Off Road and On Road spins

Yesterday myself and a couple of club mates hit Djouce. I was not too hopeful about the weather as it was damp and miserable in Naas, but in a typical Irish way, there was a miraculous transformation by the time I reached Djouce. Blue skies and mild. It was just a general blast around the main trails (XTC, GC, foxglove climb, benchcut etc), even managed to cycle up XTC.

Today was the big road spin. I left Naas and made for Enniskerry via Tallaght, Rathfarnham and Kilternan. After that it was up the Glencree valley on the Crone side. I met up with Jackie and Sean there and we headed for Laragh, via Sally Gap. They stopped for coffee but I decided to continue on. There were some good climbs. The Wicklow gap was a painful as ever, mainly as it was towards the end of the spin. But Kippure was the highest point reached.It was just a touch over 135 kms with 1300 metres of climbing. Moving time was 5:23.

It was really nice to get the distance in, and will plan on doing something similar over the weekend or early next week. Its amazing what just 3 or 4 of these spins do to your general fitness and your ability to get aerobic fit much faster (and less painfully I hope).