Four go wild in Ireland, or, more correctly, four get wet in Ireland...

Time out for the senior team once again, this time riding sections of the Wild Atlantic Way in south west Ireland. Heyddie, Jan, Alberto and The President crossed the Irish Sea from Fishguard to Rosslare, and enjoyed a comfortable night at the very hospitable Granville Hotel in Waterford, a lovely welcome to Ireland for us all. 

The following day we abandoned thoughts of cycling from Kinsale to our base in Bantry, County Cork, because of intermittent heavy showers and a strong winds, but after reaching our hotel, the modern Maritime Hotel overlooking the sea, we managed to get out for a quick 50km, completing an enjoyable circuit of the Sheep's Head Peninsula just to the west of Bantry. A ride of rolling hills into a blustery wind on the north side, with good views across Bantry Bay to the Beara Peninsula, before a proper  climb on 'Goats Track Peak' (as named on Strava) and over to the southern side of the peninsula, with a speedy return aided by a strong tailwind. Just over two hours with an ascent of 689m in total, so just enough to get the legs working again after the 100 mile Prudential Ride London.

Our second day followed a slightly different pattern, however. We had been warned about the weather.
Did we listen?
No.
Four old farts.
Don't do listening...
So, today, awoken by the wind and rain lashing down on the windows, our plans required a bit of rethinking.
No biking today. Pointless and dangerous, especially when we saw the 11 km diesel slick on the road north from Bantry. Our objective? To get the cable car to Dursey Island, and try to walk 12km or so during a potential window between frontal systems. 

A 65km journey to the north east brought us to Dursey, where we immediately felt the full force of an Atlantic front. Wisdom and experience won the day, despite Heyddie's futile efforts to persuade us to take the cable car over to the island, and we returned to Bantry in time for a pie and a couple of pints in the very traditional Ma Murphy's, very basic but proper pub. Happy days :-)

  

Our third day in West Cork dawned a lot brighter, and we had a superb ride out to Mizen Head, the most south-westerly point in Ireland. Setting off from the village of Durrus on generally good road surfaces we were soon enjoying splendid views, initially northwards to the Sheeps Head Peninsula and later, on the south coast out towards Fastnet Rock. On rolling hills without excessive traffic we moved steadily past beautiful bays and empty beaches, the roadsides festooned with red fuscia and orange mombretia, and palm trees a regular sight. 

Mizen Head was a little busier with tourists, but after a quick sandwich we headed back through Schull, the breeze on our backs again, and ready to tackle the Cat4 climb to the Mount Gabriel Gap. It was here that Alberto's recent training showed some results, powering up to the summit and giving Heyddie a run for his money. 

The final run in back to Durrus was lead by Jan, who, with the thought of a pint waiting for him in the village, demolished the last 9km in good style.

A great day out, properly celebrated in the Club tradition, with generous amounts of beer and a great dinner at the Fish Kitchen, the best of the restaurants in Bantry, by far.

Our third day's cycling took us back to the Beara Peninsula, and fortunately we could actually see it this time. A perfect day weather wise, and, at our start point in Adrigole, the sea was mirror-like in the bay. Fighting varying degrees of hangover, we headed west for a quick coffee stop in the little port of Castletownbere, then west again before turning north and over a little pass to Allihies. A pleasant lunch was enjoyed in hot sunshine, before heading uphill to tackle the northern aspect of the Ring of Beara.

Now with a fresh cross wind off the sea, we enjoyed some steeply undulating coastal road, culminating in the Cat4 Knockagarrane Climb. Wondrous views across the inlet to the Ring of Kerry to the north, and, once again, the roadside resplendent with fuscia, mombretia, and the rocky terrain blanketed in purple heather. Great riding country.

Eventually we had to cross the mountains to get back to our van, and this led us up and over the Healy Pass. With an ascent of 5.6km at an average gradient of 4.8%, this is a Cat3 climb, and was easily despatched by the team. Our times were a little modest compared to the pros, Heyddie the fastest at around 28 minutes compared to the Strava KOM at 11:16. More training required (and less booze)...

It's a great route, with huge views into the mountains, across to the north coast and down to a beautiful lake nestling in a hidden valley. The road surface is generally good, and there is only one steep ramp, at about 11% just before the top. The descent is relatively technical, averaging 5.2% over the first 3km through a series of hairpins, and with good visibility this was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, one car having to pull over to allow the Club Maniacs, Heyddie and Jan, to whizz past them.

As always, the team excelled during the rehydration phase, having our last drink in the 'office,' the hospitable Quays bar, followed by more 'most acceptable' seafood at the Fish Kitchen.

This completes seven days of team GRAC rides, and our cumulative distance over the week has been 420km including the London 100-miler. A good effort chaps!

The next stage of our Irish adventure took us northwards to Oughterard in the Connemara region (north and west of Galway), but with the first full day there compromised by a slow moving front which produced waves of drenching drizzle on our intended route. 

However, Team Captain Heyddie, film buff extraordinaire, persuaded us to visit Cong, location for the 1951 film, 'The Quiet Man,' starring John Wayne. He insisted on a personal appearance on the Quiet Man Bridge, and we were all enthusiastically led through the Quiet Man Museum. Riveting stuff...

And now readers, it's time for a caption competition... ;-)

After a day of sightseeing (and over consumption of local food and beverages) detailed consultations with our Director of Meteorology, Johan, led us to drive to the popular town of Clifden, about as far west as you can get in Ireland. We passed under the front we were trying to avoid, drenching rain producing stunning rainbows as we drove past the lonely mountains of the Maumturks and the Twelve Bens. This is wild country, with a myriad of loughs and huge areas of bog, but hauntingly attractive.

Leaving the busy little town of Clifden, we were quickly into a strong westerly wind when we joined the Sky Road Loop, a pretty headland to the northwest of the town. This was quickly despatched, and we then joined the Cleggan Loop, with an excellent sandwich stop in the hamlet of Claddaghduff. There is enormous variety of both coastal and inland featured here, coloured by stands of heather, gorse, meadowstreet, and the ubiquitous fuscia and mombretia, with distant views to the mountains to the east and north. Hidden bays revealed beautiful sandy beaches. Wonderful stuff, especially when we turned eastwards with the wind on our backs. An easy day, but good to stretch the legs again!

And then, suddenly, it's our final cycling day in Ireland. The weather has been a bit of a challenge for us in Connemara, but, undeterred by an initial shower just as we set off on our bikes from Cong, we did a sprightly 57 km through undulating terrain to finish our legs off and earn another Guinness (or five...).

Our route took us west from Cong into 'Joyce Country' on a circuit which led along the northern edge of Lough Corrib with views to its many islands. 

Then from An Mám up to the lonely Lough Nafooey and eventually to reach the shores of Lough Mask, before returning back to Cong. 

A relatively easy ride although somehow we managed to pack in 572m of ascent which we hardly noticed.

So, our last evening in Oughterard beckons. We're all getting a bit predictable these days though, and it'll be Powers Thatched Pub for the nth time again then lads?

Trip stats: this was a relatively moderate adventure in terms of the distance travelled, a total of 310km over five rides, an average of just 62km/day. But then factor in strong winds, some very rough roads, and our total ascent of 4,036m (average 807m/day) I think we earned all the beer that was consumed...

Team GRAC Ride London!

So, five members of team GRAC felt that they were ready to do a 100-mile sportive, so what better ride to do than the Prudential London-Surrey Ride100 on 2 August?

Aided by amazing logistical support from Team Captain Heyddie, and fuelled by copious quantities of food and drink courtesy of the busy Raymond Blanc Brasserie in Beaconsfield, a very early start brought Heyddie, Alanssandro, Jan, Alberto and Fabian to pre-dawn central London, and we were soon joining thousands of other riders making their way over to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the mass start.

The organisers did a splendid job of getting everyone away in 'waves,' and we were soon speeding through the glittering tower blocks of the Canary Wharf area and into the city of London. An amazing experience, literally flying through the Limehouse Underpass, the roads all along the route closed off for this now iconic annual cycle event. It seemed only minutes before we flashed through St James's, through Knightsbridge and then a couple of us hanging on to the rear of a strong peloton which dragged us down the Cromwell Road at well over 40 kph.

Because of different start time allotments, we didn't cycle as a group initially, although everyone rode strongly and we met up at various intervals.  

Riding through Richmond Park was a joy and we were soon out into the increasingly narrow lanes of Surrey, the sun now bathing us in heat but the local woods affording plenty of shade.

Reaching the Surrey Hills, however, brought us to the first of several incidents which brought thousands of riders to a halt. The first, a fatal heart attack of a 55 year old rider ahead of us on Leith Hill, meant that we waited for the emergency services to deal with everything, and we spent over an hour slowly walking up the bottom section of the hill, before being released to tackle the top half, a not particularly difficult climb by our recent standards.   

Further accidents hindered progress, one leading us to walk through Dorking, and another on a bypass where one lady looked very poorly indeed after a crash. A timely reminder to us all...

Box Hill was easily despatched, and we were soon riding strongly back through the various towns, Leatherhead, Kingston-upon-Thames and Wimbledon being noticeably supportive of the riders roaring through their locale. The greeting was, of course, noisiest outside the well attended pubs!

By now, four of us more or less rode together, but Alanssandro, who had a much later starting time, got diverted around Leith Hill because of the logjam ahead, and finished a couple hours earlier than the rest of us on a slightly shortened route, a mere 150 km.

Heyddie and Fabian particularly enjoyed being amongst the fastest riders up the last hill of the day, through Wimbledon, and made short work of Putney, roaring down the hill to the bridge over the Thames. Awesome fun.

But the great moment, riding along the finishing straight of the Mall towards Buckingham Palace, was shared by all four of us coming into together, hot, tired but ultimately very pleased with ourselves.

Getting to the start and then finding our way back to the van at the end of the ride added another 24km of riding to the day, so about 184km in all, not a bad days work. Well done the lads!

Back at Chateau Heyddie, Mrs Merckx, ably assisted by Mrs Ulrichard and Mrs Johntador, had prepared a feast to replenish the athletes, and did so in fine style, beautifully cooked pork (with sublime crackling) and wonderful accompaniments, rounding off the day perfectly. 

Team GRAC slept very soundly after all that, in readiness for the next adventure, more cycling, but this time in the south west of Ireland. The blog, likely to be written in the warm confines of Irish hostelries given the expected sodden weather, will follow in due course. However, there may be a few grammatical errors due to the influence of excessive rehydration with a local brew called Guinness...