Ballyhoura Biking Brutal Battering

For the record...

Tom, Kev McG, Conor and Trevor did the Mount Russell loop (17km) in about 2:40, including stops (scheduled and otherwise).

Andy & Dave did the Garrane loop (35km) in about 3:15, and saw at least 3 trees falling.

On balance, a successful outing, despite the Atrocious, Abysmal and Appalling conditions. Certainly not a day for first timers, let alone experienced bikers - I have never experienced anything quite like it, certainly not on a bike. It was the kind of day on which I would normally think twice about going out into the back garden. So, big respect to all for getting yourselves and your machines around in one piece. If it's any consolation, Andy & I were out there even longer, and were in genuine mortal danger when we started to see trees falling in close proximity. Actually, the extra miles we did were no harder than what the others biked and the boardwalks (which we all did) are by far the most difficult part of the trail - Kev witnessed me coming off them pretty hard last year (I'm sure he didn't laugh). So how did it come to pass that we were mountain-biking during the worst 3 hour period of weather in living memory? Tom picked the weekend, and I picked the time and day, so I guess we share the blame. I don't think I noticed the wind or rain after a while, a neat trick of disengaging my brain from my body. What about those hot showers at the end though? Heavenly.

See Ballyhoura website here.

Pics from last year (© Kev McG):









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