Tell us about your cycle today part III

magicbastarder · 28-11-2021 11:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118237040#Comment_118237040

it was very humid this morning if strava is to be believed - 97% but at 3C maybe that's not as noticeable. one example i came across was i came down the mall (southbound from fourknocks) and the road was completely dry, but when i hit the oldtown-naul road, it was instantly wet; as in enough so you could hear a slight hiss of the water under your tyres.

grouchyman · 29-11-2021 12:05am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118198415#Comment_118198415

Hi @Weepsie

Just wondering what route did you take for you spins between Abbey & Ballygar? Did you head for Glenamaddy & Creggs or through Moylough & Mountbellew, or some other way? I'm always looking for new routes 😀

grouchyman · 29-11-2021 12:07am

Found it mild & wet this morning @ about 6.30 when I headed out to the shed for turf for the range before having the “Porridge” breakfast & heading out shortly before 8 for a 9 a.m. spin.

Came across a few horse boxes in Ahascragh. Didn’t realise that there was some class of a horse fair organized for today. Anyways didn’t cause me any problems.

I was 20kms in by the time I hit Ballinasloe & I was well wet at this stage and it was turning out to be a truly miserable morning. The first miserable one of the winter really.

Anyways from Ballinasloe I headed for Dysart, Athlone & back to Ballinasloe about 60 kms in total.

With the weather being so miserable and the roads being very wet I was conscious of the conditions and so were most drivers, who to be fair, gave plenty of space when passing, however there was one headerball of a driver who tried to overtake just before the Supervalu on the Bealnamulla side of Athlone. The eejit came close to wrapping himself and his car around a bollard in the middle of the road.

I was cold getting on the bike after stopping for coffee and it took me a while to heat up. However, the rain had stopped and the weather had started to brighten so I think that helped.

At one stage I had a look at the dirt from the road that had splashed up & stuck to my jacket and I decided that there was no way I was drinking from the bottle on the bike.

Coming back through Ahascragh the horse fair was in full flight, but I got through the town no bother.

Anyways 101 kms done @ 25.1 kph. Happy with that.

As a point of interest I found the spin from Ballinasloe to home tough, so I checked the spin on ridewithgps –

20 kms into Ballinasloe @ 25.3 kph.

Ballinasloe – Dysart, Athlone- Ballinasloe 60 kms @ 26.5 kph. &

Ballinasloe to home 20kms @ 22.3 kph.

Hard work but enjoyable. Winter is finally here.

01Surveyor · 29-11-2021 11:31am

I usually post about trips on the canals, but with the big 7 oh approaching the missus isnt happy about me 'acting the eejit on that bike' alone on the canal so its been back to the road for me with a great group of lads.

Ive been doing 100k+ spins since May but only managed a 60 and an 80 the last two Sundays so yesterdays 110+ was a bit of a shock and the oul legs are very sore today. It wasnt as cold as we expected and certainly better than last weekend.

I've been shocked at the behavior of motorists since my return to the roads, I've been cycling for 40 years and I reckon its got worse despite the safety campaigns, the Garda need to get actively involved. Cycling two abreast and having a bit of chat has become a risky activity most of the time, Ive even had a car veer across the road straight at me and swerve back again at the last second, much to the amusement of the driver and his pal.

I'll have to persuade the Missus that the canal is safer......might give the Deep Sinking a miss though.

magicbastarder · 01-12-2021 3:47pm

good strong WNW wind so i decided to go for two PRs on my midweek loop around the airport. got one, but frustratingly the wind dropped off considerably for the second segment.

also frustratingly, i just noticed that if i'd tried even a tiny bit harder on the segment i did get a PR on, i'd have jumped into the top ten.

had to stop halfway through to ring fingal council - the roundabout at the western end of the main runway has significant debris on it, some stones and lumps of concrete up to the size of a shoe.

beggars_bush · 04-12-2021 12:13am

Cycle to train station this morning 18 mins

25 min train journey

Cycle out to work, 15 mins

Cycle home afterwards with some added km 1hr40mins

Forgot the bike computer but an enjoyable cycle. Surprisingly mild

smacl · 04-12-2021 10:18am

First night cycle for me this year, out to Enniskerry and back. Front shifter decided to die half way out so stuck in the small ring, but taking it handy enough getting used to cycling unlit roads again so not a major problem. Blowy enough but still grand out for the time of year and just wasn't in the frame of mind for the turbo. Off for the booster jab this morning so further cycling today looking unlikely.

magicbastarder · 04-12-2021 5:08pm

that was one of the toughest days i've had on the bike in a while. 4C and nearly 40km/h winds. got in 95km around NCD at 25km/h.

maybe the beers last night didn't help, but i ran out of steam with about 20km to go; recovered a little 5 or 10km from home.

monkeyslayer · 05-12-2021 9:51am

Side swiped off my bike by a go car coming up to the bend just past the hell fire club on stocking Lane yesterday. Literally drove past me like I wasn't there, sending me shoulder first into the wall, luckily I'm slow but quick to react. They didn't stop, I doubt they even looked back. Still angry 24 hours later.

columbus_66 · 05-12-2021 10:01am

A bit icy this morning around Lucan so turned around, might be OK in another hour.

magicbastarder · 05-12-2021 10:05am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118271061#Comment_118271061

any damage to yourself?

monkeyslayer · 05-12-2021 10:10am

Bit of a bruise on my shoulder and a scratch on my brake lever, winter gloves probably saved me some skin. I powered up the hill after hoping they'd stopped at the viewing point but nope, probably a good thing looking back, just wish I'd gotten the reg for the gardai.

magicbastarder · 05-12-2021 10:53am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118271085#Comment_118271085

the frost still hasn't cleared from the roof of the car yet here, and it's been exposed to the sun for about an hour. tired legs from yesterday anyway, so that's decision made not to head out this morning.

Weepsie · 05-12-2021 11:00am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118271061#Comment_118271061

Do gocars have gps on them like some hire companies? I'd go to the gardai anyway report it and get gocar involved too.

Luxman · 05-12-2021 1:46pm

It was fairly sketchy out there. I decided on just an hour spin but still had to cross 4K of backroad and it wasn’t pleasant. Happy to get to the main roads and get home. Lovely bright cold day to be out. The right temperature to make you keep working/warm

Citizen2011 · 05-12-2021 2:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118271245#Comment_118271245

It’s worth a shot. I know at the outset of a go car booking there’s a “locate my car” function on the App so they must have some sort of tracking. I wouldn’t let it go if that happened to me. It’s like mad max on the roads now. The amount of driving through red lights is off the charts. Huge amount of car drivers don’t give an absolute damm about the impact of their driving.

retalivity · 05-12-2021 2:34pm

Up to Sally Gap via stocking lane, back down round Kippure estate and the army camp. Cold and patches of frost in places, but roads were generally fine. Mostly sunny, with the exception of very weird, localised fog at Sally gap, was a lot colder there too than literally 500m away.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6346128012

monkeyslayer · 05-12-2021 2:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118271800#Comment_118271800

Yea maybe, tho I guess getting that data even if it existed would be a legal battle in its own right, especially as id have no registration, no witnesses and no injuries so to speak. All I have really is that it was a gocar in the shape of vw golf. I'd get the reg on a road facing cctv camera on that road maybe but even that's illegal. Just have to suck it up and just use more space on that road next time. There'll be no getting past me now 😂. The most annoying thing about it is I'm convinced the driver had no idea what they did and could have caused.

bazermc · 05-12-2021 2:48pm

Skipped the usual spin this morning, too cold for my liking And went for a long walk

Of course, guy passed me on race bike with just shorts and top on. There’s always one!!!!!

beggars_bush · 05-12-2021 3:19pm

70km this morning at 27.4kph with 310m up. Was constrained time wise as herself wanted to go shopping

Was a lovely morning once not on a back road

gn3dr · 05-12-2021 7:29pm

Had my first fall on a road bike in years yesterday. Back wheel totally went from under me on a wet hairpin near Caragh Lake. In hindsight the road was probably greasy from the Historic Rally that ran through there last week.

Happened so fast. Got the left leg out but bike was already down and sliding so left foot dragged along road, left knee I think mashed straight into the tar while right leg still attached to bike made me do involuntary splits 😬

Can barely walk today with swollen knee. Going down stairs is interesting.

Tore the bar tape, the side of my SLR saddle that I only fitted a few weeks ago and wore about 3mm off the left Favero Assioma power meter pedal. It still works though but have ordered a new pedal body from Cigala.

grouchyman · 05-12-2021 8:14pm

Spent some time setting up a smart turbo, then downloaded a course onto my garmin & cycled it as a training exercise. Still not quite sure what I'm at but anyway 7kms @25.8 kph (virtually)

buffalo · 05-12-2021 8:33pm

Took the little fella out, found a friendly horse.

billyhead · 05-12-2021 8:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118273381#Comment_118273381

Best of luck in your recovery. The pain from falls like this are intolerable the next day and recovery days following it.

CianRyan · 05-12-2021 8:52pm

Headed out on a Charity Cycle today around Clondalkin along with said In-Law. About 160 Santa's turned out for a very casual 20km loop.

Would have loved to pick up the pace to be honest, my toes were frozen!

05-12-2021 9:09pm

Went to visit Santa yesterday morning, so my usual Saturday morning spin became Sunday morning, and the weather was much better in my neck of the woods. Plan was to go out before sunrise at about 7.15am but there was a frost and didn't want to take the risk. Got going at 8.15 am and took it fairly handy as there were patches of frost on the back roads. Beautiful morning and far less of a windchill than yesterday and got the gear spot on again. Managed to ruin the screw heads on brackets for bottle cage on new bike so had to carry a bottle in my jersey which was far from ideal.

Saw plenty out including a man in about his 50s doing a super tuck going down a big hill which had patches of ice at the end. Tried to warn him but but he was gone too quickly. Hopefully he stayed upright.

Anyway, lovely spin in great sunshine. 70k with 640m climbing at 29.7kph: https://www.strava.com/activities/6345644886

magicbastarder · 05-12-2021 10:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118273381#Comment_118273381

argh. hopefully no significant damage to your knee.

rushfan · 05-12-2021 11:53pm

Went out yesterday, 58km around NCD, it was a bit of a struggle tbh, felt it was the hardest of that distance in quite a while. 3c with that wind just was no fun. Doubt I'll be out again up to Weds. I'm back to work on Thurs morning, tempted to cycle as I'll be nicely frustrated by then.

magicbastarder · 06-12-2021 12:02am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118275185#Comment_118275185

we might have passed each other - as per my post above, was probably the hardest day i've done on the bike since i last climbed up to kippure.

NamelessPhil · 06-12-2021 2:28am

251km on the Dawn Raid 200 Audax permanent on Sunday. I made it a bit harder by starting the route in Blessington as that's the part closest to my house. I left the house at 08:43 and dragged my frozen carcass over my own threshold at 11pm.

The main road out to Blessington was gritted but there was frost in the ditches. It was sunny with banks of cloud over the Wicklow mountains. I was slooow, but made my peace with my pace because I knew I'd be able to pick up the pace on the flatter stretches later (or so I thought).

Round the back of the Lakes and up into the clouds to Wicklow Gap. The whole day my Wahoo claimed it was -1°C. The descent into Laragh chilled my face and feet so I sat beside the brazier in Laragh and smelt like a smoked salmon for the rest of the day. Up a picture postcard Glenmacnass and the long slog to Sally Gap. I caught up with a Dutch guy on a bike who was tricked out with mostly Apidura kit. He was training for some long-distance events next year so I tried to persuade him to look us up in Audax Ireland.

Over the N81 and the last tough climb of the day up The Lamb. I walked it, my back was niggling at me and I haven't done enough climbing during the last few months. Down and across the N7 and out into the flatlands of Kildare. I was making better pace now but the sun had set by the time I reached Taghadoe at 16:30 with at least 130km until my house. I hoped that the night would be cloudy to prevent frost from forming rapidly on untreated surfaces and it did cloud over.

Through Kilcock and the wide R roads to Summerhill and almost into Trim. By now my back was pretty sore and I was looking forward to a break in Kilmessan (the official start and end of the route). Back roads to Bective then the familiar road to Kilmessan where I got some food and a break. Got talking to a chatty local farmer and we put the world to rights until I froze!

I slowly thawed on the way back to Maynooth, it was pitch dark and there wasn't much traffic. I enjoy night riding I have decent dynamo lights and I was wearing good reflective clothing. All the same it only takes one eejit in a vehicle to end my fun.

After Maynooth I had just over 30km left to get back to Blessington, by now my left knee had decided to start cramping and despite changing position I could not stop it from hurting which consequently reduced my speed. Any kind of slope exacerbated the pain. Sheer effort of will got me back to Blessington and the completion of the 200km route. Now I had to get home.

I tried to stretch out my back and leg without attracting the attention of the local tipsy teenage yokels. After a few stretches and just being off the bike the pain had reduced enough to get me back on the bike. I made reasonable progress home, traffic was light and the roads were frost free. Coming into Tallaght the Wahoo reported that the temperature was a balmy 2°C. I pushed home even though the pain was returning and got in my door in one piece. No mechanicals during the ride and I'll be contacting a physio this week to sort out the muscle issues.

The route would be great on a pleasant summer's day, it has a good balance of flat roads and decent climbs.

https://strava.app.link/SQ9HAwDPKlb

Tell us about your cycle today part III

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