Long distance cycle in september

I havn't gotten away anywhere this summer, so I'm desperate to head off somewhere on the bike camping/hostelling in September. Either for a weekend or a week or anywhere in between.

I've a hankering for Achill but i'm very open to where we go. I also have my folks place in Sligo/Leitrim that we could use as a staging point if we wanted to get the bus to Sligo and spend time up along the coast to Donegal or down to Mayo/Galway. This would save a cycle across the midlands which would be flat but a bit boring.

The cycle to Indie-pendance festival kinda fell on its ass, so if anyone is keen post up when suits and any ideas of where you would like to go and we'll pick a date and route that suits as many people as possible.

I would love to do one of these cycles but I broke my elbow 7 weeks ago, have repeat exams starting on the 1st and lasting for two and a half weeks and even if that was all good I'd have the trouble of trying to get off work. One day maybe!

I'm back in Ireland on August 25th after a years absence. On Sunday August 30th I'm going to get the train up to Drogheda and cycle (fixed) back to Dublin from there, via the likes of Bettystown, Donabate, etc. Some company would be most welcome. I think you have to take the Intercity one (to Belfast) because they have a freight carriage up at the engine, and if my memory serves me right from the time I got the train to Newry and cycled around Carlingford, its 8 euro extra to bring your bike on.

I'm always up for longer rides alright but I HATE carrying anything on the bike, especially panniers. I've cycled around the Burren twice now with a weight on the back wheel and I just find it miserable. If there's any way to work it so we can stop over in hostels and not have to bring anything then I'm game for that, e.g. make Galway a base, and do a couple of day 'loops' in different directions from there (without having to carry anything while riding).

Flat is always good with me... I cant imagine doing the Burren fixed...!!

Let me know. I'm game. I also HATE flat, fuck the middies.

Kerry, Clare, West Cork, Galway, Mayo, Etc are all good for me!

Peace

Sweet, I'll be jsut finished my thesis and on the piss at the end of August.

Thing is I really love the idea of it being a self sufficient ride, where we have everything we need with us bar some food, extra water and a shower :)

Ive also stumbled accross the idea of sub 24 hour overnighter, where you leave work head off camp, and return the next day. This might be easier to organise and serves as a good warm up to a longer spin.

Now that's an interesting idea..a sort of Dublin version of London's Dunwich Dynamo - sweet!

Shame we've missed the longest day of this year but we could reccie a route and ride it again next year on the same night as the DD...

Also, as Ireland tends to deal in kilometers rather then miles like the Brits I reckon we should do 120k (around 75 miles) as opposed to the DD's 120m. That way it'd be possible to ride back again...

Can anyone suggest a suitable destination, preferably coastal, that has some sort of place that will feed and water us early in the morning?

Okay so explain this to me.

We set off and do 120 km there and back (240) in 24 hours? No sleep?

Okay so, the main point would be to cycle 120k overnight and see the sunrise at the coast.

Have a kip then if you want. Return whenever and however you want. (on the Dunwich Dynamo they organise a coach and bike transport back to London and people just chill until it arrives. Others will cycle to train stations, and some even cycle all the way back to London apparently.

I've no problem doing this during the day for this year though, in fact I'd probably prefer it for the first one, getting really lost in the dark and cold and rain is not fun.

Hows about getting the 0935 train to Newry from Connolly on Saturday August 29th, that would get us into Newry at 1048. Distance to Dublin is approximately 120km or so, depending on the route we would take. At a leisurely pace, with stops for food and drinks, we'd be back in Dublin by 6 or 7pm before it started to get seriously dark, enough time for some dinner and a couple of pints to ease the pain. If people think thats a bit much we could always start from Dundalk.

May I also suggest that if you "cant make it, sorry" then you dont post that up, because it makes lurkers/non regulars think that nobody is interested. Let the people who can make it or might be able to make it post up first, so it encourages others to do the same. If you cant make it then dont stress, there'll be other rides - but take a step back and let the first one happen so others can grow out of it. In my experience on bulletin boards when people suggest an event or a meetup and the first three responses are "oh I'm not in town that day" etc, then the event simply doesnt get off the ground.

I'm game for whatever goes down.

Im up for it, if its a saturday I will have to try get the day off but if I can cool.

Pencilling that into my virtual diary now!

Well my plan is kind of fucked isnt it? I got home today, still a bit wired but now its nearly time for bed, had a quick glance at the paper and saw the train line had fallen into the sea.

haha, completely forgot about that.

I was meant to be going to a party the night after that, just as I had everything organised on how to get to it ect. I heard on the news without it really registering. 5 minutes later I realised what they said.

Shit, so who fucked up the bridge then? Honestly, if you didn't want to ride that far you only had to say so!

Well, getting the train to Drogheda, Dundalk or Newry from Dublin is not going to happen for three or four months now.
But I'm still up for a 60-70km ride this weekend. Maybe we could get the train one way somewhere else, and cycle back to Dublin. Mullingar? I dont know the terrain or the route. Or how about Arklow or Gorey? Might be a bit hilly for fixed gears but it would be nice to hug the coast rather than inland.

Arklow or Gorey will be a piece of piss on a fixed if you go along the coast - and it would be schweet. I'm game, and gamey. Its got hills, rivers, forests, the coast, the mountains, etc everything you could want on a cycle!

OK then Arklow on Sunday? Get the train in the morning, its about 75km to Dublin, if we keep to a decent pace of 20kmph or so then we'll be back in Dublin well in time for dinner/before it gets dark. Train leaves Arklow at 9.50am from Connolly, gets into Arklow 11.25am, we could grab a bit of brunch in a cafe there perhaps and then hit the road. I'm gonna call up Connolly Station now about bringing bikes on the train, if its alright, and if so, I'll start a new thread with details and a gmap route link.

Fucks sake... no bikes allowed on those trains. Only on the routes to Cork, Galway, Westport... the bigger Intercity trains. With the bigger guard cars at the end of the carriages.

As if anyone is going to be on the train down to Arklow on a Sunday morning anyway... they should just let us squeeze our bikes into the passenger carriages...

Any other ideas?

They are cunts for that nonsense. It's no way to promote public transport. In San Francisco the BART lets at least one bike on every carriage (I've seen up to four) except during rush hour

Wha? I've taken the train to gorey with a bike before. Don't they have commuter trains that have hooks for bikes? They used to...

The woman in Connolly Station said no (I know the ones you're talking about, there's three hooks for bikes next to the jacks). Yes it is ridiculous the whole situation - its a disgrace, especially seeing as how the Greens are in power and could legislate to change it. Cyclists "green the last mile" when they bring their bikes on public transport, instead of getting connector buses or taxis to their final destination.

Anyway, I think there's enthusiasm for a decent long ride at the weekend (nobody says no to a long decent ride, fnarr fnarr) (yes, I know, I'm a child) so I'll call it in a separate thread, we can meet lunchtime, and maybe have some food/pints afterwards.