Tell us about your cycle Yesterday.

timmy_mallet

Bloggsie wrote: »

timmy_mallet wrote: »

Morning commute after 6 weeks abroad. Looked at weather app, -4, looked outside, sunny, looked at weather app, - 4 ... "Nah, couldn't be, I'll be grand without the extra jacket and head gear". I wasn't. Christ.

Still, after a break, was very nice to get out and on the bike.

it is a tad nippy out there this morning, bet you froze the townhalls of yereself this morning

The ears, the ears... was begging for the lights to stay red so the wind wouldn't chop them off.

The Cycling pianist

Nearly ran down some Spanish exchange student this morning. Her sunglasses and headphones meant she didn't see my loud shouty high viz jacket, and when she eventually noticed me, did a little stop-start-stop thing in the middle of the road. Ended up crossing over the white line to pass her. Gob****e.

Oh, and to everyone complaining about the cold, it was balmy this morning!

dunworth1

Did the 83km cycle back to limerick from ballybunion this morning. Took me 4hr 30mins a half hour longer than it took me to get there

Spent most of the time fighting the wind wrecked tired now

RobertFoster

The Cycling pianist wrote: »

Oh, and to everyone complaining about the cold, it was balmy this morning!

Balmy enough for hailstones!

Generally don't mind them as they just bounce off. I was hit by a few near Kilcock today and thought at least it's not raining... Then it rained for a little bit between Trim and Batterstown, but it didn't last long. The sun was out again and I didn't notice the big black cloud heading my direction until I was near Ratoath.

From Ratoath to the other side of the M2 I was pelted with sugar cube sized hailstones. They came down thick and fast, covering the road, bouncing off me and the bike, causing cars to slow and light up. Bib shorts were no protection against the painful little feckers.

The roads changed from stones to slush to water fairly quickly. The sun came out, my fingers thawed, the wind kept blowing.

Bloggsie

RobertFoster wrote: »

Balmy enough for hailstones!

Generally don't mind them as they just bounce off. I was hit by a few near Kilcock today and thought at least it's not raining... Then it rained for a little bit between Trim and Batterstown, but it didn't last long. The sun was out again and I didn't notice the big black cloud heading my direction until I was near Ratoath.

From Ratoath to the other side of the M2 I was pelted with sugar cube sized hailstones. They came down thick and fast, covering the road, bouncing off me and the bike, causing cars to slow and light up. Bib shorts were no protection against the painful little feckers.

The roads changed from stones to slush to water fairly quickly. The sun came out, my fingers thawed, the wind kept blowing.

ahh shure tis April, if ye dont like the weather keep pedalling and it'll change in 25 mins!

triggermortis

Only 25 km as time was tight, but t'was a hard 35k! Wind was brutal whichever way I was going. Hail storm was fun! Got a puncture (rear). Only saw 6 other cyclists out and 5 of them were women! One group of 3 all in matching bright jackets and another couple together 5 mins later, all around Ballyboughal.
Got a bit lost getting home but getting to know some of the lanes now

LollipopJimmy

Went for a spin across the city on the way home. Put some music on to keep me going, got snared singing 'we built this city' at the top of my voice down by the point depot.
Brutal wind out there which also made it a bit chilly despite pushing hard

Pepijn89

Had to borrow a bike as mine broke down yesterday, recorded first Strava ride on it, averaged just over 20kph in 12km.

We all have to start somewhere!

terrydel

triggermortis wrote: »

Only 25 km as time was tight, but t'was a hard 35k! Wind was brutal whichever way I was going. Hail storm was fun! Got a puncture (rear). Only saw 6 other cyclists out and 5 of them were women! One group of 3 all in matching bright jackets and another couple together 5 mins later, all around Ballyboughal.
Got a bit lost getting home but getting to know some of the lanes now

That 25k was really hard, if it was in fact 35k! :P

godtabh

Bitter cold this morning. Average of 0 degrees but it was the wind chill that got me.

Pepijn89

Minus 1 this morning with frost on the fields. Hardly any wind and I had decent gloves and earphones to keep warm though so it was grand. Hot shower at the office may have helped a lot too!

Daroxtar

Holidays in Fuengirola for the week. Got a bike today at lunch and hit the road. I didn't intend to go mad, I'm hoping to get a good spin tomorrow morning. I headed up to Mijas. I underestimated the change in temperature from 4degrres at home to 24 here. Probably shouldn't have had lunch just before I left either. Tough going!!!
I took a wrong turn and ended up a couple of km away out in the middle of nowhere.

When I got back to Mijas I was feeling a bit better so I headed up to the TV mast. Christ it's a tough bitch of a climb. 5km @10%. I made it up, though it was torture at times. It's a fairly even gradient most of the way so you can get a rhythm going but you also get virtually no respite either. I have an 11-32 on my own bike, the hire bike is a 11-28. I almost never use the 32 but I'd have given a kidney for it towards the top today.

The decent was interesting. Good smooth surface mostly but a few hairpin bends with 200m certain death plummets behind a barrier which seemed just the right height to catapult a cyclist over. Fun though

42km, 1400m
https://www.strava.com/activities/558297018

stryker mcqueen

daily commute from Tallaght to Baggot St was ended prematurely in Templeogue village today! cycling past the Maxol when some oul codger decides not to indicate or check his mirrors and takes a sharp left into the petrol station , creasing me in the process.......bike in Hollinsgsworth getting repaired, a swollen arm for my troubles so not too bad overall.

In fairness he was a decent chap and gave me a lift into work, the most awkward hour of my life, what do you talk about in that scenario???

I can understand why he hit me , it was the longest hour of my life and he was the worst driver ever lol, almost did the same to a girl on the SCR and seemed completely oblivious to other road users!

Dcully

Had an hour to kill lastnight so I thought id head into that headwind for a bit.
Within minutes I was in the middle of a hailstorm, wind got even stronger to the point where I had to give it everything on the drops just to achieve 23kph.
I was already wet so I decided to keep going into this headwind and shower to Clonbollogue a village 15k from home and looked forward the gale like tailwind home.
Just my luck ,as soon as the hail shower passed the wind dropped off dramatically,not to its previous force but was gone completely,it was actually quite eerie,never seen anything like it before.
The final 2k to Clonbollogue was dead calm, likewise when I turned round to head back home,so much for looking forward to the tailwind :P

Herc

Nice 110k around north of Mallorca in toasty 18deg average yesterday. Tasty headwinds though coming in from the north. Formentor and Femenia tackled. New surface out to the lighthouse very nice. More and more cyclists to be seen here year after year. If it's any consolation, weather alot more Irish today, dull and damp!

dahat

Check out my 51.2 km Ride on Strava: [url] https://www.strava.com/activities/559014244[/url]

Some nice climbing done today, Tickincor straight onto Powers Pot with a loop around back to Powers Pot descent. Took in a few more digs then home. Savage wind in places though with varying weather as well.

Really pleased with the effort today and feeling like my hard work is paying off a bit with regards to climbing.

Unknown Soldier

Currently trying to wrap my head around commuting again, kind of succeeding too, which is good.

Did the Tallaght reservoirs at the weekend and ended up going up "Glencree".
Beautiful, tough climb. Proper lovely climb tbh, like out of the Giro or something.

Once I was up at the feather beds I could go left for home or right, for stuff...

Found myself at Sally Gap thinking, right for home'ish or straight ahead, for stuff...


Small pit stop at Laragh and up Wicklow Gap I went.

Kudos to the Sap that has that segment there btw, ya feckin SAP!

Anyways, didn't feel that well on the descent and by the time I got to Valleymount I was sure that the pain in the righthand side of my chest wasn't my heart (I think my heart is more left'ish)

So I gave it sox with the hope that my missus would get my DIB etc.

Still here.

meh.

Was quite the slog around the Blesso lakes and back up Ballinascorney to home. Ended up with about 110km done and 1,750m of climbing.

The climbing was tough but fine, but "endurance" levels are quite banjaxed. I rang the missus at Ballyknockan or whatever the fcuk it's called and told her she was learning to drive, so in the future she could collect me when I was feecked!

The fact I went out for a "quick spin" didn't go down well with the suggestion of driving lessons.

I'll be paying for it this weekend!

The Cycling pianist

I'd like to withdraw my "balmy" comment from two days ago

The Noble Nudge

Hail coming down kilmashogue had to stop under the m50 bridge..onto lamb Doyle's, Blue light to Jonny foxes...13m/s wind all the way back to Tallaght. Have cycled in worse TBH but the wind knocked the ****e out of me. Job done

smacl

Unknown Soldier wrote: »

Did the Tallaght reservoirs at the weekend and ended up going up "Glencree".
Beautiful, tough climb. Proper lovely climb tbh, like out of the Giro or something.

If you came from the reservoirs to arrive at the featherbeds, I'm guessing that was Glassamucky rather than Glencree (other side of mountain), which is an altogether different beast. Lovely climb, and a firm favourite, but probably the hardest way of getting to the featherbeds on a bike.

Luxman

90 lovely if slightly chilly kilometres for me. The difference with this spin was the complete lack of planning on the route. I just went a wanderin'. But about 20k in I realised I had taken off my saddle bag when washing the bike and forgot to re-install. So I was praying my Gator's held up. Once I forgot about the lack of saddle bag I just cycled along and took turns all over the place off the so called planned routes I would know well. I always had an inkling where I was in relation to the towns and villages but it was joyous to explore.

Faith+1

Never posted in this forum before but need your expert advice giys and gals. I'm starting a new job next week and im thinking of cycling instead of driving as it's a 9-5 so traffic will be mental. I'm commuting from Cabra to Ballymount Dublin12.

Is it do able and would I do it under an hour? Im quite fit and my bike is a carbon frame so it's pretty light? Any advice is appreciated

iwillhtfu

Faith+1 wrote: »

Never posted in this forum before but need your expert advice giys and gals. I'm starting a new job next week and im thinking of cycling instead of driving as it's a 9-5 so traffic will be mental. I'm commuting from Cabra to Ballymount Dublin12.

Is it do able and would I do it under an hour? Im quite fit and my bike is a carbon frame so it's pretty light? Any advice is appreciated

Depending on where in Cabra you are it's no more than 15km one way.

Easily achievable in an hour but should be achievable in closer to a half hour.

I guess the main issue would be what your job might be and will you have time to change get dressed/showered similar.

Wishbone Ash

Luxman wrote: »

...about 20k in I realised I had taken off my saddle bag when washing the bike and forgot to re-install. So I was praying my Gator's held up.....

I forgot my mini-pump a few weeks ago on a solo ride and, unlike you, I wasn't able to forget about it. I only realised about 50 or 60k into the ride and from then on I was paranoid about the tyres and kept thinking they were getting soft.

(I regularly forget my water bottles).

irishrover99

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I forgot my mini-pump a few weeks ago on a solo ride and, unlike you, I wasn't able to forget about it. I only realised about 50 or 60k into the ride and from then on I was paranoid about the tyres and kept thinking they were getting soft.

(I regularly forget my water bottles).

I forgot my helmet once, oh lord it was a slow commute home.

Faith+1

iwillhtfu wrote: »

Depending on where in Cabra you are it's no more than 15km one way.

Easily achievable in an hour but should be achievable in closer to a half hour.

I guess the main issue would be what your job might be and will you have time to change get dressed/showered similar.

I'm literally beside the deaf school on Ratoath Road so I'd be in Inchicore in 15mins.

Yeah it's an admin job, so it's a smart casual environment. If I could do it comfortably in under an hour then Im a happy man. I just hate traffic and would rather move at any speed than be crawling along.

Daroxtar

Two nice spins here on holidays again. Did 75km with 900m climbing yesterday from Fuengirola to Coin and back but snapped the RD cable so had to cut the spin short and limp for a few km. Luckily enough it happened fairly close to the start of the descent. There was one short enough climb to get over and despite my best efforts I couldn't grind up 12% in 30-11. I managed to get the gear tied into one of the middle sprockets and continued home. Got the cable repaired for €12 which I thought was a very decent price.
https://www.strava.com/activities/559039108

Today I headed back up for a second crack at the climb up to the masts over Mijas. Pacing is a funny thing. Today I climbed slower and steadier all the way. I didn't fancy tasting my lungs like the last time. There's a section of about 5.5km at 7% then a short flat and another section of 5km at 10% so it works out about 12km 7.5%. Made it all the way without stopping and took 3 minutes off both sections of the climb. I won't win any medals but I'm delighted at beating myself.
30km, 1100m climbed.
https://www.strava.com/activities/559938419/overview

terrydel

Out with the brother today.
From my home in Clondalkin, up over Ballinascorney and onto the Gap, then down into Laragh, home via Glenmacnass/Manor Kilbride/N81. 104km @ 23.7 kmph average. Worked with the brother doing 2k on and off the front, otherwise it would have been a lot slower. 1320m of climbing. Very tough day in the saddle. I wore my new Galibier Colombiere jacket for the second time and it was quite frankly ****e in this weather. Sweat a lot under it and it got soaked thru by the time we hit Glenmacnass on the way into Laragh. The combination of this and the biting wind at the time made the sweat very cold and I was fecking freezing!
It warmed up a bit on the way back, taking the Glenmacnass route again. We made good time here, under an hour for the 20k. The weather was ****e from the Gap on home, got soaked thru again. Saw loads of Orwell Randonee participants all day as their route seemed similar to ours, obviously longer tho! Fair play to them is all I can say, another 50k today would have done me in And I need a better jacket for this weather.
The Colombiere fits nice and is well made but I think it really is only for very, very cold dry days, nothing else. And they need to look at the breathability, I hate being cold on the bike so will gladly wear lots of layers, but I've not sweat as much as I did wearing this with any other winter jacket.
Ah well, it was tough but good preparation for the W200

irishrover99

As i only got the all clear last night for the Orwell randonnee I missed the registration but decided I set out earlier and do the route anyway. That was a bloody hard day. The weather really didn't help at all and the snow up turlough hill was amazing and something I'll remember for a while even though it didn't stick much to the ground. It made me feel like i was in the giro d'italia. Took a wrong turn at the top so don't think I went up all the way. First 50k for me was awful and generally felt slow all day but looking at others times it seems it could have just been the conditions. Some really long slogs on that route and the just go on forvever.

Fastest up the full wall but seems I was the only one who done it. Not surprised if the bottom half was taken out due to the conditions on the approach.

https://www.strava.com/activities/560920136

neris

Daroxtar wrote: »

Two nice spins here on holidays again. Did 75km with 900m climbing yesterday from Fuengirola to Coin and back but snapped the RD cable so had to cut the spin short and limp for a few km. Luckily enough it happened fairly close to the start of the descent. There was one short enough climb to get over and despite my best efforts I couldn't grind up 12% in 30-11. I managed to get the gear tied into one of the middle sprockets and continued home. Got the cable repaired for €12 which I thought was a very decent price.
https://www.strava.com/activities/559039108

wheres the derelict looking castle that youve 2 pics of on your strava? heading down that way for xmas and thinking of taking the bike if I can loose a few stone before