I went out for a short spin yesterday with a pal from work, heading out for a Sunday morning ride (not the Sunday morning call) from Dundrum to the Wicklow hills. The forecast was for clear skies, but a light drizzle was in order instead, and I was glad we’d committed to heading out otherwise I might have been tempted to stay in till the rain cleared (although my bike might have thanked me if I had, as it’s rather in need of a good clean and oil at the minute - one of the drawbacks of commuting being that I don’t keep it as clean as I’d like).

We did a nice little loop in about 2 hours, through Eniskerry, climbing up to the Jonny Fox pub, and then heading deeper into the hills along Pine Forest Road. I could see why it got its name!

A nice loop, and one I’m looking forward to doing again. (Apparently there’s also a steeper way up the hill - we may have to tackle that next time…)

Some would call them hills - but hills or mountains, taking my mountain bike into the Wicklow National Park last Saturday was fabulous! With the Great Sugar Loaf behind me, I turned onto the trails above the waterfall at Powerscourt. This is the highest waterfall in Ireland, and I should really pay it a closer visit sometime; so far I’ve only seen it from the far distance, too far to really appreciate it.

I headed up and down the Dargle Valley, along forestry trails and some great singletrack routes. It’s not as extensive an area as the trails say in the southern Mournes, but it made for a really enjoyable morning. In fact, it was perhaps the perfect place to start back, since I haven’t been mountain biking for the best part of a year, and the trails here were enjoyable without being difficult, which made it a perfect re-introduction. The weather helped, too; I was fortunate that the wind had dropped from the morning and the rain held off, which meant that my lightweight, super-breathable jacket was just right to keep the chill off on the descents without making me overheated on the climbs.

I do need to sort out the suspension however, both the front and rear. The forks in particular and feeling a bit spongy, and are definitely due an oil change at least. Finding a place to do it in Ireland seems like it might be a challenge though, as the first bike shop I tried suggested shipping the forks over to the UK…! I have a link for another one, local to Dublin, which I’ll ring this week to ask if they can service them. I would try servicing them myself, but I don’t have a convenient space to work in.

Happy New Year, dear reader! Welcome to 2019; may it bring you health and happiness…

And with the New Year, I’ve moved to a new website host. I’ve taken the opportunity to upgrade this blog to work with a newer version of php, too; so if you see anything that looks wrong, it probably isn’t supposed to be that way - please drop my a line and I’ll try to fix it.

Happy reading! :)