Roddy's Cycling Page

Two events around a decade ago converted me into a pedal power zealot:

i) sitting on a bus sometime in 1991 realising that since it had arrived late (again) that I was going to miss the only train out to UCD (Sydney Parade Dart Station) for the fourth time that week

ii) bringing a fairly cheap racer (worth maybe £50) to a cycle shop for repairs, being told it would cost £45 to fix it, agreeing to the repair, then as I watched it being carried down to the workshop, admitting to myself that I would never come back for it.

Since then I've become almost obsessively interested in bikes and biking and now have a difficult-to-justify total of three bikes:

A Raleigh "Racer" - bought when I was 16 but which after years of care still blasts around the city. Now a second string bike, however, that only comes out of the shed when the main commuting vehicle - see immediately below - is in dry dock. I would still cycle it on a regular basis but for the fact that I once calculated that such was the state of Dublin's roads I was buying new wheels so frequently that over the course of two years I was spending roughly the cost of replacing entire bike. Hence although still regarded with some affection it has been replaced for daily use by...

A Trek 930 mountain bike. Frankly, if you are going to cycle in Dublin then then a hybrid or mountain bike is your only realistic option. I still get punctures and I've gone through one rear wheel since buying the bike some four years ago but on the whole this is the most reliable form of transport I've ever had (although our battered (but NCT passed) 1990 VW Golf was kind of admirable for its grim determination to start at all times). So reliable is it in fact that I've gotten into cycle touring as a result. The Trek 930 has a slightly unsual geometry (cycle speak for the height to length ratio of the bike) which makes it ideal for long distance (i.e. 70 miles a day) trips. Thus I've gotten to see parts of Ireland from a perspective and at a pace that would otherwise be impossible - recent trips have included the Ring of Kerry, the Beara Penisula and in September 2000 the oft-ignored Mourne Mountains. The only weakness in Trek in fact lies in physical the difficulty of maintaining high speeds for long durations, hence two years ago I went for broke and bought...

A "Kinesis" frame racing bike. Kinesis use Columbus 7005 aluminium tubing which essentially means that the bike is preposterously light. It's one of those items designed with single-minded purpose - to go fast. This is essentially the kind of bike you see on the Tour de France (minus the sponsorship) and purchasing it demanded concomitant investments in the kind of " proper" cycling clothing which were you to wear it in any other circumstances could only attract guffaws. However, failure to wear such equipment whilst cycling a "real" racer attracts disdainful glances from other racing cyclists. Hence out of craven cowardice I now climb into what are essentially elongated leotards before taking this bike into the wilds of North County Dublin or the Wicklow Mountains.

More recently I discovered that the Kinesis could also double as a kind of tourer. In August 2001 I determined to make up for a summer characterised by an absence of cycling by doing a coast to coast (east to west) trip. I only had three days in which to do this and realised that the chances of my covering the requisite daily mileage (something in the region of 90-100 miles) on the mountain bike were slim (having previously covered no more than 75-ish miles in a day on said vehicle). 

Hence my thoughts turned to the Kinesis. This raised some difficulties, however. So specialised is its design that the manufacturer had deigned to include braze-ons which basically allow you to attach a carrier to the frame and thus to carry panniers. However Ortlieb (a German company with all that implies) make a bag which attaches under the saddle with a capacity of 20 litres. It occurred to me that this in combination with a handlebar bag might just allow me to carry enough stuff to survive for three days.

The great day came and lo: just about everything I needed did indeed fit in. Mind you, this required a redefinition of the word "need". I decided to gamble on the weather being good (which it was) and to bring only shorts with me as a change of clothes for pottering around whatever town I stayed in each night. A change of footwear, however, proved an unaffordable luxury: thus I decided that my cycling shoes with their cleats (for clipping into the pedals) removed would have to take on a multiple role. A "pack in a sack" rain jacket completed the frankly motley ensemble. Consequently I cast a fairly bizarre figure in respectively Kilkenny Town and a forgotten pub/hotel outside Banteer (where I found myself drunkenly reading Don Delillo occasionally glancing up at Marty Whelan doing the Rose of Tralee).

The trip was a mixed success: I'd originally intended to go from Dublin to the end of the Dingle Penisula but in point of fact only got as far as Killarney when my right knee started giving me muscle pains. However, the key question - could one "tour" on a racer? - was answered in the affirmative. The previously unthought of question - is it a good idea to tour on a racer? - was less emphatically answered. You can do it and go further doing it than on a regular mountain bike but it's definitively more comfortable on the latter. My next trip will be on the Trek.