Ireland 5/21/2013

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Today’s ride seemed intimidating: over 4,000 feet of climbing and headwinds of 17 miles per hour.  Not a good combination.  So we left on a cloudy and windy morning.  Not too far down the road I noticed the wind had more or less disappeared.  And so it was all day.  Apparently the weather forecast was very local; there weren’t many winds to the north.  But the hills were a different story.  We experienced 3 or 4 hills that were extremely steep – over 15% grade.  We really struggled on these. More later.

 

We had cappuccino and a scone in Tinahely.  The owners of the restaurant, an Indian couple, had owned it for one week.  They were justifiably proud of it.   Then we stopped in Aughrim, supposedly one of the prettiest towns in Ireland. See below; I wasn’t very impressed.

 

 

 

 

We had lunch in Rathdrum.  I show this picture of Brenda by the pub to demonstrate that the sun was shining.  We actually saw the sun most of the day.  And the roads on the last half of the ride were spectacular – mostly smooth pavement, gently rolling and mostly tree-lined.  So why no photo of these wonderful lanes?  Because when you’re enjoying the ride you don’t want to stop for anything; not even a blog photo.  That’s why I gave up photography in 1990, soon after the first tandem.  I found photography and cycling to be incompatible.

So we didn’t have the wind; what about the 4,000 feet (1193 meters) of climbing?  Our Garmin only recorded 916 meters.  All I know for sure is that there were big hills were early on today; all else was great.

WHO’S RIDING? Like John and Brenda, Henry Livingston retired (as International Controller) from ExxonMobil.  Debbie couldn’t handle a retired Henry so he worked another 5 years for Perot systems. Debbie retired from the ER Department of the International Risk Management Institute, a publisher.  Ten days after returning from Ireland, Henry and Debbie will be on a BAC tour of the Erie Canal and Finger Lakes region.  In September they will return to New York for a BAC ride in NYC and the Lower Hudson River Valley.  Henry found this wayside rest station on the way to Bunclody.