Tell us about your cycle today part III

JMcL

In holiday Inn the Vendée at the minute, and to call it pan flat is an understatement.

That said, there's lovely quiet roads to be had, and decent amounts of gravel.

Took a short 45km spin yesterday to stretch the legs, and did a 100km round trip to the end of Noirmoutier via the Passage Du Gois which is a causeway passable for 60-90 minutes either side of low tide. Low tide was 8:15 this morning so I got there for 7:30 and had a lovely quiet crossing (it apparently gets busy) the surface is a mixture of concrete and teeth rattling pavé. There's about an 8km section of gravel through a nature reserve after this, followed by a section on good quality cycle track alongside the main road. After that, quiet minor roads up to the end, and back to the main bridge onto the island with about 20km of EV1 on forest track to get home. All told, probably about 25-30% of the distance was gravel/trail of varying standard with the only issue being about 1km of deep sand which turned into hike-a-bike.

100km in 5:13 @19.2km/h - 253m climbing (told you it was flat!)

MangleBadger

Took the long route home yesterday up Stocking Lane and along Military Road. The forest at Glencree used to be my guide that the sharp right hand turn was coming. Since they've cut it it kind of sneaks up on you. I was ready for it this time but ended up surprised again as what I thought was the road continuing on was just the fire road(marked by a lovely arrow) behind the now missing forest.

mr spuckler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120838534#Comment_120838534

Fair play to you on this. Really scary though that the doors couldn't be unlocked from the sound of things.

cletus

First spin with new wheels. Bike felt lighter, I felt faster, climbs were easier, handling was crisper.

Was all of that in my head? Almost definitely, but at the very minimum, it's always great to cycle with new gear or kit 😀

magicbastarder

heh. i found when i got my first carbon bike i was disappointed with it. i think i wanted it so much to be faster that i was going out on it and going too fast and draining the tank too quickly.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120905732#Comment_120905732

"I expected this bike to be so much faster...!" ...by virtue of the 470g of weight saving? Surely if you just half-filled that waterbottle you'd... Nevermind, must be the bike.

Yeah, had that conversation with a friend. 😂

magicbastarder

by virtue of the 470g of weight saving?

2.8kg in my case!

mcburns07

Did the Lost Sheep triathlon route this morning, starts and finishes in Kenmare and takes in the Healy Pass (pic above) and Caha Pass. What an absolutely cracking cycle, 80km with ~1000m of climbing .

https://strava.app.link/HQCiSA5KPBb

Seth Brundle

You look to have gotten good weather @mcburns07

I headed out with a few from the club with the intention of heading up Stocking Lane to Sally, then over to Roundwood, Laragh and back home via Sally & Manor Kilbride. However the weather turned poxy (strong headwind with rain) and we decided to grab a coffee in Glencree and then head up to Kippure last before heading back home.

The rain really made itself known as we were ascending Kippure and didn't stop until we arrived at Sally - it was almost horizontal and felt like hailstones.

One of the lads arrived at Kippure mast just before me and grabbed a quick photo of me arriving...

mcburns07

Yep weather played ball 🙂 very breezy towards the end but overall can’t complain at all.

06.55 train out of Connolly this morning, to Longford. Cycled back to Maynooth along the Royal Canal Way. 2 punctures along the way, and very few other people out (walking or cycling). 123km total. Was glad for the train home from Maynooth.

Back from holidays and headed out for a bit of a purge up the mountains this morning.

Was lovely in Cork yesterday but woke to leaden skies today. Grew increasingly misty and murky before the rain started.

Had a south-easterly wind at my back for the outward part of the journey and went pretty hard up the Boggeragh mountains to Millstreet. The conditions at 400m up the top of Mushera were brutal - even the sheep looked miserable.

Turned into the wind then and up the famous Butter Road from Millstreet back to the top of Mushera, which is as a tough a section of road as you'll find in Cork, and even worse into a headwind and driving rain. Hard going but the legs were good today.

Home and hosed with 108km and 1,490m climbing at 30.9kph with a max elevation of 432m. Soaked to the skin and covered in muck from head to toe. Super day on the bike.

https://www.strava.com/activities/9619100564

Seth Brundle

Had a long day in work today and only got leaving after 8 (with no chance for lunch). Feeling tired, i decided to do something I hadn't done in a while: I'd take my time! I figured I'd try and keep my heart rate did to around 100. Obviously the slight ascents caused a slight increase but I managed to do the 16km with a max HR of 120bpm and an average of 103bpm and still managed 27.7km/h on Strava (28.0 on Garmin!) (and no sweating!) so a happy end to a tough day.

Plus I noticed that my commutes today now show a new Strava feature- apparently cycling to and from work saved about 6.5kg of CO2 (although how they calculated that I don't know!)!

secman

Long commute home from office as a recovery spin, Naas road and up Greenhills Road, Tallaght bypass, across towards Lucan, turned off for Newcastle, Lyons road, Boston hill, Rathcoole, Saggart, Tallaght bypass and home.

53 kms, 400 meters up, avg 26.9 kph Strava (27.2 on Garmin). Avg HR 122. I only have to look at bike to sweat 🤣

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120983475#Comment_120983475

Apparently the calculation is:

Gallons of gas [petrol] you saved x 19.6lbs CO2 per gallon = lbs of CO2 emissions prevented

https://road.cc/content/tech-news/why-does-strava-now-tell-me-how-much-co2-ive-saved-302813

magicbastarder

IIRC I worked out once that if I drive my (ICE) car efficiently, it's about 120g of CO2 per km.

6.5kg would thus be about 50km.

However - most standard calculations don't take into account the extraction/refinement/transport of fuel, which will roughly double the amount of CO2 resulting from its use.

MangleBadger

Took the bike to Lake Garda for the week. Had permission for a few spins from the boss. Decided to tackle a couple of the mountains from stage 16 of the Giro. But considering it had 5200 metres of elevation gain I thought it prudent to split it up into some more manageable chunks. Have never attempted climbs of this length before and I've had very little cycling this year so wasn't sure how I'd manage to survive.

Started early at 6-6:30 each morning so I was cycling in shade and before the real heat kicked in. Climbs were tough but once I settled into my slow and steady routine they were manageable. And then nice lovely long descents to get me home. Worst part of the cycles was there was a 9% 1.5km climb right out the bat to get out of the town. Sick of that hill! Don't think I'll be challenging any of Sepp Kuss's KOMs but happy enough to have survived all 3 rides without needing to put a foot down on the climbs.

All in all really enjoyable place to cycle. And plenty of hills left for a future trip. Bike everywhere as well although probably 80-90% mountain bikes.

Monte Velo - Ruccola | Ride | Strava

Monte Bondone | Ride | Strava

Monte Baldo | Ride | Strava

fiacha

Finally dropped enough weight to leave the MTB at home and chance the Langster for my daily 20km. The joy of a light bike and 25 tyres :) Took 10mins off my usual time and the legs felt 100% better afterwards. Another 10kg to drop before I treat myself to a new road bike.

Still dying on anything resembling a hill, but at least it doesn't feel like I'm towing a car now :D

mcburns07

Nice long spin this morning, rode up to the top of Vee Pass on the border between Tipp and Waterford from my home near the coast in Cork.

https://www.strava.com/activities/9684645775

Seth Brundle

Did the King of the Castle Cycle Against Suicide Sportif 2023 (with Sean Kelly) yesterday. Didn't know what to expect following the storm on Friday night but, by & large, the route was fairly clear from branches, etc.

It was a 120km route from Swords castle with a food stop at the Battle of the Boyne site. I cycled from home to Swords and had just over 30km completed before the sportive started. I had been hoping that the tailwind there would carry me but for much of the journey there was so much crap on the roads that I didn't want to go too fast. I also remembered shortly after I left home that I had forgotten to take some bananas. Presumably there would be some at the sportive but I had s long day ahead of me and didn't want to make assumptions so bought some in a Texaco in Ballycoolin. At one point along the north of the airport, my Garmin (which was directing me to the start of the sportive) told me to take a left. Followed it all the way to the end of that road which was a depot for Keelings. So I had to head back into the strong headwind - feck! Stuck to the main roads to Swords then!

The sportive itself was fairly good. A few muppets ahead of me who wouldn't call out hazards and who would brake suddenly but while we'd pass them we seemed to get caught behind another.

The route itself was decent enough with a mix of flats and some hills. While those further back had reason to be a bit annoyed at the lack of marshals and signage, I, with some clubmates, was up towards the front and had the pace car and four or five motorbike marshals which kept us moving through all junctions, etc. At one point near Bellewstown, the pace car turned left whereas the route saved on my Garmin device was telling me to continue straight on. I think those behind werent aware of this route change!

Heading up Snowtown hill (I think it was Snowtown), my legs were getting tired and I started to lose pace. I lost maybe 30 seconds on the rest of the group until I got to Ballyboughal where the pace car had pulled in so that they could bunch up the participants so we'd all arrive back together.

The sandwich at the food stop was a bit meh but I was hungry so despite not being a butter eater, I are it all. A bit of pasta when back in Swords was gobbled up. I was glad I bought the babmnanas on my way there because there were none at all on offer during the event.

Heading off from Swords to home I decided that the 35+ km headwind would be too much of a PITA around the airport so I'd avoid those roads and would follow a route which had hedges keeping the wind from me. However, my lack of familiarity with those roads became apparent when I ended up on the northern side of the airport - bugger! Despite the strong headwind, I pushed on. By the time I got home, I had 185km completed with over 1300m at a fairly respectable 28.6km/h.

https://strava.app.link/0aJ5KAEjqCb

Wildly Boaring

Was wondering why 180 other people had gone Naul to Ballyboghal.

Most of them were not moving quickly by then if I was faster than all but 20 with my tired legs. 🤣

magicbastarder

they left a lot of the climbing till the second half i see - hill of the carnes, mullaghteelin, snowtown.

Wildly Boaring

Yeah and all into that South Westerly. Be hard on those with no mileage in the legs.

Nice drag up out of the Naul too

patrickc

I did the Kells Kings Charity Cycle yesterday.

116 k with 1450 elevation at 27.6km average.

I am mostly a solo cyclist and did this solo, normally in a sportive you can join a group, I have to say many cyclists didn't even say hello, and any group I tried to link with I got the impression I wasn't welcome.

there were 4 water/food stops and food at the end, they were all good.

secman

Headed out with club , from Gorey out to Ballycanew, Ballyedmund, turned for Oulart, across to Enniscorthy, out far side of town on to the bypass to the New Ross road, turned back towards Scarawalsh, Ferns, Camolin and back to Gorey. Headwind out, tailwind back, 6 in the group.

73 kms, 580 meters, avg 31.8 kph.

loyatemu

went for a cycle with the missus from Dalkey to Sandymount along the coastal cycle path. What a great facility that is, it was absolutely hopping with cyclists yesterday; families, teenagers heading for the beach, older people on eBikes. DLR are so far ahead of other councils when it comes to this sort of thing.

2011abc

Did my ‘usual’ ( I may only go out 5 or 6 times a year or less ! )30k lap of Connolly Folly ,Barberstown Cross , Ardclough ,Celbridge and back to Leixlip via Castletown.Very different experience in that I had a new bike and It was a weekday ( round 620-730 am)

I bought an 853 steel classic with newer low end Shimano stuff .Huge ( to my eye Schwalbe Marathons,38 cm bars ( I’m neither short nor skinny ) ….Now I’m a tech conservative but ( NEWSFLASH!!!) I can def now get on board with the fact my 17mm TT tubs at 170psi may in some cases be slower than the huge modern yokes at pressures approaching those more suitable for cars .

The skinny bars were undoubtedly faster .I was surprised if not amazed .

The 853 ( including straight fork ) felt at least as good if not better than the 7005 Al with carbon fork and alloy steerer it replaced .Sure it may even be as light ?

The tyres and frame combo had a magic carpet ride thing going on for sure .

Despite skimming the foliage in the ditch some motorists seemed unhappy to share road .One ,presumably extremely badly coordinated individual ,seemed to be almost diagonally coming towards me and then swerved outwards to allow at least 1.5m ‘passing room’ well in front of me ! Had a mild ‘artic pulling trailer in a bit too suddenly ‘moment but not that bad by standards of many videos I’ve seen .One or two lads carving bends towards ya on backroads .I wouldn’t fancy it late at night at weekend :-(

Brief shower but not enough to need cleaning bike after .

Maybe I will increase my spin frequency .

Steel IS real but I still reckon my early Noughties TCR Comp with full Dura Ace was faster ,I def was :-(

Oh yeah , my new machine ,despite many modern neo retro refinements is rocking traditional Dura Ace down tube shifters .I was surprised that the aul muscle memory made them seem manageable enough but I can see a set of STI levers in my not too distant future

secman

Bus pass spin today......

Headed around to Ballygarrett, Kilmuckridge and across to Oulart, on towards Enniscorthy but turned to Scarawalsh . Ferns, The Harrow, Boolavogue and home.

66km, 550 meters and avg 28.2 kph.

Lovely day for it.....

fiacha

Another 25k in the Phoenix Park today. That's 140k since Monday and I'm feeling a lot stronger than last week. I have stopped dodging the hills (well most of them :D). Puncture 5k in and lashed rain on the way home. Myself and the bike covered in road goo.

Really enjoying being back on the bike. Not rushing to increase the distance but looking forward to some longer spins once I've built some fitness.

mcburns07

Treated myself to a new Specialized Aethos this week. First outing this morning around West Clare. An absolutely cracking bike, so enjoyable to ride.

https://strava.app.link/XrmaOwpCzCb