A double helping of awesome!
This weekends cycling menu is as follows:
On Saturday you can savour the savoury delights of Kindlestown under the leadership of Ben. This ride would suit people of any ability - the route is a loop so you can go as slowly or as quickly as you want. Meet at the Kindlestown car park at 10am.
On Sunday you can challenge your palette with the Ortolan of mtb rides. Starting at Taylors Three Rock, Tom will lead the brave riders over Three Rock and Prince Willies, through Crone, down XTC, along Benchcut and, if you have room for dessert, home on the road. Meet at Taylors Three Rock at 10am, if you dare. This is not for the faint-hearted.
October 11th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
I’m not faint hearted, but I might be faint legged after this one. Count me in for Sunday. Shout now for a lift!
October 11th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Good man Conor that’s the spirit,….
October 12th, 2007 at 9:51 am
come on folks once you go savage you never go…mm…cabbage?…..
….sorry it’s the only word that rhymes…
October 12th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
i’ll give sunday a go but i may have to crawl home…
john h
October 12th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Good man John, I knew you had it in you…For those who are coming, I would advise having a large breakfast also make sure to pack some powerbar type foods, a gel or two, plenty of liquid, maybe a sandwich if your in the mood and finally some money for our refuelling at either Powerscourt or Enniskerry…
October 12th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Good point Tom. After all, they are wafer thin
October 14th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
’twas a mere walk in the park…
October 15th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Having not been organised enough to get a lift for Saturday, I headed to the park myself for a spin. I was only there for 2 hours, but it was nice to be back on the bike after so long. And so nice to be able to wear shorts in October!
October 15th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
So everyone went to the park?
October 15th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Not literally Morgan, more figuratively..myself Steve ,on his lovely XTC, and John H departed from Taylors at 10:00am. Cait caught up with us, as she had been at the YH @10:00, on the section of road between the Woca Wocas and Prince Williams
(Myself & Steve had just been bashing elbows as I tried in vain to get past him on the rocky approach to the Wocas)
We then made for Prince Williams Seat and on the descent on the far side, both Steve and Cait punctured on the new irrigation channels that run perpendicular to the trail,..
On the run out of Crone (?), John H crashed and had to retire, the merry trio headed on and met an irate walker on the singletrack before you cross over to the grassy descent to the river, she was a real battleaxe although she possibly saved us from wiping out some schoolkids, at the top of Powerscourt we met some lovely walkers who were intirgued by us, and amazed that we had come from Three-Rock.
Steve impressed said walkers with his determined attempts to clear the descent to the river crossing before Djouce. We then hauled ourselves up to the top of the valley before hitting the next sweet bit of trail, we ripped through here, hit XTC and Benchcut, and finally popped into Powerscourt. Myself and Steve gorged, Cait not so much…We then put our roadie faces on and hit home, my legs were truly spent at this stage, so I was about 5 mins slower than the front two..
All in all a great spin, on a super sunny Sunday…If u haven’t done this spin yet well then do it soon,…Do it!
October 15th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Great write up there Tom. Got in just before me.
I will handle the rant side of things. Where is everybody? Fair enough, the ten or so riders that are constant but where are the other 60+ riders on the membership list? Yesterday was PERFECT conditions for biking. Trails were crazy dry and i.e. scarily fast. Was really something coming down Ecstacy… People should really get back to coming out on spins. The Sunday spins are where its at. It is no problem to tag along for the first few sections and then head home. If people are happy going on the short hops around 3 rock, fair enough. But I really think people need to start trying these types of spins to really enjoy the sport and add to the craic on said spins. I hope people understand this and my resulting frustration.
October 15th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
great report Tom and good points made there Steve, I spent the afternoon hunting for my baggage at Dublin airport after they lost it on me - and I had new biking gear in my lost bags as well which I was wanting to show off, thus doubly frustrating, I was just looking out at the awesome day feeling some comfort that my fellow bikers were taking full advantage of the amazing weather, well at least 3 or 4 of the savage bikers anyway…. mojo back up near 100% Tom?
I skipped work today due to my horrible weeks work last week and went trail building up 3 rock.
I added/cleared 2 sections, although one of them I will call Pure Evil is going to be an awesome climb-really tough, a great test, although it will also be an ultra-fast descent if taken the opposite way, thus called Pure Bliss when going downhill.
It’s actually most of a section near no-dabs used during the man vs bike race.
I also added some rocks and soil to form an off-ramp from an existing trail which exits near the entrance to no-dabs.
There’s still plenty to do so I’ll be scheduling a trail build in the near future.
…and that’s my lot!
see ye on the trails….
I’ll be scheduling a night spin this week so ye can see the trails then…
October 15th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
I’m raging I missed it, but I’m still stiff as a rake! Paintballing is HARD, and sore, but deadly craic! I’ll make it out this week I promise, but I cant promise I’ll be much use (Not that I ever am).
P.S. Fergal, I have a load of good 6×2 timber and as many pallets as we need.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
hey steve, the mere wiff of the word savage scares people away from sunday spins…
October 15th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
I hear you Barry, but if thats the case how do people intend to get better if they aren’t pushing themselves?, John H was able to retire half way due to injury, as someone else can if they are struggling…Although I have never seen someone drop out of a long spin yet…
My first encounter on a Sunday spin was by accident having only been biking a few weeks, (I had yet to buy SPD’s) I missed Sat’s spin and naively went on a Sunday Spin, not fully appreciating the difference. By god I really struggled but it made a huge difference to my confidence and boosted my fitness a bit as well….
So to those who have been biking a while and can handle a medium spin it’s time to up the ante and get on the next long spin, we aren’t promising to wait around but you might surprise yourself…
October 15th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Not all “savage” spins are long and fast. Usually, myself and a few others do a long spin ( 30-40 kms), but at a steady pace. I have been on a few “savage” spins and struggled myself! Think of it as two saturday spins in one.
October 16th, 2007 at 10:49 am
No, I went to the park on my own Morgan, as I couldn’t get a lift. I don’t know if the Kindlestown spin went ahead, but I presume it did. Ben?
October 16th, 2007 at 10:58 am
I think I remember that Spin Tom…Was it with me and Sean? Over Threerock and then on to Cruagh and then somewhere else?
October 16th, 2007 at 11:04 am
I agree with Barry!
There may be 60+ riders on the members list, but perhaps Sunday doesn’t suit everyone. People might have more pressing issues than a spin on Sunday.
The post did say that “This is not for the faint-hearted” and Sunday is usually for the more “awesome” and “savage” riders, which certainly excludes me. If people are busy, and can’t get out regularly and are struggling on the Saturday ride, they are not going to go out on Sunday.
I suggested the ride on Saturday - but I couldn’t get a lift, so couldn’t go.
October 16th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Not quite 100% yet Fergal, it’s a work in progress…won’t be around tonight but I may see you on Thursday…
Thats the one alright Nigel, I will never forget it for both good and bad reasons!…, i think I had like one apple to keep me going, no money and very little water,…but after I had that one under my belt I wasn’t long about clocking up a few more…
October 17th, 2007 at 11:18 am
good stuff Tom, hopefully see you out.
I also forgot a little trail section I added on Monday - it’s on the path where you come out of Rock N Roll, the path is rocky and goes downhill a little until it meets the fireroad (old MAD club course just on the right).
anyway, just before the path goes down the rocky bit, there’s a climb up the bank to the left - a little tricky, it then meets an old trail which goes thru a bridged bombhole, then exits right opposite the entrance to the old MAD club course - short but nice.
I’m thinking of turning the bombhole bridge into a bombhole gap-jump - it’d be nice…
Note that a few rocks were molested during the operation
October 26th, 2007 at 10:09 am
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October 26th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
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October 26th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Magnific!
October 26th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
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October 27th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Magnific!
October 27th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
actually, that’s brilliant. Thank you. I’m going to pass that on to a couple of people.
October 28th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
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October 30th, 2007 at 6:26 am
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October 31st, 2007 at 6:46 pm
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October 31st, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Hello all!