Good bye Ireland, I will miss you!!

Big change is coming. Possibly the biggest in a long time. I have been living in Ireland for almost 10 years but it's time to move on. We have decided to move back to Hungary and settle down. So, it was time to have my last spin around the well known trails that I have ridden so many times and raced on often in the last decade. 

I wanted to breath in the true essence of Irish mountain biking that I love so much. What other place I could pick than Djouce to have a blast? And to be properly authentic I managed to pick a day with lashing rain. Slippery roots, mud and tons of fun on the technical trails!! What more could I wish for? :)

Ireland is a truly special place to ride mountain bikes and it will be missed big time! All the savage singletracks, the steep climbs, the super techy descents and the stunning views have added a fantastic chapter to my mountain biking life.

Thank you Ireland, you're wonderful! Slán! :)

Dusty dry mountain bike spin // WW action in the sun!

In the spirit of my previous post I've decided to have a long mountain bike spin this afternoon and get the XC bike back to life on the bone dry trails of the Wicklow Mountains! Got my beautiful lunch with the usual espresso and after that I was ready to hit the road.

The day was just simply perfect: very warm with plenty of sunshine and what's even better the conditions of the trails. They are dusty dry and soo much fun to ride! A day like this makes me realize how much I appreciate conditions like this, when I'm freezing my t*ts off, getting soaked, dipping into mud up to my knees, being blown off my bike by the strong and cold wind for about 350 days of the year! So, today was a happy time!!! :)

Near Djouce

Fun rocky bit

Green, green, green

My treat on the way home: 330 ml of ice cold, bubbly Heaven in Enniskerry village 

So, what can I say? This XC spin was my best mountain bike spin in this year without a doubt! Got as far as Djouce on the WW and then cycled home on the road. Sun, bone dry trails & my favourite tunes along the way. Just the perfect recipe for a savage 3 and a half hour mountain bike spin!

Djouce is still the KING // ThinkBike.ie Club Spin

I'm still buzzing! We had possibly the best summer club spin up around Djouce this morning with the lads from the club. Normally I ride on my own, and since I have the joy of the fatherhood, this rule applies even more. But this time I decided to team up with some of my good friends and team mates and joined our regular Saturday XC spin, needless to say that I did not regret the decision! :)

I don't like to drive to the place when I'm out mountain biking, I rather prefer to cycle out so I went out nice and early to meet up with the guys at 8 am in the Djouce carpark. The morning was fresh at 7 am when I left the house. 

After everyone got there and everyone got ready we took off and started our spin that was led by the man himself: Ian Kingston. He practically lives on Djouce mountain, so he knows all the trails very well. We all knew he was going to take the group to some of the scariest and most deadly trails that we can possibly find! :)

Oh..and I still didn't mention the best thing yet: the trails were bone dry!!! Honestly I don't remember when I've seen the place soooo dry! There was a single puddle (needless to say that we managed to find it) but that's about it. The rest was just amazing: super fast techical trails with tons of roots! Perfect! 

Our group today (L --> R: Dan, Kevin, Dave, myself and Ian) + Fintan to took this photo

Sun & dry trails, that's what you want!

What a lovely part of the World! :)

After we got most of the coolest trails done and had so much fun on the bike it was kinda time to head home. Got back to the carpark where the group split up and I started to make my way home on the very same route that I did cycled out on. 

Now, Djouce is an amazing place. I knew that before. But...this time was just simply my best time up there. Every single square meter of that mountain is brilliant and in my opinion it's still 100% the best place to have a proper XC spin done! I'm lovin' it! :)

...check out the details on Strava

Today I rode 55 km with 1219 m total elevation gain just slightly over 3 hours and 20 minutes. It was my only spin this week so I think I took the most of it. Was great to join the lads, I had great time with today's group. It was fantastic spin all together, cheers lads. See you next time! :)

Saturday XC spin in the spirit of London 2012

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 :)

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". 

Crossing on the bridge

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!!  

 

Testing the XC National's course // Savage 1st spin

So, there I was: all geared up and ready to start my first spin after havin' a bit more than 6 weeks break from cycling. The morning was nice and bright and the excitement was over the roof about getting back on the bike! :)

The plan was the next: get out to Djouce on the road, test out the upcoming Irish National XC Championship race course to see what I am actually missing this year and ride back home on the road. I wasted no time, rolled out of the carpark just about 7:30 am.

The route was the usual:

Milltown - Dundrum - Stepaside - Enniskerry - Djouce - XC course - Djouce - Enniskerry - Stepaside - Dundrum - Milltown

To be honest I had some concerns in relation of my fitness but I felt absolutely great and managed to get out to Djouce with pretty good time considering I was on the XC bike. Once I got to the carpark I hopped on the singletrack and started to enjoy my time on the trails. 

Nice view!

Now, since I got the a little bit too early the race course wasn't fully marked yet so I have to say that I must have skipped few sectors unfortunatelly but I have covered most of it anyway. And there is only one thing I can tell: I'm surely missing a savage XC race that would be amazing to ride tomorrow!!! Great course design by Robin Seymour with lots of real sweet technical bits! Amazing! :)

After I finished my off-road spin it was time to head back home but before I left I met with few friends from ThinkBike.ie CC and Epic MTB as well. It was great to chat to the lads and wish them all the best for tomorrow's race. 

The way back home is always faster on this particular route so I got home nice & quick just before lunch. I was very happy to be on the bike and absolutely satisfied with the way I felt today. I have covered the distance of 50 km just under 2 hours and 30 minutes with the total elevation gain of 800 m along the way. 

I really enjoyed myself and loved the way I was out on the bike. Felt great to push myself and let the adrenalin kick in on the technical & slippery trails! Riding my bike again is just simply fantastic but what's even more great is to know that my son Rhys is waiting for me when I get back home! :) 

Happy time with Rhys after the spin :)

 

Ballinastoe // WW Spin - Spring is officially here!

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.

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...

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!

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! :) 

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! :)

...check it out on Strava! 

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! :)

What a spin! - ThinkBike.ie club spin up on Djouce

It seems like all these club spins are great and they are getting more popular each time. I decided to get out with the group this morning mainly 'cause I had so much fun in the last two weeks and also because this week's destination was the good old favourite: Djouce.

Big group with lots of familiar faces & good few new comers. We also had a special guest today: Conor's dog :)

When we left the carpark at about 8:45 am the weather wasn't looking too good indeed. We started our spin in cold and damp conditions and I got ready for the worst by looking at the sky earlier on. But once we got into the forest the weather has changed too: mostly dry singletracks we seen and the rain has stopped also. It was a true gift! :)

The Powerscourt Waterfall from the other side of the valley

Djouce is an truly amazing place for mountain biking. Mainly because the trails are savage, steep and pretty technical. The view is also great from the side of the mountain! I love the place and all those trails brought back some sweet racing memories when I competed on one of the best NPS course in the country couple of years ago. 

We have covered some of the best trails and singletracks on the mountain with crazy hair-pin bends and some super steep downhill sections. I had so much fun riding them but I am sure I wasn't the only one on the group. :)

Back at the carpark: after a quick change I got nice & comfy in the heated ThinkBike.ie Team Skoda Fabia :)

Today's spin was a bit shorter 'cause most of us were a bit under pressure to get back home. But hey! We have covered so many fantastic trails and had an excellent autumn of-road spin I can't complain at all.

This club spin was the best one yet! :)