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Irish Gravel Routes (Check out my Gravel Tips)

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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,520 ✭✭✭Alek


    Ah c'mon, join us, you can bail out at some point in the worst case! I almost did it myself the last time ;)


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,477 ✭✭✭rollingscone


    Thanks for those links LennoxR!


  • Registered Users Posts: 414 ✭✭LennoxR


    Alek wrote: »
    Ah c'mon, join us, you can bail out at some point in the worst case! I almost did it myself the last time ;)


    I'll think about it! Thanks for the invite anyway.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,457 ✭✭✭ford2600


    De Bhál wrote: »
    thanks very much - I look forward to giving that one about Clonmel a go.

    Harvesting means a change at bottom of Ticincor; the new section is even nicer if somewhat steep.

    I'll post up revised route in a week or so.


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,685 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    @LennoxR, thanks for the routes, I've done most of them in bits and pieces though found myself walking on the section above Ballinscorney (starting here) and ended up coming out on Bridge road (after humping the bike over a number of locked gates) trying the Glencullen / Glencree section of the Wicklow way. I do variations of the Masseys / Hellfire as a regular lunch-time spin and a few loops of the reservoir as the lazy short option. I've tried to connect the trail that starts here with the Military road here twice now and bailed on both occasions, quite literally bogged down even when walking. While dead ends, both also make for nice short spins. While mostly back roads with a few gravel sections, starting at Red Lane there's a nice route to the Vale of Clara with some decent gravelly options, though the climb up from Clara bridge always kills me.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 414 ✭✭LennoxR


    smacl wrote: »
    @LennoxR, thanks for the routes, I've done most of them in bits and pieces though found myself walking on the section above Ballinscorney (starting here) and ended up coming out on Bridge road (after humping the bike over a number of locked gates) trying the Glencullen / Glencree section of the Wicklow way. I do variations of the Masseys / Hellfire as a regular lunch-time spin and a few loops of the reservoir as the lazy short option. I've tried to connect the trail that starts here with the Military road here twice now and bailed on both occasions, quite literally bogged down even when walking. While dead ends, both also make for nice short spins. While mostly back roads with a few gravel sections, starting at Red Lane there's a nice route to the Vale of Clara with some decent gravelly options, though the climb up from Clara bridge always kills me.


    My bike has very low gears so haven't had to walk on the Ballinascorney logging road, thankfully. Tough climb though.



    Re Glencullen/Prince William's Seat, what you need to do there, if you want to end up on Glencree road rather than Bridge Road/Devil's Elbow, is to take a right at the southern end of the loop of the fire road, climb over the gate and you will descend to Glencree Road via the Pet's cemetery.



    You will come out here onto a gravel road that comes down to Glencree road. Note: the gate is usually locked though. Emerge onto Glencree Road here.


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,685 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    LennoxR wrote: »
    My bike has very low gears so haven't had to walk on the Ballinascorney logging road, thankfully.

    My bike has plenty of low gears but the engine is a bit old and knackered and prone to seize in such conditions :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,457 ✭✭✭ford2600


    https://www.cxmagazine.com/cheap-gravel-bike-steel-vintage-road-bikes-60s-70s-80s

    One way of getting a cheap all road bike

    I love this bit taken from here; when I think I'm a contrary cnut I read some yacf to convince myself I'm most amenable :)
    https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=108800.msg2320225;topicseen#msg2320225

    "The Marin County hippies were very late to the party - mixed terrain cycling is as old as cycling itself, given what many roads were like at the start of the 20th century."
    Club riding in early 1900s Europe often included mixed terrain (called rough stuff or pass storming) as an integral part of typical routes. Early recreational cyclists would extend their biking range to include off-road cycling. "Evidence of how much rough stuff was viewed as an integral part of the experience for the touring cyclist can be found in the format of the BCTC (British Cycle Tourist Competition). Run by the CTC and inaugurated in 1952 until the late 1980s its aim was to find Britain's best tourist. Rough stuff riding was a key element and the organizers often went to great lengths to find awkward tracks, fords, etc. that would test a rider's skill."

    By the 1950s in Europe, bike clubs were formed specifically around mixed terrain and off-road touring. In Great Britain, a club called Rough Stuff Fellowship was formed around mixed terrain and off-road touring. "The history of the RSF goes way back to its foundation in 1955, long before anyone had ever heard of Marin County. It was formed by cyclists who wanted to get away from roads and cycle on tracks, and byways." The Rough Stuff Fellowship is still an active club today. France also had a mixed terrain club called Velo Cross Club Parisien formed between 1951 and 1956. Not content with cyclo-cross racing of the day, around twenty French cyclists modified their 650-b bikes for mixed and off-road travel.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_terrain_cycle_touring#History


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,685 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    Couldn't see myself getting far on loose gravel hills with those big chainrings up front. Currently repurposing my old hack as a skinflint MTB and really enjoying regular albeit short spins around Masseys, the Hellfire and Cruagh. The CX is mostly ok for this stuff too, but I don't have the confidence on it for handling heavily rooted bits, particularly clipped in. That said, it is orders of magnitude nicer on the road so will remain the main bike for the foreseeable future.

    Now if we could just organise an Irish version of L'Eroica, full Irish to start, pints of stout at the stops, high nellys and flat caps ;)


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,520 ✭✭✭Alek


    The CX is mostly ok for this stuff too, but I don't have the confidence on it for handling heavily rooted bits,

    Two rides in on the new Genesis Vagabond with 2.25 tyres and I have to admit the difference is massive. Confidence offroad +3 only due to the tyre volume/traction....


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  • Registered Users Posts: 641 ✭✭✭clod71


    Hey @ford thanks for all that...
    Do you think those are viable route to ride with a steel CX gate like a Surly Cross Check built with cantis and clinchers?
    I would have thought it would be ok, but since you highly recommended tubeless and discs, now I wonder...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,457 ✭✭✭ford2600


    clod71 wrote: »
    Hey @ford thanks for all that...
    Do you think those are viable route to ride with a steel CX gate like a Surly Cross Check built with cantis and clinchers?
    I would have thought it would be ok, but since you highly recommended tubeless and discs, now I wonder...

    Clinchers; I try a few and even with wide rims and 35mm tyres I couldn't find a pressure that gave me grip and avoided pinch flats. In about 6 months of 2/times per week riding but only a couple of k km riding I got more punctures than previous 5 years cycling.
    If its very dry you should be able to ride at pressure that avoids pinch flats but that horse may have bolted for this year!


    Cantis: I have cantis myself but my mtb has discs. Where I ride is lumpy as fcuk and cantis have two big disadvantages; performance and they are a complete pain to keep well set up. Not a deal breaker if you are aware of the performance short comings and are prepared to set them up, again and again!


  • Registered Users Posts: 641 ✭✭✭clod71


    ford2600 wrote: »
    Clinchers; I try a few and even with wide rims and 35mm tyres I couldn't find a pressure that gave me grip and avoided pinch flats. In about 6 months of 2/times per week riding but only a couple of k km riding I got more punctures than previous 5 years cycling.
    If its very dry you should be able to ride at pressure that avoids pinch flats but that horse may have bolted for this year!


    Cantis: I have cantis myself but my mtb has discs. Where I ride is lumpy as fcuk and cantis have two big disadvantages; performance and they are a complete pain to keep well set up. Not a deal breaker if you are aware of the performance short comings and are prepared to set them up, again and again!

    well, I need a new adventure bike then... :D


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,204 ✭✭✭a148pro



    Been exploring the back road up Three Rock and the route Alek mapped out from Masseys wood to Prince William's Seat lately and would love to do more.

    Anyone got a link to this route I'd like to try it? Know it on foot but if there's an off road alternative that's gravel bike friendly all the better


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,520 ✭✭✭Alek


    Roughly between 2km and 24km here:

    https://www.strava.com/routes/14112402

    :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 414 ✭✭LennoxR


    I wonder is anyone up for informal bunch rides on the gravel? Not as extreme as the Weevil though!


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,520 ✭✭✭Alek


    LennoxR wrote: »
    I wonder is anyone up for informal bunch rides on the gravel? Not as extreme as the Weevil though!

    I am! Whats the route and when?


  • Registered Users Posts: 414 ✭✭LennoxR


    Alek wrote: »
    I am! Whats the route and when?


    No plan yet! But if people are up for it, how about Saturday or Sunday?


    I have a route planned here for West Wicklow area?



    https://www.strava.com/routes/16251354


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,520 ✭✭✭Alek


    Looks class, im in if we can start very early, ill talk to the better half and get back to you.


  • Registered Users Posts: 414 ✭✭LennoxR


    Anyone else interested? Hypothetically even?


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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,520 ✭✭✭Alek


    I got a potential pass for half day, but for me it would be more like 80+km... can we meet past the Ballinascorney climb perhaps, as early as possible for you?

    (lets decide tomorrow / Friday whats the best day forecast-wise)


  • Registered Users Posts: 414 ✭✭LennoxR


    Alek wrote: »
    I got a potential pass for half day, but for me it would be more like 80+km... can we meet past the Ballinascorney climb perhaps, as early as possible for you?

    (lets decide tomorrow / Friday whats the best day forecast-wise)


    Ok, we could probably cut out the Saggart loop to make it a bit shorter.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,204 ✭✭✭a148pro


    LennoxR wrote: »
    Anyone else interested? Hypothetically even?

    I would be, but quite hypothetically - I generally go at last minute when I get free in work, weekends focussed on kids

    Plus meeting random internet types on lonely forest roads probably inadvisable; )

    But please post any routes you do and I will do likewise

    Ps the book above in the thread is excellent, and not just for gravel


  • Registered Users Posts: 414 ✭✭LennoxR


    It turns out I can't do this weekend after all actually, sorry about that Alek. But will definitely come back on this.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,520 ✭✭✭Alek


    No problem, it turns out my kiddos got ill and I'd better stay with them over the weekend... stay tuned though :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 6 SteelyC


    Great thread, thanks to everybody who has shared their suggestions of places to ride.

    I’ve just moved back home after living in England where I was spoilt by having a huge network of lovely bridleways to ride on, so it’s really useful to have these ideas of places to ride here, will be checking them out.

    I can’t contribute any suggestions here yet as I haven’t found much around Carlow yet (other than Coillte forest roads), but in case any of you are interested there are some great off-road sportive/races/events in the UK which are worth a look - last year I was at True Grit in North Yorkshire and it looked amazing (I only rode a short section as I had the baby in the trailer, but my other half did it and loved it) and I’ve just entered Dirty Reiver for next year, I’ve ridden on some of those forest roads in Northumberland and it is absolutely beautiful there.

    Anyway, thanks again to all the people who have put such useful info up here!


  • Registered Users Posts: 489 ✭✭timmyjimmy


    This offroad event in the UK looks like mighty fun:

    http://www.bikepacking.com/event/surly-dorset-gravel-dash-2018/


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,204 ✭✭✭a148pro


    SteelyC wrote: »

    I can’t contribute any suggestions here yet as I haven’t found much around Carlow yet (other than Coillte forest roads), !

    Check out barrow tow path - think it goes past or certainly near carlow? All the way off road from thomas town to dublin. Probably very linear but I've heard its beautiful and hope to knock it off in due course.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,836 ✭✭✭De Bhál


    a148pro wrote: »
    Check out barrow tow path - think it goes past or certainly near carlow? All the way off road from thomas town to dublin. Probably very linear but I've heard its beautiful and hope to knock it off in due course.

    yep The Barrow way goes through Carlow. The Barrow doesn't go through Thomastown though. The track starts in Saint Mullin's, Carlow and from there you could cycle the whole way to Dublin.

    I did Graiguenmanagh to Athy during the summer and loved it, so relaxing to be away from traffic and on the bike for for 4 or 5 hours.
    From recollection there were no gates to lift the bike over and getting through Carlow was a bit haphazard as there were no signs telling you which side of the river to follow but other than that a great day.


    DSC-0588.jpg



    DSC-0589.jpg


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  • Registered Users Posts: 2,204 ✭✭✭a148pro


    Might be best to take our posts and your pics down - keep it quiet!

    Route in the book suggests you leave the route and go to thomastown to get train back I think that's why I have it confused. Also says the bit to the end is a dead end but beautiful. Think you can also cycle over to the wexford - dublin line.


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