It's not raining, anyone on for a spin today?

blorg

We may have a window of opportunity Thinking of leaving Sandyford area around 5-6pm for something short up the mountains?

Chips Lovell

I gave up on the weather on Monday night and admitted defeat. I'll try and race tomorrow night but, aside from that, I won't get on the bike until I get to Spain on Saturday. I'll try and post pictures to make the rest of you jealous.

penexpers

Don't try too hard

Chips Lovell

Actually, my avatar pic was taken in Spain. Note the clear blue sky.

FrankGrimes

Mmm, this could be just what I need to get me out of work at a decent time for once. I wouldn't be able to stay with you on the mountains though blorg, but I have a call from 5-6pm and could drop off early to be out of the building by 6pm if that suits?

blorg

Sounds good. You may well be able to keep up today, I won't be going over 30-35km/h. At ANY point.

FrankGrimes

Grand, whereabouts in Sandyford do you want to meet, I'll be coming from right beside the Sandyford Luas stop?

blorg

I can meet you there at 18:00 and head out by Leopardstown roundabout/Stepaside if that suits?

FrankGrimes

Sounds good, see you there.

emty

Want to go out tonight but can see a heavy dose of rain coming over the mountains right now.Am going to wait a few minutes until it passes.

fish-head

I'm stuck at home this evening..

emty

God help me but I can't even keep up with Blorg on a fixie!(him,not me)My shame know's no end:(.Having said that,its a super bike and a joy to ride.Good spin tonight,weather held up,am glad I went out.Kudos to Frank Grimes who put in a huge effort to stay on Blorgs wheel.

FrankGrimes

I haven't suffered on a bike like I did tonight for a long, long time. Probably a combination of things but I really suffered from start to finish and was shocked at just how little energy and strength I had.

Even when I got down the descent and was back on flat I was only able to limp home to a badly needed shower to thaw out my numb feet.

Lesson learned though: I was on a high after doing better than expected on Sunday, but this brought me back down to earth and showed me I need to be well prepared and pysched to be tackling the hills, and if I'm going to be able to do that kind of spin on a weekday after work I need to cop that I've to build up to it gradually.

There was actually a point there I thought I'd have to get off the bike so I'm happy I battled through, albeit incredibly slowly, though I did feel bad for the delay I caused to blorg and emty - sorry again lads.

But I'm going to chalk it down as a valuable experience and not beat myself up about it - by hook or by crook I totalled 55km today aso forgetting the poor performance, most importantly it's a few more miles under the belt. Appreciate the wise words of advise from both emty and blorg.

That is a lovely fixie you have there blorg and a smashing price too - you're a beast of a man to be going up those hills on a fixie at that pace!

blorg

Great spin lads, if a bit wet and bloody freezing in places. Emty is being very kind with his account, it was touch and go a few times on the ascents with heart rate higher than I have ever seen it before and barely keeping up with him; I lagged well behind on the descents (a fixie will certainly teach you a high cadence there!)

FrankGrimes and myself left from Sandyford and went the W200 route up to Glencree; he was probably dressed a bit better for the weather than me! We were not even into the forest yet when Emty called to say he was at the viewpoint and what seemed like only moments later he was down to us.

Route/Elevation:



Emty tried out my new fixie and then took a very accomplished photo of me coming over the Military Road:



I am completely converted to the fixed gear thing BTW, forget the triple, derailleurs (and freewheels!) are yesterday's news. RIP Tullio Campagnolo.

blorg

FrankGrimes wrote: »

I haven't suffered on a bike like I did tonight for a long, long time.

That is a lovely fixie you have there blorg and a smashing price too - you're a beast of a man to be going up those hills on a fixie at that pace!

Frank you were no delay at all; I was getting up the hills a bit faster (there isn't much of a choice with a fixie) but you were waiting for me after the descents! We weren't waiting for you long at all at the top of the climbs either.

We all have days when we feel a bit weak and it just isn't happening, I too have got these soon after a performance I was particularly happy with (and your performance on Sunday was excellent!) But I would think you did very well tonight indeed.

Chips Lovell

Fair play to ye for getting out. That's a class photo. How did emty get the angle?

blorg

el tonto wrote: »

Fair play to ye for getting out. That's a class photo. How did emty get the angle?

It is good, isn't it. Severe crouching bordering on lying on the road was involved along with suppresion of the flinch reflex as I headed for him

Chips Lovell

Yes, I love cycling photos taken from a low angle like that, especially ones of riders cornering on descents, like this. Perhaps we can devote some time of a Saturday spin to us all getting cool shots of ourselves?

Raam

el tonto wrote: »

Yes, I love cycling photos taken from a low angle like that, especially ones of riders cornering on descents, like this. Perhaps we can devote some time of a Saturday spin to us all getting cool shots of ourselves?

Ha, that's actually my background right now! Got it from the post with those pics on Boston Globe that someone posted a while back.
As I'm sure many others have done

unionman

el tonto wrote: »

Perhaps we can devote some time of a Saturday spin to us all getting cool shots of ourselves?

Or just photoshop our faces on to those lads in that pic?:D

Can't believe you did that spin on a fixie blorg! No, actually I can come to think of it. Looks great, delighted to hear you're a convert!!