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

Wishbone Ash

Weepsie wrote: »

You can guarantee an awful lot of those cyclists are not from Wicklow though...

He did say the Dublin mountains.

a148pro

I don't follow you? I doubt any were from wicklow

I remember a really sunny saturday or sunday just after lockdown restrictions ended and it was busiest i've ever seen on the mountain routes, go cycling terms. It was actually amazing you could feel the joy in the air. But was busier today.

MangleBadger

Usual spin out and around Howth. Took a different route to the top than usual. St. Fintan’s and then Old Carrockbrack Road onto Windgates. Some nice ramps compared to the straight route.

Noticed they have resurfaced the road approaching the east link. Thank god. Now they just need to do the roundabouts on either side of it.

https://strava.app.link/XUGZBaF0uab

shaka

78km today mainly solo , ran into club after 50 and took shelter for a while

Seth Brundle

Went out this evening to do some hill exercises so headed over to Kilteel & Rathmore (staying within the Kildare border).
Passed by this muppet in a BMW reversing out of his driveway. He was looking at me and still decided to reverse out onto the road.
62km with 500m @ 27.7km/h

https://www.strava.com/activities/4182458548

smacl

Just a bit over 40k for me yesterday with 860m of up and lots of rather gnarly off road stuff, including trails above Ballinascorney and hills above Glenasmole. Decided I could make it though a waterlogged section of bog road at the back of Kippure at one point which ended up ankle deep, so a wet ride home. Great craic for all that but lets not talk about pace

smacl

a148pro wrote: »

Depressing to see the traffic in dublin mountain areas today. Lots of cyclists on both sides of the road, literally more than I have ever seen. Loads of club spins. Cars parked or driving everywhere. Stretch beside cruagh looked like electric picnic. People trying to get kids out safely on a dark road with way too much traffic. And all because of an idiotic restriction. I'm sure this was repeated at amenity sites throughout dublin. It's actually creating a public health risk and I would also be concerned for the safety of cyclists in general up there.

Been like that for the last few weeks, hence taking the less travelled routes closer to the Wicklow border, e.g. here for a gravel cyclist such as yourself. Cruagh / Pine forest / Hellfire is currently best avoided at the weekend unless you're up at dawn. PITA but so it goes.

cletus

Short evening spin for me yesterday, got out late, and it started to get dark pretty quickly, so cut it a bit short.

Did get to try out two things for the first time. Panaracer Gravelking SK tyres felt good, and the cheap full fingered gloves I picked up from Decathlon worked great, took the sting out of cold air on the fingertips, but not padded enough to make my hands sweat

Kevhog1988

Sunday spin yesterday in a group of mixed abilities. We had to rein it in for the second half as one of our senior members was tired. I always enjoy this as a social steady turning of the legs but a few lads want to turn the screw all the time which annoys me when others obviously cant keep up. Got a nice pr on the hill for home tho when i saw someone else half way up and left the group to see could i catch them.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4180104743

A lovely 8k then with the Family. https://www.strava.com/activities/4180514320

a148pro

smacl wrote: »

J

Is that a private road? Does it link in with the golden mile approach to Kippure?

There is a holy grail of a route on the other side of the valley that appears to lead over to firing range road but I'm pretty sure its private. It sits over that valley tempting you

smacl wrote: »

Been like that for the last few weeks, hence taking the less travelled routes closer to the Wicklow border, e.g. here for a gravel cyclist such as yourself. Cruagh / Pine forest / Hellfire is currently best avoided at the weekend unless you're up at dawn. PITA but so it goes.

I cycled this road on the road bike yesterday and there are a good few entrances of interest, but it looks from online like none are loops, am I right in that?

smacl

a148pro wrote: »

Is that a private road? Does it link in with the golden mile approach to Kippure?

There is a holy grail of a route on the other side of the valley that appears to lead over to firing range road but I'm pretty sure its private. It sits over that valley tempting you

Public road AFAIK, a number of walkers on it. It comes within about 1k of the other back road to Kippure coming out on the Military road but that's deep bog this time of year. Tempted to make the loop after a few dry weeks in the summer when we get them but will probably involve carrying the bike for that bit. From memory, I think Alek has managed this in days gone by. Here's what you're crossing.

Other side of the mountain is army training ground which I'd avoid for a few reasons

I cycled this road on the road bike yesterday and there are a good few entrances of interest, but it looks from online like none are loops, am I right in that?

The entrance I linked loops back to the start of the road here, did it yesterday. Looking at satellite view in Google maps it also links back to the top of Ballinascorny here and here, all within the Dublin border, so a few possibilites.

I found bits of both off-road sections challenging enough, due in part to the 40c G-One all-round tyres a bit light duty for the task but primarily my own technical inability. Bits of the Kippure bog road are also flooded so was going through a couple of ankle deep sections.

Thargor

CramCycle wrote: »

Went off road and up Bray Head from the golf club side. Decided I'd take a short cut across to the cliff road which turns out to be CX / MTB territory. Got across eventually and then with my new found love of off road I called into Belmont Demense and rode round their bike loop before a coffee at Half Bakd.

Is that free to take a bike in there?

Don't Chute!

Thargor wrote: »

Is that free to take a bike in there?

Belmont? Yes to go in on a bike is free. I think it’s €3 for parking a car though.

CramCycle

Thargor wrote: »

Is that free to take a bike in there?

The Bray head route just has a few gates but its a public through way. You are not a llowed bikes up from the Bray beach side.

Don't Chute! wrote: »

Belmont? Yes to go in on a bike is free. I think it’s €3 for parking a car though.

Yep its free, its nothing too technical but it is fun, I could do it on a road/CX bike relatively easy. There are a few technical parts but you can go around them. Little pump park for the kids as well if you have any.

Mercian Pro

As a teenager I used to dread hearing Slade mentioned, not because of Noddy Holder, but because it meant more hill climbing with the cycling club. Yesterday I decided to check out if the reality matched the memory and turned off the N81 soon after Brittas onto the Slade Road. With the beech trees at their Autumn best, the Camac River off to the right and a nice fall in the road, this was cycling at its best. Eventually I came to the sharp left turn for Coolmine Road and came to an abrupt halt. Trying to simultaneously change down both the front and rear derailleurs on a steep ramp is not to be recommended but is a good way to dislodge a chain. Eventually I got going again and got stuck into the climb that varied from relatively easy to 14% before turning left onto Lynch Park Road. More of the same here followed by a nice descent almost brought me back to Brittas but a right onto Slademore Road ensured another climb up to Slieve Thoul forest (aka Saggart Hill). Staying within the county bounds involved a right turn here and a bumpy descent down Lee's Lane before heading home via Newcastle and Lucan.

Not as bad as I remember it from 50 years ago but I suspect a good deal slower as I didn't have half the McQuaid clan setting the pace

MangleBadger

Quick 30k and 500m of climbing. Was warming the legs up on the new Sandycove cycle lane when this happened...

wheelo01

Did 75km @ 26kph, probably went too far as I'm hoping to do 100 on Saturday.

Drimnagh, Churchtown, Dundrum, boothstown, east link (for a tolled road you'd expect a better surface, no?) East wall, coast road malahide, swords, Margaret's, Finglas and home.
Was a beautiful day once the rain stopped (thankfully before I headed out).
Probably overdressed again, but hey, such is life.

Roll on Saturday.


https://strava.app.link/LFlsPM6xAab

Tell me how

Bought a new rear wheel yesterday and they swapped over tube, tyre and cassette from old one.
Aimed on doing 50Km today. Got a puncture after 2km, swapped out tube. Only cause I could see was rim tape not on wheel correctly and some holes were half exposed. Carried out with my ride and did 25Km out and 25km back and was doing a 5Km loop near home when wheel went flat again. Hadn't a second tube and didn't feel like patching the first one so pumped again and rolled another 2km before giving up and walking last couple of km home.
Frustrating, but could have been worse given the route I did.

triggermortis

Felt quite mild riding to work this morning and less traffic than usual - probably only saw a dozen cars total.
Still, a ridiculous time to start work...

Kevhog1988

short spin this morning. Felt terrible for the first half and then loosened out after that, a result of running up and down a hill last night in an atttempt to get faster at running . Met hardly any cars and noticed all passed me perfectly. A rare occurence

https://www.strava.com/activities/4197069977

Type 17

wheelo01 wrote: »

... east link (for a tolled road you'd expect a better surface, no?)...

How naive of you to presume that money from a toll would actually be spent on the tolled infrastructure itself

brownian

Took a look at the new Dublin Perimeter audax route yesterday - the forecast looked right, the inbox was nearly empty....

https://www.audaxireland.org/audax/permanents/dublin-county-border-200-permanent/

Well worth the effort. Familiar roads up to Foxes, Feather beds. Down (steep!) to Bohernabreenagh, and up (also quite definite), to emerge eventually near the Kilpedder range, and then across to Brittas. First and only Garda Checkpoint of the day. Totally new roads for me from then on, up the back of Brittas, down the other side, up again (Slieve Toul?), down to Newcastle (50k or so in, where's there a petrol station or a spar? Nowhere, it seems?)...on to the big Maxol at Adamstown. Snack. Picked up a puncture soon after, but at least I could get off the road, and it was warm and dry when wrestling the tyre off, etc etc. Hard to get decent pressure with a mini pump - will bring my mini-foot-pump from here on in...it was 100k more before I got a go of a track pump at Jimmy's in Portmarnock.

Anyway, Lucan, Clonsilla, the wild wastes of Damastown (long slow drag up D'town Ave), and my Wicklow-bred brain is thinking 'must be near the top of Dublin now'.

No.

Oldtown (not a real place), then a definite climb (I'd beeen getting used to the flat lands) and a drop in to Naul. Stop in Balbriggan for a McDonalds, then quite nice roads to Skerries. Bumpy and lots of traffic to Rush, and busy on the Swords Road, then down Estuary Road (nice) and through Malahide. A touch of tailwind most welcome here. Portmarnock, out to Howth, a short sharp climb to the Summit pub, down to Sutton strand, then the thing of wonder that is the cycle way through Raheny. We need one of those on the south side.

Alfie Byrne, the East Link, the Strand road all a lot less fun (it's dark by now), but then cycle ways down to Blackrock, out to Dun Laoghaire and through Dalkey. Hitting the 200 here, and not really needing to cycle in and out to Dundrum again, so over Killiney Hill Road and home via Ballybrack.

200.5k, 2000m, avg 24.5.

A voyage of discovery, once I got past Bohernabreenagh. Some fine roads out around Brittas. Lucan to Damastown a necessary evil. Lots of flat open agriculture nearly all the way to Balbriggan. Some nice coastal bits around Skerries, but the main road is busy busy. Howth to Alfie Byrne fun but flat.

Kudos to the route maker.

devonp

brownian wrote: »

First and only Garda Checkpoint of the day. Totally new roads for me from then on, up the back of Brittas, down the other side, up again (Slieve Toul?), down to Newcastle (50k or so in, where's there a petrol station or a spar? Nowhere, it seems?)...on to the big Maxol at Adamstown.

Kudos to the route maker.

Familar country to me, there is a coffee shop at the Blue Gardina not sure about food as its too near me . the Garda chk point is nearly always there , usually its a "hello" waved on never asked for details...

magicbastarder

brownian wrote: »

https://www.audaxireland.org/audax/permanents/dublin-county-border-200-permanent/

the county boundaries on ridewithgps are weirdly smoothed out. don't know why, but i guess it's not usually a problem. it makes it look like you left dublin between oldtown and the naul when you actually didn't.

brownian

magicbastarder wrote: »

the county boundaries on ridewithgps are weirdly smoothed out. don't know why, but i guess it's not usually a problem. it makes it look like you left dublin between oldtown and the naul when you actually didn't.

Yes, noticed that, but only this morning. Couple of other spots too. Lovely smooth curves, not at all matching the usual 'ditch, river, coast, ridge' features that seem to be the standard for county (and national) boundaries.

D13exile

Just gotten my bike back after a good service and upgrade. Got new wider 44cm bars on it, a longer 120mm stem and all cables replaced. They said the chain (which is now 6 years old with a big mileage on it) didn't need replacing and the cassette and front rings were good for another year. They also trued both wheels as I'd found a loose spoke in the rear one after noticing some mild vibration when on good surfaced roads. Soooooooo........all good to go? Well I thought I'd pump up the tyres as I always do before a spin and it was then I noticed that the rear tyre wasn't seated properly as the tube was sticking out under it! Deflated both tyres and checked both wheels and made sure everything was in place before re-inflating them. I wouldn't have gotten far before I had my first ever pinch flat. Guys in the shop did a good job on the bike but forgot the "little" things.

Anyways, out I go for a short 30kms as I'm on a new diet that involves eating just one meal a day (its for health reasons as while I'm not carrying any obvious excess weight, an ultrasound scan showed that I've a fatty liver and pancreas and I need to eliminate this "unseen" fat to avoid health problems in the future). So I go out, minus timing myself and plan to take it easy. Well I didn't as despite not eating for 22 hours at that point, I felt good and it was great being back on the bike after a week off due to the bike being in the shop. I thought I'd find the wider bars and longer stem (as recommended by my bike fitter) unusual but I settled right into them and strangely, my remaining issue of a numb left hand had disappeared. Was going well until about the 20km point when I hit the wall/bonked and the speed fell right off. Guess I'd used up my remaining glycogen stores and my body was switching to burning fat as the doctor had said. However this feeling only lasted for a few kms and then I felt my legs come back to life and I picked up speed again. Got home in about 58 minutes which surprised me as I thought the mid session slump would have made me go over the hour. Don't think I'd fancy doing a much longer spin in a fasted state but the doctor said I can switch to two meals a day at the weekends and so I think I'll leave the long cycles to then after I've had a good breakfast!

Seth Brundle

Went out with the intention of doing about 110kms.
Headed down to Glending and followed the hill lane towards Punchestown - found the ascent to be mucky so took it handy. Turns out the descent was even muckier Both the clean bike and myself are now covered in muck.
Got to Sallins and found that the road from there along the canal to Digby Bridge is still closed (until tomorrow or Monday) so had to do a U-turn and that helped make me decide to just head back to Leixlip and get to my local coffee shop before she closes at 4 (got there with about a minute to spare).
In the end, I did 78km @ 27.6km/h with 503m - now thinking that I should have stayed out :rolleyes:
https://www.strava.com/activities/4198453071

This feckin eejit overtook me a few minutes into my spin - I think they were braking as they overtook me
https://streamable.com/60jq90

Seth Brundle

Seth Brundle wrote: »

This feckin eejit overtook me a few minutes into my spin - I think they were braking as they overtook me
https://streamable.com/60jq90

That was as pointless an overtake as they come, f sake.

Mercian Pro

devonp wrote: »

Familar country to me, there is a coffee shop at the Blue Gardina not sure about food as its too near me..

Fairly limited fare - nice if you've a sweet tooth but not great if you're relying on it to help you get round the county boundary. A bit pricey too at nearly €6 for a coffee and homemade biscuit.

Wishbone Ash

brownian wrote: »

- Oldtown (not a real place)...

Oh dear - we won't be having that! Just wait until 07Lapierre comes along.

brownian wrote:

....Kudos to the route maker.

He left out Garristown and the whole Donabate and Portrane peninsula.

devonp wrote: »

... there is a coffee shop at the Blue Gardina not sure about food as its too near me ....

It doesn't seem to keep regular hours - was closed the last two occasions I passed it. And, as MP has said, they don't do any savoury fare.