Tell us about your cycle Yesterday.

smacl

RobertFoster wrote: »

Didn't like the look of the black clouds, so I wore my Aldi rain jacket today. Per usual, I sweated buckets and it didn't rain. You're all welcome. Next time anyone needs a dry day, let me know and I'll wear it again.

Hah, had mine on for its debut spin as well. Started up Cruagh towards the sallygap and was sweating like a pig, then a bit too cold to take it off to dry out properly, so continued on with my spin / sauna. Took a lumpy enough route from Marlay park, sally gap, laragh, greenane, aughrim, old road to tinahely, shillelagh, clonegal and bunclody. Had planned on the myshall run up the corabutt gap, but bottled it and went kilbrannish woods ascent, 9 stones and loads of beer and curry on the other side of the mountain. About 135k at a poorly 20.5kph rolling. Pretty wrecked at bunclody, but the kilbrannish route over Mt Leinster at sunset was nothing short of stunning. Couple of photos here. First time climbing that route, and every intention of making it a regular.

The Aldi coat stays in the closet until we drop a few more degrees!

godtabh

alexanderomahon wrote: »

What pressure do you have in your tyres?

110 psi

godtabh

biffontour wrote: »

That did happen me a few times but got decent tyres and seems to of sorted the problem, I got Bontrager Racelite tyres.

I may have to do something like that. I'm broke as a result of the bargain alert thread so it will have to be next pay day!

Lusk Doyle

I woke up this morning ready to go for a half hour spin before work but the rain and wind changed my mind quite quickly! Instead I took the turbo trainer out of the wardrobe for the first time this year

buffalo

Set out to do a few climbs of Howth. Two minutes out of the house, southbound on Drumcondra Road, turning left into Clonliffe, and some complete tosser comes from the opposite direction and turns right into Clonliffe, nearly bang on top of me! I brake and tuck in hard to the corner, yelling. He responds by rolling up his passenger window. I come alongside seconds later, shouting "what the hell?" He doesn't engage. Fair enough, sure it happens, leave him behind and head off down Clonliffe.

Little further along is a traffic island in the middle of the road. Road surface isn't great on the left, so I'm well out. I hear the engine coming up behind me. I see the island. I know there really isn't enough room to safely overtake. But we all know what happens next. Same mother****er too. Now I'm livid. He's stopped at red lights at Ballybough House. I stop beside him. "Do you know how close you came to running me down back there?" He's staring straight ahead, no acknowledgement. I wonder, like doozerie, maybe I need hi-viz before my presence will be noted. I decide, feck it, take the high moral ground and leave the ****er to it. So glad I managed to. I think if I'd stayed a moment longer I would've done something stupid like key his car. I don't know if I won't do something like that next time. Should've just taken the reg and reported him. Too bloody quick to walk away from these eejits.

Anyway, it was a lovely cycle after that. Howth is beautiful in the twilight, so often a fantastic sky, and plenty of other cyclists about. A few kids gave me big cheers and "go on!"s on my way up to the summit.

Raam, I want all of your KOMs!

Zyzz

Turned right into Clonliffe today..




:pac:

manwithaplan

buffalo wrote: »

Anyway, it was a lovely cycle after that. Howth is beautiful in the twilight, so often a fantastic sky, and plenty of other cyclists about. A few kids gave me big cheers and "go on!"s on my way up to the summit.

I'm jealous. I wanted to head to Howth a couple of evenings this week but I have a pain in my arse. Not in the "I'm somewhat lacking in motivation" way but in the "there's some muscle in the buttock area that's rather sore" way. Hope it's OK for the club sportive on Sunday.

Lusk Doyle

manwithaplan wrote: »

I'm jealous. I wanted to head to Howth a couple of evenings this week but I have a pain in my arse. Not in the "I'm somewhat lacking in motivation" way but in the "there's some muscle in the buttock area that's rather sore" way. Hope it's OK for the club sportive on Sunday.

Your private life is your business. what goes on behind closed doors or in certain parks should stay there

buffalo

"Two nights of drinking do not help the buffalo climb."
--Old native American saying

I think my legs were empty when I left the house this afternoon. All-Ireland day makes Drumcondra a bit mental, so I like to get out. Through town to Kiltiernan, Enniskerry, out to the west, paaaain! Down the backroads around Knockree, bottom of the full wall surprises me as I'm playing with my front light, so I end up starting in the big ring, which obviously is not ideal. Huff and puff up it, and up Old Long Hill, and then Luggala. Always worth it for that view, but my legs were not pleased with me. At Sallygap I debated heading west, but it would've been a tough fight against the wind. Descending down by Lough Bray, get stuck behind a car. ah well. Descending Stocking Lane, get stuck behind two cars. Wait for the straight stretch past the Hellfire Club, then over take. Back through town, work my way through gridlock from town to Phibsboro. Home! Feet up.

Considering I got five hours sleep last night, I'm happy with the Strava feedback on the ride. Bring on Saturday!

Zyzz

Did a 115km down to Brittas yesterday..

..cycled to Tesco today (5 mins), never again.

NeedMoreGears

First commute with the winter bike today. Haven't been any bike for ten days due manflu. Wrecked - 58:57 for a spin that typically takes 45min on the road bike. Still you can't beat a spin for clearing out the residue of a cold.

Bike is much more comfortable 1.75" slicks and front shock - although it weighs a tonne.

Had the lights on the whole way in, which I'm not overjoyed about - the darker mornings seem to sneak up on me every year.

Reckon it'll all seem normal by Friday afternoon.

Lusk Doyle

I did the annual Swords CC Sportive yesterday (well, I did most of it!). There were only approx 25 or so who ventured out. The first while was quite enjoyable and the hills were grand as we were mostly riding tempo up them. All went well until we came across a very serious accident involving a tandem bike and a car on the descent from Bellewstown towards the Donore road. Thankfully, I hear that all involved are ok (ish) with nothing life threatening. How, I do not know as the bike was 100% mangled.

Anyway, after that we rode on and the group was down to maximum ten riders. It started to rain. It was slow for a bit as we digested what we had just seen.

On the final climb up to Bellewstown just before the food stop after approx 90kms I hit the wall big time. I had been leading a decent amount of the time up to that and I actually had to stop and walk a small bit of the way up the hill. That has not happened to me in years so it showed me just how out of shape I was after our early league season end.

I struggled from then on and after the climb out of Greenanstown myself and a few others decided to call it quits and head home. There was only six riders left after that point. They may still be out there!

A nice ride nonetheless. Thanks to Sam for the marshalling at various points and for the food and energy drinks.

Strava details here.

del88

Cycled home today against the wind and the rain(well 10mins of rain) and felt great at the end...i think i'm finally starting to feel like a cyclist rather then a commuter...:-)

yop

512km over 2 days for my commute from Westport to Dublin and then back to Westport

Zyzz

yop wrote: »

512km over 2 days for my commute from Westport to Dublin and then back to Westport

Hows thy arse?

yop

Zyzz wrote: »

Hows thy arse?

Put it this way, the sudocream battles with the young lad aren't pretty

manwithaplan

Lusk Doyle wrote: »

I did the annual Swords CC Sportive yesterday (well, I did most of it!)

I think honkjelly and I were the only ones to complete the whole course. The loopy nature of the route makes bailing out very attractive at particular points. Thanks to Sam for hanging around for us at the GAA club.

daragh_

Due to a series of unforeseen circumstances too complicated to explain I was forced to ride my MTB in to work this morning.

It's been sitting in the shed gathering dust and has never gone further than down the shops with the kids, so it was a novel experience.

Some random thoughts -

It's full suspension. I locked it all up but it still felt like riding a very comfy armchair. After 5 minutes I found myself aiming for potholes. Felt like a bold child.

The bars are really really really wide. Felt like I was holding an oar. Last time I did that it was the Liffey Descent and that ended badly.

My carefully chosen saddle position was way off. Had to stop twice to adjust upward.

Disc brakes are very sensitive. If I had them on the road bike I would go over the bars a lot.

It's hard to pick up any speed on the flat. I still 'won' though.

Journey was about 10 minutes longer. Some of that was faffing around with the saddle. Was worth the delay.

'tis great fun altogether.

Surveyor11

Did Dublin to Galway Friday, left my house at 7.15am, arrived 215 km later in Oranmore at 5, average speed when moving 26.7km/h, route took me out old Galway road to Enfield, Edenderry, Tullamore, Bannagher, Ballinasloe, Athenry to Oranmore, other than the first hour or so being drizzly the weather was perfect

triggermortis

Nothing remarkable about my commute in this morning apart from some drizzle, but I'm heading back in just over 2 hours and it is now 3 degrees and starting to snow...

route66

I spotted some icy patches on shaded areas of the road approaching the Sallygap crossroads yesterday. Yikes.
Didn't have a skid but my feet were freezing. I wonder did the temperature had anything to do with an average speed some 20% slower than normal :-(

ednwireland

looked out wind blowing, rain pouring, back hurts didnt bother

Carpenter

route66 wrote: »

I spotted some icy patches on shaded areas of the road approaching the Sallygap crossroads yesterday. Yikes.
Didn't have a skid but my feet were freezing. I wonder did the temperature had anything to do with an average speed some 20% slower than normal :-(

Were you wearing a boards top ????

route66

Carpenter wrote: »

Were you wearing a boards top ????

no - more like Aldi/Lidl dayglow ;-)

Hmmzis

Went out with a club today for the first time in my life. Was good fun, despite the miserable weather, the people made all the difference. The original tour guide was stating that there would be around 500ish meters of climbing in 65km distance. Now Strava doesn't agree with that, it says 1100m climbed over 77k. Then again, the average speed was spot on as in the guide.

Discovered some good things and some not so good things about myself. The good is that I'm not as bad as I thought on the hills, the bad is that my bike was hopelesly outclassed by the fine machines the other lads n' lasses had. Also, while I'm not too bad at holding a line the pointing out stuff and car shouting is something I need to learn. Still, stayed most of the time in zone 1 on the flats and zone 2 on the climbs (with two exceptions, one steep bit heading into Roundwood and Lover's Leap before Enniskerry), had a few turns at the front. Will try a slightly faster group next time, the aim is to stay in zone 2 for most of the time to help building a base.

Now I have to check the Strava map to see how we got to Roundwood

triggermortis

Commuted in the snow today. Temp hasn't gone above 3 degrees all day and it hasn't stopped snowing.
Had to bring my bike into work to thaw it out as there was a lot of ice and snow collected all over it. In fact, I arrived at work about 05.50 and around 10.00 when i got a chance to go get it, the wheels or crank would barely turn. If I'd left it there all day, there would be no way I'd get it going.
Lubed it all up and put it back outside ready for the off in 2 hours time. Could be fun again.

07Lapierre

Killarney to Kenmare and back to Killarney. Dull and wet all day. The wind was at my back heading up to Molls Gap from Kenmare. Even on a dull, wet day, its a nice cycle.

coddlesangers

My standard commute is now a little different as I know own a bianchi via nirone 7, along with look pedals, so had to go and buy myself cleats on saturday....cycled down 8.5kms to the bike shop in my runners, felt like i was about to take off. Arrived with a soaking arse looking like something from the revenge of the swamp creatures. Got the chap in the shop to fit a pair of racing mudguards, bought my cleats also....set off back up the 8.5kms with 240 metres of ascent with a massive gale blowing into my face, snow and -5 temps. Fell off the bike the first time I had to stop at a tee junction (forgot i was wearing cleats till too late ). Arrived home bollixed. Joys of cycling in switzerland in the autumn/winter!

Hmmzis

Did a slightly extended commute this morning. Went up Cruagh, past the viewing point, down to the foot of the Sally Gap climb. Chickened out from the descent, so didn't go up there.

It was a bit more crowded that usual. First I caught up with a guy on a cyclocros bike. Had a chat with him, nice friendly fella. At first I couldn't unerstand how he's cycling without brakes but then I noticed the disc brakes .
Then going back down met two guys on road bikes comming up the hill (right after the 'dead slow' bridge/hairpin). Warned them about the icy conditions up ahead.

Apart from the brutal croswinds and ice on Military road it was a very nice morning for a cycle.

buffalo

Hmmzis wrote: »

Warned them about the icy conditions up ahead.

Apart from the brutal croswinds and ice on Military road it was a very nice morning for a cycle.

What sort of time was that at? Much ice?