Tell us about your cycle Yesterday.

Carpenter

Cadence Cadence Cadence

not yet

Dunboyne-Asbourne Haircut- Dunboyne...

Forecast for sunshine got damp-gloomy-foggy instead.

jgreene83

So day off today not much to do until the later afternoon. On a whim decided to do a 61km spin around north Kildare (my longest distance yet). Celbridge, up Athgoe Hill and Oughterard, set a personal record on both. Then off to Straffan, Clane, Kilcock, Maynooth, Leixlip and back home. Started to feel a little tired between Maynooth and Leixlip but got a burst of energy which got me home. Felt really good, legs are tired now but more importantly took 2 hrs 12 mins with an average speed of 27.6km/h. Time for a steak and a can!!

http://www.strava.com/activities/120267795

mossym

likewise, day off, but taken with the aim of getting a ride in. spin around clare, killaloe to tuamgraney, onto tulla, down to sixmilebridge, cratloe, meelick and back to killaloe. 88km in just over the 3 hours. lovely spin, never warmed up like i thought it would but no complaints, wasnt too cold at any point. hopefully get another long spin in the weekend

http://www.strava.com/activities/120253231

Amprodude

This week:

Monday 26km to work and back

Tuesday 65km

Wednesday 52km

Thursday 71km

tunguska

Unfortunately no tale of the glorious outdoors and nature today, just a story of something that happened on my commute to work this morning.
I work in the city centre and luckily enough theres only two days a week that I have to be in before 9am, friday & saturday. Saturday morning is fine because the traffic is very light but friday mornings are a bit of a nightmare, especially at the kevin st junction. I hate that stretch of road, it can be pretty dangerous. So This morning I was heading up in the direction of DIT, trying to get in lane to go right. The lane itself was free but there was a big ass truck blocking me from getting into the lane, so I went to the left of the truck and weaved through a bit of traffic..........or attempted to. Im normally pretty good at judging gaps and wing mirrors and that kind of thing but this morning as I tried to shimmy between two cars I clipped the wing mirror of the car to the left of me. Clip is a conservative term really, I gave it a good whack to be honest. The mirror bent forward and I thought I'd broken it completely but lucky enough It was ok, It sprang back into place and the mirror itself wasnt damaged. Anyway at this stage I expected the driver to lose the plot and start screaming at me, which she had every right to do, I was 100% in the wrong. Instead her reaction wasnt what I expected at all, she rolled down her window, smiled at me and asked if I was ok. I had hit myself in the balls with the handle bars of the rothar when they swung around after clattering the mirror so she could see I was in a bit of pain, but still her reaction blew me away, she was just so kind and calm, its not what you expect when you lash someone's wing mirror out of it. I couldnt believe it and fair play to her, she was probably the calmest, nicest person I've ever met on the roads.
Its crazy though, about 10minutes before this I was almost hit by a driver who was on the phone and not paying attention to anybody else. It was only because I saw that he was distracted that I slowed down and gave him a wide berth, and didnt end up getting creamed. I was thinking that theres nothing but dick heads like this on the roads, that people just dont give a sh1t about anybody else. But then I get to see the flipside of that and it kind of restores your faith in people.

ozzy jr

Had a private Bus company pass me with only inches to spare and I mean inches, on the way into Dublin City centre on the N1 just past Whitehall Church.

It's only when he passed me I realised how close his wing mirror came to whacking me on the head.

It gave me a bit of a fright.

I took a photo of the bus on my mobile when I caught up with it and emailed the company. I'll see what they have to say.

crosstownk

Up the Embankment to Sally Gap, on to Glencullen and into Enniskerry then home. Jebus, the wind on the mountain was strong. 70km in total which is my longest spin to date and I'm happy with that.

My mate lost his watch on the Tallaght bypass near Whitestown Industrial Estate. I heard something fall but we weren't missing anything obvious. He noticed his watch missing when we got home. It's probably crushed to bits by now but on the off chance that anyone reading this picked it up, please PM me.

stejohn63

everything readied, bike cleaned and oiled, OH at hairdressers, weather perfect. Got going...no legs, died a death on every little climb. virtually sat up after about 10k. ended up doing a lumpy 51k at 24kmh average. Had felt bad on the bike before but never on such a nice day. Might need to revise the plan for 94k on Monday....still glad I did it:.

t'bear

Tour de Meath. 124k avg 30k. Dropped and limped the last 20k home. Rugby on now. Good day

Felloffmebike

Around 60k with Moynalty CC. Nice bit of climbing up some of the hills of Meath and Cavan and then a hectic gallop home for the last 5k. Great way to spend a Saturday morning..

Scrappy600

37k of hunting for some new strava segments to play with around maynooth and leixlip. Found lots. Killed my legs on the hills though. Feeling it now like never before.

wirelessdude01

Scrappy600 wrote: »

37k of hunting for some new strava segments to play with around maynooth and leixlip. Found lots. Killed my legs on the hills though. Feeling it now like never before.

Only hill or any note is Captains Hill in Leixlip and that isn't long enough to be considered a hill really. The rest are really just inclines/drags

sullzz

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Only hill or any note is Captains Hill in Leixlip and that isn't long enough to be considered a hill really. The rest are really just inclines/drags

Ah but the captains hill can be a pig at the end of a long cycle

lukegjpotter

Abbey to Galway for a Burrito - 32km

Left Abbeyknockmoy with a venture to Galway in mind. My buddy, Chaz, was available so I arranged to meet him.
There was a lot of climbing and an ever present headwind. I just put my head down and went.
Apart from a few close passes, there was nothing eventful about the trip.

http://www.strava.com/activities/120899556/overview

wirelessdude01

sullzz wrote: »

Ah but the captains hill can be a pig at the end of a long cycle

Ohh I know or even the rise up by the church on the way to Maynooth can be a killer at the end of a long cycle as well!!!!

lukegjpotter

Cycle Against Suicide recon work for stage 7.5 - Galway to Tuam - 32.km

I have the Cycle Against Suicide coming up in about eight weeks, on the May Bank Holiday. Ennis - Galway - Tuam is one of the stages.
I had previously cycled from Lackagh to Tuam, there's only the Rusheen's climb there, nothing much to worry about.
I wanted to seek out the Galway to Lackagh part of the route. There was a bit of climbing, long shallow ones, but I was aided by a little bit of a tail wind.
I really enjoyed the journey and it was a great feather in my cap to travel to Galway and back under my own steam.

http://www.strava.com/activities/120899539/overview

* This ride was powered by a Boojum Burrito.

sullzz

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Ohh I know or even the rise up by the church on the way to Maynooth can be a killer at the end of a long cycle as well!!!!

Yeah from the village up to Louisa bridge can be a long drag after a big spin I've been known to have to get up out of the saddle to keep moving

Scrappy600

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Only hill or any note is Captains Hill in Leixlip and that isn't long enough to be considered a hill really. The rest are really just inclines/drags

Did Captains hill for the first time today, actually thought it would be worse than it was. Got up handy enough. The rest are hills to me, a fat short arse doesn't climb well!

wirelessdude01

Scrappy600 wrote: »

Did Captains hill for the first time today, actually thought it would be worse than it was. Got up handy enough. The rest are hills to me, a fat short arse doesn't climb well!

Over Athgoe and Ardclough areas there are some short sharp hills.

sullzz

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Over Athgoe and Ardclough areas there are some short sharp hills.

Yep , love them

Unknown Soldier

Cycling crushed me today!

Luckily it was very early on in my spin, about 5km in. On reflection is was mostly physcological. I just didn't know the hill and didn't know when it would end, nor could I see the end.

Now that I do know it, I still wouldn't be able to do it in one go but I'd make a damn better attempt at it! On Strava it is called the Bohernabreena Rd. ascent btw.

I walked my bike up part of it. I'm not ashamed now but I was at the time.

I actually ended up doing a few hills on the spin and they were OK, tough'ish but I could see the top of them and could pace myself, knowing there was an end in sight but I couldn't with the first one. I even did the Three Sisters (is meant to be tough'ish?) and didn't realise it till I saw it on Strava.


I think the cycling gods took pity on me. In my misery after the first hill, while ascending Butter Mountain? A lass came down the other side of the road, she had very long blond hair down to her waist and was on the best matched bike/outfit I have seen to-date. There was a lot of white going on but the whole ensemble looked magnificent. Absolutely magnificent. The kit might have came with the bike or something.
Her beaming smile which was probably her laughing at the state of me, lifted my spirits tbh.

Anyways, it was my first spin out in the countryside and I finished up with 71km for the day. It was a lovely spin, once I got over the iffy start.

Special props to the cyclist who overtook me on the Naas side of Blessington. I was deep in my thoughts and you just "appeared" beside me. You scared the living sh1t out of me. I actually cursed and said that out loud but I don't think you noticed.

Wishbone Ash

ozzy jr wrote: »

Had a private Bus company pass me with only inches to spare and I mean inches, on the way into Dublin City centre on the N1 just past Whitehall Church.

It's only when he passed me I realised how close his wing mirror came to whacking me on the head.

It gave me a bit of a fright.

I took a photo of the bus on my mobile when I caught up with it and emailed the company. I'll see what they have to say.

Could I hazard a guess that it's a Monaghan based bus company?

morana

had a decent spin today. first since LPB's spin. Went over howth and told myself "right real easy gears just spin up it slowly" of course a rider passes me out and sure I had to jump on the wheel. I let him go over the top of the first hill. Another lad caught me near the summit but I was able to catch him before the village...

nice day all round about 2h30m...maybe more tomorrow

Wishbone Ash

morana wrote: »

.. first since LPB's spin...

Jesus, when was that October?

(I had a nice chat with you on that spin just before you dropped your coffee money along the road :eek:).

zl1whqvjs75cdy

My first ever cycle today. 25km with average speed 22km/hr. Not exactly setting the world alight I know but we all gotta start somewhere.

Took a break at the half way point and was ready to flog the bike on the side of the road. My arse, hands and back were in bits. Got some feeling back in my behind and turned for home.

Whatever it was it all seemed to click on the way home and I loved it. My neck is a bit tired now but I felt great walking in the door. Could have done another ten km i feel but didn't wanna kill myself as I'm going tomorrow.

Couple of novice observations. Drivers are mostly arseholes. If I could comfortably reach in the passage window and whip the phone out of the drivers hand they are passing too close. Passing at insane speeds is also a bit of a shock.

Second I can't wait to get clip in pedals. My feet were slipping a bit today. I have the shoes and pedals but can't change the pedals myself. Don't have the wrench.

Last, Jesus hills you wouldn't even notice in the car become a bit torturous on a bike. O and Irish road surfaces are horrendous.

But the main thing is I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to getting out again tomorrow. Hopefully the weather picks up a bit.

sullzz

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

My first ever cycle today. 25km with average speed 22km/hr. Not exactly setting the world alight I know but we all gotta start somewhere.

Took a break at the half way point and was ready to flog the bike on the side of the road. My arse, hands and back were in bits. Got some feeling back in my behind and turned for home.

Whatever it was it all seemed to click on the way home and I loved it. My neck is a bit tired now but I felt great walking in the door. Could have done another ten km i feel but didn't wanna kill myself as I'm going tomorrow.

Couple of novice observations. Drivers are mostly arseholes. If I could comfortably reach in the passage window and whip the phone out of the drivers hand they are passing too close. Passing at insane speeds is also a bit of a shock.

Second I can't wait to get clip in pedals. My feet were slipping a bit today. I have the shoes and pedals but can't change the pedals myself. Don't have the wrench.

Last, Jesus hills you wouldn't even notice in the car become a bit torturous on a bike. O and Irish road surfaces are horrendous.

But the main thing is I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to getting out again tomorrow. Hopefully the weather picks up a bit.

If your neck and back are sore you might need a proper bike fitting service carried out , also get a decent pair of cycling shorts/ leggings to protect your ass a really good pair will make the world of a difference. Stick with it and well done .

lennymc

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

My first ever cycle today. 25km with average speed 22km/hr. Not exactly setting the world alight I know but we all gotta start somewhere.

Took a break at the half way point and was ready to flog the bike on the side of the road. My arse, hands and back were in bits. Got some feeling back in my behind and turned for home.

Whatever it was it all seemed to click on the way home and I loved it. My neck is a bit tired now but I felt great walking in the door. Could have done another ten km i feel but didn't wanna kill myself as I'm going tomorrow.

Couple of novice observations. Drivers are mostly arseholes. If I could comfortably reach in the passage window and whip the phone out of the drivers hand they are passing too close. Passing at insane speeds is also a bit of a shock.

Second I can't wait to get clip in pedals. My feet were slipping a bit today. I have the shoes and pedals but can't change the pedals myself. Don't have the wrench.

Last, Jesus hills you wouldn't even notice in the car become a bit torturous on a bike. O and Irish road surfaces are horrendous.

But the main thing is I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to getting out again tomorrow. Hopefully the weather picks up a bit.

well done - we all have to start somewhere

godtabh

135km Dublin to Athlone. Absolutely miserable. Strong head wind from start to finish meant I was on the bike for 5.5 hours.

Did my good deed for the day. Some one on a sportive had a blow out and his Co2 failed. Lent him my pump and passed him up the M4 climb. He had a nice Dogma I think. From the Lynx club I think.

Met another lad on the last 10km. Was blowing up but the company helped me a long. Fair play Aidan.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Lord Jesus that's great distance. Presume you cycle the old Dublin Road rather than the m4?