, the marshalling was superb and the food was bang on, especially the soup in Kinnity and gourmet burgers and pulled pork back in Craughwells afterwards. Oh, and the medal is gorgeous.
Despite the hardship I'd do it again next year. It's a savage route.
But if its raining I'm getting back into bed.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1902499499

Ps, hear afterward that only 42 out of about 90 completed it and 3 were taken away in the ambulance to be treated for hypothermia so that made me feel like a bad ass.

Justwinginit

Lovely morning