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

Seth Brundle

102km @ 25km/h on a club spin from Lucan > Celbridge > Timahoe > Johnstown Bridge > Enfield > Clonard > Maynooth > Leixlip

Heading to Lucan to meet the group, I went down as I was turning for the Liffey Bridge in Leixlip (greasy road). Bike is ok apart from ripped handlebar tape. I'm sore in my right elbow, wrist, hip & knee. Considered turning around and heading home: glad I didn't though!

Hit a pothole near Johnstown Bridge which caused a puncture and I reckon I should replace the tyre also

Oberkon

magicbastarder wrote: »

couldn't get any power in the legs today. a very stop starty 49km around meath. i think it took me 2h20m in total.
a pint of ale too many last night did not help.

Hope it was Newcastles finest Brown Ale at that

magicbastarder

mainly o'haras ale...

mr spuckler

triggermortis wrote: »

I've been to Howth a few times and didn't realise there were so many routes there. I usually go up past the church if I'm on the good bike (32t cassette helps!) or the 'scenic' way if I'm on another bike. Must have a look at the other routes someday

I dug out the description of the 12 summits. Don't have it mapped but will do so at some point.

• St. Fintan’s Church Sutton, up Carrickbrack Road, turn right at Summit Inn, right up to the Summit Carpark.

• Carpark at King Sitric, straight up through the village keeping left at church and up Thormanby Road, up to Summit Carpark again

• St. Fintan’s National School, Carrickbrack Road, left up Windgate Road, right onto Windgate Rise, up to Summit Carpark.

• King Sitric, Balscadden Road, right onto Kilrock Road, right on Nashville Road, left up Thormanby Road, up to Summit carpark.

• St. Fintans NS, head back towards Sutton, take a left at Strand Road, up Strand Road keep right at the fork in the road, follow Shielmartin Road back around to Fintans Road, right up the hill to junction with Carrickbrack Road, continue up Carrickbrack Rd., just past Baily take a right down Thormanby Road, go past the entrance to the lighthouse and continue straight up to Summit Carpark.

• Descending from no.5 towards village, slow right down as you approach the church, take a left at the front of the church onto Main St and go up other side of the church on Balglass Road, continue up onto Balkill Road, right onto Windgate Road, left onto Windgate Rise, up to Summit Carpark.

• St. Fintans NS, up Carrickbrack Road, right onto Thormanby Road, down to Baily Lighthouse, and back up taking a right up to Summit carpark.

• Descending from no.7 towards village, slow right down as you approach the church, take a left at the front of the church onto Main St and go up other side of church on Balglass Road, at the bend keep straight and go up the path/trail to Dungriffin Villas, follow Grey’s Lane back around to Balkill Road, left onto Balkill road and straight up to the Summit.

• St. Fintans NS, head back down towards Sutton, take a left at Strand Road, continue up Strand Road, keep left at the fork in the road, up St. Fintans Road to junction with Carrickbrack Road, straight up to Summit carpark.

• King Sitric, Balscadden Road, right onto Kilrock Road, straight up Cow Booter Lane along path/trail to junction with Thormanby Road, up to Summit carpark.

• Harbour Road at Insomnia, up Church Street, right onto Howth Terrace, right onto Grace O’Malley Road, left onto Grace O’Malley Drive, continue around onto Balkill Park, Balkill Road and straight up Balkill road to the Summit.

• St. Fintans NS, Carrickbrack Road, left for Windgate Road, left into Greenhallows Quarries and up Ben of Howth to the mast! (Caution: poor off-road surface in parts). Finish at Summit Inn.

CormacH94

136km club spin out to Longwood/Carbury and back via Celbridge, headwind sucked the life out of me even when drafting, only seemed to get out of it on the last 30km or so

Lovely day apart from the mucky roads, ****e everywhere...

Acquiescence

CormacH94 wrote: »

Lovely day apart from the mucky roads, ****e everywhere...

There's some amount of mud being tracked by ignorant farmers/contractors moving slurry and not making the faintest attempt to clean after them.

Whatever about the bike getting covered in ****te, I'll get over that but it's making the motorised bicycle fairly sketchy.

dahat

Acquiescence wrote: »

There's some amount of mud being tracked by ignorant farmers/contractors moving slurry and not making the faintest attempt to clean after them..

This....
. Its very easy get sick from all the crap on the roads at the moment. Days like today cycling alone is probably best with no crap from the bike in front.

CormacH94

Lash the bidons out of with milton, might bring some on the next wet spin to wash the mouth out...

dahat

A miserable solo 100km for me today, legs totally empty when the time came for efforts so I did the right thing and rolled home. It hasn't been a great week across my sessions, worst of the winter training period so rest week is very much appreciated..

100km in muck & crap at 31.4avg....

Oberkon

Acquiescence wrote: »

There's some amount of mud being tracked by ignorant farmers/contractors moving slurry and not making the faintest attempt to clean after them.

Whatever about the bike getting covered in ****te, I'll get over that but it's making the motorised bicycle fairly sketchy.

Agree with that , and like anything in this country they get away with it .
The Feltrim road swords has a quarry and some gombeen let cement drip onto the road from his mixer leaving a trail of bumps that goes through you if you cycle on it , which is of course right where you would cycle . It’s been like this for a year and it’s a big line .
There is also a big pothole on the turn for kettles lane that hasn’t been sorted
There are a few more bumps and general ****e on this road too . Not a long road but a mess and nothing done

I think I mentioned before I've had success reporting muck on the roads. Credit were it's due, there is a housing development on a route I cycle and walk and every time I pass there recently they have a road sweeper going up and down. They must have contracted the guy full time to clean up after the trucks every day.

The farm mess is the worst though on the more rural roads.

Kevhog1988

CormacH94 wrote: »

136km club spin out to Longwood/Carbury and back via Celbridge, headwind sucked the life out of me even when drafting, only seemed to get out of it on the last 30km or so

Lovely day apart from the mucky roads, ****e everywhere...

Think I met ye in Allen Wood?. 3 of us together. I was just building up to have a rattle at the segment to the cross.

shaka

88km with the club, lumpy spin but handy pace

Kevhog1988

Busy enough weekend on the bike for me:

Saturday: 66km with the club : I was in good form for this. First time tipping into town on the bike rather than using the bike carrier. was warmed up more and enjoyed the steady spin with a few newcomers to our group. Was good to see that ive come on from being the newcomer and i was able to help a few with drafting, gearing etc. Then got a pr on the way home as myself and another fella gave the last few kms a good lash

https://www.strava.com/activities/3041580459

Sunday: Early spin with dad & the neighbour. I was a bit tired from the day before but got going after a few kms and decided to have a good rattle at a segment id seen. took off like a lunatic and kept 32/34 for the segment with a 30 second PR. I was rattled and happy to see the shop in Coill Dubh. Tipped on home steady.
https://www.strava.com/activities/3044676160

Sunday mark 2: Brought the missus out on her new bike as soon as i got home. Very sedate pace but got her round a 13k route without any bother. Hopefully she keeps it up. Home in time to head for the kildare game.
https://www.strava.com/activities/3044677308

Kevhog1988

Commute to work this morning. Drove to Dunboyne and cycled the rest of the way.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3058584051

Seth Brundle

theemigrant wrote: »

Commute to work this morning. Drove to Dunboyne and cycled the rest of the way.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3058584051

I've cycled the road from Rathoath > Kilbride > Hollystown many times both solo and with the club and it's one that I absolutely loathe. It feels like it never finishes and so I always find it tough going!

magicbastarder

it's great with a tailwind though.

i get that vibe off a few roads around meath - out towards summerhill etc.

RobertFoster

I feel the same way about the Skryne road out of Ratoath, straight and boring with a stodgy surface. Went that way on a beginner club spin and a lad thought it was the mutts nuts. He's into Audax now...

Kevhog1988

And the spin back to the car. Need better lights Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/Ytc0OWLQH3

magicbastarder

magicbastarder wrote: »

couldn't get any power in the legs today.

this heralded the start of a poxy head cold. which is still with me, nearly a week later. i washed the car yesterday and had to lie down afterwards, so the bike has been untouched.

crosstownk

Out to Blessington today. Windy as fcuk.

Bike destroyed with crap from quarry trucks. Clothes covered in brown stuff.

But it’s great to be out on the bike.

Weepsie

Seth Brundle wrote: »

I've cycled the road from Rathoath > Kilbride > Hollystown many times both solo and with the club and it's one that I absolutely loathe. It feels like it never finishes and so I always find it tough going!

It does feel like that, but it's one where I try to hammer it on as if I blow up I can roll to my parents in Blanchardatown and eat their food to recover

Seth Brundle

Just over 100km today on a club spin with an average of just shy of 25km/h.

Windy but at least it was on our back as we headed home. I did a few extra kms at the end to get over the tonne.

Kudos to the white van man who quietly allowed me to climb the church hill in Leixlip and turn left onto the Celbridge Rd. Gave him a wave of thanks as he eventually overtook me and he gave a very friendly wave back. Nice ending to my spin.

https://strava.app.link/qxLKVOpaJ3

Don't Chute!

Picked up my new Cube Cross Race bike yesterday and took for its maiden voyage today. Just 15km around the Glen of the Downs and Kindlestown Woods. Had forgotten how nice it is to ride off-road! Really enjoyed it. Lovely bike to ride and really needed it as a winter bike to save my “good” bike! The wind when I got up to the Octagon in the GOTD was unbelievable, was hardly able to stand up! Short but really nice spin.

Kevhog1988

48km club spin today. Really horrendous headwind on the outward spin. A puncture and then a new fella struggling slowed the average speed right down but a few of us really put the hammer down on the way back into town. Everyone got back safe and sound so a good day for all.


Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/J8VffkqDJ3

Wishbone Ash

Seth Brundle wrote: »

I've cycled the road from Rathoath > Kilbride > Hollystown many times both solo and with the club and it's one that I absolutely loathe. It feels like it never finishes and so I always find it tough going!

magicbastarder wrote: »

it's great with a tailwind though...

No - it's soul destroying. I'd say it's even soul destroying on a motorbike.

triggermortis

https://www.strava.com/activities/3059377130

planned a route on strava for the day, but my Garmin kept steering me wrong from the beginning so I ended up just switching the guidance off. I had a rough idea of where I was heading but no idea of the distance between each part. There were some nice views around Logh Derg and Killaloe looked a nice place to stop, which I'll do another time when I get my route sussed properly.
The wind got worse for the last couple of hours, which had me struggling towards the end but it stayed 90% dry and was the first spin of the week where I didn't need my rain jacket.

Surprised how great a cycle route New York has! Really well designed.

mr spuckler

Yep I hired a Citi Bike there a couple of years ago and cycled through town, then up along the Hudson greenway. I remember when I was there first around 2006 they'd no cycling infra whatsoever, it's still a long way from perfect but it's much better than it was.

Seth Brundle

Decided to take the long way home last night and got 31km in.
Two stupid close passes - one reported to the gardai (decided I had spent enough time last night in the garda station after the first so let the second one go)

Got my YTD total up over 900km (I'm behind my sechedule but still happy with that figure)
https://www.strava.com/activities/3071571918