Sunday Djouce 9/10/08 9.00am

Djouce to Ballinastoe, all welcome, reasonable fitness required but not a savage spin. Bring suitable clothing should it get nasty on the way over Djouce. Leaving the lower carpark 9am sharp.

Compared to last Sunday - harder, easier or about the same?

Easier i'd say...more relaxed. prettier, much better behaved..Byrners *******s will be elsewhere

Easier, but not so easy that we go all soft and cuddly. And when it points downhill it will be action Jackson.

Great - I'll be along!

Weather looks grim, so we may just play in Djouce, bring flippers.

What a day ....... at one stage we were struggling up from Djouce to Ballinastoe straight into a fully fledged snow storm - I'm not kidding ....there were 2 inches of snow on the ground!! Very glad to see the Coillte trails of Ballinastoe! Many thanks to Don and Cathal for the encouragement - really felt good .......when we got back to the cars!!!

yeah but what an adventure..

What a day indeed, all started well, myself, Cathal, Clive, Richard, Sean and set out in fine weather, Clive left us to do some sneaky training. Down to the river and up Foxglove, up the red road, the weather had picked up a bit, blowing in from Ballinastoe but we had a good group so though, feck it, lets give it a lash. Within minutes the snow storm hit us, and got harder and colder the more we climbed. That stint is a grind at the best of times, but today it was just mental and seemed to go on forever. My feet were numb, I could barely use my shifter my fingers were so cold, and it just kept blowing a near white out. If you looked up the snow flakes would lacerate your eyeballs. Hugely impressed by the lads who just kept at it, and Sean with no leggings. It was savage, and now I understand that thing of walking past dying climbers on Everest, all I could think of "Get me off this freaking mountain". Finally we made it to the boardwalk, covered in snow and descended as fast as we could into the tropical (by comparison) conditions of Ballinastoe. I was in a bit of a state, I had forgotten to drink on the way over, and my brain was dehydrated and frozen, a bit like Astronaut food. We blasted around the Coilte track, Cathal flying after all those night spins and then road spun back to Djouce via Exctacy, by which time I had just regained feeling in my feet. 26km all in apparently. Once again, well done to the guys, who despite being in state of disbelief as to where we had brought them, did not mutiny and bury myself and Cathal under a pile of snow. A spin to remember.

hello....i thought you went the lower route..you went up to the shoulder of Djouce..you legend..
Wow..respect !!

Respect to the lads indeed. Al, where were you? I wanted to show you my new Bulldog.

I wussed out and decided leaving work on sat that beer that evening and a lie in on sunday was going to be a more enjoyable experience than a cold wet and windy mountain side. Sounds like i missed a good one

I don't want to clipe up the thread but you were right, a big improvement over the Ignitors in the slippery stuff.

cool you can use your admin privs to remove any of this converstaion and the masses will be none the wiser

Sounds like a pretty cool spin apart from the foxglove climb - what were you thinking there man?

Djouce to Ballinastoe, all welcome, reasonable fitness required but not a savage spin. Bring suitable clothing should it get nasty on the way over Djouce. Leaving the lower carpark 9am sharp.

Compared to last Sunday - harder, easier or about the same?

Easier i'd say...more relaxed. prettier, much better behaved..Byrners *******s will be elsewhere

Easier, but not so easy that we go all soft and cuddly. And when it points downhill it will be action Jackson.

Great - I'll be along!

Weather looks grim, so we may just play in Djouce, bring flippers.

What a day ....... at one stage we were struggling up from Djouce to Ballinastoe straight into a fully fledged snow storm - I'm not kidding ....there were 2 inches of snow on the ground!! Very glad to see the Coillte trails of Ballinastoe! Many thanks to Don and Cathal for the encouragement - really felt good .......when we got back to the cars!!!

yeah but what an adventure..

What a day indeed, all started well, myself, Cathal, Clive, Richard, Sean and set out in fine weather, Clive left us to do some sneaky training. Down to the river and up Foxglove, up the red road, the weather had picked up a bit, blowing in from Ballinastoe but we had a good group so though, feck it, lets give it a lash. Within minutes the snow storm hit us, and got harder and colder the more we climbed. That stint is a grind at the best of times, but today it was just mental and seemed to go on forever. My feet were numb, I could barely use my shifter my fingers were so cold, and it just kept blowing a near white out. If you looked up the snow flakes would lacerate your eyeballs. Hugely impressed by the lads who just kept at it, and Sean with no leggings. It was savage, and now I understand that thing of walking past dying climbers on Everest, all I could think of "Get me off this freaking mountain". Finally we made it to the boardwalk, covered in snow and descended as fast as we could into the tropical (by comparison) conditions of Ballinastoe. I was in a bit of a state, I had forgotten to drink on the way over, and my brain was dehydrated and frozen, a bit like Astronaut food. We blasted around the Coilte track, Cathal flying after all those night spins and then road spun back to Djouce via Exctacy, by which time I had just regained feeling in my feet. 26km all in apparently. Once again, well done to the guys, who despite being in state of disbelief as to where we had brought them, did not mutiny and bury myself and Cathal under a pile of snow. A spin to remember.

hello....i thought you went the lower route..you went up to the shoulder of Djouce..you legend..
Wow..respect !!

Respect to the lads indeed. Al, where were you? I wanted to show you my new Bulldog.

I wussed out and decided leaving work on sat that beer that evening and a lie in on sunday was going to be a more enjoyable experience than a cold wet and windy mountain side. Sounds like i missed a good one

I don't want to clipe up the thread but you were right, a big improvement over the Ignitors in the slippery stuff.

cool you can use your admin privs to remove any of this converstaion and the masses will be none the wiser

Sounds like a pretty cool spin apart from the foxglove climb - what were you thinking there man?