After a super busy week the Saturday has finally came so it was time to get out on the XC bike again! We've seen pretty good weather all week so I had high hopes for today too. Early start just as always with one difference: my gear :)
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| Wearing my fancy Hungarian jersey to honor the two excellent Hungarian mounatin bikers: Barbara Benkó & András Parti, who are taking part in the Olympic XC races this weekend. |
I figured it would be cool idea to take the Hungarian jersey out on the trails as a little gesture on this important weekend! They are writing sports history so this is the least I can do to show support & cheer them on!
So, after I got everything ready I was all good to go. The main target was the same as last week: get good mixture of road & off-road riding done as a preparation for next weekend.
Wanted to cover good bit of a distance without getting bored on the same trails over and over again. To do that there was only one option: the Wicklow Way.
The plan was to ride off-road as far as Djouce and them come back home on the road via Enniskerry. This way there's enough mountain biking and enough distance too. Happy days! :)
First destination was of course the Marlay Park and straight after that the Kilmashogue Lane climb. Once I hit the fire road bit the sun came out and the day started to look like a real summer day. That first sector of the Wicklow Way is always so quick, possibly because I've done it sooo many times. But when I got to the Glencullen river and started the second big climb things started to be more "interesting".
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| Crossing on the bridge |
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| On the twisty fire road |
After all the fast climbs and exciting descents I got to the nicest spot of today's journey. The trail that goes above the Powerscourt Waterfall is one of my favourite in the Wicklow Mountains. Can't try to describe but let this photo say it all!
I always stop here for a moment to enjoy the spectacular view! After ths short twisty singletrack riding I got to one of the sweetest bit of the ride: the massive "V" shaped valley near Djouce. The downhill bit isn't too technical but the -36° (at the steepest bit) gradient makes it definitely fun to ride!! But I had to pay the price of this kind of fun because the climb up on the other side is a torturer...
Once I finished with all the off-road bits I got onto the road that took me back to Enniskerry. Luckily I managed to stay in a good enough shape so I really started to push to get back home nice and fast. Arrived just in time to have lunch and watch the women's XC race in the TV. Well timed! :)
I got everything done today that was planned: covered the distance of 60 km just under 3 hours and 30 minutes with the total elevation gain of 1400 m on this roasting Saturday morning. Loved every minute of it and I think I feel ready for next week's marathon race! Bring it on!!
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