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

Alanstrainor

Yep, short sleeve for me today and it was beautiful. Warm, bright blue sky and a bit of a head wind to keep the heart rate up. I don't want to get too excited given what happened last year in March, but fingers crossed!

mr spuckler

quiet week at work so headed up the mountains this morning.

Raheny to Cruagh, Featherbeds, Sally gap, descended towards Manor Kilbride then turned right at Kippure estate to take me up past the Kilbride army camp, down Ballinascorney and home.

84km and I'll blame the wind and my complete lack of fitness for the 22kph average the wind was awful at times too though, up past the featherbeds was torture!

I did top out at 85kph on a descent just before Ballinascorney

secman

mr spuckler wrote: »

quiet week at work so headed up the mountains this morning.

Raheny to Cruagh, Featherbeds, Sally gap, descended towards Manor Kilbride then turned right at Kippure estate to take me up past the Kilbride army camp, down Ballinascorney and home.

84km and I'll blame the wind and my complete lack of fitness for the 22kph average the wind was awful at times too though, up past the featherbeds was torture!

I did top out at 85kph on a descent just before Ballinascorney

Just saw it on Strava, fair play, good solid spin,

mr spuckler

secman wrote: »

Just saw it on Strava, fair play, good solid spin,

I was wondering who that was! Wind aside it was a lovely day to be out.

secman

Spin with Noble Nudge this morning, out to blessington, on to Hollywood , up the drag and on to the lake drive, , Lacken, three castles, manor Kilbride and home. 76km, 800m , avg 26kph.

Good company, made Hollywood and around lake drive fly in

Windy but mild and dry

pjmn

67km this morning - strong westerly, but dry roads and very mild out... averaged 27.8 kmph

https://www.strava.com/activities/2169109768

Weepsie

As ever went out later than planned. Knew it was to rain a bit at 12 or so. Headed for Naul, via Airport, Garristown and Snowtown. Stopped for a coffee and Scone and to see if I could see a suspiciously rich local dolling out their euromillions win. Alas no cash to give. I had 65 km done by then, but it was only 26 to home, so turned off the R122 and headed for the R130 to add an extra few km. It wasn't quite enough so ended up doing an up and down around Santry to get those last 3 km!

Legs started to groan at me for having got up Ticknock yesterday


Roads were very mucky. Most of it is from farms, which is grand, but the hill into Naul, it's all from the building site and they're making no effort to clean it.
100 km at 25 kmph in under just 4 hours.


https://www.strava.com/activities/2169619281

Went out for an hour early this morning after feeding and changing the baby, uneventful 25km until I got back into town and came across the fire brigade tending to the thatched cottage beside The Thatch pub on Donore rd. Opted for a bunny hop over the hose as I didn't fancy riding over the little ramps they have over it for cars.

I didn't stop to rubber neck, but from what I saw passing it'll need about a 4x3m section of the thatch roof repaired. New roof was only finished a while back too having being near ruin for a long time.

North of 32

I was supposed to do 88km but got lost and ended up doing 111km. I have no idea how I finished it.


It was also my first ride using my new bolt. Good fun looking at the numbers afterward and strava.

rushfan

Weepsie wrote:

Roads were very mucky. Most of it is from farms, which is grand, but the hill into Naul, it's all from the building site and they're making no effort to clean it. 100 km at 25 kmph in under just 4 hours.

I was out on Thurs & Fri, roads very clumpy around Ballyboughal, dried clumps of luck from the fields. A bit like cycling over stones at times.

AndrewJRenko

rushfan wrote: »

I was out on Thurs & Fri, roads very clumpy around Ballyboughal, dried clumps of luck from the fields. A bit like cycling over stones at times.

Good luck with that.

magicbastarder

similarly clumpy around bellewstown/the mall etc. this morning.
and quite misty too.

for some reason my earworm this morning was 'stutter rap (no sleep till bedtime)'. i have not got a clue why, i haven't heard it in years.

Luxman

Club spin brought us to Brew in Ballyboughal, and for the second time in about 4 weeks they ran out of scones, I even mentioned on the club WhatsApp last night (they'd better have enough). Luckily I had some homemade cookies with me to get me over Bellewstown a few times. Placed was packed but I'm beginning to wonder why.

ED E

Luxman wrote: »

Club spin brought us to Brew in Ballyboughal, and for the second time in about 4 weeks they ran out of scones, I even mentioned on the club WhatsApp last night (they'd better have enough). Luckily I had some homemade cookies with me to get me over Bellewstown a few times. Placed was packed but I'm beginning to wonder why.

Lifes to short for that kinda messing, we blacklist places like that.


Eg the Wicklow Heather, called the day before to say there'd be a good few of us turning up. Still had to wait while they microwaved frozen scones....now we go to Ann's even if she can be a grouch at times.

rushfan

We badly need a new thread here "Tell us about your scones today!"

secman

Spin with Gorey cc this morning, Killenagh, Gorey, Ferns, took a right turn in Ferns, out towards Kilteally ?, and eventually Enniscorthy and back to Ferns , lads were heading back to Gorey, I took right turn in Ferns for The Harrow, Boolavogue, ballyedmund and home. 100km Avg 27.6 kph, 810m.

Absolutely destroyed today, thick thick fog, roads were filthy, Sunny South East !

dahat

124km for me today with a buddy who started me out on the bike plus dragged me around the roads when I was awfully slow etc.

As Secman says the mist & fog were bad at times but we plugged away and when he tied up I was able to repay the favour and get him home. Overall a really decent day on the bike with chats about times gone by.

Sometimes we all need that help to get home.

magicbastarder

it was weird cycling in that mist; it was like cycling in a bubble about 200m in diameter, especially when i was on roads around bellewstown for a bit which i've not been on before and had no familiar visual references.

shaka

85 km with the club, very slow avg today. 1200mtr climbing, hit a few new nasty climbs

positron

I climbed Slieve Donard (on foot of course) in that mist / fog / cloud this morning. Visibility was down to 20 meters or so the whole way up and most of the way down. Saw absolutely nothing. Good walk though, I will have to try again on a summers day.

I cycled up to Newcastle yesterday (from Drogheda). It went smoothly up until past Dundalk, but the wind was howling as I turned south to go to Greenore to get Carlingford ferry. Got the 10:30 service, which had grand total of 1 car & 1 bike (mine), and the wind was like nothing I have experienced. Even the crew was looking surprised how quickly the tide was coming in, and it was freezing, especially since I was wearing bib shorts for the 11-12 degree weather forecast going for Drogheda in the morning. Greencastle to Kilkeel to Annalong to Newcastle - some against the wind, some with the wind - it went alright overall, enjoyable given the time of the year and wrong choice of clothing, and it was dry. Nice pool and facilities at Slieve Donard at the other end made it even better.

Approx 93k, not much of elevation (340m) and a ferry crossing.

Fun bit of the ride was just after Kilkeel or so, a cyclist overtook me and shouted something, probably a hello I thought, he was going at a very good clip. A minute later I see a car with orange lights overtaking me. Hmmm, that looks a lot like a lead car.. or is it? Half way into that thought, I hear someone shouting over my shoulder and this ginormous peloton buzzes by me - I was probably doing 22-23 kmph slight uphill and it felt these guys were just zipping past in a blur - in a tight pack knees-elbows-wheels all so close to each other. I have never ridden in a peloton or even in a large group to have any experience of this, and to see what is actually going on in there was incredible. Off they went into distance, and soon I was being overtaken my smaller groups - 4 to 5, then a couple, couple more, and an odd person fighting it out just like me. Looking at Strava flybys, it was West Town Wheelers sportive - 100 km coastal run. They don't hang about clearly.

Boscoirl

Took my first clipped in tumble today. Stopped at a service station for a coffee stop and went over to look at the Tesla chargers went to leave and lost my balance. Right foot still clipped in. Could do nothing about it. Laughed to myself as I went over. Landed on my knee elbow and shoulder. Hurt like a ************. Hopped up and hoped nobody saw me.

No damage to bike or gear. It still hurts

positron

positron wrote: »

I climbed Slieve Donard (on foot of course) in that mist / fog / cloud this morning. Visibility was down to 20 meters or so the whole way up and most of the way down. Saw absolutely nothing. Good walk though, I will have to try again on a summers day.

I cycled up to Newcastle yesterday (from Drogheda). It went smoothly up until past Dundalk, but the wind was howling as I turned south to go to Greenore to get Carlingford ferry. Got the 10:30 service, which had grand total of 1 car & 1 bike (mine), and the wind was like nothing I have experienced. Even the crew was looking surprised how quickly the tide was coming in, and it was freezing, especially since I was wearing bib shorts for the 11-12 degree weather forecast going for Drogheda in the morning. Greencastle to Kilkeel to Annalong to Newcastle - some against the wind, some with the wind - it went alright overall, enjoyable given the time of the year and wrong choice of clothing, and it was dry. Nice pool and facilities at Slieve Donard at the other end made it even better.

Approx 93k, not much of elevation (340m) and a ferry crossing.

Fun bit of the ride was just after Kilkeel or so, a cyclist overtook me and shouted something, probably a hello I thought, he was going at a very good clip. A minute later I see a car with orange lights overtaking me. Hmmm, that looks a lot like a lead car.. or is it? Half way into that thought, I hear someone shouting over my shoulder and this ginormous peloton buzzes by me - I was probably doing 22-23 kmph slight uphill and it felt these guys were just zipping past in a blur - in a tight pack knees-elbows-wheels all so close to each other. I have never ridden in a peloton or even in a large group to have any experience of this, and to see what is actually going on in there was incredible. Off they went into distance, and soon I was being overtaken my smaller groups - 4 to 5, then a couple, couple more, and an odd person fighting it out just like me. Looking at Strava flybys, it was West Town Wheelers sportive - 100 km coastal run. They don't hang about clearly.

Big difference even if you are not a racer between riding in a big group and solo, in a large group only the guys on the front are taking the wind and the ones behind almost get sucked along. OK you still have to peddle but the effort solo vs group to hold say 30kmph is massive. Lads might have been shouting for you to hop in the bunch for a tow

Miklos

Had a lovely spin yesterday down through Greystones, out to Rathnew and back home via Ashford and Enniskerry. Made a nice change from plugging around Meath and Kildare every Sunday.

Met a Boardsie (I think) on the Poggio who had done the Hillclimb TT, hello and good luck at the weekend!

Weepsie

Took yesterday off. This morning was lovely. Quick 50 out towards Ballyboughal and back before work.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2174223226

Thinkingaboutit

The usual except for some 4x4 seize with a pointless, somewhat dangerous and annoying need to be in front of me at a junction, turn from High St to Church St. Turned right before him anyhow.

triggermortis

Just the commute into work, but first spin of the year in shorts. Was tempted to zip the arms off my Gabba, but the wind kept it cool enough. Have leg warmers in my bag for the ride home later tonight...

Thinkingaboutit

At least my camera could have some use this morning. Quieter than expected on the usual journey.

magicbastarder

not for me, i left 20 minutes later than usual - suspected slow puncture to change - and the difference in traffic was very marked, albeit not surprising.

lovely morning for it though.

Alanstrainor

What a beauty of a morning. The sun was shining when I left and putting on a jacket never even crossed my mind. Quite cool but lovely once the heart was pumping. Bring it on Spring!

Kevk20

Did loop starting in Maspalomas, out coast road to Puerto Rico, then ferry to Puerto Mogán. Climbed the Tauropass (aka “serenity”) then down to La Soria via very dodgy, and badly paved, ring road. Stopped for lunch then back home via coast road and Arguineguin. 93km and 1,500m of climbing. Tauropass is simply incredible / jaw dropping and was one of my major “tick the boxes” for this year’s trip to Gran Canaria. All aboard a nice new 2019 Cannondale Synapse disc courtesy of Free Motion.

Next time I may have a crack at Pico de Las Nieves, though it’s a notch above my fitness right now.