A spin with the lads

Sunday 24th May 09



This is Kevin. We discovered today that Kevin has been genetically enhanced. After just 20miles training on his new road bike he decided that it would be a good idea to tackle some of the biggest climbs in Wicklow.

Kevin, Allen and yours truly set of in glorious sunshine to head to the Shay Elliott climb. We would take in the ascent of Sliabh Mann on the way.

The route via Clonmore, Hackettstown and Knockananna is full of hills. This is not too bad on the way out but a little leg sapping on the return.

The ascent from Aughavannagh to the summit at Sliabh Mann is a long drag and pretty steep at the start but it eases out a bit along the way (Thank Jaysus). All three of us made it to the top in one piece, with Allen showing us the way and closing down a rider ahead of us... Way to go Al !!!!!

A decent into Glenmalure and a water break at the pub refreshed us for the attempt on the Shay Elliott. After hearing all the horror stories about these fabled Wicklow climbs I was pleasantly surprised to find that ascent was shorter than I expected and nowhere near as lung bursting as Corrubut Gap.
We stopped briefly at the top for a chat with another rider who was also a boards.ie user (forgot to get his user name)

Back down to Glenmalure and then the ascent of Sliabh Mann from the other side. The climb from this side was the worst drag of the day, it seemed to go on forever. I think we helped each other up the climb with a bit of banter and Allen wiggling his arse.
The thought occurred to me that I would have found this drag really hard if I was on my own.

I decided that after Aughavannagh we should take a different route home to avoid the long climb to Knockananna. It turned out that we had a long climb anyway. There was some discussion about what roads to take but we found our way eventually.

We finished with about 55 miles. the time was really slow but we had a good few stops on the way for mechanical issues and water stops etc .. Shush !! there was even a hill stop.. we'll say no more about that.........

I was so delighted that we did that route today. I was really worried about those 2 ascents on the Wicklow 200 but although we won't hit them on the day until the 70/80 mile mark, I am not bothered about them now.

The three 0f us ended the day in the local with a bit of grub and a few pints.........