Ah, spring...I was waiting for this for soooo long: get out on the bike wearing shorts and short sleeve jersey and not freeze into bits in the middle of nowhere. Now, the weather was getting better in the last few weeks all right, but for me who is coming from "The Continent" it still was a bit too nippy to wear the summer setup. :)
But let's go from the start: I got a long weekend this time, I'm off for 3 days in a row so it was pretty obvious to me I was gonna get out on the bike at some point. Since the weather was looking good for the whole weekend and also for next week as well I picked Saturday as my day to ride my XC bike.
Got up early and after a quick brekkie and a short preparation I was ready to go:
Drink & Food: check
Earphones: check
Summer clothing: check
My plan was to cycle out to Ballinastoe on the road and get home on the Wicklow Way. This plan worked out pretty much as it was planned with a little more tarmac on the way home instead of full off-road.
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| The map of today's spin |
I left Milltown just a bit before 9 am and started to head out towards Ballinastoe through Stepaside and Enniskerry. After about 1 hour and 15 minutes I got to the trail centre of Ballinatsoe where the carpark was pretty much filled already. So I kept going quick before I run into the usual Saturday morning gridlock on the trails...
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| Nobody is around but not for long: tha place was packed within minutes |
After a super quick ride on the trails of Ballinastoe I got to Lough Tay where I got on the board walks and started my climb up towards Djouce Mountain but of course I couldn't pass on the opportunity: I stopped for a minute 'cause I just didn't want to miss this view. Amazing!
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| Needless to say anything, it says it all! |
I got the boardwalk sector done but while I was riding along on them I had my eyes on the peak of Djouce. It was nice and clear, no wind, no clouds. Just a perfect chance to get up to the top of it! :)
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| The top of Djouce Mountain: 730 m above sea level, I think it's the highest off-road climb around. |
After a quick look around I hit the fast and rocky descent and started to head back home. I passed by the Powerscourt Waterfall still riding on the Wicklow Way but once I got to the carpark I picked to ride home on the tarmac road instead of my original plan.
So I got home through Enniskerry and finished my spin with 3 hours and 30 minutes time and 65 km of distance with nearly 1300 m of elevation gain in the Garmin. The tarmac sectors on the way out and back were easy and fast but the offroad bits were pretty savage I have to say. It was pretty cool and completely different experience to ride the Wicklow Way from a different direction and to get up to the top of Djouce on that super steep (25-30% gradient) off-road climb was just a great achievement for me! I loved it and I can't wait to get it done again! :)
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| This is the elevatin graph of today's adventure |
Besides all this the other thing that was cool is the nice & warm day. Finally there is sunshine out there and I can say that the Operation Cyclist Tan has started today: the typical tanlines are one their way, nothing can stop them now! :)
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