Beaten by the Mountain

neris

Decided as part of my route today around Wicklow to Cycle up to the Sally Gap over Lough Tae. Got about 3/4s of the way to the lake and had to turn back. Had no power in my legs for the climb and it just wrecked my head and my cycle. Was looking to do around 100k but only got in 70k. :mad:

Esroh

Some Days you do some days you dont. Thats what keeps you going back out onthe bike;)

ktz84

Get your gearing right or learn to pace it better

buzzingnoise

Try again tomorrow and eat more.

brayblue24

The Sally Gap is not easy but keep going-you'll get there.

And when you do it's a great feeling

neris

I did get up to it earlier in my cycle from Glendalough up Military Road but wanted to give it a go up and over the lake. and back down to Glendalough.

manwithaplan

The Lough Tay side is probably the toughest but if you managed it from the Laragh direction, you will get up it alright. Give it another go.

Edit: Missed "earlier in my cycle" - in fairness, doing it twice in one run is tough.

Ant

If I run out of power while climbing a hill, I generally prefer to get off and walk the bike to the top of the hill while eating*. After that, I'm always fine to continue onwards. Then again, I'm not a Euro cyclists and I don't care (much) about being seen doing the "walk of shame".

*May not be an option if you wear SPD-SLs or other road cleats.

brayblue24

manwithaplan wrote: »

The Lough Tay side is probably the toughest but if you managed it from the Laragh direction, you will get up it alright. Give it another go.

Edit: Missed "earlier in my cycle" - in fairness, doing it twice in one run is tough.

+1

Doing it once from the Lough Tay side (I also think that's the toughest) is hard enough but twice is maybe a bridge too far if you're inexperienced but it'll come. Can't fault your bottle though:)

smithwicks

I had tourists egging me on yesterday on Lough Tay side. A bit embarrassing, and i'm glad no other cyclists seen what looked like a king of the mountains type scene!

neris

Some of those replies made me feel a little better about it until I saw the route again for the orwell cycle next Sunday .

Should also say thanks to the guy in the Toyota who drove by me and then turned around to see was I ok when i was off the bike "resting" my legs

**Timbuk2**

Oh hills! I did a 100km cycle on Thursday, on the exact route of the Tour of Louth, and there is a nasty enough hill at Jenkinstown, Magic Hill way (probably nothing compared to the Sally Gap though!) and I was finding it very tough going - I was nearly in the lowest (granny) gear going very slowly.

An enjoyable cycle though!

BeepBeep67

Cylced tro Ashford - Devil's Glen - Annamoe last week, nearly killed me as the hr topped 170 going past the Devil's Glen needed some lower gears

Arthurdaly

Keep hammering away man, eventually you will power over the sally gap and wonder what all the fuss was about!! Give it time and get lots of miles in your legs!

gerardduff

170 is a normal HR going hard on a bike. Going up hill is going hard regardless of fitness level. The fitter you are the faster you go...to misquote G LeMond. You can better sustain that level of HR the more you get up there.

DirkVoodoo

gerardduff wrote: »

170 is a normal HR going hard on a bike.

It's entirely dependent on the individual.