Recovery Run

Not pushing it too hard today - 28 miles at recovery pace to let the muscles repair. Weather is still great - loving it.

The Mournes

Today was a mammoth ride - 100 miles into the heart of the Mourne mountains, the highest peaks in Northern Ireland (you can see the peaks just in the background of the picture). Also the weather was beautiful, a scorching day in the mid twenties which is highly unusual for this wee part of the world.

Anyway onto the ride itself, fairly routine on the way to Newcastle but as you can imagine it started getting tastier when the climbing began. I coped fairly well despite the heat and didn't have any real problems. I tried to keep a steady pace and my usual rythm when climbing which served me well. The scenery was absolutely stunning - I advise if you ever visit Northern Ireland to either hike or cycle in this area, you will not be disappointed. One thing that bothered me though was that I wanted to see Silent Valley, to my surprise no cyclists were allowed it - disgraceful! I had cycled up to 50 miles at this point so you can imagine my dismay at being turned away at the barrier - silly really.

Anyway the run home followed the same route towards Ballynahinch, it was at this point that a bit of fatigue started to set in and I began to feel the temperature. When I arrived in Belfast I had no water left so was also quite dehydrated. Overall it was a great run and thoroughly enjoyable - it's great being off work on days such as this where you can get out and do these things.

Club run

So the day club run was today. Still feeling a tiny bit sluggish but persevered on. Made a decent average of 17 and half mph and hit some records on strava also. 

The sun is shining in Belfast which always makes the weather a lot more pleasant. I'm thinking about a rest day tomorrow in order to get my legs fresh for the coming week. 

I'm trying to complete the strava distance challenge though that follows the tour. It's something like 31 miles a day for 33 days, not tremendously hard by any means but it means I have to keep my mileage pretty consistent with little rest days in between. Anyway will see how I feel in be morning. Let the sun shine on, happy cycling to you. 

Sluggish

Feeling a little sluggish after yesterdays climbing - to be expected really. Regardless I managed 28 mile to Ballynihinch and a fairly easy pace. Hopefully feeling a little more sprightly for tomorrows Phoenix club run.

Triban 3 Pic overload

Paying homage to my workhorse

Divis x 2

So today cleared up and was actually quite warm and pleasant. I'm doing a challenge on strava called rafa rising which is a climbing challenge. It works out 3000ft a day for eight days so I thought I might as well get some good training in before hand. The challenge starts after next week and coincides with the climbing during the tour. 

Anyway this involved scaling our highest peak, divis twice. The actual run was fine enough with not a great deal to report. A few pr's on Strava but nothing extra ordinary. I've never done the climb back to back but do have plenty of experience climbing and handled it fairly well. Of course doing today for eight days in a row may provide some issues but so far so good- we will see. 

This is my other bike by the way, usually reserved for wet weather and general commuting. It puts in the majority of my miles and if your looking a first road bike/ winter hack/ solid commuter I would thoroughly thoroughly recommend it. I do love this wee red machine. Very cheap from Decathlon. 

Happy cycling folks! :)

Rain

Woke up this morning with this as my view out the window and the sound of rain tip tapping on the roof, certainly therapeutic when your in bed staring out at the world but no good for drive chains and dry underwear. The weatherman says it supposed to clear up closer to midday so will wait it out and see. Hope the sun is shinning wherever you are!