Santa 2019

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In which …

  • Teresa gets onto the naughty list and will definitely be getting coal ( or stabilisers) for Christmas for suggesting that COC might be better on an E-Bike ……the very thought .
  • Leona tries ( and fails) to fly but does a good superwoman impression.
  • Robbie is welcomed back after a long absence , full of his usual banter and witty repartee ( slaggin)
  • Tim fails to convince his children that MTB is better than TV
  • Cormac pays a flying visit as “black” santa
  • Eamon leaves early to “fix a toilet seat” , possibly the weakest excuse I’ve ever heard.
  • Herself raises the stakes in racy Mrs Claus outfits.
  • Kenny didn’t complain at all , or was my hearing aid off?
  • Scullion made a lte appearance having been struck down by a bug MUCH worse than everyone else.
  • Our entire xmas supply of mince pies and christmas cake is GONE!
  • There may be a connection between the last two items

Happy Christmas to all , some calendars still left .

Usual Spin next Saturday 28/12/19

  • Departure for “sunrise spin” 7.45 am from glen gates 1/1/20

 

Perfect Day

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After the exertions of the Gravel Grinder and the Slaughter it was nice to take the pace back a bit and visit somewhere other than Slieve Martin . Brian was suitably late as usual , Doc Lewis and Peter were straining at the leash as usual , Herself and the COC remained restrained at the rear of affairs as usual .

Burma , Sallys , to post where the sun appeared to brighten our day but too late to dry the mountain which was mostly a mud bath . Visited Knockshee where we paused to gaze at a large buzzard circling effortlessly overhead , the antithesis of our efforts! Drooped down past the bath and without Rowan to get us lost found the gully . The river was in high spirits and we were entertained as Brian demonstrated various yoga poses during his crossing. Up towards fallow corner with no sightings of the long lost Garmin unfortunately. Home from here for all but the youngsters who headed over Slieve Meel.
As Christmas approaches ,the calendar is nearly ready and the Spectre of Cairnuary looms in the middle distance.All we need is a nice bit of snow.

COC

Slip Slidin away with Slaughter 2019

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Slaughter 2019 …does what it says on the tin! Started with 15 ( and a dog) and finished with 6 , what a war of attrition . In fairness the first two laps were pretty grim with rain , and mist .Leona quit to rest for race tomorrow , Eamon punctured and needed a new tyre. Then a torrential downpour before we started the third lap put paid to Liz , Dan and a few more.

Kenny and I were swinging off the back by the end while Peter danced up again on his shiny new Giant . Big kudos to Chris who cleaned the switchbacks on the last lap , although Mr Power might disagree. He did however also provide the most entertainment on the gully ( see photos)

The weather for the last two laps was actually very pleasant with restoration of views etc , although the mountain was like an ice rink and I had several falls .

Another year another slaughter …it takes a year to forget how hard it is .

Give me a G …..

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For Ghastly , Gully and Garmin!

An octet of NTSR’s left the glen this morning in reasonable conditions . PS, Doc ,100% ,Herself , Scullion , Peter , COC and John (SCO). Burma , Sallys and turning right at the post for Knockshee where I demonstrated a perfect over the handlebar dismount, much to Brians amusement . No view on the top of Knockshee with thick mist . The plan was then to head for the Gully which would take us across the river and follow the river bank to Fallow . However Rowan headed for the correct gully and Doc headed for the other one ( on the mast to fallow corner route) . Very soon Rowan was lost in the mist and by the time we located his homing beacon we were too far to drop down to the river . So we broke a new trail to Fallow corner which was I must say quite pleasant and the mist even lifted momentarily .

From Fallow corner we headed to Slievemeel and across the trenches again to Red Bog . The plan now was to do reverse castle bog which involved a fair bit of hike a bike in driving rain . Just as we arrived at the wall for the descent HERSELF declared she had lost her garmin , bloody marvellous! So we retraced our tracks all the way back to Slievemeel but no sign was found . At least Santa will know what to get her for Xmas!

By the time we got home we were mud monsters , I hope weather better for next weeks Gravel Grinder as Rowan has us all up to high doh about how hard it is !

Oh and a note to the absent Mr Power … we failed again on the elevation with sub 1000 🙁

A Royal Visit

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With Doc L off doing his first ( 300k) audax ride anything we did was going to be tame in comparison . However our chief elevationist returned from Deutschland to keep us honest . Peter ,having sustained rib fractures in his attempt to take out Kenny last weekend  might have been expected to slow down a little but no , add McMahon into the mix and you know that its going to be a day of two groups. PS, herself , Scullion and COC took up the rear position for a climb to fallow corner , slieve meel , trenches , red bog and back down to Batts . Castle bog climb and home by ulster way . Managed to dodge the rain .

Cormac and Peter stayed out to make sure they got 1000m no doubt , we settled for 790m