Trip Route
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Trip Motivation
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Trip Motivation Return to Main Page |
1. Over the ten day trip it rained a total of five minutes.
We used an unexpected amount of sun tan lotion, and the daytime highs never
dropped below 20C. It was a delightful surprise, and almost made
me regret the cold and rainy preparation rides that we forced ourselves
to endure throughout spring in France.
2. As a group of nine riders including six BOB trailers, I expected
that we would be a total mess on the road. I assumed that it would
be impossible to stick together, that we would separate and get lost, and
would block/annoy traffic and possibly even jeopardize our own safety.
I was wrong. We rarely separated, never crossed an intersection without
waiting for everyone, and in general rode well as a cohesive unit.
3. The hills were worse than I expected, and I probably had the worst expectations of the group! We rode mainly on small roads, and therefore the grade was not limited to 7% like on many highways, and climbed to 10% on several passes. Given this fact, it is amazing that everyone made it. This was by far the biggest and best surprise - congrats to everyone!
Otherwise I expected great scenery, great Guinness, and excellent conversation
with everyone in the group. These expectations were met, and made
for a memorable trip. This is the second major biking trip that I
have done, with Sweden-Norway being the first in 2003. Both have
been great successes, and I expect to continue with more in the future.
This was also the largest group trip that I have taken - five people was
formerly the maximum number for any physical or adventure-related trip.
It is easy to travel in a large numbers when the group is based in one
place (such as a beach resort), or when the group follows a third-party
planned itinerary. But on a physical self-guided trip with many changing
conditions and surprises, it is very difficult to keep such a large group
together and focused for more than a few consecutive days. We managed
to do it perfectly in Ireland, which is directly attributable to the wonderful
personalities and open-minded attitudes of everyone involved. You
guys are the best! The following is a description of each day of
the trip, including logistic details for anyone seeking to follow a similar
route.
We met Scott, Vic, Andy, and Todd in Dublin - they had arrived from
the States earlier in the day. The six of us stayed at Harvey's Guesthouse,
on upper Gardiner Street, for about 50 euros per person. Everyone
at the B&B was super helpful, and they agreed to store our bikes boxes
and bags until we returned at the end of the trip. Thanks Bob!
I had my first Guinness of the trip, which I enjoyed thoroughly.
Everyone's bikes had arrived safely from the States, with the exception
of Andy - Northwest Airlines had lost his bike somewhere in Detroit, but
promised to deliver it early the next morning. We crossed our fingers
and hoped.
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We were now only missing Kirby, who had suffered flight cancellations from his home town in West Virginia to Cork, and who would arrive to Shannon on west coast the following today. Kirby and I talked on the phone and brainstormed the best way for him to find us, which consisted of a bus from Shannon to Killarney, then biking ~70km to meet us at the end of our second day in Gougane Barra Forest. Again, we crossed our fingers and hoped.
We rode away from the Cork train station as a group of 8, and made our
way 14.5km up to Blarney. And when I say up, I mean up the whole
way! We arrived in Blarney as the sun was setting, and we found a
campsite at a golf resort a few km north of town. We had a few Guinness
at the golf club bar, and went to bed. Note that there were no midges
at the campsite (midges are little biting knats) - they would be come a
much greater issue in the coming days.
Day
1, Blarney to Gougane Barra Forest - 81.4km, see Route
Map
It was during setup that we discovered the millions of midges, small
knat-like insects, that were in the park. We at first assumed that
they were harmless, until they began to bite! We were not prepared
for the swarm, and had delayed putting on appropriate clothes or bug spray
- many people were severely bitten, and it turned out to be the lowlight
of the trip. We learned later that midge bites can last for weeks,
and that a special spray must be used (of which we bought a ton later).
I am amazed that Todd managed to make a great spaghetti & sauce dinner
without getting badly bitten, while the rest of us ran in circles while
eating from our bowls. After dinner we rode back to the park B&B
and enjoyed a few beers at their small bar. We rode back to camp
and quickly got into the tents - we spent much of the night listening to
the midges hovering around the tent. It sounded like a light drizzle
of rain.
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We stopped briefly at Caraganass castle, then headed north into the
hills. It was our first major climb of the trip, and it was a big
one. We reached the pass in the late morning, after several breaks
and even a section that required a bit of walking. We briefly enjoyed
the view from the top, then descended at high speed down to Kilgarvan.
We rode due west from Kilgarvan until we hit the ocean and joined the Ring
of Kerry. We rode west along the Ring towards Sneem. Due to
the fatigue of the hard day's climb, Vic suggested that he separate and
shortcut north before reaching Sneem, which would allow him to rest and
meet the group at the end of the following day. We denied him the
idea of separating from the group (we love you Vic), and we together ended
the day in Sneem. We camped in the front yard of a caravan park just
before town, and had excellent Irish Stew and Guinness in town before going
to bed among more clouds of midges. Some people even had their first
shower of the trip :).
We
woke up in the caravan park to Catherine's complaints that Rich had snored
the previous night, and we quickly packed up to avoid the midges.
We bought breakfast from a small store in town, and headed west towards
the tip of the Kerry peninsula. The highlight of the morning was
a gorgeous white beach along the Ring, just before going over the Waterville
pass. I had a nice wipe-out while stopping on the beach - a carful
of tourists behind me were not pleased. The skies were again blue
and the sun was blaring, and we were tempted to spend the remainder of
the day on the sand. That idea evaporated after inspecting the route
ahead on the map, and we headed off again over the Waterville pass.
We had lunch on the western end of the Ring (in the town of Waterville),
then left the ring of Kerry and started back due east through the middle
of the peninsula. We had a strong tailwind as we gently climbed towards
the middle of the peninsula, but the wind would not be of much help for
what was soon to come - the Ballaghasheen pass. I honestly have never
climbed a paved road that was so steep, let alone with a loaded trailer.
It took everyone a few breaks and a lot of sweat to get to the top of the
pass, but we all made it with flying colors. We descended from the
pass as fast as the bad road would allow, and we quickly arrived in the
valley below where we found a B&B called the Climber's Inn. After
three consecutive nights in a tent everyone was happy to find the clean
and comfortable rooms of the Inn. We enjoyed several beers and more
Irish Stew that night, and played cards until everyone was too tired to
continue. It had been the hardest day yet, but we hoped that the
steepest climbs were behind us. We must acknowledge Andy today
for assuming responsibility (i.e. carrying) the majority of Vic's belongings.
Andy still remains the workhorse of the group
originally
intended to make it to Killarney National Park on Day 4, and spend all
of Day 5 resting and hanging out in the national park. But while
struggling over the various high passes of the first few days we had decided
that it would be best to slightly reduce our daily mileage, and complete
the missing remainder during the first half of Day 5. This equated
to about 50km and not as much rest as originally hoped. But the weather
was still perfect, so everyone was in good spirits and happy to just reach
the park. The 50km also included one large climb through the Gap
of Dunloe, the last pass before entering the park.
The Gap was about as steep as the pass on Day 2, but not as long. The road through the Gap had been blocked off for pedestrians only (and a handful of horse carriages), so we were able to focus on the steepness of the climb, and not on any vehicles being stalled by our slow pace. We rested for a few minutes at the top of the Gap, and enjoyed the view back down into the valley from where we had come. From this point there were two options for entering the national park - descend from the pass to the shore of Lake Killarney and catch a boat across the lake, or ride around the lake which included a small climb halfway up a second pass along the way. We were split in opinions, so we together descended and managed to find the boat waiting alongside a river at the end of a dirt road (there were some small signs). The boat was a large wooden craft with a small motor clamped to the back, and operated by a super-old Irish guy whose English we could barely understand. We had lunch together on the shore of the river and discussed our options - by the end of lunch everyone had decided that the boat was just too convenient to pass up. We managed to load the boat with all bikes, trailers, and people, and proceeded through the river and out onto the lake.
We crossed the lake with BOB flags flying, and landed about 5km south of Killarney town. We rode to the outskirts of town where we found a good caravan site. We went into town to find a few beers, T-shirts, anti-midge spray, and groceries. We made a good spaghetti dinner back at the campsite, then had a few pints at a nearby bar before going to sleep.
Somewhere during the boat loading Scott managed to lose half of his
BOB flag pole, including the flag itself. I replaced it with the
liner of Vic's recently purchased bathing suit (he did not want the liner)
and a stuffed mini-sheep that I found in a local souvenir shop. It
was a very acceptable replacement to the missing flag.
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about
the campsite (we were asking for trouble). Then we were finally forced
from the tents at 9am by the sun beating down on and heating the inside
of the tents. Vic changed from his Quisp socks to a pair with colored
donuts on the side, and we started to ride north towards the coastal town
of Tarbert.
It was halfway through this day, while descending as a group from a
small hill along the farmland ride, that we had our first and only real
wreck. Vic was passing Todd on the right (first mistake), and they
both accidentally veered - Vic to the left, and Todd to the right.
The rear of Vic's BOB caught Todd's front wheel, turning it 90 degrees
to the road, and causing Todd to launch forward off the bike. Vic 
was
slowed by the impact, and was just far enough ahead so that Todd landed
squarely on top of Vic's BOB. Todd rode Vic's BOB (on his back) for
a moments before rolling off and coming to a stop on the road. The
rest of us had been riding just behind watching in astonishment, and we
all stopped to examine the damage.
Aside from a bit of road rash and a buckled front wheel Todd was OK. The road rash would not stop him, but the wheel needed serious attention. After jumping on it, hitting it against the road, and repeatedly trying to true it, we finally got the wheel back into enough alignment where it could roll freely. A half hour after the wreck we were riding again, but with a much better awareness of the dangers of group riding.
We hit the coast in Tarbert under cloudy skies and significant winds, and we retreated to a bar next to the ferry - we had about an hour to wait until the next ferry trip. We finished our pints and boarded the ferry for the short 30-minute ride across the bay. It began to rain for the first time on the trip, and we rode away from the ferry wearing full rain gear for the first time on the trip. Within five minutes the rain had stopped, and that would be the last time I used my rain booties for the entire trip.
We rode a short 10km west to the town of Kilrush, where half the group
stayed in a local hostel, and the other half in a campsite just outside
town. There were five of us at the campground - but with four tents!
I was the only man without his own personal tent (I shared with Cecilia
while Todd, Andy, and Rich all had their own tent). We had dinner
at a pub in town, and went to sleep under sprinkling rain and blowing winds.
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Bent Front Wheel  |
Then he fell like this....  |
We arrived at the Cliffs of Moher in the late afternoon, after a little more climbing than originally expected. We parked the bikes and did the walking tour of the cliffs, which were as impressive in person as the post cards I had seen previously.
We left the cliffs for a short but fast descent to Doolin, a small town
along the coast with excellent pubs and Irish music every night of the
week. We found two B&Bs that could hold all nine of us, and we
spent the night listening to Irish music and celebrating Vic's birthday
in a local bar called O-Conners. We had bought a cool pair or Irish
boxers for Vic at the Cliffs of Moher, which we gave him at the bar.
He would wear them several times later in the trip.
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We decided at lunch that we would try to ride all the way to Galway,
instead of stopping after ~70km and doing the remainder on the following
morning. As we reached the outskirts of Galway we decided to stop
at a local bar for a few pints before our official arrival. We eventually
rolled into Galway in the early evening, and thanks to the recommendation
from a little old lady who had no rooms in her B&B, we found an *unoffical*
B&B that accepted all nine of us (and no one else) for the night.
We spent the night over pizza and beers in Galway, celebrating the end
of a successful ride!
We said good-bye to Todd, who would fly an hour later back to the States, and boarded our plane. Three hours later Cecilia and I were back at home, having ridden the final two kilometers from the Denfert Rochereau RER station back home among a lot of Paris traffic, but without problems.
Tours to Le Mans. This weekend we combined two not-so-often-combined
activities - bicycle riding and motorcycle race watching. On Saturday
May 15 we took an early train from Paris to Tours, then rode 100km (actually
97km) north to Le Mans. Our destination was the Le Mans racetrack,
which is famous for hosting the annual 24-hour car race. This weekend
the track was occupied by millions of motorcycle fans ready to witness
a MotoGP race - the equivalent of Formula One for motorcycles. We
arrived in the late afternoon, and were greeted by tents and caravans stretching
as far as the eye could see on the horizon. Smoke from the 100's
of bonfires created a haze over the whole area, and made the sunset very
colorful. Rich, Cecilia, Maria, Paul, and I had done the ride, and
Mike and Heini had met us along the way in their rental car. We staked
out a spot among the madness, and setup camp. We survived a long
night of partying, engine revving, and 1000's of intentional backfires,
and went to the track the next morning. The various races were exciting
to watch, and the weather was great! A few images from the weekend:
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Cergy to Giverny. Below are a few images from a 110km ride from
Cergy to Giverny (and back) on a rainy Sunday May 9th. Claude Monet
lived in Giverny for many years, and you can now tour his house and famous
gardens - the scene depicted in many of his paintings.
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