Thursday Night Tow Path

[Deek]

mtec45 said:

Dry with light wind, 10 degrees for the run to the Waterfront and back with no off road excursions.

No off road excursions!!!!! Whats that all about ?? You'r supposed to turn right at the footbridge on the way down!! ;D
Or at least do the Meadows and Barnett's on the way back.

Seems the towpath has went downhill since i involuntarily packed it in

[manuel6b]

Wot, no report mtec?

Great night out on the tow path. It was windy but remained dry with only a light shower on the way home. 7 out, Trevor, Gary, BL, Dennis, Stewart, Alan and me. BL showed up with slick tyres on his MTB bike so naturally we were out for some off road action. That'll teach him!!

Good pace on the way to Belfast. Crossed over the footbridge. Up through Belvior. Tracks were in good condition. Back out onto the path. Nice run up to Stranmillis. We had the tow path to ourselves!

Sprint through Lagan Meadows, then a good run back towards Barnetts. All up the climb towards Malone House then out through the trees back to the path. Stewart left us at Seymour Hill. Back to base for 9. 22.2 miles on the clock. Niceeee !!!!

I have missed 3 weeks of this. Good to be back. Got a new bulb for the HID light. It seems to be working fine.

Roll on next week.

[mtec45]

Great write up Manuel6b!!

You forgot to mention Noel was chicken. ;D

[mtec45]

Another good night out on the tow path. It was quite cold at about 5-6C with a light rain for a while.

7 tough guys out tonight, Gary, Gary, Alan, Dennis, Noel, Martin and me. Ronnie, Mark and Trevor were chicken ;D

Went to the Water Front omitting the lagan weir bridge etc, then back through Lagan Meadows for the off road fix. Some real deep ruts in the trails through the Meadows from the heavy rains but everyone stayed rubber down.

Dennis punctured on the way down to the waterfront (this time it was a real one ) He pulled out a huge thorn that at a glance looked like a carpet tack

Apart from the ususal fast burst on the approach to coca cola (chris blew up again ) the race was on when Dennis and Gary took off after a guy on a mtb bike at stranmillis. I attempted to give chase and passed the guy also but Den and Gary just kept accelerating away, a quick glance at the speedo showed i was doing 27mph with no hope of catching them!!!

Manuel6b tried to run me off the path on the approach to coke cause I said i wouldn't do this write up He's a nasty one ;D

I cut off at Coke on the way back with approx 22 good miles on the clock, brill run.

[mtec45]

4 tough guys out tonight – Martin, Dennis, Alan and me. ALOT of chickens this week, shame on you

Quite a windy night with a few gusts that would surprise you when you thought it was all calmed down. Not cold at 8C.

Good pace to the Waterfront missing the footbridge heading straight onto Shaws Bridge. Missed out the Lagan Weir and continued onto the far side of Queens Bridge with a lot of panic braking at the workman’s fencing (again) . The sprint through Lagan Meadows for the off road fix was good on the way back though some caution was still required as there was still channels gouged out from heavy rainfall a few weeks ago. Martin’s headlight light decided to cut out/switch off on the steep decent back onto the towpath causing a frightening moment No-one wanted to draft him on the tow path after this in case it had been too scary
With so few numbers I couldn’t hide in the middle of the pack this week and was bullied into riding at the front on the way down, I think it was Martin’s idea – he’s a nasty one ;D
My prototype battery and light only lasted an hour so it was lights out on the way back for me. My front derailleur was messing about causing a few gear problems and then I blew up close to Coca Cola again – an eventful night
Great run out with 23miles on the clock.
PS Hope all goes well for the Roadies Trip next week Alan and I will meet as usual for the Tow Path Adventure at the Island centre @ 7pm, everyone else welcome

[manuel6b2]

Even though the clocks have changed and the "walkers" will have come out to wonder aimlessly on the tow path, I am going to go out for a spin anyway (there will be a lot of bell ringing ).

Any other takers, mtech, Alan, Ross, Trevor, Deek (now that the cast is off!)?

[scubasteve]

Good luck Marty, i went for a spin on monday night down the newry towpath, although it wasnt a great night weather wise ( was hoping the weather would put the walkers off) there was loads of walkers with their dogs and earphones in who cant here bells going. think u might have to buy an airhorn lol

[manuel6b2]

Well, that looks like the end of the season for the tow path gang. Only 1 out tonight. Fine, dry evening. With the clock changes I had the novelty of daylight on the way out. This did bring out the walkers but they were well behaved and I kept up a good pace. With the daylight I got to finally see the aftermath of the high winds we had during the winter with many trees in the river. There are those who complain about the damage bikes make to land but when mother nature gets her way....

I pulled into Belvoir, which I admit was the first time without following someone else. I started well, working out the routes we took in the dark but must have took a wrong turn because I ended up going around again and missing out a large chunk that we normally do. I went back to the less complicated tow path and continued at a good rate towards Belfast. I crossed the bridge near the Lagan Weir and headed back. Night was closing in and the tow path was free from nearly all human life. Going through Lagan Meadows I hardly seen anyone. It was lights on time up to Barnetts Demesne for the climb up to Malone House. Out past Mary Peter's track I was followed by 2 joggers who kept up with me through the BMX bumps and were right behind me as I didn't make it out of the dip at the end

The powers that be are doing more work along the path widening it just past the foot bridge (keep up the good work unnamed workers!)

Got back to the Civic Centre for 8:55 after another great night on the towpath. That brought my total up to 14 times (7 in 2007 and 7 in 2008). I have thoroughly enjoyed these. They really made winter cycling enjoyable and they are bound to have helped my fitness. Another race on Sunday (K-Capital) and then Thursday nights will be given over to the club calender, but I think I might just miss the nights on the tow path. Am I looking forward to the clocks rolling back again? Eeeemmm, perhaps not. I would be nice to ride in just the shorts and short sleeved jersey.