My spin today...

Went out in the Ballyhouras on Monday,hike up Seefin then back down to join the Green loop.

Was my first time taking my new Meta Ht off of the official trails,have to say was well impressed with it. Great handling and no problems on the rougher stuff, great bike on the smoother flowy trails too, highly recommend if anyone is thinking of getting one.

Did have one off alright when bombing down a grassy trail,went over the bars after front wheel went into a hidden hole! Don't know how,but managed to clear the bike and stayed on my feet,running until I come to a stop!

Went for a spin in Ballinastoe over the weekend. Trails in good nick, riding well. No one about really. They're doing some work on new trails. If anyone knows the trail that leads to the gulley at the bottom of Ballinastoe, it ends at the road and was Stage 3 I think on some of the Enduros there - that's being worked on and will go from unofficial to official. Good to see trails being expanded.

Don't get too excited lads, thats going to be a new mellow climbing trail to bypass the chairlift climb. Snakes its way over towards start of cool runnings.

Yep, unfortunately so. But there are plans for a black trail following a similar line to the most recent stage 4. I think there is also a red coming down from the top too, not sure on route though.

Coillte are having a webinar tomorrow, Tuesday, regarding the new trail networks around the country.

Would you believe I totally forgot about it! Strange didn't see any links being shared on social media last night about it.

Good stuff,will try to catch that

Will give it a listen on drive to work tomorrow.Not sure if there is a reference in that recording but heard Ballyhouras have the go ahead for a new red/blue trail, planned to be up and running early next year

Making it look easy.

Definitely wait till it dries. Did it once when it was nearly dry. Took about 5 minutes to talk myself into the drop in. Its awkward as you need to turn sharply on fairly steep slope. after that, the long chute was the toughest bit I thought, it was bit wet there and very hard to control speed. Rest was.. manageable, chuffed that I cleaned so much of it tbh. Awesome trail.

its hugely sketchy. I think that video shows the difficulty well. though still not the steepness. they manage their speed well. they are obviously a decent level of rider and you can see how gingerly they are taking it.

Its just a shame you have to go up the red road to get to them. I find it hard to remember them as I don't hit them frequently enough with the climb to get to them.

They appear to shine brighter with each day I grow older and lazier 😂

I've only been getting back into the MTB recently and being based on the northside am a bit removed from decent trails. I headed down to Ballinastoe yesterday for the first time in years and loved it - although I realised very quickly how limited my skills are :( As is my fitness and as I got more fatigued I could feel myself making more mistakes on the descents. I was really surprised at how busy it was, we arrived while it was still dark and loads of people were parked up waiting for daylight to break through. Great to see though and really shows that if you build it they will come...

Some nice new additions to existing trails in Ballinastoe rather than brand new trails (excluding the new climbing trail which I'm unsure about. Same with the new end to cool runnings, a bit meh imo). The new berms at the end of house bound are fantastic though.

Regarding the amount of people around, I've noticed a lot more walkers parking in Ballinastoe lately which can cause parking to become scarce even with the addition of the inner spaces at the weekends. But the first few weekends in January were always busy.

Re: Ticknock you can park at Lamb Doyles if you think the carpark is going to be busy, means cycling up the main road or go up around the back way which is a tough climb too but at least off road