Tell us about your cycle Yesterday.

ezra_

First real trip on the new roadie today. Out to howth to get some bits and pieces (cage, tubes etc)

First time every not having drop out of the big ring!

godtabh

Dublin to Athlone. 135km into a headwind. Averaged 26.9km/h so decent given the conditions

fillup

99k around Ben Bulben from Sligo
****ty 20km/h due to wind/rain/too many Fleadh pints the night before/too many post pint chicken balls
Threw in Gleniff Horseshoe
Attempted climb to RTE mast and had to abandon near top due to legs, wind and very slippy road surface
Also mangoed to fall off on a cattle grate
The descent was horrible too.

Also was a bit doolally by the end of it, could've done with some company on last 30k

All in all a good day out but could've been better

aFlabbyPanda

I was on a turbo for 2 hours getting a pro bike fit done (it still counted as cycling!). Proper ride tomorrow so see if its all been worth it.

Jakey Rolling

Quick MTB trip up and down the Vee, 32km @ 19.8km/h, 460m climbing.
Strange wind, seemed to be cycling into it at every turn.
Red squirrel ran across the road on the zig-zags on the way up, makes a change from the sheep.

RainyDay

omri wrote: »

Was going to howth from dun laoghaire after 4pm and bloody bird pooped on me... was very windy too.

So pooped and farted on you then? Double-whammy - bummer.

Darkglasses

Long time since I posted here, finally starting to get back into form after sickness and other interruptions. Beautiful morning, took a friend of mine (on his longest cycle to date) and headed out into the wind towards Taghmon. It was quite a stiff wind but at least the roads seem to have improved since last year. Tipped along well in a really lumpy part of the county. Stopped for a can of cherry coke and a bounty bar in Wellington Bridge, absolutely delicious combination. We hit the coast soon afterwards, the sun on the sea was absolutely gorgeous, and as the kms ticked over I was the happiest I've been in months.

Still felt very strong, so I encouraged my friend to follow me all the way down to Kilmore Quay. We encountered a big charity horse ride on our way, in aid of brain injury. Lovely friendly group. Also encountered some kind of charity sportive twice along the way, never found out which one it was. Stopped briefly in Kilmore to enjoy the view of the Saltees. My friend was getting pretty knackered on the last 15 km or so back to my house, but he did extremely well all the way to finish.

Extremely satisfying 62km around South Wexford

http://www.strava.com/activities/181409459

Eamonnator

Cherry Coke and a Bounty bar.
Sounds lovely. There's a song in there somewhere.

godtabh

godtabh wrote: »

Dublin to Athlone. 135km into a headwind. Averaged 26.9km/h so decent given the conditions

Did the return today 135km in less than 4 hours. 34km/h average.

torydiver

Very stormy up here in northwest today,
Ventured up into the hills,
Turned into a viscous headwind on a high pass, uphill drag for 4 km,
Averaged 15 km/hour for that section😱
Was using 34 x 27 most of the way,
toughest bit of cycling I've done in a long time,
Completely wrecked at the end and glad of a downhill run back to the car.

markkelly2

Longest spin to date for me. Needed 40k to reach a target of 100k for the week. Flew out with wind on my back. Turned for home and into strong wind.
Met another cyclist when I pulled in out of a heavy shower. We cycled back together trying to break the wind. Decided to keep going with him passed home for another 10k and then turned for home with the wind on my back. Wrecked now.
http://www.strava.com/activities/181436026/overview

bandit1987

went out this morning with the intention of trying to break the 100km mark for my 1st time, but after bout 35km felt my legs were struggling too much so turned for home and lucky I did because I was under severe pressure to make it back really struggled up a few slight hills. saying that I managed 69km at 26kmph average.

http:// www. strava.com/activities/181361063

RobertFoster

Only three weeks late, I did the An Post 100km Royal Tour route today. I was there on the day, but due to a mechanical, I ended up in the back of the broom wagon after only 30km

Quite windy, which helped and hindered at various stages. It blew a big rain cloud over me, and it started lashing just after Kilberry, lasting through the Gaeltacht. I stopped for a few minutes just before rejoining the R147 to ring out my gloves and warm up a little in the sun. A large motorbike group (marshalled) went by heading towards Navan as I was sunning myself. The weather was certainly better 3 weeks ago.

I've not done much cycling north of Slane/Navan/Trim, so I was glad the green arrows were still on the road. Tried using the routing on the Edge 500, but it went astray before I even left Trim, so I abandoned it for the rest of the spin. It was probably something I did, feeding the gpx into Bike Route Toaster last night made it a 200km route for some reason. It got lost at the first roundabout, and as I arrived back in Trim it let me know it had found the route, but promptly lost it again at the same roundabout

I can see why people complained about the roads; some terrible surfaces, especially after Slane (the wind and the rain didn't help this section either). It was much better being on the bike instead of the back of a van though!

Finished it in 3h50. I'm allowed wear the jersey now, right?

Jocry

140km with the club today off around NCD. Head wind for the vast majority of it and also got a soaking. Wrecked now, wrecked!!

furiousox

Similar story here, did the North East cycle challenge from Stamullen.
First decent spin in 3 weeks or so due to holidays and what not.
120km door to door with 1425m elevation.
Lost touch with the main group (as usual) and spent most of the day cycling alone into a stong headwind (as usual)
Tough, tough day in the saddle.
Only consolation was I could have taken several short cuts home but I kept going and finished the course instead.

Unknown Soldier

First ever ride with a group today. The leinster loop 90km.

tbh I did most of it solo as my pace didn't seem to suit anything going.

Managed to do it in 3:03:33 moving time. At about 29.0 average speed. I was flying along at about 33 avg until the "Tullow to end" bit.
Savage winds for about 35km and loads and loads of hills.

I think I may have been the only one to squeeze in a sneaky fag break at the first food stop/flynns carlow.

I'd love to know where I finished in relation to the lead group.

Dcully

Leinster Loop 90k today, wind was a killer but the biggest killer was getting into the lead group for the first 40k to Carlow at the food stop.
It was a serious pace by my standards with an average of 33kph.
Despite how much my head was telling me to pace myself better i couldnt let off the gas,was a great buzz but i paid for it later struggled over the last 30k bigtime with a nasty headwind and plenty of testing hills.
Big lesson learned but enjoyed it immensely.
http://www.strava.com/activities/181413443

Unknown Soldier

Dcully wrote: »

Leinster Loop 90k today, wind was a killer but the biggest killer was getting into the lead group for the first 40k to Carlow at the food stop.
It was a serious pace by my standards with an average of 33kph.
Despite how much my head was telling me to pace myself better i couldnt let off the gas,was a great buzz but i paid for it later struggled over the last 30k bigtime with a nasty headwind and plenty of testing hills.
Big lesson learned but enjoyed it immensely.
http://www.strava.com/activities/181413443

Good to know I wasn't the only one who got caught up in it all. One voice telling me to pace myself and the other saying "there's the lead car, go, go ,go"

Dcully

Unknown Soldier wrote: »

Good to know I wasn't the only one who got caught up in it all. One voice telling me to pace myself and the other saying "there's the lead car, go, go ,go"

Yeah its very easy to "get caught up in it all"
My previous sportives this year were the opposite where i was clever with pacing and emptied the tanks over the last 20k or so when i was feeling good approaching the end.

crosstownk

I did a nice 100km yesterday. The wind wasn't welcome and made a balls of my average (23.3km/h). I've been using the N81 to Blessington quite a lot recently so I decided to stick to slower back roads.

I headed up the Embankment and turned left at Brittas through Talbotstown to the R759, through Manor Kilbride and onto Blessington via Threecastles. I was tortured by the wind on the N81 all the way to the Hollywood turn off where I went by Tulfarris and around the lakes to Lacken. At Lacken I went over Sorrell Hill (tough enough climb) and then back via the R759/N81 to Brittas and turned left up McDonagh's lane, into Saggart and flew back home on the N81 with the wind at my back.

I noticed that there are resurfacing works on the N81 up the Embankment - does anyone know how long these works will take? The cones in the middle of the road mean that passing traffic comes much closer than usual. The Embankment is my gateway to Wicklow so I hope the works won't take too long.

TonyStark

Darkglasses wrote: »

Stopped for a can of cherry coke and a bounty bar in Wellington Bridge

SNAP! Well almost..our halfway stop on the club spin resulted in a cherry coke & double decker..Nyom!

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Stuck for time yesterday so did an hour interval sessions on the turbo. Did the Tour of Kildare last week and was very disappointed with how easily I was dropped. Really looking to improve my average speed in the next couple of weeks. Going to join the local club at the start of September to keep me on the road during my first winter of cycling.

outfox

Club spin took us to Mizen Head yesterday. As we arrived, some walkers on the road clapped and cheered. We couldn't figure it out. And when we left after the coffee, some people in the carpark clapped again. It dawned on us after that those guys thought we had done Malin to Mizen. Ha!

Lusk_Doyle

On Saturday, myself and my bro took part in Gael Force West. A brute of an event and especially so in the conditions that we faced. Four different disciplines were involved including running, kayaking, cycling and mountain hiking.

We set off in wave six which was the last wave at 9am. We had never done the event before. For the 1st run, I took it very easy and was running well within myself and the two of us found ourselves in 2nd and 3rd position from the very start. We had a large lead on those behind us by the time we reached 6.3kms. Then it all went wrong. We never saw any signs to say different and followed the lad in front of us when he turned left at a stone wall (which we were supposed to climb over and go straight on) and went directly up a steep slope and down the other side. We realised we had gone wrong and had to go back up and down to the point of error. That cost us about a half hour.

Then, we had to stand around in the biting wind for just over an hour to get through to the kayak section. There is a big logistical problem here that the organisers really need to sort out because having people get warm only to get so cold again is wrong. More boats needed to bring kayaks back across quicker.

Onto the kayak and over the fjord for about 750mtrs. No problems. Bog run and road run was next for about 3kms. By now I was tired from the mega early exertion of the hill climb.

The first cycle was next and I was getting a few mini cramps in both of my calf muscles! Great fun but I pedaled on through it. The last 4kms of so of this leg was into direct headwind on a bog road out to the base on Croagh Patrick. Awful slow stuff but passing people all along the way was nice.

Croagh Patrick ascent and descent. A truly awful place to be on a day like that. Howling wind and rain. Horrible. The descent was very treacherous.

2nd cycle leg to Westport had some great technical bits including the Sceilp which was such fun to ride down whizzing past freds walking with their bikes. CX bikes are a must for this event.

Final run into Westport. Slow. Painful. Small sprint finish with Aidan Doyle at the end to the cheers of the crowd!

I will do this again and I won't make the same mistake. Sub 5 hour here I come!

Stats:

Leg 1 - Run - 1 hr 30 mins 8 secs.
Leg 2 - Kayak - 8 mins 46 secs.
Leg 3 - Run - 19 mins 47 secs.
Leg 4 - Cycle - 1 hr 46 mins 45 secs.
Leg 5 - Mountain climb - 49 mins 31 secs.
Leg 6 - Mountain descent - 30 mins 5 secs.
Leg 7 - Cycle & Run - 43 mins 31 secs.

Total - 5 hrs 48 mins 33 secs.

Inspector Coptoor

My own Tour of Connemara and on to Roscommon
173km in 7:27.
23km/hr average
Max Speed 58km/hr.
3800kcals

Galway - Barna - Spiddal - Oughterard - Moycullen - Galway - Lackagh - Mountbellew - Ballygar - Roscommon

Longest spin ever in one day
303km done in 3 days.

Inquitus

Not impressed, 60km over Howth and back again, felt like Oct not Aug, long sleeved Merino Wool base layer under a short sleeved jersey, and I was still a bit chilly.

First_October

Did 110 km at an easy enough pace today. Over to Cahir, Clogheen, the Vee four times, Ballyporeen, then home. I found the weather surprisingly good; was quite warm whenever the sun made it through the cloud.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Inquitus wrote: »

Not impressed, 60km over Howth and back again, felt like Oct not Aug, long sleeved Merino Wool base layer under a short sleeved jersey, and I was still a bit chilly.

Done Howth this afternoon, around two o'clock but it was sweltering.. I left the Phoenix Park 30 minutes earlier in very heavy over cast weather so wore a long sleeved base layer, a short sleeve top layer and gloves.. But the summit I was dying in the heat lol

This morning was damned cold.

Ciaran_B

Wore my jacket cycling into work this morning for the first time since April. Always a sad milestone.

Peterx

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

On Saturday, myself and my bro took part in Gael Force West. A brute of an event and especially so in the conditions that we faced. Four different disciplines were involved including running, kayaking, cycling and mountain hiking.

We set off in wave six which was the last wave at 9am. We had never done the event before. For the 1st run, I took it very easy and was running well within myself and the two of us found ourselves in 2nd and 3rd position from the very start. We had a large lead on those behind us by the time we reached 6.3kms. Then it all went wrong. We never saw any signs to say different and followed the lad in front of us when he turned left at a stone wall (which we were supposed to climb over and go straight on) and went directly up a steep slope and down the other side. We realised we had gone wrong and had to go back up and down to the point of error. That cost us about a half hour.

Then, we had to stand around in the biting wind for just over an hour to get through to the kayak section. There is a big logistical problem here that the organisers really need to sort out because having people get warm only to get so cold again is wrong. More boats needed to bring kayaks back across quicker.

Onto the kayak and over the fjord for about 750mtrs. No problems. Bog run and road run was next for about 3kms. By now I was tired from the mega early exertion of the hill climb.

The first cycle was next and I was getting a few mini cramps in both of my calf muscles! Great fun but I pedaled on through it. The last 4kms of so of this leg was into direct headwind on a bog road out to the base on Croagh Patrick. Awful slow stuff but passing people all along the way was nice.

Croagh Patrick ascent and descent. A truly awful place to be on a day like that. Howling wind and rain. Horrible. The descent was very treacherous.

2nd cycle leg to Westport had some great technical bits including the Sceilp which was such fun to ride down whizzing past freds walking with their bikes. CX bikes are a must for this event.

Final run into Westport. Slow. Painful. Small sprint finish with Aidan Doyle at the end to the cheers of the crowd!

I will do this again and I won't make the same mistake. Sub 5 hour here I come!

Stats:

Leg 1 - Run - 1 hr 30 mins 8 secs.
Leg 2 - Kayak - 8 mins 46 secs.
Leg 3 - Run - 19 mins 47 secs.
Leg 4 - Cycle - 1 hr 46 mins 45 secs.
Leg 5 - Mountain climb - 49 mins 31 secs.
Leg 6 - Mountain descent - 30 mins 5 secs.
Leg 7 - Cycle & Run - 43 mins 31 secs.

Total - 5 hrs 48 mins 33 secs.

Well done. As you can see from the results that time is a good one (inside top 500. 5hr 20mins would have been inside top 300 so without your error easily achievable) so if you come back go in wave one and avoid the worst of the kayak time outs that the later waves get.