My spin today...

Wailin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118837950#Comment_118837950

Hero 9 with the max lens mod

ednwireland

great few hours round coolaney this morning only got caught in one shower no one there first thing !

Gerry

Got out to Crone / Maulin yesterday. some day for it. Not the easiest trails when you've not been out for a while! But was happy with how I rode them. Controlling speed and let er rip as I loosened up a bit. Only got 1.5 runs in but was fantastic.

Wailin

Up at Rostrevor at the weekend for the first time, what a beautiful spot. The climb up is bloody hardship (did it twice!) but the trails are excellent. It's by far the best trail centre on the island in my opinion, beautiful views and varied trails with enough variety to keep you invested. Will definitely be back to try the natural trails next time.

Gerry

Nice one. Id agreed about Rostrevor. did the enduro there a few weeks back. the red and black loops formed part of a few stages. But the natural stuff, some of which was new, was the highlight. finished on "on the pulse" which I was a bit nervous going into but I have to say I rode it very well :) a great day out on the bike. Would have been much tougher without uplifts, we pedalled up once.

https://strava.app.link/DDy8Bzc10qb

Yesterday got back out to gap and ticknock for first time in a while. Top red trail in the gap was good, hit a few natural trails in ticknock including ripride from the top and a newish trail down below ewoks which I think is called "leap of the bunny". a chute through whin bushes, wouldnt be rushing back to it.

https://strava.app.link/GSkWFRZ00qb

Wailin

Leap of the bunny is around awhile and used to be much better but is neglected now and overgrown. I was at Ticknock myself yesterday and did ripride too. Had a nasty enough fall at the start on T connector due to the dry conditions. The front wheel washed out on loose dirt, took the wind out of me and wrist still sore 😑

https://youtu.be/rplHFKRRHMA

Gerry

hard luck falling there. same route as I did the other day.. great trail.

Plastik

Did a cruisey lap of Djouce earlier. Place is looking very raw having had Gravity Enduros coming through twice in quick succession hitting the same trails each time. Phantom, Ride Don't Slide and Badgers Spit all very much worse for wear.

Wailin

In fairness, a lot of those trails, and others in Djouce, Dutch Gold included, are well eroded now and dug in before any enduros this year. Only ones that are in good shape are those up by the waterfall that see less traffic but coilte made a balls of them this year.

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119254684#Comment_119254684

Yeah, agree with you there. It's definitely getting more rutted and roots becoming more exposed compared to even a couple years back.

ednwireland

what a day . coolaney. ran out of talent on one of the new runs though

Plastik

Headed up to Ballinastoe last night for a break from road riding and to check out the 3 new trails, I thought they would be open for the Gravity Enduro this weekend. Unfortunately they're far from ready. Rolled down each of them for a look, more good additions to the place but in reality probably only one that I'd ride regularly. From the trailhead; the trail on the right is a very flowy flow trail, much the same as the many other flow trails in Stoe; the middle trail is a jump trail as wide as a road - all rollable but with one bit of a roll-down that I don't think beginners are going to manage with ease. Probably wouldn't ride it much, because I can't jump!; the trail on the left is the best of the lot, tricky, techy, testy, a fortune of little sender drops that aren't particularly big but will catch chainrings unless you're carrying enough speed.

DaveyDave

First trip to Ballinastoe this afternoon.

There's some serious berms at the bottom of the blue loop! Didn't have the balls to hit them as it's super dry and gravely and I'm only on the MTB two months or so now. After the blue loop I took the access road from the car park up towards the red trails which felt like I was going the wrong way, it took forever. In this heat and being off the bike the last few weeks it was torture. Headed for the first trail I saw hoping to get back to the car park and it was Zipper, another fecking climb.

As a newbie Dark Loam felt techy compared to what's at Ticknock. Some of the rocks seemed to drop off a bit more so it was slow controlled descending into corners rather than just flying over everything at Ticknock. I think I prefer the slower controlled stuff.

Expressway has a serious amount of rocks for a fast trail, definitely putting extra volume of the 2.6" tyres to the test on the hardtail.

Had a bit of a tough time after that, following a red marker after Expressway led to another bloody access road climb. I wasn't sure if I was headed back to the car park or how far I had to go. I didn't bring my backpack as I wasn't out long but I desperately wanted to take off my gear. Next time I'll be more prepared as unlike Ticknock where you can get back to the car park from several points my route at Ballinastoe meant commitment.

It's also a bit of a head scratcher looking at the maps of where to go. Also, I'm not familiar with the local/Strava names so hopefully the official names make sense to people.

prunudo

Yeah, plenty of climbing in Ballinastoe now with the way the trails are laid out.

DaveyDave

Much better loop at Ballinastoe today, followed Trail Advisor's YouTube guide. Going from Double Trouble to Zipper is a lot more forgiving than going the long way round from the bottom of the blue trails.

Looks like it's easy enough to lengthen the loop on a good day to climb back up and do Bump & Grind/Dark Loam before Expressway. Can also do Home Run before going back to the car.

Not as much climbing per kilometre as Ticknock but still feels like a good effort, the gradual effort on the blue trails is appreciated, straight into 10% at Ticknock is a killer.

DaveyDave

Maybe someone can explain this to me. Up at The Gap towards the end of one of the blue trails it's just covered in gravel. The front wheel nearly washed out on me when I approached with caution. This isn't just a loose trail it looks like they just covered it in gravel? I broke my wrist here 4 years ago when brake bumps threw me off my line and the bike washed out. There's a dirt path worn into the grass beside it, but there's no sign saying don't ride the trail or to go around it.

The blue trails seemed pretty rough compared to Ticknock or Ballinastoe, tons of brake bumps. Don't fancy paying for a pedal pass and parking for that to be honest when Ballinastoe is an extra 10-15 minutes away.

Gravel and bikes don't mix. I can't imagine their injury waiver means anything when they're throwing gravel around the place on beginner trails?

Wailin

I do agree on the use of gravel for mtb trails. It's awful visually and also lack of grip in berms, corners can be risky. Up in the Slieve Blooms it's even worse. It's obviously a lot cheaper to do compared to compacted earth like the more natural coilte stuff in ticknock and ballinastoe. I saw a riding buddy of mine have a nasty fall in the slieve Blooms on similar surface to that above. Scraped his chin along the gravel, not pleasant.

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120666489#Comment_120666489

Did you bring it to the attention of the staff there. Looks like, with the dry weather, the finer dusty material has blown away and left the bigger stone.

Gerry

No, I was up there today and it is fresh gravel. It caught me by surprise. I couldnt understand it at all. the trail was not closed off ie under repair.

I paid for a pedal up today even though I was on xc bike and mostly wanted to go to ticknock. with the rise to 8 euro and the lack of attention to blue or flow trails its not worth it.

Wailin

8 euro? Did you not book online for 5 euro or has it gone up to 8 online also?

DaveyDave

It was €5 when I done it online the other day, you can book on the same day too if you forget. Definitely worth paying online to save your money since parking is also €2.

seaviewphotos

Got out for an hour last evening in Ballycurraran Forest Park, just outside Killaloe. Good workout, 5km with 350m of climbing. Stayed on the forest roads as I don't know the area, fabulous views of Lough Derg.

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Gerry

Got in a decent training spin for the cooley thriller. A few laps of ticknock,

threw in some steeper tech climbs on toms and eurosceptic, kept moving with only a few minutes stopped, similar to how the cooley will be. Not quite the full distance, but felt I'd a bit left.

All the same, was absolutely wrecked that evening and yesterday. Long time since I did an mtb spin of that length, without significant stops.

Not sure if I'll try and do similar next weekend, its probably too late for more big training.

39 odd km and 1100m climbed.

https://strava.app.link/rZAINkDKVBb

ednwireland

took the new bike for a spin last night

ednwireland

cracking day out in coolaney yesterday

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121723596#Comment_121723596

Still have to make it down there, probably have to be an over nighter though to make the most of it, coming from the east coast.

ednwireland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121724225#Comment_121724225

they just got planning for cafe,bike hire,bike wash facility as well, not sure what the timescale will be on that though.

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121724450#Comment_121724450

Same in Ballinastoe but a local has brought it to an Bord Planala.

Top Dog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121724450#Comment_121724450

If they can get slower facilities it'd be brilliant. So crazy to me that Ballyhoura still stands alone in having shower facilities at the trail head.

Gerry

Have been trying to keep up a weekly training spin of around blitz length.

Ticknock is closest to me so it makes sense to go there, but the coillte trails really aren't as good as ballinstoe. The bottom of blazing saddles where it joins afterburner is grand but besides that.. I love metro 1 still, and the new trail beside it will be great.

But the top section which used to be called euroservices and is now blazing saddles, really is woeful. I can see one little berm was added but overall its an annoying trail and it always was. Could use a touch off a bulldozer.

The Eurosceptic descent is a bit hairy in these conditions, its hard to hit exactly the right line each time and theres no margin

So after 2 laps I decided to hit dog house which is off the walkers trail after eurosceptic entry, and had an exit onto the shogue. I didnt try the other exit. Lot of fun.

https://strava.app.link/ZK5PdmTDjHb