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

smacl · 27-01-2017 07:10AM

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

(I had to do the walk of shame for a bit crossing The Featherbeds and again at Lough Bray yesterday - worst crosswinds I've ever experienced on a bike. I just couldn't keep the bike on the road. Walking was even difficult - at one stage the bike was blown up to a horizontal position while I was still holding onto the bars).

Brave man going up there in that. The featherbeds can be incredibly tough in heavy winds, I usually bail via Glencree or Glassamucky when conditions are severe. I've seen people ditch there in bad winds on two separate occasions.

wanderer 22 · 27-01-2017 09:46AM

Early o'clock spin with Alek of this parish this morning. Highlights were the heart in mouth moment where I was daydreaming while descending on 3 rock and nearly came off at a bend and the saddle in crotch moment when I failed to clip in. https://www.strava.com/activities/845658423

Alanstrainor · 27-01-2017 11:50AM

Battered again by the wind on my commute this morning. From Portmarnock to Baldoyle I was crawling at 20km/h due to the head wind. Also riding a highly geared single speed isn't helping matters! When I got to the coast I decided to avoid the cycle track altogether which is exposed right by the sea. Stuck to the road without issue instead.

Only living in Portmarnock 2 weeks now, so I consider this my baptism of fire for my commute!

Parchment · 27-01-2017 12:12PM

No wind here today! i didnt know myself.

Considering transporting a large bag of bubble wrap home on the carrier today....could be interesting.

Bloggsie · 27-01-2017 01:43PM

not cycling yet(thats another story) on the 17.05 Dublin to Sligo yesterday saw a foldie with a brooks saddle, it looked so odd, a very contemporary looking bike with a saddle, to my mind that belongs on something more vintage.

what_traffic · 27-01-2017 01:59PM

Bloggsie wrote: »

not cycling yet(thats another story) on the 17.05 Dublin to Sligo yesterday saw a foldie with a brooks saddle, it looked so odd, a very contemporary looking bike with a saddle, to my mind that belongs on something more vintage.

You got to ride a fold up bike to understand this. It is for comfort. I swopped standard Brompton saddle for a B17 Brooks. Have rough roads in IRE even in the urban areas.

smacl · 27-01-2017 05:43PM

what_traffic wrote: »

You got to ride a fold up bike to understand this. It is for comfort. I swopped standard Brompton saddle for a B17 Brooks. Have rough roads in IRE even in the urban areas.

You don't need the fold up, I have a B17 on my main bike and a Brooks Flyer on my hybrid. Might go for a C17 next time out, but definitely a fan of Brooks' saddles.

kirk buttercup · 28-01-2017 04:26PM

Over the 60 Mark now. 61.3 ( the .3 is massively important ) my aim is to be at 70 by the end of Feb. So going according to plan so far for the Wicklow 100

cython · 28-01-2017 05:00PM

82km today, from Blanch over to Maynooth, ~40km slow club spin around Newtown and Enfield, and then home again. Makes up for some of the commute miles missed over the last week with jury duty crap.

kirk buttercup · 28-01-2017 05:17PM

Weepsie wrote:

You'll be grand if you're already doing 60. Get the odd hill in though, even if it's a shorter distance

Thanks mate for the advice I live in Wicklow so there is nothing but hills ( the hill I liveon is hard to walk up never mind cycleðŸ˜‚). But I do need to go for bigger climbs I think

Paul_Mc1988 · 28-01-2017 05:17PM

kirk buttercup wrote: »

Over the 60 Mark now. 61.3 ( the .3 is massively important ) my aim is to be at 70 by the end of Feb. So going according to plan so far for the Wicklow 100

Over 60 now myself with a similar aim. Had originally thought i would be up for the 200 when i got on the saddle in November but two trips to sallys gap have made me assess my abilities. Hills just knock it out of me where as on the flat i can go all day long. Also became an accidental bike ninja yesterday as i didn't foresee fog on the horizon

https://www.strava.com/activities/845888660

http://imgur.com/gallery/IbVDY

secman · 28-01-2017 05:30PM

Headed to killenagh, ballycanew, left turn on main road to ballyedmund, castlebridge, and towards wexford town, took coast road to curracloe, Blackwater, kilmuckridge and home.
65 km Avg just under 26 kph ( rounded up from 25.80

)

Lovely spring like afternoon.

crosstownk · 28-01-2017 05:34PM

it was a nice bright day for a spin and not too cold. I headed out the Tallaght Bypass, into Saggart, Rathcoole and the draggy climb to Kilteel. Kilteel is a nice little village and I like the look of the Kilteel Inn - I made a mental note to head up there some night for a few pints.

Anyway, on I went into Kill and then Naas where I took the left for Blessington. About 2 or 3km outside Naas I needed a....er..... comfort break. I was wearing a pair of Rivelo shorts that I bought last year but haven't used much and today I discovered that they made for a very uncomfortable comfort break - I was almost bent over double!

I stopped in Blessington for a cuppa, had a nice slice of lemon meringue and set off again. As I made my way to Manor Kilbride the sky darkened, rain started falling and the temperature fell to -1C (according to Garmin). It felt very cold and my feet went numb. As I passed Jobstown the temperature finally went above zero but my feet didn't hear that news and remained numb.

The cold feet were cured by a warm shower and the thoughts of many pints of Guinness later this evening.

I'm happy with the 75km and 600m today and even happier with 1,000km covered in the month of January.

Kaisr Sose · 28-01-2017 05:49PM

Nice 69km out to Blessington. Caught a few hailstones but ok otherwise. Felt good. Only downers were a car passing me and then pulling across me in the cycle lane and parking, like I was not not there and a pointless overtake by a car heading up to Lamb Doyle's , close and at speed, with an oncoming car in the mix. Why can't people wait a few seconds anymore? The inconsideration of some people is incomprehensible.

Anyway, that brought up 800km in 3wks. Should put another 60-80km on that tomorrow and then it's off skiing for 12 days. I will get in some ski touring and telemark which will keep the fitness. Alpine skiing is no use for aerobic fitness but helps with building power.

Mind the roads while I am gone

devonp · 28-01-2017 06:03PM

bit of an adventure today
had intended on a long flatish spin but had 2 punctures before 40Km, so headed for Blessington to get sorted with more tubes, Co2 etc, at Toms Bike shop(cheers for the fast change) saw i had a serious bulge on my well worn original conti 4000 gps II(9k km on it at least), so got a 4 seasons fitted while i had a coffee next door.
so amended my route and took a left at Hollywood for a shorter route but more UP, as i would have had to be cycling on the return of the original route in the dark on unfamiliar roads.
cold enough out there, got hit by a few of Evelyn's wintery showers, 0.8C with sleet/hail at SG, and a few more short showers before back to home and into the shower for a good 15mins to warm up, nice sunshine when it appeared
145Km with about 1700m of Up
https://www.strava.com/activities/847222405

Planet X · 28-01-2017 07:53PM

"Temporary Fever Hospital" Audax. 212k.
https://www.strava.com/activities/847322293

....complete with wrong elevation

First ride since Christmas so quiet ....ed.
Lovely dry day, great scenery as usual, Fore Abbey and Bective Abbey stand out.

Alot of backlaneing on heavy roads but hey.....worth it.

RobFowl · 28-01-2017 08:58PM

92kms across NCD with big efforts up Snowtown and the Nags Head. Coffee in the Seamus Ennis and home via Skerries.
Cold but beautiful day out and great company with the VCB crew and the other regulars.

retalivity · 28-01-2017 09:31PM

Dublin, up cruagh, pine forest, glencullen, barnaculia, then up ticknock, down kellystown rd and home.

Still feeling the extra weight and lack of speed, so nothing special other than almost crashing into who i am 99% sure was padraig harrington on a corner on kellystown road. He gave me a toothy smile and kept on going...

ezra_ · 29-01-2017 01:41PM

Club spin, started getting back into the feel of the bike. Even though it was cold and damp, it was great to get out and start to get back towards the pace I had last year.

dahat · 29-01-2017 02:24PM

Horrible,miserable, cold and very wet spin.

89km at 29.7km AVG on a relatively flat spin.

Doc07 · 29-01-2017 06:50PM

retalivity wrote: »

Dublin, up cruagh, pine forest, glencullen, barnaculia, then up ticknock, down kellystown rd and home.

Still feeling the extra weight and lack of speed, so nothing special other than almost crashing into who i am 99% sure was padraig harrington on a corner on kellystown road. He gave me a toothy smile and kept on going...

That was a swift turnaround for Padraig from missing the cut Friday evening Irish time in California.

moonshadow · 29-01-2017 07:42PM

Very nearly lights out today...
Lovely spin on country roads as chaperone for the newbies..... One of them had a mudguard problem so we both agreed to pull in for a very quick adjustment and catch the group...
Fixed the mudguard and as I went to move off the side of the road , the Tarmac rut just caught me off balance and I fell onto the road took me about 20 seconds in my awkward fall to land into the middle of the road......all I heard was screech of tyres and looked to see the car bearing down on me from about 50 m.....
Thought that's it I'm ****ed....closed the eyes...
Car stopped touching the helmet , nearly **** myself , elderly lady driver similar..
BUT I was very lucky , such a simple simple thing,
Continued on and did 74 @ 25kmph

kirk buttercup · 29-01-2017 07:55PM

moonshadow wrote:

Very nearly lights out today... Lovely spin on country roads as chaperone for the newbies..... One of them had a mudguard problem so we both agreed to pull in for a very quick adjustment and catch the group... Fixed the mudguard and as I went to move off the side of the road , the Tarmac rut just caught me off balance and I fell onto the road took me about 20 seconds in my awkward fall to land into the middle of the road......all I heard was screech of tyres and looked to see the car bearing down on me from about 50 m..... Thought that's it I'm ****ed....closed the eyes... Car stopped touching the helmet , nearly **** myself , elderly lady driver similar.. BUT I was very lucky , such a simple simple thing, Continued on and did 74 @ 25kmph

Glad you got away with it that sounds scary.

secman · 29-01-2017 08:15PM

moonshadow wrote: »

Very nearly lights out today...
Lovely spin on country roads as chaperone for the newbies..... One of them had a mudguard problem so we both agreed to pull in for a very quick adjustment and catch the group...
Fixed the mudguard and as I went to move off the side of the road , the Tarmac rut just caught me off balance and I fell onto the road took me about 20 seconds in my awkward fall to land into the middle of the road......all I heard was screech of tyres and looked to see the car bearing down on me from about 50 m.....
Thought that's it I'm ****ed....closed the eyes...
Car stopped touching the helmet , nearly **** myself , elderly lady driver similar..
BUT I was very lucky , such a simple simple thing,
Continued on and did 74 @ 25kmph

That's why motorists need to be vigilant and careful when approaching cyclists , as totally unexpected incidents like that can occur. I had a similar type incident last summer, going up a short ramp, I got out of saddle, chain jumped and jammed, I ended up sprawled across middle of road, luckily no car behind me. Helmet took a hard bang in road and cracked in 2 places.
On my spin yesterday a complete tool thought it was a good idea to use his horn as he passed me, no other cars or bikes but me and him on the stretch of road.

Thankfully the driver in your incident was a good driver.

ezra_ · 29-01-2017 08:15PM

moonshadow wrote: »

Very nearly lights out today...
Lovely spin on country roads as chaperone for the newbies..... One of them had a mudguard problem so we both agreed to pull in for a very quick adjustment and catch the group...
Fixed the mudguard and as I went to move off the side of the road , the Tarmac rut just caught me off balance and I fell onto the road took me about 20 seconds in my awkward fall to land into the middle of the road......all I heard was screech of tyres and looked to see the car bearing down on me from about 50 m.....
Thought that's it I'm ****ed....closed the eyes...
Car stopped touching the helmet , nearly **** myself , elderly lady driver similar..
BUT I was very lucky , such a simple simple thing,
Continued on and did 74 @ 25kmph

Jesus man - fair play for getting up and cracking on.

magicbastarder · 29-01-2017 10:19PM

i hope you apologised to the driver for needlessly headbutting their car.

RobFowl · 29-01-2017 10:24PM

105kms with VCB this am. cold (average 1c according to Mr garmin) and then wet. Brisk 50k then stayed back with a mate who bonked, coffee then he hit a pot hole and broke an axel..
Loved every minute though.
Balrothery to Drogheda via laytown/Bettystown and then Baltray and Clogherhead (fantastic scenery) and then inland back to Drawda, home via Bellewstown and Snowtown.
Hit 1000k for the month as well which was ok as missed first 6 days,

magicbastarder · 29-01-2017 10:26PM

RobFowl wrote: »

Hit 1000k for the month as well which was ok

you've a nice gift for understatement.

Bloggsie · 30-01-2017 01:30PM

RobFowl wrote: »

105kms with VCB this am. cold (average 1c according to Mr garmin) and then wet. Brisk 50k then stayed back with a mate who bonked, coffee then he hit a pot hole and broke an axel..
Loved every minute though.
Balrothery to Drogheda via laytown/Bettystown and then Baltray and Clogherhead (fantastic scenery) and then inland back to Drawda, home via Bellewstown and Snowtown.
Hit 1000k for the month as well which was ok as missed first 6 days,

hit 1000k for the month, show off!

seriously, fair play, the thoughts of heading out at the mo are scaring the sh1te outa me!

RayCun · 30-01-2017 01:44PM

almost a run-in with a car this morning :mad:

I'm going straight through a crossroads, and there are cars on the other side of the junction waiting to turn right, across my path

as I approach the junction, I notice that there are no cars going through with me, so I am the only traffic on my side of the road.

But that's okay, the other cars aren't moving.

And I've got my flashing light on the front, and bright yellow jacket, and the sun is practically up anyway, of course they can see me :rolleyes:

Until just as I enter the crossroads, the car on the other side decides that right now would be the perfect time to make that right turn, right into me:eek::mad:

Luckily she stopped, in the middle of the road, before actually hitting me :rolleyes:

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

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