Ardgillan this week....

bcmf

Thinking of hitting the Ardgillan trail in the morn or Wed/Thurs lunch/ early pm if anyone wants to join the fun.

RobFowl

bcmf wrote: »

Thinking of hitting the Ardgillan trail in the morn or Wed/Thurs lunch/ early pm if anyone wants to join the fun.

Thursday is good for me !

Lawdie

Would love to head out but cant get time off work! Need the funds, sorry

Lusk Doyle

Ha! Enjoy the descent!!! It was hairy enough there last week with the wind and rain - add the ice / snow / slush and mix for an interesting outcome!

bcmf

Lusk Doyle wrote: »

Ha! Enjoy the descent!!! It was hairy enough there last week with the wind and rain - add the ice / snow / slush and mix for an interesting outcome!

Its a great descent. Really tests the balance and bike handling. Some people have even been known to take their feet off the pedals to aid balance!!!! Should be interesting with a bit of ice and snow for sure.

GlennaMaddy

max Speed 5mph :-(

Lawdie

Might be a possible for Thursday... will not know until that morning.

bcmf

Glennamaddy were you up there today?
Will see what its like on Thurs as at the mo the roads are literally frozen solid. Getting up there wouldnt be a prob getting back down would be treachorous!!!!

RobFowl

bcmf wrote: »

Getting up there wouldnt be a prob getting back down would be treachorous!!!!

Treacherous but quick

shaungil

was out for an hour last night all over Skerries. Roads fine totally thawed. More hardy than hard and very blowy around the head. Good fun though. No sign of anyone else though

cdaly_

Any good snow covered slopes out that way?

<me is making tobbogans out of skateboards at the mo>...

bcmf

was up there for an hour today and was dissappointling scarce on the 'snow on the ground'. Only seemed to be on the descent which made it fun.
As I sort of predicated earlier in the thread its the descent back down to Balrothery which was tricky and indeed i went on my hole and slid about 20ft down the road.
Had thought about going down 'The New Lane' instead but abandonded that idea after about 10ft.
Still will prob venture up 2morrow aft.

Lawdie

What time and where is this happening? Might just make this today

RobFowl

Schools closing means I'm stuck minding the little 'uns

bcmf

Lawdie wrote: »

What time and where is this happening? Might just make this today

Lawdie, I may just have to put my senisible hat on today and say that it may not be worth it. If I do it will be a last min decision. where are you coming from?

Lawdie

bcmf wrote: »

Lawdie, I may just have to put my senisible hat on today and say that it may not be worth it. If I do it will be a last min decision. where are you coming from?

About 8km from Ardgillian. Yep pretty mad out there!!

midonogh

Anyone fancy a few laps around Ardgillan tomorrow morning in lieu of the Swords 8.30 spin? MTB or cyclo-cross bikes?

bcmf

may fancy it alrite. Should be pretty white up there now.

RobFowl

Tomorrow would be good. What time? and Cross or MTB?? I'd favour MTB's at the moment..

bcmf

early but not too early.

midonogh

I was thinking 9am. The missus expects me to be gone at that time every Saturday

bcmf

Is the park open at 9am?

bcmf

not open till 10am.http://www.fingalcoco.ie/CommunityRecreationandAmenitiesDepartment/Parks/ParksHeritageProperties/ArdgillanDemesneRegionalPark/

even if we did 'ahem' get in before then the wardens would have a ****e haemmorage if they caught us.

midonogh

10am on my MTB then. I will text Robfowl is there is any deviation from that
Cheers

bcmf

sounds good for me. Meet up in the top carpark?

midonogh

Goodstuff. Are the roads up to it cycleable? I have 4x4 if anyone wants a lift from Balrothery or Skerries?

bcmf

should be as the roads seem to be thawing out.Will take a drive up there later and let you know

bcmf

The road up from Balrothery is ok till about halfway up then deteriorates. From cross of the cage all the way down Killalane is lethal.

Lawdie

Is this going ahead for 10am?

midonogh

Shaungil and I will be there. No snow/ice in Skerries

bcmf

well I am up and having my brekkie so good chance I will be there. Havent heard from Rob Fowl yet.

RobFowl

Lawdie wrote: »

Is this going ahead for 10am?

Yes

bcmf

Enjoyable morning. Though did get very slippery as the morning worn on. Looks like I forgot to bring my sense of balance out with me . Certainly the lungs got a decent workout.

Lawdie

Great session and a nice cup of tea afterwards with the gentry. Even though I was the only one getting through the Caburys Shortcakes!

Thanks again, stick up the photos when you get a chance.

midonogh

Its a great bit of circuit. Great downhill and quite tricky in the snow, loads of fun across the bottom and then a big pull back up to the top to meet Shaungils misery requirement. Anyone know where he gets his pat the baker overshoes? I have to get a pair of those for Christmas.

RobFowl

Post coffee stop

BCMF suggests more pain

The end is nigh

Bessy gets a break

BCMF finally takes my advice on tyre pressures....

RobFowl after Raam's fashion advice.....

themoney

Hi lads,

That looks like a good laught. I would love to head today for a spin.
Would you be able to give me some direction on how to get started onto the trail. I will be coming from lusk. I assume the carpark is the best place to start.

Cheers
Mark

Beasty

themoney wrote: »

Hi lads,

That looks like a good laught. I would love to head today for a spin.
Would you be able to give me some direction on how to get started onto the trail. I will be coming from lusk. I assume the carpark is the best place to start.

Cheers
Mark

Yes, start in the main car-park. The trail is signposted - it's clockwise. Head towards the castle from the car park, and at the top of the hill the road heads down to the castle, and the trail starts to the left

themoney

That's great cheers for the quick reply.
One last question how long does it take


Thank again
Mark

Beasty

themoney wrote: »

That's great cheers for the quick reply.
One last question how long does it take


Thank again
Mark

It's only about 3km in length, so should not take too long for a circuit

It was never designed to be anything technical - it's simply a trail around the park that they put in place when the opened it up to cyclists earlier this year. Having said that, there is quite a slope, as it starts about 100m above sea level, then descends to near the coast before climbing back up to near the car park.

bcmf

@ themoney: when we were there yest it started off nice and soft and snowy but y the 3rd lap it had become very very slippery. Excercise a little bit of caution. Also on the approach roads to the castle I would imagine to be very slippery.

Lawdie

Cheers for the photos. We had just come out of the nice warm coffee shop after 4 laps. So if anyone thinks I'm smiling its actually the earlier sweat meeting an ice cold air. But as noted, BCMF sorted that out by running us UP the slippery section. Nice one

bcmf

well we were riding the tracks so no more of this tarmac nonsense (well that and I knew there was no way the wardens were gonna out of their warm place to chase us and tell us we were going the wrong way).
And at least I had the dignity of falling off going downhill whereas RobFowl had the indignity of falling off going uphill

themoney

Thanks everybody for the replies unfortunately my mates chickened out so I never made it out but I'll try to get out next weekend.