Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
General => General Chat => Topic started by: 666_pack on May 19, 2011
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Ok! so me and MG1 had a pretty shitty time Mountain biking the brandy pad.
Firstly we made our merry up the Trassey and the pushed our bikes up the goat track to the right of the boulder Field up to the Hares Gap. Ahhh the hard part was over right? Nope! We then pushed them along the Brandy pad as 90% was impossible to ride. We started off form Meelmore lodge around 830 so it was dark and zero Vis when we reached the saddle at Donard/Commedagh (Which we nearly missed!). Once at the saddle we realised it was to dangerous to try and make our way down to Donard wood. We rigged up a bike bivvi (pics to follow) and had a few sups and got some kip.
We awoke to blue skies and made our way down the "Stairs" and onto the Glen river trail agin most of which was just to technical to ride on (we did give it a good go all the same). Some really good down hill sections after the ice house and into newcastle. We followed the Mourne/Newcastle way through Newcastle and Tollymore and back to Meelmore lodge.
Most of the route is def not suited to the novice mountain biker and we pushed the dam things most off the way.
I Hate Mountain Biking ::)
So this all got me thinking....We all know that hiking is a love/hate venture. We spend alot of time on this forum talking about the loves, But what about the hates!
What do you hate about the hills?
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When people don't realise how amazing they are!
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Oh It's not the hill's I have a problem with It's trying to lug a bloody bike through them ;D
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Fair play.
I wasn't meaning that directly to you, sorry if it came across like that. Meant it in more a way of all the city folk who wouldn't climb a hill to escape a tsunami. ;)
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;)
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i hate mountain bikes coming down the path i'm trying to walk up ;D
some great tracks in donard wood though
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We followed the Mourne/Newcastle way through Newcastle and Tollymore and back to Meelmore lodge.
Did you find any of the trails in Tollymore? Some cracking sections linking up bits of fireroad. Think there is also an "official" mountain bike section being built near the mountain centre. Not sure what the standard of it is like, but seems to be fairly fast flowing gravel singletrack. Always good for a blast :)
Still think the Mourne Way would be a good route for mountain biking, minus a few sections like Slievenamuck which would be a push to the summit. Blasting down through Rostrevor forest would definitely be fun though!
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Tollymore was cool! But not the brandy pad.
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Tollymore was cool! But not the brandy pad.
I'd say it would be more like riding a trials bike on the Pad! Remember a couple of fellas on trials bikes passed us on the Pad once, some amount of skill required to hop on the back wheel between those steps etc!
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Think there is also an "official" mountain bike section being built near the mountain centre.
if thats the one right beside the car park then its very tight and twisty, good for training but not quite a great blast downhill though, the bit i saw was fairly flat
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Think there is also an "official" mountain bike section being built near the mountain centre.
if thats the one right beside the car park then its very tight and twisty, good for training but not quite a great blast downhill though, the bit i saw was fairly flat
Does it head further into the forest? I just saw a section whilst I was following the Newcastle Way/Challenge Trial but didn't actually follow the mountain bike route itself. Now I come to think of it, I think we saw a section of it from the road when we took taxis over to the Trassey Track at Easter.
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hard to think of something at the moment, but, its mildly annoying when the dog wont settle and go to sleep, hence preventing me from getting my sleep, at the end of a long day, when all i want to do is to - go to sleep!
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Well I keep telling everyone about how much fun you can have in the hills for free.......meanwhile I keep buying gear!
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Sure buying gear is half the fun ;D
Another hate of mine is glass, especially in your camping zone >:( I remember having to clear a load away on the top of donard so I could pitch the tent safely.
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I'm interested in seeing the "Bike bivvy". Sounds like it was a tough night but I'd still have swapped my evening in front of the TV for your night in the hills!
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It was F***ing horrible. The Brandy pad was terrible for a bike. Bad route choice by myself!!
On a plus side the bike bivvy was cool. It was a rough night but we still had a bit of crack once we got the vino open.
We came across some of the downhill sections in Tollymore. They still had some markers about from last weeks down hill round. They looked scary i would not like to blast down them. Back to training round the lakes and Clare Glen for me, it'll be a long while before i'm in the mournes with a bike!!!
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Don't think it was necessarily a bad route choice, more a learning experience :) We saw scramblers doing the Brandy Pad so I'd have assumed it was suitable.
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I hate the walk up the Saddle!! Depresses me everytime!
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only thing i hate about the hills is not bein able to get up em!
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and comin down back to the real world when its time to go home!! ;D
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I can't work out how to get the pics up here's a link to flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/56563822@N05/sets/72157626769386512/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/56563822@N05/sets/72157626769386512/)
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Diggin the tarp setup!!
My work is doing the cycle to work scheme, so i can get a decent mountain bike v soon, but may have to get from halford...
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I got my bike in halfords. They have the new voodoo range in they look pretty tasty.
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchCmd?catalogId=10151&storeId=10001&categoryId=165499&langId=-1&action=listrefine&constraints=teq||Brand||VooDoo||sor||Price||1 (http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchCmd?catalogId=10151&storeId=10001&categoryId=165499&langId=-1&action=listrefine&constraints=teq||Brand||VooDoo||sor||Price||1)
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Look like decent bikes, though i know nowt about them!
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(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2804/5741892013_c3f57912dd_z.jpg)
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2311/5741880463_4763e61691_z.jpg)
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3315/5742432126_0e8a0cfcb5_z.jpg)
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2667/5741878993_cb5bf03cf1_z.jpg)
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2545/5741882525_671cb3ea11_z.jpg)
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5309/5741877049_b690399a73_z.jpg)
;)
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What type of bike you guys using , I used to have a kona many moons ago .
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i used a claude butler yoke (borrowed for the day) not sure about mg1.
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Mines a x rated jump bike from Halfords nothing fancy. But it does the job. I had a claude butler for years only retired it last year. I've also a Giant boulder thats almost finished.
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Mine only seen the top of Donard once and it retired me , could not cope with it as I busted my ankle about 7 months before and I thought I could handle it , I had tears rolling down my cheeks in pain . From then on I stuck to parks (wuss) hats off for the route yous guys done , your either hardcore or mental I think the latter ;D
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:D
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My work is doing the cycle to work scheme, so i can get a decent mountain bike v soon, but may have to get from halford...
Halfords sell the Boardman range of bikes (http://www.boardmanbikes.com/), which are actually pretty darned good. As far as I know only the main Halfords branches stock them, so you'd probably have to go to the likes of Boucher Road store. Most of them have well specced parts for reasonable prices and are well up to the job. Unfortunately I've been trying to get my work to join the Cycle to Work scheme for the last few years with no success, just go round in circles. I believe there have been recent changes made to the scheme by the government though which make it much less appealing :( Truth be told my mountain bike hasn't budged from the shed in about a year now, but I'm considering getting a touring bike so I can do a bit of cycle touring instead. Couple of panniers and a tent sounds like fun :)
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My wife informed me today through her cycle to work scheme she gets 50% off I'm well impressed with that and she can use halfords or the bike dock , my work took 14 months to buy us a kettle , think a few more nights overtime are needed so I can some new wheels and a shiny bell
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we have a cycle to work scheme but you are supposed to cycle in at least 50% of the time to use it, considering i live 45 miles from work it would be a bit hard to justify that one :-[
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thanks for the info guys, much appreciated..... I'll check out the boardmans.... also . a touring bike, i never thought of getting a specific design for that, I was just planning on using a mountain bike for that (or perhaps a hybrid)..... I'm not sure i'd be cutout for dangerous trails - I'm too accident prone....
I've heard people say about their employers require the bike to be used a certain amount of time.... but its very hard for them to monitor that ... I think some of the bigger employers say it, but I'm not sure it would be legal to enforce it.
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but then again, i want to get into 'adventure racing' so i'll need a mountain bike....
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but then again, i want to get into 'adventure racing' so i'll need a mountain bike....
Hardtail mountain bike it is then :)
we have a cycle to work scheme but you are supposed to cycle in at least 50% of the time to use it
I've never heard of any employer actually enforcing that. A friend of mine bought a full suspension mountain bike through Cycle to Work and his commute was Bangor to Kilkeel! Needless to say the bike didn't do too much commuting! As far as I can gather the real saving comes from the tax break, so it doesn't really cost the employer and in return they get happier, healthier employees :) One of the controversial issues with the government Cycle to Work scheme is that they were talking about changing the final value fee. It used to be you paid a nominal amount at the end of the scheme to buy and own the bike, but from what I've heard they changed the rules on this and now you have to pay a more significant amount to keep the bike. I'd double check this before signing up to any Cycle to Work scheme at the moment, as you could end up having to pay more than the bike is worth to keep it, or hand it back.
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I always have had a suspicion that the price paid on the schemes would be closer to the RRP than you may be able to get on the high street. Never looked much into it though. I think one scheme I saw was with Chain Reaction Cycles and only certain bikes were eligible for the scheme which may have been a more expensive bike than some people may otherwise have gone for. Whenever there is any sort of tax break there can often be someone in the middle doing alright out of it.
I bow to others experience if they have used the scheme and found it different to that.
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I just got my 4th bike on the cycle to work scheme.
It's worth it.
I've had bikes from Bikedock, Chain Reaction and McConveys, and they're all really accomodating and none of them stick the arm in just because it's cycle to work scheme. It make no difference to them. they still get paid. Your savings are on VAT and Income tax.
This year the savings aren't quite as good because the government have finally realised that a bike doesn't lose 97% of its value in the first year. but overall you're still saving something like 40% of the cost of the bike... and accessories.
Accessories like backpacks, camelbacks, gloves, headtorches, waterproof trousers, merino wool baselayers, softshell jackets, waterproof jackets, and GPS. All vitally important for your winter commute, but if cycling's not your only outdoor activity you might also find other uses for them too. ::)
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I was reliably informed from a source close to hub of things that it wasn't necessary that you cycle all the way to/from work. You could quite legitimately park your car half way or use other public transport some of the way. That put's a different handle on things. You wouldn't want to be saddled with a telling off from your boss! Give us a brake.
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We have the scheme in work and in no way have they asked to see the bike or to see you using it. As long as the money is taken out monthly they don't care.
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Ah yes, I usually just cycle to the train station.
and i've never been asked to provide evidence that I use the bike.
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Would be quite funny if they did. You'd have to provide a photo of you, on the bike holding a copy of that days paper in a variety of locations between home and work. Or the HR Manager would have to jog along behind you!
Ah yes, I usually just cycle to the train station.
and i've never been asked to provide evidence that I use the bike.
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Would be quite funny if they did. You'd have to provide a photo of you, on the bike holding a copy of that days paper in a variety of locations between home and work. Or the HR Manager would have to jog along behind you!
Now that would be funny..