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

LollipopJimmy · 10-07-2017 08:46PM

retalivity wrote: »

Sameish route again this evening, got the avg speed up to 30.6kph. Absolutely banjaxed now though

https://www.strava.com/activities/1077239008

That's good going. Drop me a pm if you want company another evening this week. I have averaged between 28-30 in that area

Gerry · 11-07-2017 03:35AM

That's basically a large chunk of my commute though I am going blackrock to maynooth, so I am going via island bridge. I could detour a little to go via the park but overall its a great route as you say. Here's the return leg by the beds. Almost got to 30kmh, ran out of gas a little towards the end

https://www.strava.com/activities/1077314259

And the morning leg - I don't go by the beds as I find it a bit pointless descending westmanstown hill into line of traffic and then having to climb by the anglers rest only to have another descent with traffic down knockmaroon hill. But I could go by the park instead I suppose with that small detour back to islandbridge

https://www.strava.com/activities/1076486846

Alanstrainor · 11-07-2017 01:20PM

Got soaked this morning. What made it worse was that I didn't put my shoe covers on, it was dry when I left Portmarnock and I only hit the weather coming into Clontarf. Managed to get drowned in it, shoes still soaked:o

Here's hoping for a dry evening!

P_1 · 11-07-2017 01:55PM

Currently hiding from a biblical rain shower mid way between Chester and Hyde. Also just encountered the A556 M6 interchange.

Rather makes the Walkinstown Roundabout seem a bit tame...

D13exile · 11-07-2017 05:46PM

Don't normally put my regular 6am spins up here but this morning was different. I left my phone behind in the house as each spin was turning into a time trial with me trying to go faster than the previous day. While my average speed has increased from 23kph two months ago to 30kph now, it's mentally exhausting trying to beat my previous time each day. So I left the phone behind so there was no point in killing myself for a new "best time" as there was no way to tell what speed I'd done. While I felt good and strong, I also relaxed a lot as I could just cycle and enjoy the scenery without having the "timer" in the background. No idea what speed I did but the 35kms flew by and I was disappointed to get home as I wanted to go further but a meeting in Limerick had me back in Clane to shower and change and drive down.

Have to admit I felt a bit "cheated" by not recording the spin as I felt that if its not recorded, it didn't happen🙄. Guess I've become a timer junkie. Need to wean myself off the timer and just cycle again.

Luxman · 11-07-2017 05:50PM

D13exile wrote: »

Don't normally put my regular 6am spins up here but this morning was different. I left my phone behind in the house as each spin was turning into a time trial with me trying to go faster than the previous day. While my average speed has increased from 23kph two months ago to 30kph now, it's mentally exhausting trying to beat my previous time each day. So I left the phone behind so there was no point in killing myself for a new "best time" as there was no way to tell what speed I'd done. While I felt good and strong, I also relaxed a lot as I could just cycle and enjoy the scenery without having the "timer" in the background. No idea what speed I did but the 35kms flew by and I was disappointed to get home as I wanted to go further but a meeting in Limerick had me back in Clane to shower and change and drive down.

Have to admit I felt a bit "cheated" by not recording the spin as I felt that if its not recorded, it didn't happen🙄. Guess I've become a timer junkie. Need to wean myself off the timer and just cycle again.

If I need one of these non data type spins, I drop the Garmin into the back pocket (recording) and just cycle.

D13exile · 11-07-2017 06:02PM

Luxman wrote: »

If I need one of these non data type spins, I drop the Garmin into the back pocket (recording) and just cycle.

I hear you but if I know I'm recording the spin, I'll go hell for leather to beat the clock. While it's great how much my regular early morning spins have upped my speed and made me so much stronger on hills, they were becoming a chore always racing against the clock to see if I've gone faster. It's gotten so bad that if I did say 29.9kph instead of 30kph +, I'd feel like it was a wasted effort. That's wrong as it takes away from the enjoyment of just cycling and loving having the roads almost to yourself at the crack of dawn.

secman · 11-07-2017 06:38PM

D13exile wrote: »

Don't normally put my regular 6am spins up here but this morning was different. I left my phone behind in the house as each spin was turning into a time trial with me trying to go faster than the previous day. While my average speed has increased from 23kph two months ago to 30kph now, it's mentally exhausting trying to beat my previous time each day. So I left the phone behind so there was no point in killing myself for a new "best time" as there was no way to tell what speed I'd done. While I felt good and strong, I also relaxed a lot as I could just cycle and enjoy the scenery without having the "timer" in the background. No idea what speed I did but the 35kms flew by and I was disappointed to get home as I wanted to go further but a meeting in Limerick had me back in Clane to shower and change and drive down.

Have to admit I felt a bit "cheated" by not recording the spin as I felt that if its not recorded, it didn't happenðŸ™„. Guess I've become a timer junkie. Need to wean myself off the timer and just cycle again.

If I want to do a handy spin and not chase time, I call it my spin with ANNETTE, who is of course an imaginary person whom im going on a spin with at her pace.

Bloggsie · 12-07-2017 07:30AM

I have to say i was becoming a slave to the clock, it was doing my head in that i didnt go as fast of faster than the previous spin, just decided to go nucking futs, deleted bookface(nothing to do with this thread but I was on a roll) and decided to not be bothered by how long, how fast avg kmph and just enjoy cycling to and from work. I record them just so I can total my yearly kms so I can judge when things need to be changed, tyres etc.

RayCun · 12-07-2017 09:58AM

D13exile wrote: »

Have to admit I felt a bit "cheated" by not recording the spin as I felt that if its not recorded, it didn't happen🙄. Guess I've become a timer junkie. Need to wean myself off the timer and just cycle again.

have you ever heard of the 80:20 rule?
Most of your cycling (running, swimming, whatever) should be at an easy effort, and only some of it hard. So you can do the hard bits hard, and build volume on the easy stuff, rather than do everything at a kind-of-hard effort, not hard enough to improve much, too hard to do a lot of.

dinneenp · 12-07-2017 01:49PM

I love cycling but haven't cycled in way too long. Cycled to shop and back, only about 2km but delighted to get out in the saddle again. Promising myself I'll get back into it more now.

Borderfox · 12-07-2017 04:19PM

44km today in muggy weather, all good till I got on the Trim - Navan road and lots of lorries testing their minimum passing distance on me.

Somedude9 · 12-07-2017 05:54PM

Borderfox wrote: »

44km today in muggy weather, all good till I got on the Trim - Navan road and lots of lorries testing their minimum passing distance on me.

Funny, as I was up that way today and experienced the closest pass ever heading out of Trim in another direction by a big-ass truck hauling some JCB. The back of it came with a foot of me, scared the hell out of me, the bastard! :mad:

Borderfox · 12-07-2017 07:18PM

It was two of the large stone carrying 10 ton yokes with motorway maintenance on the back and was within a foot of me too. Didn't have the gopro on otherwise it would straight to the Gardaí with the footage

Somedude9 · 12-07-2017 07:28PM

Damn right, its scandalous carry on.

DominoDub · 12-07-2017 10:49PM

Tired in work so said must get out in this nice weather

So a spin out to Howth after rush hour was called for ..a strong east wind off the sea making progress slow out to Howth.

Had no plans to climb but said to myself I never did the hill from the harbour side so said feck it lets do it.

I just got going "Spinning Froome Style "on the steep bit when a car pulled out in front of me so a detour down a side lane required.

Got going again, all in all not as bad as starting from Sutton Cross.

Will do it again very soon with no car blocking my progress.

East wind was bit nicer on the way back into town:)

https://www.strava.com/activities/1080373967

secman · 12-07-2017 11:00PM

Went for a spin with Annette tonight , felt tired today, definitely slowed her up tonight , no harm in listening to your body now and again.
47.5 km avg 26.9 kph per Garmin.

Alanstrainor · 13-07-2017 09:25AM

I stuck a bell on my bike. I've had cheap/free bells before and found them useful for annoying pedestrians if they stray into the cycle track. Bought a Crane Mini-Suzu and god damn this thing is loud. People 100 meters away look at you when you ring it. Cars can here it in traffic. Granted it looks a bit ridiculous on my road bike but it is definitely useful! The only thing is that the handlebar mount is tiny. It looks like a mount that would only work on handlebars as wide as your finger. Had to cable tie it on.

Worth a buy for any commuters out there, and as an added bonus it doesn't rattle over bumps at all.

P_1 · 13-07-2017 08:53PM

Brace yourselves, this is gonna be a long one...

Just maybe an hour off the ferry now after a week spent touring across Wales and England. That was such a fantastic experience. I'll split the post into each day:

Day 1: Holyhead to Blaenau Ffestiniog. 94.6km, 1,092m elevation.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/1075820861
Relive: https://www.relive.cc/view/1075820861

Just glorious. Blue skies all day and maybe a gentle breeze to cool me down. The climb up the Crimea Pass right at the end was an absolute kicker but was so worth it for the views. The road into Betws-y-Coed was closed due to a bad looking car crash so I got to do a lovely diversion walk down a rocky path by a river.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWUw32Ehg9k/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWVVkMjBHaF/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWVV9GrhMxv/

Day 2: Blaenau Ffestiniog to Chester. 104.5km, 1,149m elevation.
Strava:https://www.strava.com/activities/1077141067
Relive: https://www.relive.cc/view/1077141067

Probably the highlight of the trip. A brutal climb to start with but the scenery and the fantastic isolation you were rewarded with were so worth the suffering. After a decent there was another climb up into the Denbigh Moors which was covered in cloud. Such a thrill cycling through it though the descent was bloody terrifying!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWXWR8Lhhp0/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWX28V8BAYl/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWX3ZlVh1P-/

Day 3: Chester to Hyde. 92.4km, 835m elevation.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/1078783054
Relive: https://www.relive.cc/view/1078783054

Without doubt the toughest day! Typical Cheshire weather, it lashed rain all day. Had a nice off road section featuring some Roman bridges at the start and possibly the best crepe I've ever had in my life (egg, ham and cheese). It really started teaming down just after I encountered the brown pants moment of an M6 interchange and it just kept raining. There's a town called Knutsford that now has a special place in hell reserved for it. Abandoned it just outside Stockport and got a cab to the hotel.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWZww9VB1oN/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWZ6ZouhNrj/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWajc3eh5ML/

Day 4: Hyde to Manchester. 32.6km. 175m elevation.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/1079861533
Relive: https://www.relive.cc/view/1079861533

Just a really touristy easy spin in the sunshine. Also found a gem of a vape shop in Ashton. Manchester city was quite pleasant to cycle in compared to Dublin. An epic, epic piss up happened that evening!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWcdcafhQlr/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWcmsHoB3p0/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWc0K3bhVRj/

Hopefully I'll still have something in the legs to join ye in Ticknock tomorrow and have a bash at a few legs of it!

D13exile · 13-07-2017 09:29PM

Ok so I relapsed back into timing myself this morning on my 6am spin from Clane to Allenwood (felt good), onto Kilmeague (felt knackered - I have a real mental block about this stretch of road), Kilmeague onto Naas (felt better and was fairly motoring after the slog before), and then onto Sallins and home. 40kms at an average of 31kph.

When I looked at the stats, the "slog" from Allenwood to Kilmeague was still done at 25kph even though I felt I was hardly moving. I hit 40kph on the flat stretch from Kilmeague to Naas! This is a straight boring as hell road but boy was I moving! Felt tired towards the end of the spin but no wonder after the push I'd put in to the cycle.

Ok, I'll leave the timer behind for my next spin on Saturday and concentrate on taking it easy. Might try for an easy 80-100kms in 3 1/2 hours or so. There was a time I'd be having nervous thoughts about that distance but not now. Great how some regular training helps you eat up the Kms.

15-07-2017 12:26PM

Did a loop round Enniskerry and back by the viewing point.

Worth avoiding Marlay park. Lots of pissed up teenagers and broken glass on the roads. One little dope intentionally jumped out in front of us as we were passing the park for a laugh. Interesting crowd this year..

wowy · 15-07-2017 04:31PM

Out to Howth and Malahide this morning. Serious tailwind along the coast road cycle track, so was doing a good pace. A pedestrian walking alongside the cycle track (with headphones in and looking down at phone obviously) stepped into my path to get down to the road. She never stopped looking at her phone to check if it was clear, and didn't hear me yelling at her. I just managed to swerve to avoid her and the wall by inches. When I looked back immediately afterwards she was gesticulating at me as if I was in the wrong. Sound of her. I hope the cat video she was watching was worth it.....

Unknown Soldier · 16-07-2017 07:22AM

RayCun wrote: »

have you ever heard of the 80:20 rule?
Most of your cycling (running, swimming, whatever) should be at an easy effort, and only some of it hard. So you can do the hard bits hard, and build volume on the easy stuff, rather than do everything at a kind-of-hard effort, not hard enough to improve much, too hard to do a lot of.

Call me old school but it's actually called, or more so originally called, Pareto's Law. Well back in the early 90s it was, mostly used for Inventory stuff.

Anyways, I have been enjoying staying offline for a few weeks, and concentrating of other aspects of life, which roughly translated means I have been catching up on a lot of box sets and films. I watch to quote my missus, " a pile of sh1te" And it doesnt help when she walks into the room and I am watching Blood Drive, and there is a bloke getting fed into a car engine

I also managed to squeeze in a 115km cycle last Saturday, which I was surprised with. Thought I'd die a death at about 70km, but was grand! Could have done more tbh, but it's hard to justify all that time on the bike to the missus! It's a fair chunk of a Saturday!

This week though I have been trying to get more sleep, trying... so I have been tootling in and out of work with a later than usual start of 7:30 am'ish. Me nerves were shot to sh1t, but I am managing OK. I'm not comfortable with doing my usual extended commutes of 24 odd km in with all the extra traffic on the road at that time versus 6:30am, so its 10/12 km either way. Still, it was 67 odd KM on the bike, so happy enough.

Hopefully I'll get out this morning too, if only to justify a Hillbilly's No3 Delux Burger later.

Best

Burger

Ever.

And I'm not a burger person!

coddlesangers · 16-07-2017 11:03AM

A lovely short spin this morning, 28km with 800m of a climb..

Still very slow but enjoying it.!

magicbastarder · 16-07-2017 12:49PM

Lovely morning for it in NCD; loads of cyclists out. Managed to get my first KOM, on an amusingly inconsequential little lane.

CrowdedHouse · 16-07-2017 01:02PM

A leisurely 40 km around NCT (and a bit of SWCL). Unfortunately the Sun didn't appear as much as I hoped and a bit of a thin breeze that felt I could use arm warmers at times.

New seasonal hazard of dodging random sods of turf on the roads!

Pleasant hour and a half or so all the same.

monkeyslayer · 16-07-2017 02:03PM

Belting down from glencree via djouce at approx 60kmph when three guys climbing three abreast brought me to a complete stop on a bend and even then the guy on the wrong side of the road didn't feel obliged to get in, somehow this fred felt I was in the wrong. Needless to say if I was in a car and had been a driver that didn't know any better at least two of them wouldv been dead. Some idiots out there.

Daroxtar · 16-07-2017 06:22PM

Cycled up to Sligo this morning from Longwood. Father in laws birthday so I set off ahead of the wife and figured she'd catch me along the way and I'd put bike in the car for the rest of the journey.
Tough tough spin. I was into a headwind all the way and it was getting worse as I was getting closer to the end. My legs were shredded by the end and I had a fair few moments where my resolve was tested.
Made it the first 100km to Carrick on Shannon without stopping and averaged almost exactly 30kmh for that so had a lovely coffee and banoffee for my efforts but I died a death on the rolling roads and increasing wind for the next 30 odd km past Boyle and up through the Curlews. Only got myself going again around Castlebaldwin.
That stretch after Castlebaldwin is horrible, no hard shoulder and loads of muppets flying past. I ended up cycling right in the middle of the lane for a couple of km where all the white crosses mark the places people have been killed. It worked out better for me tbh, people had to slow down then I swung in tight to let them safely past and then I pulled out wide again. I think in future I might take back roads around that area.

Continued on through Collooney and into Ballisodare and just as I turned into the in-laws driveway the wife arrived beside me. Great timing

153km with 740m climbing in 5:23@ an average of 28.5kmh. I'd genuinely say if I was going the other direction the wind would have taken a half hour off that.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1085965065

Oh ya, the birthday cake was nice

Wishbone Ash · 16-07-2017 06:37PM

magicbastarder wrote: »

... Managed to get my first KOM, on an amusingly inconsequential little lane.

It's a bit obscure alright. According to Strava I've done that lane dozens of times but I've no recollection of it as it has always been on a club ride.

I'll make a point of trying harder next time!

(BTW - Mercian Pro of this parish is just a few seconds behind you).

retalivity · 16-07-2017 07:08PM

Out ballinascorney, manor kilbride, lacken, ballysmuttan brittas and back. Got lost a few times, thought i knew those roads better...met a group with a man down waiting on an ambulance near manor kilbride, hope all went ok!

75k, 1080m climbing in 3h 8m.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1085957794

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

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