Tell us about your new improved government regulations compliant cycle part II

P_1

Just about managed to beat the broomwagon on the Tour de Foothills. Got welcomed into a Swords train between Hollywood and Dunlavin, great lads and really helped the pain of the headwind. If I haven't hated Lake Drive, Lake Drive into a headwind is a [redacted]. Going up the Naas Road was actually fine so early in the morning, if anything I left too early. Got passed out by a Boardsie somewhere between Naas and Blessington, I'm guessing it was WA seeing as he was in amongst some Swords jerseys. Very well run event and they really deserve some decent weather for it. New bike worked a treat. All in all 150km on the button (though the less said about the speed the better!)

https://www.strava.com/activities/1510366794

Daroxtar

Left Longwood in the sunshine this morning, threw the bike in the car and off to meet a mate for some hill practice. Reached Tallaght, dull but still dry. Made it halfway up Ballinascorney before we got wet. Then it got wetter as we came back down and went up Cunard. Really windy, 20m visibility with the fog, rain....F*%@ that.
Descended down from the featherbeds and turned and descended down Cruagh..... No rain. So went back up to the Viewing point again - more rain, then back down Stocking Lane, hands and feet absolutely numb at that stage, and back to the car. Dry and almost warm by comparison in Tallaght. Had a coffee, drove back to Longwood, sunshine :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
A miserable, cold wet 45km with 916m climbing
https://www.strava.com/activities/1509665657
Enjoyed it though, in a bizarre kind of way

Wishbone Ash

P_1 wrote: »

... Got welcomed into a Swords train between Hollywood and Dunlavin, great lads and really helped the pain of the headwind...

That was the second Swords group. They seem to have drifted off the back after Blessington.

P_1 wrote:

Got passed out by a Boardsie somewhere between Naas and Blessington, I'm guessing it was WA seeing as he was in amongst some Swords jerseys....

Yup - that was me - my Swords gear was in the wash after yesterday.

Wishbone Ash

P_1 wrote: »

... All in all 150km on the button ...

Was it yourself on the Naas Road this morning around 8.15/8.30 on a green bike/hi viz rain jacket?

P_1

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Was it yourself on the Naas Road this morning around 8.15/8.30 on a green bike/hi viz rain jacket?

Yeah that was me. Probably a trip I won't repeat again but worth it for the experience.

Paul_Mc1988

P_1 wrote:

Just about managed to beat the broomwagon on the Tour de Foothills. Got welcomed into a Swords train between Hollywood and Dunlavin, great lads and really helped the pain of the headwind. If I haven't hated Lake Drive, Lake Drive into a headwind is a [redacted]. Going up the Naas Road was actually fine so early in the morning, if anything I left too early. Got passed out by a Boardsie somewhere between Naas and Blessington, I'm guessing it was WA seeing as he was in amongst some Swords jerseys. Very well run event and they really deserve some decent weather for it. New bike worked a treat. All in all 150km on the button (though the less said about the speed the better!)

I myself didnt avoid the wagon. Was at the front with the pace car until it peeled of just before we hit blessinton. From there it was myself an 5 others setting a good pace until i took the turn for the 65 km route as the weather had sapped my motivation. This was my first mistake. As we had been going so fast none of the martials had got to any of the crossroads so i had to wait at one for 5 mins until they showed up to point the direction.

Then i punctured and my topeak rocket seamed to keep pulling the twist part of the valves off. Had to wait 30 mins for the first fellow cyclist to turn up with a pump that just locks on. Got going again and flatted within 1km amd that was the end of my day.

Anyone know a fix to stoo the pump from doing this?

Galego

Paul_Mc1988 wrote: »

I myself didnt avoid the wagon. Was at the front with the pace car until it peeled of just before we hit blessinton. From there it was myself an 5 others setting a good pace until i took the turn for the 65 km route as the weather had sapped my motivation.

Would have been 6 if my tyre didnt bust on the descend after Blessington. :-(

Was the end of the day for me after that.

saccades

A very wet cycle up to glenmalure.

Enjoyable in a way.

Paul_Mc1988

Galego wrote:

Would have been 6 if my tyre didnt bust on the descend after Blessington. :-(

Galego wrote:

Was the end of the day for me after that.

It's ruthless around the lake. Will be avoiding it for the foreseeable future. Worst roads around after that winter.

Alanstrainor

Had an interesting one this morning. On the Portmarnock->Baldoyle coast road there has been some road works over the last weeks. And they have left behind 1/2 inch metal plates the whole width of the road, nightmare fuel for getting over on a bike. Anyway, I thought my hop would be good enough to over the lip, but I missed it and hit it hard and felt my handlebars shift/rotate downward! I continued on at a decent pace, but cautiously. I gave the bar ends a whack and sure enough they moved again. Shoite. Pulled in once I got to Baldoyle and luckily had my pocket bike tool on me with lots of hex keys. Managed to tighten it, I was lucky it didn't completely collapse! I'll have to look again this evening!

Borderfox

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Had an interesting one this morning. On the Portmarnock->Baldoyle coast road there has been some road works over the last weeks. And they have left behind 1/2 inch metal plates the whole width of the road, nightmare fuel for getting over on a bike. Anyway, I thought my hop would be good enough to over the lip, but I missed it and hit it hard and felt my handlebars shift/rotate downward! I continued on at a decent pace, but cautiously. I gave the bar ends a whack and sure enough they moved again. Shoite. Pulled in once I got to Baldoyle and luckily had my pocket bike tool on me with lots of hex keys. Managed to tighten it, I was lucky it didn't completely collapse! I'll have to look again this evening!

Torque wrench ftw

secman

Paul_Mc1988 wrote: »

It's ruthless around the lake. Will be avoiding it for the foreseeable future. Worst roads around after that winter.

Good for the soul though .... a lap of the lakes

CrowdedHouse

Borderfox wrote: »

Torque wrench ftw

And a smidgen of carbon paste

positron

Brought the bike to work on Matthews coach this morning, and rode back ... well got blown back home is more accurate. Saved 10 minutes off my regular time, despite crossing all of Dublin and stopping at every red light, getting stuck behind buses and tourists riding DublinBikes etc etc. It was amusing to watch someone going all aero on the bar down Pinnock Hill, and I was able to keep up (sorry, humble brag), but my cheap (like €5, lidl I think it was from) bike computer had enough of my riding and decided to fall off. Oh well. Got best of the wind behind me from Balbriggan to Drogheda, around Julianstown I think I went up some 500-800 places in couple of Strava segments... thanks to the wind!

Dundrum-Drogheda on R132, 2 hours 8 minutes. Avg around 27kmph (I am usually do 23-24kmph rider). Not much climbing (<250meters).

PS: Just a curious observation - riding to bus stop, Matthews Coach to UCD, and riding to work took nearly 2h 20m. That's about the same time as it takes me to ride as well.

Colonel Claptrap

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Had an interesting one this morning. On the Portmarnock->Baldoyle coast road there has been some road works over the last weeks. And they have left behind 1/2 inch metal plates the whole width of the road, nightmare fuel for getting over on a bike. Anyway, I thought my hop would be good enough to over the lip, but I missed it and hit it hard and felt my handlebars shift/rotate downward! I continued on at a decent pace, but cautiously. I gave the bar ends a whack and sure enough they moved again. Shoite. Pulled in once I got to Baldoyle and luckily had my pocket bike tool on me with lots of hex keys. Managed to tighten it, I was lucky it didn't completely collapse! I'll have to look again this evening!

Is there not enough room to get passed them on the inside?

They are a pain. Hopefully will be taken up soon.

Rogue-Trooper

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Had an interesting one this morning. On the Portmarnock->Baldoyle coast road there has been some road works over the last weeks. And they have left behind 1/2 inch metal plates the whole width of the road, nightmare fuel for getting over on a bike.

Colonel Claptrap wrote: »

They are a pain. Hopefully will be taken up soon.

They were gone yesterday evening - must have read your post!

Budawanny

IFSC to three rock with a few of the MTB trails thrown in, on my old mountain bike . Tough head wind all the way. Some evening for it though. Some views and waarrm. Nice.

Grassey

****e. Dropped the chain 6 times on way to work, and 8 in way back in heavy traffic. Heard something drop, ignored it, then 5km later had a panic that I'd dropped my keys. (thankfully I hadn't)

On the plus side. First day out in summer kit!

positron

Ooh hate that sound of things falling off when you are pressing on... in my case it's often the pump, bike computer or lile today, the bottle.

After taking the bus into town this morning, I got to make most of that sunshine riding back Dundrum-Drogheda. Took the scenic road for a change R130 (Coolquay, Garistown, Ardcath, Duleek). R130 road surface is way better than R132 (which is probably one of the worst I have been on). R130 also has nicer views, more interesting elevation and twists and turns, but it's rather narrow, and you don't want to meet any impatient / incosiderate drivers on that road. Also not too many shops as I was painfully aware of today, after leaving / losing my water bottle somewhere in Dundrum. Between Coolquay and Duleek, there is only one shop, the petrol station in Garristown!! Also I had changed the front tire from knobby CX tire to Marathon and the difference is amazing - quicker to roll, and smoother overall.

Approx 58k, Approx 2h 20m of moving time (2h 50 including stops, mostly Dublin traffic lights). 350m climbing.

magicbastarder

positron wrote: »

Between Coolquay and Duleek, there is only one shop, the petrol station in Garristown!!

favourite memory from there:
"do you have any cous cous?"
"you're not in dublin anymore, dear".

positron

positron wrote: »

Ooh hate that sound of things falling off when you are pressing on... in my case it's often the pump, bike computer or lile today, the bottle.

After taking the bus into town this morning, I got to make most of that sunshine riding back Dundrum-Drogheda. Took the scenic road for a change R130 (Coolquay, Garistown, Ardcath, Duleek). R130 road surface is way better than R132 (which is probably one of the worst I have been on). R130 also has nicer views, more interesting elevation and twists and turns, but it's rather narrow, and you don't want to meet any impatient / incosiderate drivers on that road. Also not too many shops as I was painfully aware of today, after leaving / losing my water bottle somewhere in Dundrum. Between Coolquay and Duleek, there is only one shop, the petrol station in Garristown!! Also I had changed the front tire from knobby CX tire to Marathon and the difference is amazing - quicker to roll, and smoother overall.

Approx 58k, Approx 2h 20m of moving time (2h 50 including stops, mostly Dublin traffic lights). 350m climbing.

Ha thanks for testing that road for me was planning on heading out from Drogheda to Garistown later in the week and thinking of that route. Assume you took a right in Duleek back to town on the R152? Not a fan of that road between Platin and Drogheda. Maybe better in the evening but I've had a couple of hairy ones with trucks on there during the day.

dahat

After a few positive weeks training it was time for me to get involved with club league races to see how the legs were for possible racing Sunday week.

A flat 55km with the worst crosswinds I've ever cycled in.We were handicapped a min behind the A4 lads.
Suffered greatly coming back but hung on in to take the gallop with the contenders maybe 40 secs up the road.

Overall very pleased in the end and hoping to improve further as weeks go on.

55km at. 38.8km/h.

Ray Bloody Purchase

I note that my daily commute is getting slightly crowded. There's a lot of sunny day cyclists out there. :rolleyes::rolleyes::P:P

positron

Deleted User wrote: »

Ha thanks for testing that road for me was planning on heading out from Drogheda to Garistown later in the week and thinking of that route. Assume you took a right in Duleek back to town on the R152? Not a fan of that road between Platin and Drogheda. Maybe better in the evening but I've had a couple of hairy ones with trucks on there during the day.

R130 joins R150 a little south of Duleek. Yesterday I took R150 but soon turned off to the road towards Southgate / Colp etc. Now, slight bit of bad news - R130 gets rougher between Garristown and as you get closer to Duleek, so if you are coming from Drogheda to Garristown, the road isn't that good unfortunately.

PS: Probably one for another thread but where are the best roads around Drogheda, Duleek-Julianstown is nice and wide I guess. I don't think I have ever been on the road to Slane, too narrow and rather busy. R132 to Dundalk isn't too bad either.

magicbastarder

positron wrote: »

I don't think I have ever been on the road to R132 to Dundalk isn't too bad either.

the N2? avoid. i've only done part of it north of ashbourne but it was not pleasant.

positron

magicbastarder wrote: »

the N2? avoid. i've only done part of it north of ashbourne but it was not pleasant.

Road from Drogheda to Slane is N51 (just had a look at the map). It's just a connecting road between these two places, it's great for the motorbike, but can't see it being much fun to cycle on.

You are right about N2.

Rode the N51 to turn off to Newgrange a while back, it's fine to that point pretty much. I did ride it to Slane since then won't be doing it again any time soon, i asked about that here and i think Mercian Pro mentioned it wasn't pleasant and he was right even when it's quite I was passed twice closer and faster than I'd like.

For the return leg I left Slane heading south on the N2 and took the first left to head to Rosnaree then left for Donore. You're only on the N2 briefly after Slane for about 500m maybe so nothing to worry about. I'd have reservations maybe doing this in reverse towards Slane and having to cross the N2 there but I 'think' there is decent viability up and down the road from that junction.

Miklos

Rode up Cruagh, Featherbeds, Sally Gap and the reverse, it was glorious!

magicbastarder

very humid out there. proper sweat-fest.

P_1

Kilmashogue hurts, a lot...