My spin today...

fatbhoy

Ballinastoe yesterday.

prunudo

Was up there on Sunday myself (first time since Christmas), appears they've been doing some work on the trails, heather and branches cleared back and not as much standing water as before. Looks like they're going to be doing work on expressway next. Amazing how previously you fly past obstacles without a seconds thought and as soon as they spray them with blue paint your mind goes into overdrive as you scan the trail ahead.

steamsey

Kindlestown, near Delgany Wicklow, today. (Live right beside it so well within current km limit). Been a gift to get up here for some exercise and fresh air, and views.

Not a great place for MTB, walkers rule here, but beggars can't be choosers at the moment. Soon as the restrictions ease, I'm straight over to Ticknock and the dream track.

steamsey

Failed spin today!!

Tried to go to Ticknock today at 12pm. Absolutely jammers. I should have turned back when the first thing I saw were people arguing at the entrance gate over someone who had pulled in, right at the gate, to get their bike out of the car and caused a traffic jam. I sat in traffic for 25 mins, did a full loop in the car and went back out the gate and home!

I used to live nearby, so I could cycle up but need to drive up now. It was a farce today, even mtb'ers were stuck behind cars on the road up. Plenty of people ignoring new double yellow lines and parking everywhere, blocking the road.

I suppose everyone is looking to get out etc but just be warned of how busy it is. You can forget about using the main car park at weekends it seems. Park elsewhere and cycle up is probably the best idea if you want to ride Ticknock at the moment.

prunudo

steamsey wrote: »

Failed spin today!!

Tried to go to Ticknock today at 12pm. Absolutely jammers. I should have turned back when the first thing I saw were people arguing at the entrance gate over someone who had pulled in, right at the gate, to get their bike out of the car and caused a traffic jam. I sat in traffic for 25 mins, did a full loop in the car and went back out the gate and home!

I used to live nearby, so I could cycle up but need to drive up now. It was a farce today, even mtb'ers were stuck behind cars on the road up. Plenty of people ignoring new double yellow lines and parking everywhere, blocking the road.

I suppose everyone is looking to get out etc but just be warned of how busy it is. You can forget about using the main car park at weekends it seems. Park elsewhere and cycle up is probably the best idea if you want to ride Ticknock at the moment.

Which makes a mockery of the sign I saw today at a woods telling mountain bikers to use Ballinastoe or Ticknock as mountain biking was agianst blah blah blah bye law.

iwillhtfu

Up in the Slieve blooms yesterday it was very quiet on the Laois side (red trails) they've a new tech climb built for the first half of the usual fireroad climb. It's a nice alternative and a handy little climb. I went over to kinnity side (blue trails) First time doing them since they've opened the bigger loop and I have to say it's far better than the red trail much better flow and some doubles. The pea gravel they're using is utter pox altogther it acts like marbles and offers zero grip almost lost the front several times.

The problem with the redtrail is they've tried to jam in far to much into a small space, switch backs far to tight and killing any flow and fighting gravity in other areas. Sections where you have to pedal into a berm which defeats the purpose of the berm and other sections where the berm is to shallow.

I see on the blue side they've a lot of work done across the road. I took a walk down and it looks like it'll be made longer soon enough.

Tenzor07

steamsey wrote: »

Failed spin today!!
Tried to go to Ticknock today at 12pm. Absolutely jammers. I should have turned back when the first thing I saw were people arguing at the entrance gate over someone who had pulled in, right at the gate, to get their bike out of the car and caused a traffic jam. I sat in traffic for 25 mins, did a full loop in the car and went back out the gate and home!
I used to live nearby, so I could cycle up but need to drive up now. It was a farce today, even mtb'ers were stuck behind cars on the road up. Plenty of people ignoring new double yellow lines and parking everywhere, blocking the road.
I suppose everyone is looking to get out etc but just be warned of how busy it is. You can forget about using the main car park at weekends it seems. Park elsewhere and cycle up is probably the best idea if you want to ride Ticknock at the moment.

"Tried to go to Ticknock today at 12pm"

On a Sunday? That was your first mistake!

If you want to get to Ticknock by car at the weekends you'd have to get there around 9am.

As the pubs, shopping centres and team sports are still under Lockdown, plus no holidays and bored school kids = Mayhem.

Went up there yesterday just slightly before 12 and not a parking spot to be had, impressed with all the plastic wands, rocks and double yellows, but doesn't seem to have done any good as you said...


Best thing to do is park somewhere else and cycle up...

Peter T

Plenty of people out in the woods at the weekend. I went for a quick spin in ballyhoura Friday evening, easing myself back into it as i haven't been out on the mtb during lockdown. Was surprised to see the carpark was nearly half full when I pulled up at around 3.00pm. Went off up the mountains above the trails. Nice climb up, you follow the 6k trail and keep climbing the fire road. Small few hike a bike sections as your heading towards seefin. Back down again and you end up joining the trails where the 6k and 17k meet. Nice spin for something different but you are in hiking territory so strong chance of people coming against you. I've a route picked out that should merge the 3 mountaintops in that area so keen to give that a go.

Spin in the nagles yesterday. Again pretty busy with other mountain bikers, walkers, runners etc so parking was limited. Heavy rain over the weekend made for some slippy conditions but overall another great day out on the bike.

Peter T

Ballyhoura's yesterday. I must retract my past statements about the place being a bit boring and sedate. Ran the 2enduro stages and had a blast

Wanderer78

Peter T wrote:

Ballyhoura's yesterday. I must retract my past statements about the place being a bit boring and sedate. Ran the 2enduro stages and had a blast

I'd assume the enduro trails are not marked, are they marked on the Internets?

iwillhtfu

Peter T wrote: »

Ballyhoura's yesterday. I must retract my past statements about the place being a bit boring and sedate. Ran the 2enduro stages and had a blast

I see they've done some reshaping on the brown. I was the same always thought it a bit too pedaly and boring. I've only ever done the brown loop and the small fun loops near the car park. Is the white loop good? Any time I've been there's always redirects due to trail closures or the wind farm operations.

Wanderer78

iwillhtfu wrote:

I see they've done some reshaping on the brown. I was the same always thought it a bit too pedaly and boring. I've only ever done the brown loop and the small fun loops near the car park. Is the white loop good? Any time I've been there's always redirects due to trail closures or the wind farm operations.

White is where it's at, I've mainly stuck to it, and sometimes altered it a little by doing a small bit of blue/red along the way, baring in mind, I haven't been there in years

Peter T

Wanderer78 wrote: »

I'd assume the enduro trails are not marked, are they marked on the Internets?

No they're not marked. You'd probably find them with a bit of searching on strava and the like

Peter T

iwillhtfu wrote: »

I see they've done some reshaping on the brown. I was the same always thought it a bit too pedaly and boring. I've only ever done the brown loop and the small fun loops near the car park. Is the white loop good? Any time I've been there's always redirects due to trail closures or the wind farm operations.

What I've done in the past is park out at the ballinaboola side. You can join the white loop from there, pass the log, keep going up the hill past the heli pad and then you can join back into the brown loop before the tech trails. You can then do the two tech trails and back to your car following the white loop. Handy one to do if you dont feel like doing the full white.

ianobrien

I did something a bit different today, Shannon Harbour to Rahan and back along the Grand Canal. Yes no climbing or fast descents, more of a cross country spin with everything from tar, gravel and about 10km of knee high overgrown towpath to battle through. I had to stop regularly enough to get the grass out of the rear derailleur and from around the back axle.


It was the best part of 60km. I'll feel it tomorrow....

Peter T

Went out in the ballyhouras Saturday. Pretty busy and plenty out on rentals. I had a route researched all along and wanted to do it on a more clear day but I was there so decided to go for it.

Set off on the trails as normal, there is a detour at the moment after Tech 1 that brings you up to the helipad. Some trail maintenance going on.

I headed on downhill past the log, then after 5-600m took a left, started climbing up and over Carron Mountain. From there I headed towards the masts and down crossing the blue trail. Now a rough google satellite search showed some kind of path running from there towards seefin. The first kilometre or so wasn't too bad but the rest towards castle Philip was a pain in the ass. Overgrown and had to push for about 2km uphill through wet boggy ground. Then crossing over to the top of Seefin. Back down again to join into the trails where the 6k loop points for home. I can tick it off the list and might go for a similar route again but I definitely will be avoiding the overgrown hiking trail through the bog.

Biopace

Peter T wrote: »

Went out in the ballyhouras Saturday. Pretty busy and plenty out on rentals. I had a route researched all along and wanted to do it on a more clear day but I was there so decided to go for it.

Set off on the trails as normal, there is a detour at the moment after Tech 1 that brings you up to the helipad. Some trail maintenance going on.

I headed on downhill past the log, then after 5-600m took a left, started climbing up and over Carron Mountain. From there I headed towards the masts and down crossing the blue trail. Now a rough google satellite search showed some kind of path running from there towards seefin. The first kilometre or so wasn't too bad but the rest towards castle Philip was a pain in the ass. Overgrown and had to push for about 2km uphill through wet boggy ground. Then crossing over to the top of Seefin. Back down again to join into the trails where the 6k loop points for home. I can tick it off the list and might go for a similar route again but I definitely will be avoiding the overgrown hiking trail through the bog.

We'd often do that but mostly in reverse. Did a bit of it yesterday myself.

prunudo

Did the Gap team enduro yesterday, well organised with a nice relaxed atmosphere. Was great to get away from covid (bar mask wearing when in the shop) and a some what normal days activity.
Having done the gravity enduros before I liked the format yesterday which I believe was more based on the grassroots format. If you made a mistake or got held up you could go again until you're happy with a cleanest run.
Only downside was the weather, mist and cloud touching the ground, made some of the forested sections very dark and hard to pick lines.
All in all a good days biking though.

Wanderer78

prunudo wrote:

Did the Gap team enduro yesterday, well organised with a nice relaxed atmosphere. Was great to get away from covid (bar mask wearing when in the shop) and a some what normal days activity. Having done the gravity enduros before I liked the format yesterday which I believe was more based on the grassroots format. If you made a mistake or got held up you could go again until you're happy with a cleanest run. Only downside was the weather, mist and cloud touching the ground, made some of the forested sections very dark and hard to pick lines. All in all a good days biking though.

Low cloud and mist made it difficult on our own trails yesterday, roots were lethal, and very strangely dark during the early afternoon for this time of year, very strange conditions

bogmanfan

Went to the new trails in Belmont Demesne near Greystones today. Very short - blue loop is 1.5km and red is around 3. But good fun, and interesting enough to do several laps without getting bored. The red loop is challenging enough with some nice technical climbs. And surface is all natural, so roots, rocks etc. Nice spot for a quick spin. Pizza in the cafe is excellent too.

steamsey

bogmanfan wrote: »

Went to the new trails in Belmont Demesne near Greystones today. Very short - blue loop is 1.5km and red is around 3. But good fun, and interesting enough to do several laps without getting bored. The red loop is challenging enough with some nice technical climbs. And surface is all natural, so roots, rocks etc. Nice spot for a quick spin. Pizza in the cafe is excellent too.

Did you use your own bike? Few months back I enquired and they said you had to rent their bikes, something about insurance.

steamsey

Went to Ballinastoe today. Had a great spin. Expressway is reopen and very different, but still good. Trails very well drained. Was nice and quiet, which was great after a few recent spins in packed Ticknock. Forgot how good the views are around there.

bogmanfan

steamsey wrote: »

Did you use your own bike? Few months back I enquired and they said you had to rent their bikes, something about insurance.

Yep, used my own. Think the trails are only fully open since last week

Wailin

Learned a very valuable lesson at Djouce on Sunday....stay away from steep reds until my skill level matches my ambition!

First time there after doing the blue trails at ballinastoe and ticknock. Didn't really know where I was going but enjoyed a few natural trails down in to the valley before taking the red road all the way up until i came across an inviting looking trail. About 150m into it I knew I'd made a big mistake! Two falls and some nasty cuts later I swallowed my pride and walked the rest. Turns out it's Irn Bru on trailforks/ strava. 210m descent in 700m, i should checked on one of the apps before diving in!

prunudo

The trails on that side are a good bit steeper alright and irn bru can get a bit sketchy with slippy roots but don't let that put you off. Keep practicing and do it again when the confidence increases. Disco stu is more similar to the other side.

Also, I've no idea what 3 piggies is, never seen that come up before, is it an old trail?

Plastik

Plenty of Djouce is significantly harder than the Coillte loop at Ballinastoe or Ticknock. And the place is an absolute maze of trail network so it can take a while to find your bearings.

Re Belmont Demense - they started allowing people to bring their own bikes on the trails from about 3 weeks ago.

mad turnip

The trail rating up at djouce are a bit misleading all the reds tend to be very difficult for reds and the single black 3 piggies is very steep. Its more commonly referred to as dutch gold.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0RiWZp8sW8
I wouldn't be heading to djouce if your only new.

prunudo

mad turnip wrote: »

The trail rating up at djouce are a bit misleading all the reds tend to be very difficult for reds and the single black 3 piggies is very steep. Its more commonly referred to as dutch gold.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0RiWZp8sW8
I wouldn't be heading to djouce if your only new.

New one on me, never heard dutch gold referred to 3 piggies. But yeah, the grading in djouce would be a step above the trail centre grading. The way coillte describe some trails as technical and challenging sounds like its been worded by someone who has never cycled on anything but tarmac.

mad turnip

Looks like someone from Italy added it last year and they seem to be back in Italy so its likely just mislabeled.

Wailin

Headed for Ballinastoe today, packed as to be expected. Only did natural trails so didn't come across anyone. The stage 5 enduro trail from last year is ruined towards the bottom with debris and branches on the trail.

Twice I came to Big Vinny and twice I took the chicken line, just bottled it! Any tips on tackling a high (to me anyway) drop?