Beara Peninsula: Healy Pass to Allihies

This trip to Ireland began in mid September 2017 - I'm slowly getting around to posting

People often asked me about favorite places to ride in Ireland. I struggle with an answer and have suggested this is like asking which is your favorite child. There are so many beautiful places, lovely quiet roads, rolling farmland, dramatic coastal views and breathtaking mountaintops. I can barely narrow the list down to 50 places that one simply must cycle through.

However, I will put a plug in for the Healy Pass on the Beara Peninsula as a worthwhile destination for a touring cyclist. The climb is gentle, but steady. It has loads of twists and turns, giving you multiple opportunities to see from whence you came and what lies ahead. The road is well maintained but narrow, and therefore quiet. And no matter what the weather, it is always beautiful.

Our route on the Beara Peninsula saw us head out and over the Healy from south to north, then back south across the spine to Castletownbere, then over another little ridge to reach the tip before staying the night in Allihies.

We had finally dried out from the previous day's deluge and the sunshine and mild winds were not unwelcome.

Sheep's Head

This trip to Ireland began in mid September 2017 - I'm slowly getting around to posting 


You tend not to remember the sunny calm days when everything went smoothly. It's the days with a big mechanical or ferocious winds and cold torrential rain - those are the ones that stick with you. I'm happy to report that, at least we had no mechanical problems on our ride to Sheep's Head. However, we had some pretty serious wind and rain.

It is not uncommon to get high or gusty wind in Ireland. After all, it's the first land mass after 3000 miles of open water. Storms will pick up some steam as they come across the Atlantic. Wind is just to be expected. So I shouldn't even call what we experienced at Sheep's Head extreme, at least it wasn't extreme for Sheep's Head. But it was pretty extreme for me!

The final mile to and from the turn around point made for a serious challenge in staying upright and making forward progress. When we tried to get a photo in front of the sign, I struggled to hang on to the bike. What a contrast to the calm sunny day before at Mizen Head. Needless to say, we didn't take a hike out to the headlands and even stick around at the café.  We took our photos and quickly headed inland.

The wind swirled and gusts constantly threatened to toss us off the road. Then the road we had planned to take turned out to be a muddy track. So we had to backtrack a wee bit before finding the next road across the spine down the center of the peninsula. This one led us to an amazing little goat path of a road, that was somewhat sheltered from the worst of the wind. However, sheltered from the rain, it was not. Ah, finally a proper Irish-weather day. The rain came in sideways.

Still I wouldn't want it any other way. You have to have days like this!

Mizen Head

This trip to Ireland began in mid September 2017 - I'm slowly getting around to posting

Today's route would take us out to Mizen Head, the southernmost point in Ireland. Because of this geographic significance, Mizen Head and Malin Head, the northernmost point, serve as start and end points for many cycling adventures in Ireland. There is the occasional end to end record attempt, but lots of bike touring companies seem to have end to end rides as well. 

John and I came out to Mizen Head on our first tour together in 1993, a year before the interpretive center was built. I'm not even sure there was a sign indicating the significance of the place.  However, this time around we found a sprawling tourist info center and lots of visitors.

But I've leapt ahead. Before we got to Mizen Head, we deviated off our planned route when we spied the dead end road up Mount Gabriel, one of the nine radar sites operated by the Irish Aviation Authority, or the two giant golf balls, as the locals call it.

caught grammin'

To Skibbereen

This trip to Ireland began in mid September 2017 - I'm slowly getting around to posting 

Why, you may ask, do I go to the trouble of documenting our trips, including photos, maps and links.  Maybe one of my seven loyal readers will be inspired to follow our tracks or check out a few of the places we have visited. But to be honest,  it's really for my own use, when years later, I return to a place and want to see what we did before! My first trip to Ireland was in 1993 and I wrote an article that later got published in a now defunct Tandem Magazine. I subsequently put it up on our original website. Since we were planning to revisit some places from that trip, I pulled up the article to  see where we stayed and what we did.

While reading through it, I was actually surprised to discover that we had stayed in Skibbereen on that trip in 1993. I didn't have any distinct memories of the town from that visit. However, I had much fresher memories from last year, when we passed through at lunch time and had a fabulous meal at the Church Restaurant. I made note last year to come back for dinner, so I mapped out a route to Skibbereen.

Fortunately my stomach was feeling much better after a day off and some pills from the pharmacist. For Americans, who are used to going into a CVS or Walgreens, and perusing shelves upon shelves  of OTC drugs, going into a European pharmacy can be a little intimidating. Although, in fairness, a visit to a US pharmacy might be intimidating to Europeans. In most of Europe,  pharmacies are quite small, and they don't carry vacuum cleaners and holiday decorations! And the drugs aren't sitting out on a shelf. Even for non-prescription drugs, you tell the pharmacist what's wrong and they suggest one or two drugs that may help. "I think I have food poisoning and I need something to settle my stomach." "Ok, take 1 of these every 12 hours until the symptoms go away." Whatever it was, it did the trick.

Happy Birthday Dave

This trip to Ireland began in mid September 2017 - I'm slowly getting around to posting 

Monday arrived and we found ourselves all alone.  On Sunday, Daphne and Kevin left for Portugal. Dave had an assignment in Macroom for a week. So Siobhan and Sam went out to stay with Grandma in Belmullet. John and I still hadn't decided quite what to do. My initial thoughts had been to get the train up to Sligo and tour around Donegal, but the weather wasn't looking particularly favorable up that way. Then I got a notification that it was Dave's birthday. How had we let that slip?

We came up with a plan to head in the direction of Macroom, take Dave out for his birthday and then take in the southwest peninsulas. We'd skipped these popular tourist destinations last summer, figuring traffic would be unpleasant, but decided since it was now off-season, we might find quieter roads. But first it was off to Macroom. We decided to get the train out to Mallow and then ride from there to Macroom. So we loaded the bikes up and cycled into Carlow to catch the train.

Some gratuitous climbing

This trip to Ireland began in mid September 2017 - I'm slowly getting around to posting

In 2016, we started our Irish cycling tour with a bang by aiming for Mt. Leinster right out the door. However, due to some excessive photo stops (on John's part) and poor communication (from me), I turned left at the Nine Stones and climbed up to the mast. When John arrived at the turn, he thought I had pressed on and descended, so he proceeded to chase a phantom cyclist down the far side of the mountain. At some point a flurry of "where are you?" texts clarified each other's whereabouts. Well, I'm not sure John has ever forgiven me for missing his chance to climb to the mast on that calm, clear day, so this year I had to pay penance. With a forecast for clear skies, calm winds and mild temperatures, I suggested we stay an extra day in Carlow,  so we could climb to the mast and take in the views.  John's eyes got wide and bright.

Mount Leinster dominates the horizon in Carlow and is always a draw for John when we are here visiting his family. Similar to Mount Washington in New Hampshire, Mount Leinster seemingly has its own weather. Even on days where it is completely clear all around, there may well be a cloud concealing the mast at the top. The intense rain and wind on top are the stuff of legends. But when it is truly clear, it is worth all the muscle aches and sweat to get to the top. This was to be one of those days.

 

There were just enough clouds in the sky to make for nice photos, and just enough wind to give a gentle push up the 22% gradient, while helping to evaporate some of the sweat gushing from my brow.

Altamont Gardens

This trip to Ireland began in mid September 2017 - I'm slowly getting around to posting

A couple of days ago, we stopped in at Altamont Gardens at the end of our cold wet ride, just as they were closing. Wanting to explore more, I mapped out a route down to Mount Leinster that would go by the gardens first. We had a lovely stroll around the place.  Now John could spend the whole day here taking photos, but we did have a lovely calm clear day and the mountain beaconed...

West Wicklow

This trip to Ireland began in mid September 2017 - I'm slowly getting around to posting

Siobhan again kicked Dave out of the house for more work as a local tour guide. This time we headed for some hills in West Wicklow, with plans to stop in for a visit with John's uncle in Ballyhacket on the way back.

We didn't go far before our first stop for coffee and scones at Duckett's Grove. Regular readers will have seen this setting many times before. It's only a few miles from John's grandparent's farm and is a regular stop for us whenever we are in the area. Despite numerous visits here, we never realized we could go inside. As we pulled up on the bikes, the woodworker, who has a shop there, told us we could walk around behind his truck and get in. We had a grand time seeing parts of the castle we had not seen before.

Around Mount Leinster

This trip to Ireland began in mid September 2017 - I'm slowly getting around to posting

With a new baby in the house, John's brother Dave, hasn't had many chances to get out for rides recently, but Siobhan (the new mom) was quite gracious in pushing him out the door to take us on a ride circumnavigating Mt. Leinster.  Daphne and Siobhan planned to spend the day together, with baby Sam.

I didn't look carefully enough when Dave sent the route, and actually thought he had us going up Mt. Leinster. The route profile had a sharp spike and it was headed in that general direction, so I assumed we had a big day of climbing ahead. Taking pity of the sleep deprived dad, I decided I should go along with whatever he had chosen! If Dave, who hadn't ridden much this summer was willing, I shouldn't complain. 

Castlecomer

This trip to Ireland began in mid September 2017 - I'm slowly getting around to posting

We had such a nice time last year when we rode to Castlecomer, that we decided to do it again. We headed out via Milford, where hydro-electricity first provided power for streetlights in Carlow.

To Carlow

This trip to Ireland began in mid September 2017 - I'm slowly getting around to posting 

We did not have any definitive plans for our Irish trip this year, other than meeting our new nephew, Sam. OTOH, John's sister, Daphne, did have some definitive plans to head away for a couple weeks, just a few days after we arrived. So if we wanted to see her, we'd need to get down to Carlow right away. Conveniently, young Sam and his parents, Dave and Siobhan, live just across the street from Daphne.

So we loaded up our bikes with warm clothes and headed south. We found a great restaurant for lunch in Ballymore Eustace,  The Ballymore Inn. We will definitely make this a destination on a future trip. 

After lunch John had plotted out a route over Church Mountain, but he wasn't quite sure, he'd picked the right road, or even the right approach. I jokingly texted Dave to ask if he thought our marriage would survive the ride over Church Mountain.

As it turned out, the mapped out route became a very steep gravel track, and unlike the long days of summer, we were facing an early sunset and heading off into the unknown might mean a late night arrival. So we did a little backtracking and took the main road. That's the main road, pictured below!

Hill of Tara

This trip to Ireland began in mid September 2017 - I'm slowly getting around to posting

It has now become traditional to join Colm for a spin up to the cafe at the Hill of Tara. In 2013, I was still recovering from a broken back. So John, Declan and Colm cycled up, while Suzanne, Muriel and I drove up. After lunch I had a great time walking around and taking photos in the awesome early winter light.  The next year, I was thrilled to be back on a bike, as John, David, Colm and I cycled up. Then it just became an annual thing to ride with Colm up to the Hill of Tara, repeated in 2015, 2016 and again this year.

We spent our first day on the ground in Ireland walking around, running errands, and re-assembling John's bike. Since I'd left my Honey in Ireland last year, I just needed to attach a light and GPS mount.

Then we called Colm to see if he'd like to go ride the next day. Unsurprisingly, he said, "Sure, Hill of Tara?"

We decided to meet at his place, so he could show off his pristine bike shed. Something is just wrong that this shed is so clean or organized. Every tool is hanging or put away. Wheels and frames hang from the rafters, and one can actually walk around without tripping over tires or bike parts. I know John has dreams of a setup like this, but somehow our workshop just doesn't meet the mark.

So after geeking out for a while, looking at freshly repainted frames and new acquisitions, we finally hit the road. 

Sadly each subsequent year traffic around Dublin becomes worse, so it's a few kilometers further every year before John and Colm can ride side by side and catch up on a year's worth of conversation. This means the lunch stop gets longer and longer every year to make up for the lost chatting time on the bike! And with such a long lunch, including dessert and hot cocoa - the real reason for going - we didn't have much time to wander around the grounds. After our late start, and extra time checking out to bike shed, it seemed that the dark monster was certain to catch us on the way home, so we decided to head straight back. Also despite the way Colm was dressed, it was quite chilly and blustery.

How Deep is My Well of Resilience?

I decided to really step out of my comfort zone during my second semester of college by signing up for a world literature course. I had taken the standard American Fiction literature class in my first term and thoroughly enjoyed it. I recall spending a couple of hours a week reading various short stories and poems, and then an hour a day in 3 weekly lectures, where the professor pointed out all the intricacies and hidden meanings that I had failed to grasp while reading my assignments. It was pretty cool for me to both be exposed to such a variety of fiction, and to start to learn to see deeper meaning and really gain a better understanding of what I was reading. That's what college is mostly about, right? Learning how to learn!

What made this world literature course so different from my American literature class was that it involved a great many more hours of reading some pretty intense compositions. We would only meet once a week for a 3 hour lecture on Monday evenings from 6PM to 9PM, but these lectures turned out to be seriously exhausting for me, both mentally and physically.  The professor had a reputation for being quite tough. After a relatively easy course load during my first semester, I may have been a bit naive about exactly how challenging this particular class would be. When I first scanned through the syllabus, it appeared our first week's assignment was to read the Old Testament! Fortunately it turned out that we didn't have to read the entire Old Testament in a week, but had a long list of selected passages, one of which was the complete Book of Job. This would be the subject of the first lecture. This was many years ago, before computers were ubiquitous and one could easily access summaries and analyses of anything online from sites like wikipedia. At that time, buying printed Cliff Notes was the only real source of this kind of info for the various novels and short stories in my assignments. However, my budget was already stretched quite thin, and I don't think I had spare money to buy Cliff Notes for this class.  I also remember having almost no free time that spring, spending hours and hours every day reading, with barely anytime left to do my calculus homework. Fortunately for me, math was easy!

Building bridges isn't easy and it takes a long time!

Want to know what's really hard. Building bridges!

Notes on joining the CCC (Cyclists' Clavicle Club)

Introduction:
This year marks my 33rd year of "serious" cycling. It all started when several of my teenage friends and I marched around to a neighbour's house, knocked on his door and asked, in our best Dublinese, "Hey Mister, can we join your cycling club?" I'm not quite sure what poor Tony Lally, 1980 Irish Olympic team member, thought of us, but he did emigrate to Australia shortly afterwards. I never heard why. However, he did let slip when and where his club met, but that may just have been revenge for that rainy day on which they didn't wait for him when he punctured. Be that as it may, what followed isn't exactly well known history, but it got me to where I am today.

I have amassed a modest collection of badges, patches, certificates, t-shirts, water bottles, medals and plaques to mark various events, accomplishments, races and memberships along the way. However, one thing has always eluded me - membership of the C.C.C., the Cyclists' Clavicle Club (a.k.a. the Cyclists' Collarbone Club).

Premium Membership:
Given that this year is a numerologically significant anniversary in my cycling life, I decided, on a whim, to take out Premium membership. I would give you a link to click on, except it's http versus https and your browser will warn you to not go there. However, I didn't pay attention - in flagrante browsero, you could say. Premium membership promised no waiting in line and, given how busy we all are these days, that seemed like a no-brainer. I'm scared of heights, so I didn't select the heli-vac checkbox, however.

Sure enough, I would describe the Premium membership experience as quite breathtaking, but it may not be for everyone. In these days of tubeless this and sealant that, I was quite surprised that a punctured lung merited special treatment. However, true to the description on the C.C.C.'s [insecure] webpage, I got to skip the queue and was taken straight to the members' lounge. Once comfortably ensconced there, the attendants brought the x-ray machine to me - very impressive service! I got to relax and enjoy a local, carefully curated, artisinal morphine appetiser - tasting notes: it went down easily and, happily, had a long finish. I don't really remember selecting the "Chest tube" checkbox, but I might suggest skipping that one. I get the feeling its not a popular choice and everyone in the members' lounge wanted to get in on the action, so I started to feel a little claustrophobic.

Next up was some more Premium membership action - a bonus ambulance ride to the nearest trauma centre. Flashing lights and sirens - what more could my inner child ask for? Whee! Definite value for money there.

I think that covers most of the Premium membership benefits, so let me cover some aspects that you may want to consider before joining "The Club," as we insiders are wont to call it.

Story:
Everyone wants a good story for their social media these days. You know, "A catamount leapt out in front of me, causing me to fly off a cliff and get free membership of the C.C.C." kind of thing. Me? I failed miserably. I was J.R.A., admittedly on a dirt road, but nothing too crazy, when I had membership thrust upon me.

As my brother justifiably chastened me, a true Monty Python fan would have "reinflated lung with good ol' Zefal hpX and still made it home in time f' tea. Hospital!!? Bloody luxury, lad!" [Typed in my best attempt at a Yorkshire accent.]

Location:
There's a delicate balance here. Unless you're the aforementioned Yorkshireman, you want just enough wilderness to make for a good story - see "Story" above - but near enough to a hospital that you can enjoy Club benefits without too much delay. You might want to consider the heli-vac option if you're trying to go really "epic" and maximise your Facebook likes.

Timing:
If you decide to skip Premium membership, you might want to identify and avoid busy periods at your nearest Emergency Room (E.R.) or Accident & Emergency (A&E), for those back home. Thursday evenings in my part of the world seem to be pretty quiet. There are other factors to bear in mind too, though, such as temperature and insects. Club benefits don't really cover getting cold while sprawled on the ground or getting chewed on by mosquitoes. And, if you're determined to chase those Facebook likes, choosing a muddy time of year may help (see both "Story" and "Location" above). Finally, consider choosing a time when you're not wearing your favourite kit (see "Clothing" below).

Clothing:
You should probably avoid joining The Club while wearing your brand new (see "Timing" above) Q36.5 clobber. Quite apart from the small risk of damage during the initiation rites, E.R. and A&E staff, wonderful people that they are, have really, really nice scissors. And, like anyone with a nice piece of equipment, they like to use it. Fortunately for me, my Premium membership came with a D.N.C. (Do Not Cut) temporary tattoo. Instead, I got to enjoy the eye-watering delights of becoming a human puzzle, as a rare wool jersey was somehow extricated from my body while I played a modified version of Statues, in which I could only move one arm.

Getting over The Hump:
Finally, we come to a religious issue. To some, membership of The Club is not complete until you can, after a secret handshake, pull down your collar and show your Cyclist's Bump. There are accompanying claims of aerodynamic and weight benefits [1]. Choosing this path is suggestive of ancient pilgrimages, in which hardship was welcomed. Modern luxuries such as brushing your teeth are spurned.

The contending doctrine? Surgery. This counters with a scar, which regains some bragging rights, but it also involves some weight gain, which runs counter to most cyclists' intuition. However, recent advances have led to possible upgrades like Reynolds 953 martensitic-aged and butted stainless plates, along with superlight titanium fastener kits (see "Premium Membership," above). The ability to floss your teeth further offsets some of the weight gains relative to The Cyclists' Bump analogue.

Summary:
Membership has its benefits, although they may be best enjoyed in the coffee shop, six weeks after joining.

Footnotes:
[1] - A. Poseur, Winning the Last Seat at the Coffee Shop (Nanosecond Press, 2005), 21-23.

Yet Another Fender Update

Another fender post?

So soon?

You my recall in the previous post that I mentioned cracking a modified PDW fender, and trying out a hybrid set up using a narrower fender on the front. While that setup was OK, a fender that properly wraps around the tire will always work better than one that doesn't, and I found myself longing for the coverage of the original wider fender. So one day, as I was riding along and my shoes were being splattered with mud flung from the sides of my skinny front fender, I started to think about cutting the old fender up and just using the back part.

A little background:

My Seven Cycles Axiom (a configuration that is now comes with RedSky decals) sports a Seven 5E Medium Reach Fork, designed to take a 700X28mm tire with a fender.  No amount of manipulation has persuaded it to take a larger tire with a fender - Believe me! I have tried (bigly™). The reality is the fork blades are just too close together.

This tight clearance at the fork crown makes it challenging to use wider fenders. With a fender made from a flexible material, like the SKS chromoplast models, I've been able to squeeze the fender enough to fit through the fork blades. I did this on my fixie with 700X28mm tires.

But squeezing is not really an option with rigid metal fenders, like the PDWs.

When I first installed a set of Full Metal Fenders from Portland Design Works, I filed away the sides where the fender passes through the fork. This did at least enable me to the use the wider City model fenders. This worked well for a couple of years, but recently when working on the bike, I noticed a crack forming in the fender. The City model has a couple of slots cut in the sides to allow securing with zip ties, should you not chose to mount them directly on the brake. These slots, combined with my cutaway sides may have led to the crack and impending failure.

So, since it was cracked anyway, I took a hacksaw to the fender and cut off the front part (including the cracked section) and then drilled some new holes for the crown mount.

I used a Sheldon Nut so I could bolt the fender onto the back of the fork. These are recessed brake nuts, but with an extended threaded section to allow repeated mounting/removal of fenders without mucking with brakes. They also move the mounting point behind the fork (or brake bridge), so I wouldn't have any issues with forcing a too wide fender through a too narrow fork.

But pictures are worth thousands of words.

But there is more to the story.