Keeping up the good work on the road bike

Lately I try to spend as much time as possible on the road bike and I have to say it is so much fun so far. Road cycling is great! Now, I don't think I will get converted for good but I havin' good time on the road bike indeed. 

Yesterday I felt like I want to get to the Phoenix Park and just get couple of laps done there. I cycled out and started to get the laps done on the long loop around (still inside) of the park. This time I picked the anti-clockwise direction and it seemed like it was a lucky pick 'cause of the one-way traffic around the park caused by the current diversion that I did not know about. 

The well known route

I wanted to keep some nice and steady pace and I think I could manage it well. I have done 5 laps (9.3 km each) and I felt great on the bike. I kept comfy and steady 27-28 km/hour avarage speed during the 5 laps. The overall distance of the spin was 65 km and it took me 2 hours and 26 minutes to get the training done. It wasn't too long spin though but I think it was still good going just before I got to work.

check out this spin on Strava.

I had a great time on the bike and even if the park was brilliant last morning but I am sure I wont be back there for a while. I need some place with a little more action! Let's head towards the mountains again this weekend! :)

Winter road miles spiced up with some climbing

Lately I trying to spend more time on the road bike and get some valuable winter miles into the legs. Of course I still ride the XC bike as well but the majority of the training will be on the road bike for the next couple of months. Because of this plan I started to get used to the road bike and have fun on the road more and more every time I am out on the bike. :)

On the top of the Kippure

So, yesterday I wanted to sweeten up the usual routine a bit and decided to get some climbing done. I turned towards the Wicklow mountains and to be exact I targeted a nice and high point: the Kippure. At 757 metres (2,484 feet), it is the highest mountain in South Dublin so to get there through the hills and to climb up to the top I had to do good bit of work. Was absolutely great! :)

The map (out and back on the same route)

On Thursday I was working so I wanted to take the simple, straight forward route and the same to get back home to be sure I wont be late from work. I left at 8 am in the morning and started to head out towards Stepaside and Enniskerry. After the village I got to the Powerscourt Waterfall and kept going up towards the Military Road. After I hit the climb towards the Sally Gap I was at the bottom of the Kippure in no time.

Now, up to this point the weather was pretty all right with very wet road surface but mostly sunny sky and luckily no wind. But shortly after I started to settle into the climb on the bold side of the Kippure the mountain has changed his face. I entered the thick cloud that was just sitting on the top like some sort of higher power and started to feel the rapid drop of the temperature too. The whole place was amazing: very limited view caused by the heavy fog/cloud, cold and wet road and steep gradient. The only thing that I had in my head was the rythm of the music from the earphones and the fact I love what I am doing. Then and there the whole thing felt little bit more special. I loved it!  :)

After the long climb I got up to the peak but since the weather was pretty savage up there and I did not see much either I turned back and started the fast downhill. Lucky enought but when I got back to slightly lower altitude the weather got back to normal and the way home was lovely. 

The elevation graph of the spin

I did ride 71 km under 3 hours and ended up with 1235 m of total climbing. 

The pace was nice and calm, did not do any jumpy stuff at all. When I got back home I felt good and I think all these road spins will help me to get more fit for the next season.

Got home, quick shower, 2nd breakfast and off I went to work, what a way to start the day, hah?!  Can't wait for the next time! :)

Excellent day for running

During my winter training running is pretty important to build up general fitness and stamina and I also like to go for a run when I have less time and can't get out on the bike long enough. So the progression is there, I am building up my running sessions week by week to reach a proper level by the end of this month.

Getting ready

This morning the weather was super mild and bright so the whole thing was very enjoyable indeed. I love to run in cold weather in general but of course I wont say no to be outside on a day like we have today! :)

The map of my running session (Milltown - Ranelagh - Rathmines - Milltown)

At this point I've increased my running time up to 35 minutes and within this time I run 6.7 km in total. The pace was nice and steady with the avarage pace of 5:04 min/km.

I really enjoyed today's running session and I finally started to feel better during running. I set my mp3 player to play my favourite Eminen album and just enjoyed the weather & the pace out there. I'm already looking forward to my next time when I will push the time up to 45 minutes constant running. Will be sweet! :)

BBB HighPower Rechargable Night-light set

I generally wasn't too much into night-ride spins in the past but I have tried this unique type of mountain biking couple of times in the last one year and my point of view has changed about the whole thing. 

At the moment I don't own any proper set of night-lights but last time I did get a set from John Clarke (at ThinkBike) to be able to get out with the lads on the ThinkBike Spook Halloween night-ride spin. 

The lights he gave me are the next: BBB HighPower rechargable night-lights. It has quiet nice and compact size with light weight aluminium shell and pretty light battery too. The whole system can be fitted on the bike in very short time and it would not add any serious weight to the bike either. 

The set comes with a small velcro strap that helps to get the battery fitted on the bike and because the bottom of the battery has a tiny rubber panel built in the whole pack sits nice and still on the frame. The clamp can be fitted on oversized handlebars too which is definitelly good thing to have and the light clips on and off. This makes the fitting easy. 

The light itself comes with 3 high power LED and been designed to have 3 modes: continuous normal, continuous high-power and flash mode. The casing is aluminium and the rubber enclosed water-resistant switch provides direct and responsive activation. 

I did get a double set fitted on my bike for our last night-ride spin and the light power was perfectly enough to be able to see the trails even in very dark conditions. Now, these light are not the most powerful ones out there but they are definitelly bright enough and good quality ones on they price level. I am planning to get a set of my own in the near future and I am sure I would go for them for sure 'cause they did cover all my needs. 

And once I will have my own set I will be a regular night-rider up in the mountains for sure. Night-ride is fun,  pitch black trails: bring it on! :)

ThinkBike.ie Club Spin - up on Threerock one more time

This morning I went up up to Threerock to have my regular Saturday morning training spin. I joined the lads from the club once again to have a good laugh & fun like we always have. We met at the Taylor's Pub at the M50 bridge and climbed up to mountain to start our muddy mountain bike spin.

The group was big enough this week

After the serious rain on Monday all the trails were pretty rough due to the massive erosion caused by the huge amount of water. It was excellent to ride them though but I can say they weren't easy and certenly weren't the same like they were before. About the 3/4 of the place has changed so we had to adopt to the new conditions up there. It was cool though! :)

At the top, waiting to get re-grouped with the lads

Now, since I have started my winter training on Monday I preferred to have a bit more intense pace compare to what we normally have. This plan has worked out just perfectly because my good friend and team mate Richie Felle, who is in training and active racing in this seasons cyclo cross league was setting up some nice and intense speed for the whole spin. Richie, Ian and myself got ahead of the group most of the time and after we have done our more intense segments we re-grouped with the guys and kept going together. We had a constant spin today with little stopping and we have also covered some of the most technical trails up on the mountain. It was brilliant! :)

Elevation graph

Today we have been out for 2 hours and 30 minutes and covered the distance of 38 km with 1070 m of total elevation gain. It was a good old intense mountain bike spin and I have to say I loved every minute of it! It was excellent alltogether! :)

But now it is time to get the night-lights fitted and get the bike ready for my second spin of the day: tonight I'm going up to the mountains once again to have the first night-ride mountain bike spin of this winter. Gonna be cool for sure, I can't wait!