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

^ Not a place I'd heard of before (Belmont). One to check out in less restricted times for me maybe.

Kevhog1988

Out with the 17yo cousin this morning. Flying for 20k and then he bonked badly. Hadnt eaten and completely ran out of energy. i had to nurse him home.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4175427923

dinneenp

Annoyed- pushed for entire cycle (42km) only to find when finished that the recording was off....says I did 40kmph average and max speed 160km!

Think I put on bluetooth instead of GPS.....

https://www.strava.com/activities/4177297656

Turloughmore to Athenry back road and then nice hill and downhill on the return part with a short straight to home. Nice loop and having a segment towards the end helps me to push. Lashed rain 3/4 way through but didn't mind as I haven't been caught in the rain much so enjoyed the novelty.

hesker

Cork city to west Cork via Bandon and Enniskeane on a route I know well. Didn’t bring any grub as I know I don’t need it for a 70k spin. Took a slight detour to avoid the worst road in Ireland. Couldn’t find my way back onto my route and ended up backtracking up and down hills for a half hour. Bonked from lack of food and limped to my destination. Still glad I got out. Grand day and lots of people out cycling.

magicbastarder

hesker wrote: »

Didn’t bring any grub as I know I don’t need it for a 70k spin.

do you have any other fuel with you? if i'm doing over 40km i'll usually bring a banana at least.

Tell me how

hesker wrote: »

Cork city to west Cork via Bandon and Enniskeane on a route I know well. Didn’t bring any grub as I know I don’t need it for a 70k spin. Took a slight detour to avoid the worst road in Ireland. Couldn’t find my way back onto my route and ended up backtracking up and down hills for a half hour. Bonked from lack of food and limped to my destination. Still glad I got out. Grand day and lots of people out cycling.

I always have an energy bar in my saddle bag for unexpected situations.
I would definitely plan for eating on anything above 50Km though but that's just what I've gotten used to.

Wishbone Ash

Mercian Pro wrote: »

A lot of our recent club spins from Swords have been skirting the Dublin-Meath border in various attempts to plot 80-100km routes that stay within the county boundary....

Those living in large counties have a great advantage - looking at you Co Cork. I was messing around with Strava routes today and plotted a fairly straight route west from Youghal to the Dursey cable car - 200km in a fairly straight line without leaving your county! (or a 400k round trip).

Wishbone Ash

magicbastarder wrote: »

...managed to get 12th fastest on a popular descent (nag's head eastbound) which was pleasantly surprising....

It's very easy to overcook that left turning bend at the farmyard near the end. And the road there seems to be covered with slurry any time I do it. (Excuses excuses!!)

positron

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Those living in large counties have a great advantage - looking at you Co Cork. I was messing around with Strava routes today and plotted a fairly straight route west from Youghal to the Dursey cable car - 200km in a fairly straight line without leaving your county! (or a 400k round trip).

It's time for everyone to come up with their own "lap of the county" routes.

Lap of the smallest county in the country, Co. Louth, worked out around 215 kms.

magicbastarder

yeah, i was motoring down it and that was the bend i was reminding myself to prepare for, for probably a kilometre beforehand.
that shallow S bend much nearer the top is good fun at speed though.

Wishbone Ash

positron wrote: »

It's time for everyone to come up with their own "lap of the county" routes...

I was more thinking of the longest distance in a straightish direction within a county as opposed to a circuit.

hesker

magicbastarder wrote: »

do you have any other fuel with you? if i'm doing over 40km i'll usually bring a banana at least.

Over 70k I’ll definitely bring food. Less than that I might depending on how well I know the route. On new routes of any length I would bring food alright.

80k with 1000 climbing @ 29kph. Forgot to bring a mask so couldn't stop for a coffee and some grub. Felt the tummy rumbling on the way home and the power dropping. Would normally have snacks in the pocket but didn't today. Beautiful morning for it.

Weepsie

Just 37km this morning, but went off road in the park for about 10 of those for a bit of cx type , slightly mucky fun.

Had 2 moments. 1 when I heard what sounded like a quick and brutal hissing and I thought I'd badly punctured, twas but a leaf caught somewhere.

Second, took a oath that had much longer grass than expected and was forced to unclip when I came to a standstill.


Similar to above leaf incident, spotted a kid with a bottle between the rear bridge and tyre replicating the noise of a motorbike. Havnt seen that in a long long time

magicbastarder

Weepsie wrote: »

1 when I heard what sounded like a quick and brutal hissing and I thought I'd badly punctured, twas but a leaf caught somewhere.

i had a 'what the hell is that noise' moment today when about an hour into my spin, i hit some rough tarmac and all of a sudden could hear an escaping gas type noise. took me about 30s to realise that the vibrations from the road must have stirred up some of the fizz in the isotonic tablet i'd put in the water in the bottle and it had built up pressure and was escaping through the nozzle.

Luxman

Had a bidon make a break from its bottle cage today over a rough piece of road. Smashed the nozzle on the lid. Watching too much Giro!!

a148pro

Depressing to see the traffic in dublin mountain areas today. Lots of cyclists on both sides of the road, literally more than I have ever seen. Loads of club spins. Cars parked or driving everywhere. Stretch beside cruagh looked like electric picnic. People trying to get kids out safely on a dark road with way too much traffic. And all because of an idiotic restriction. I'm sure this was repeated at amenity sites throughout dublin. It's actually creating a public health risk and I would also be concerned for the safety of cyclists in general up there.

Weepsie

a148pro wrote: »

Depressing to see the traffic in dublin mountain areas today. Lots of cyclists on both sides of the road, literally more than I have ever seen. Loads of club spins. Cars parked or driving everywhere. Stretch beside cruagh looked like electric picnic. People trying to get kids out safely on a dark road with way too much traffic. And all because of an idiotic restriction. I'm sure this was repeated at amenity sites throughout dublin. It's actually creating a public health risk and I would also be concerned for the safety of cyclists in general up there.

You can guarantee an awful lot of those cyclists are not from Wicklow though, so it's a bit of everyone being a bit selfish to be honest

Wishbone Ash

Weepsie wrote: »

You can guarantee an awful lot of those cyclists are not from Wicklow though...

He did say the Dublin mountains.

a148pro

I don't follow you? I doubt any were from wicklow

I remember a really sunny saturday or sunday just after lockdown restrictions ended and it was busiest i've ever seen on the mountain routes, go cycling terms. It was actually amazing you could feel the joy in the air. But was busier today.

MangleBadger

Usual spin out and around Howth. Took a different route to the top than usual. St. Fintan’s and then Old Carrockbrack Road onto Windgates. Some nice ramps compared to the straight route.

Noticed they have resurfaced the road approaching the east link. Thank god. Now they just need to do the roundabouts on either side of it.

https://strava.app.link/XUGZBaF0uab

shaka

78km today mainly solo , ran into club after 50 and took shelter for a while

Seth Brundle

Went out this evening to do some hill exercises so headed over to Kilteel & Rathmore (staying within the Kildare border).
Passed by this muppet in a BMW reversing out of his driveway. He was looking at me and still decided to reverse out onto the road.
62km with 500m @ 27.7km/h

https://www.strava.com/activities/4182458548

smacl

Just a bit over 40k for me yesterday with 860m of up and lots of rather gnarly off road stuff, including trails above Ballinascorney and hills above Glenasmole. Decided I could make it though a waterlogged section of bog road at the back of Kippure at one point which ended up ankle deep, so a wet ride home. Great craic for all that but lets not talk about pace

smacl

a148pro wrote: »

Depressing to see the traffic in dublin mountain areas today. Lots of cyclists on both sides of the road, literally more than I have ever seen. Loads of club spins. Cars parked or driving everywhere. Stretch beside cruagh looked like electric picnic. People trying to get kids out safely on a dark road with way too much traffic. And all because of an idiotic restriction. I'm sure this was repeated at amenity sites throughout dublin. It's actually creating a public health risk and I would also be concerned for the safety of cyclists in general up there.

Been like that for the last few weeks, hence taking the less travelled routes closer to the Wicklow border, e.g. here for a gravel cyclist such as yourself. Cruagh / Pine forest / Hellfire is currently best avoided at the weekend unless you're up at dawn. PITA but so it goes.

cletus

Short evening spin for me yesterday, got out late, and it started to get dark pretty quickly, so cut it a bit short.

Did get to try out two things for the first time. Panaracer Gravelking SK tyres felt good, and the cheap full fingered gloves I picked up from Decathlon worked great, took the sting out of cold air on the fingertips, but not padded enough to make my hands sweat

Kevhog1988

Sunday spin yesterday in a group of mixed abilities. We had to rein it in for the second half as one of our senior members was tired. I always enjoy this as a social steady turning of the legs but a few lads want to turn the screw all the time which annoys me when others obviously cant keep up. Got a nice pr on the hill for home tho when i saw someone else half way up and left the group to see could i catch them.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4180104743

A lovely 8k then with the Family. https://www.strava.com/activities/4180514320

a148pro

smacl wrote: »

J

Is that a private road? Does it link in with the golden mile approach to Kippure?

There is a holy grail of a route on the other side of the valley that appears to lead over to firing range road but I'm pretty sure its private. It sits over that valley tempting you

smacl wrote: »

Been like that for the last few weeks, hence taking the less travelled routes closer to the Wicklow border, e.g. here for a gravel cyclist such as yourself. Cruagh / Pine forest / Hellfire is currently best avoided at the weekend unless you're up at dawn. PITA but so it goes.

I cycled this road on the road bike yesterday and there are a good few entrances of interest, but it looks from online like none are loops, am I right in that?

smacl

a148pro wrote: »

Is that a private road? Does it link in with the golden mile approach to Kippure?

There is a holy grail of a route on the other side of the valley that appears to lead over to firing range road but I'm pretty sure its private. It sits over that valley tempting you

Public road AFAIK, a number of walkers on it. It comes within about 1k of the other back road to Kippure coming out on the Military road but that's deep bog this time of year. Tempted to make the loop after a few dry weeks in the summer when we get them but will probably involve carrying the bike for that bit. From memory, I think Alek has managed this in days gone by. Here's what you're crossing.

Other side of the mountain is army training ground which I'd avoid for a few reasons

I cycled this road on the road bike yesterday and there are a good few entrances of interest, but it looks from online like none are loops, am I right in that?

The entrance I linked loops back to the start of the road here, did it yesterday. Looking at satellite view in Google maps it also links back to the top of Ballinascorny here and here, all within the Dublin border, so a few possibilites.

I found bits of both off-road sections challenging enough, due in part to the 40c G-One all-round tyres a bit light duty for the task but primarily my own technical inability. Bits of the Kippure bog road are also flooded so was going through a couple of ankle deep sections.

Thargor

CramCycle wrote: »

Went off road and up Bray Head from the golf club side. Decided I'd take a short cut across to the cliff road which turns out to be CX / MTB territory. Got across eventually and then with my new found love of off road I called into Belmont Demense and rode round their bike loop before a coffee at Half Bakd.

Is that free to take a bike in there?