Tell us about your cycle Yesterday.

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40k Dunboyne-Ashbourne-Dunboyne..

Feeling it more the usual and breezier then I thought it was going to be.

sullzz

headed out with one of my mates this morn planning in doing 160k , all was going well , we left Leixlip shortly after 9am , nice weather , flew into town , a couple of near misses with taxi drivers on the quays (nothing new there).
Up howth hill and down the other side turned to head to portmarnock and just before the roundabout BANG , my mates chainstay breaks , had to ring for a lift , spin cut short at 46km .
I decided to hop in the car with him and to go to the bike shop too as he was bulling . I can understand his anger as he had only 1000k up on the bike .

slavedave

Did a first mtb trip up to Ballinastoe with my eldest today for a spin around the main loop. Hired bikes. Beautiful weather and scenery (esp a lunch looking down on Lough Tay). The trail was only the second I have ever done and it was great fun (esp when I learnt to take the lock-out off of the forks when going down the singletrack!). Three hours cycling around then main loop back to the cabin and then the small loop again. Me wrecked - him, raring to go again. Definitely will return again. If he managed to capture it on video I will post up a link of me doing an impression of the motocross/x-games stuntman - I managed to hang on to a wipe out at one stage whereby I flew over the handlebars and, apparently (through the laughter), was told that I made it to the inverted vertical position before touching down again!

veetwin

65k this morning with 450m climbed at 25kmph. Lovely spin from Portmarnock along the coast to Clontarf - East link - Blackrock - Dalkey - Killiney Hill and back home the same way.

Lovely mild conditions though I do wonder why some lads wear so much on a day like today. I had a long sleeve jersey and bib shorts and was fine. Saw loads of lads dressed for conditions 10 degrees colder with tights, overshoes, caps and face masks. They must have been roasted.

Micilin Muc

veetwin wrote: »

65k this morning with 450m climbed at 25kmph. Lovely spin from Portmarnock along the coast to Clontarf - East link - Blackrock - Dalkey - Killiney Hill and back home the same way.

Lovely mild conditions though I do wonder why some lads wear so much on a day like today. I had a long sleeve jersey and bib shorts and was fine. Saw loads of lads dressed for conditions 10 degrees colder with tights, overshoes, caps and face masks. They must have been roasted.

It's about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday over here on the west coast. Frost everywhere yesterday morning, this morning I had to take off my gloves after 5 minutes!

Puggy

Usual 25km commute this morning. Had checked the weather beforehand, so was in bib shorts and short sleeved jersey. I always stop at red lights, and this morning was no different. At Merrion Sq a girl on a Dublin Bike pulled up beside me and started giving me looks and batting her eye lids. Anyway, all the other bikes moved off well before the lights changed, apart from me and the girl on the Dublin Bike. I got ready for the green light, to rip past all the light breakers.

Next thing I knew Dublin Bike girl stood up out of the saddle and took off, I only managed to overhaul her at the top of the park. As I glanced at her she winked and smiled.

Hunterbiker

Commute home just by junction of Kimmage Road and Sundrive Avenue woman in a passing car shouts 'Real men ride Women' as she passes me.
I said thanks for the tip...
She was stuck in traffic a little further ahead but wasn't as chatty then as I passed...:)

neris

Hunterbiker wrote: »

Commute home just by junction of Kimmage Road and Sundrive Avenue woman in a passing car shouts 'Real men ride Women' as she passes me.
I said thanks for the tip...
She was stuck in traffic a little further ahead but wasn't as chatty then as I passed...:)

you should have knocked on the window and asked was that an offer

rushfan

Headed out at 10 this morning, Swords to Donabate, north of Ballyboughal, Oldtown to St Margarets, Airport, and back to Swords, 51km in total. Beautiful morning, though hard to know what to wear sometimes.

Puggy

rushfan wrote: »

Headed out at 10 this morning, Swords to Donabate, north of Ballyboughal, Oldtown to St Margarets, Airport, and back to Swords, 51km in total. Beautiful morning, though hard to know what to wear sometimes.

Its never hard to know what to wear ...

Rule 14, 18, 21, 22, 27 and most important 53.

BremoreDave

I decided to overcome my fear of cycling in the dark and headed out yesterday evening after just after 6pm . Just a quick spin from Balbriggan up to Blakes Cross and back .It felt like I got more out of that than a weekend afternoon spin , maybe due to the fact I was just concentrating on the patch of road in front of me and turning the pedals .

neris

Loaded the bike into the car this morning and headed for Glendalough. Route was Wicklow Gap, lake, kippure/sally gap, Military Road & back to Glendalough. Been a few years since I cycled in Wicklow and was dressed warmly for the day but about 3 km into the Wicklow gap all I was missing was a necklace as I did my best thomas vockler impression while still maintaining some modesty while cursing the idea to wear a jacket over my jersey. Descent on the Wicklow Gap was nice but the jacket was uncursed then. Lumpy ride along the lake shore towards Kippure which included a few wrong turns and U turns before finally getting up onto the climb up kippure. Once out of the trees found it a real struggle due to a very strong cross wind and things came to a head a few hundred meters from Sally Gap when I just didnt have any more power and had to stop for 5 minutes but got some strength back to get to the cross roads and throw my jacket on. Winds on the way down Military road were strong aswell and along with tired legs made progress very slow. Took me an hour to get from Sally Gap down to my car. Probably wasnt the smartest cycling idea Ive ever had but its made realise how unfit I am as 140k cycle down there was a regular thing for me in the past. 73km, 1158m climbed, avg speed a slow 19.1km/h

Probably my 1st and last cycle of the year in Wicklow today but come next summer Im getting my fitness back shedding at least 2 stone and making a 70km spin down there a walk in the park

http://www.strava.com/activities/213941060

godtabh

65km around Mount Tam national park. My Garmin was acting up (500m climbed when it should have been closer to 1000m) and got lost a few times.

Then got a puncture with some tubeless tyres i couldn't fix. Some great rides. Pity about the weather running the view.

http://www.strava.com/activities/213974263

I'll be back

sullzz

godtabh wrote: »

65km around Mount Tam national park. My Garmin was acting up (500m climbed when it should have been closer to 1000m) and got lost a few times.

Then got a puncture with some tubeless tyres i couldn't fix. Some great rides. Pity about the weather running the view.

http://www.strava.com/activities/213974263

I'll be back

What bike did you get your hands on over there

godtabh

sullzz wrote: »

What bike did you get your hands on over there

A Robiaux (sp). $58 for 24 hours. Nice bike. Didn't like the wheels.

sullzz

godtabh wrote: »

A Robiaux (sp). $58 for 24 hours. Nice bike. Didn't like the wheels.

Very nice bike , at not a bad price . I was in San fran for one day while in the states and I still regret not spending more time there and renting a bike , looked like a great place to ride.

godtabh

sullzz wrote: »

Very nice bike , at not a bad price . I was in San fran for one day while in the states and I still regret not spending more time there and renting a bike , looked like a great place to ride.

It lashed from start to finish (and the paddy in his boards summer gear) which made it very dark and misty so limited me but there are some great routes here. Back again next year. I'll do it proper next time

Mountmellick-Clonaslee-The Cut-Mountrath-Mountmellick.

Absolutly lashed rain but was warm enough. Punctured about 5 miles from Mountrath and couldnt seem to get bump out of the tyre near the valve after using gas, didn't get tyre flush with rim first. Felt like riding a buckled wheel. Redid it at home..... 60ish K. Still............. good to be out.:)

Daroxtar

Been choked with a cough all week so I was half thinking of not heading out at all but I felt a bit better this morning so off I went. I made it about 500 yards before I realised I was still nowhere near right but feck it, I was out and that was that. The sun was shining and despite the stiff breeze it was a lovely morning for a spin. To hell with the KOMs today, just a leisurely jaunt to keep the legs spinning.

I'm 9 years living out here and today was the day to head down some roads that I never went down before. I found a couple of nice small hills beside each other which will be great for future reference seeing as it's ridiculously flat around the general area. Nothing massive mind you, but 1.1km @ 4.6% here is almost like the Angliru compared to what the rest of the landscape is like. I'll be over there doing repeats when I get my training programme in action.

Anyway, Longwood -Rathcore -Newtown -Enfield -Longwood
57.5k in 2:19@24.9 kmph

http://www.strava.com/activities/214600255

sullzz

Daroxtar wrote: »

Been choked with a cough all week so I was half thinking of not heading out at all but I felt a bit better this morning so off I went. I made it about 500 yards before I realised I was still nowhere near right but feck it, I was out and that was that. The sun was shining and despite the stiff breeze it was a lovely morning for a spin. To hell with the KOMs today, just a leisurely jaunt to keep the legs spinning.

I'm 9 years living out here and today was the day to head down some roads that I never went down before. I found a couple of nice small hills beside each other which will be great for future reference seeing as it's ridiculously flat around the general area. Nothing massive mind you, but 1.1km @ 4.6% here is almost like the Angliru compared to what the rest of the landscape is like. I'll be over there doing repeats when I get my training programme in action.

Anyway, Longwood -Rathcore -Newtown -Enfield -Longwood
57.5k in 2:19@24.9 kmph

http://www.strava.com/activities/214600255

Newtown Hill is a nice little climb , I used to do that a few times a week but this year Id say ive only done it about 3 times with yesterday being one of them .

magicmonkeys

Made it up to Sallygap for the first time today. Headed up Stocking Lane towards the gap and turned for Enniskerry via Roundwood, ended up at the back of an Orwell spin all the way back to Dundrum. Lough Tay looked amazing in the sun.

63.9km @ 21.7km/h with 1,150 metres of climbing.

ILIKEFOOD

Had some sound advice on here over the past month or so on bikes.

Got my first racer there - Canyon Road Al 7.0 delivered a few weeks back. STILL haven't taken it out as it was in my mum's house.

However I managed to get shoes, Shimano R064s from the LBS, cheap, cheerful and grand. Attached the recommended Speedplay Zeros to them. (IS that like getting rims on a Lada?) And took them to Calpe, Spain..where I am now! It's in Alicante on the coast, not far from Benidorm and is mostly frequented by German tourists. (probably explains the higher standards in just about every aspect of it

Hired out a Orbea Onix CF with 105's - €19/day with €250 deposit and €20 for a lid you get to keep (never thought of bringing my own)

Rented from Solybike in Calpe centre. The guy was kinda wondering what I was doing with the Speedplays having never worn cycling shoes before and reluctantly rented the bike to me. I had the float set to the full 15 degrees.

Bar sitting on the Canyon between a doorframe and popping the shoes in and out of the pedals I had never been out on them. It was probably a risky decision but I thought it would be grand. It was..mostly.

Using the route planner I had decided to take the shorter 64K route. Medium difficulty, hilly terrain climbing to 600m at it's highest.

I set off at around 11am from Calpe centre. It was about 15K on a secondary road...perfect road... until i hit the first village of Jalon. I wasn't doing too badly seeing as it was the first time using shoes and pedals, and the first time on a road bike in about 2 years. Plenty of slight inclines and declines..

Found it hard to get my breathing right initially. Laughed to myself as I was half way through as I recognized the fact that I hadn't a clue how to use the gears properly!

The pedals were actually grand, I'm not sure how these would be unsuitable for beginners - with the full float on they were very easy to use. I just made it a habit to unclip one on approaching roundabouts etc

It was about 24 degrees, clear skies etc. Once I reached Jalon I headed to the next town Alcalali - from here on the roads were quiet. Lots of groves with oranges, lemons, limes and olives. Bliss.

I was pretty wrecked when I hit the 20K mark. Felt like I had met a wall. It was dead heat so I had to take a breather.

Here's where it went arseways..i made the next town on the map - Parcent. Which was the turning point of the loop back to calpe. Instead of continuing on the loop I ended up continuing straight for another 20K to a town called Pego. I swear once I managed to purchase the bare essentials for the bike at home a good sat nav will follow!

I kinda freaked out a bit in Pego as I wasn't too sure what to do and if my legs would hold out.

Turns out it was the best thing to have happened, in hindsight I wouldn't have managed the hills of the original route. I was already feeling fatigued. I had somehow managed to pass through two other towns before reaching Pego before realizing where I was. I think I had begun to really enjoy the cycling and with that my attention to where I was going had diminished! My heart sunk when a local pointed out where I had ended up.

Turned around and went back to the point at which I had committed the fatal error. Thought a bit of food would cheer me up so grabbed a couple of bananas and an iso drink. Grand. Feeling better.

With new found gusto I set off again. Not before I snotted myself while clipping back in. It was bound to happen.

Went back the way I had came. Legs started cramping at around 80k.. finished on 84k.

Ave speed 20k

Did 78K today. Went in the opposite direction and headed inland up Javea, another town on a hilltop, about the only climb, max 200m... and ended up on a gorgeous peninsula called Cabo de la Nao. Lots of teams out on bikes, all greeting me with a friendly 'hola!' as they zipped past me..

Ave speed of about 21k

Snotted myself again, this time mashing my leg into the chainring.. didn't think much of it until I got home and saw a severed vein peeping out..few steri strips later and it was out of sight..

Hopefully go out again next week..

Would definitely come back here with more experience under my belt. Plenty of routes. Most are hilly. To be in this weather at this time of year is fantastic. I don't think I'll bother with june/july/august holidays anymore!

Hopefully made the majority of rookie mistakes away from local eyes seriously though..need to figure out the gears!

Legs are grand now, hands were a bit sore and the arse too..

looking forward to actually getting out on my OWN bike when I get back!

BremoreDave

Nice bright day today and plenty of other cyclists out, headed out from Balbriggan , long drag from Julianstown out to Duleek , Drogheda, Mornington , Bettystown and home . 54k in total and just under 26kph .

BremoreDave

Nice bright day today and plenty of other cyclists out, headed out from Balbriggan , long drag from Julianstown out to Duleek , Drogheda, Mornington , Bettystown and home . 54k in total and just under 26kph .

rushfan

Had a rare lie-on this morning & left Swords at 2.15 , ended up doing the same route as Thurs, with a small add on. 56km @ 25km/ hr back to house at 4.30ish. Hard to believe that I didn't meet a single cyclist in that time, guess they were all out early. Crackin weather.

Rambling Man

BremoreDave wrote: »

Nice bright day today and plenty of other cyclists out, headed out from Balbriggan , long drag from Julianstown out to Duleek , Drogheda, Mornington , Bettystown and home . 54k in total and just under 26kph .

Lovely morning. Cycled the same Julianstown to Duleek drag yesterday, slow going in the wind. 80km circuit out of Donabate, 25kph, highpoint a cuppa coffee at Garristown.

lukegjpotter

I did the Strava Gran Fondo yesterday around Galway.

Very Wet and Cold.

http://www.strava.com/activities/214735469

NeedMoreGears

First time back on the bike after two weeks of valiant struggle with manflu. I don't know whether it was the headwind or the residue of whatever dose I had, but I couldn't really push on the pedals. Hence quite a slow trip in (54mins for 21k) and heart rate relatively high for the effort. Hopefully I'll fly home.

The tax man

First outing on the CX bike today. Headed down to the Phoenix Pk to practice dismounts and remounts. Getting off is fine, getting back on,while trying not to look like a tool will take a few more training runs to get dialed in. Great craic flying around the trials and hills. Garmin crapped itself again today so you'll just have to believe me.:D

I was cursing my new shoes and old spd pedals. Had the tension turned right back yet at times it was really tight trying to twist my foot out. On the way home my left foot would not disengage no matter how hard I tried, nearly had an embarrassing moment at some lights but managed to just getting moving again and unclip my right foot.

Had to get a pliers to the pedal to remove the stuck shoe. Found that one of the screws holding the cleat had come loose so the cleat wasn't moving when I twisted my foot.

30kms door to door.

route66

A bit late posting …

Did a nice 82KM cycle on Sunday around Wicklow: Old Long Hill, Laragh, Military road, Glencree, Bridge rd, Stepaside. Apart from a little wind, it was a lovely day for it. A bit “crisp” but I was kitted out in my winter gear so no problem. Well, there wouldn’t have been if I didn’t get a puncture @ the Sallygap crossroads (see picture in Photo’s thread here).

This was my first puncture with my Ultegra wheels and GP4000S tyre combo. When I first fitted the tyres to the wheels in January this year, I had great difficulty getting them on; I had to use tyre levers and a lot of force. Luckily the tyres went back on with no problem whatsoever. The puncture cost me about 45 minutes, but I never try to hurry too much in case I miss something and end up with a 2nd one; in this case, a mm by mm examination of the tyre revealed a tiny sliver of glass which I extracted before fitting the new tube.


I was also very pleasantly surprised at how many people stopped to offer help. There was at least 3 or 4 cars and pretty much every cyclist that passed by, stopped and offered assistance. I was reasonable prepared with a spare tube, puncture repair kit, multitool and - my favorite - a Lezyne Mini Pump so I was able to sort it out myself.

But to anyone reading this who passed by the gap between 3 - 4pm on Sunday and offered assistance: thanks!