Back at the start of the year I decided I’d give Audax a real go this year on the back of my success with the RRTY 100 Challenge at that stage. I identified 4 reasonably flat and therefore easy(!) routes that would have the additional advantage of qualifying me for the 4 Provinces Challenge for the second time and almost 10 years since the first time.

The first event is on March 21st and back in January 11 weeks seemed like a substantial period of time to train and get ready but somehow that has evaporated and due to back issues and weather I haven’t completed the rides I was hoping to.

Last week the event was opened for registration and I realised that I needed to…

In the Audax WhatsApp group it was announced that the event would probably be limited to 50 members. This helped coalesce my feelings and I registered that night confident that €5.50 wasn’t a big loss if I wasn’t able to get fit enough in time.

With now only 5 weeks to get ready I was understandably a bit nervous hitting that button but I’ve had a decent week. I’ve managed to retain a good amount of cycling fitness over Winter so I’m far from starting from scratch. I just need to keep the consistency and get in a few long training rides.

I also decided to join the local gym again. I do zero weight or strength training and I’m pretty sure that was a significant contributory factor to my back issues after the Festive 500. I’m not really a weights person so I’ve opted for rowing to help improve my upper body strength and help improve my core without smoking my legs. So far this last week I’ve been three evenings, rowing just over 5km in 25 minutes each time with a warm up and cool down to keep me from injuring myself.

I can definitely feel the three days and especially as I’ve also been on the bike three days this week for a total of 207km. I do feel it’s helping me though and I’ve found a progressive training program to help keep me focused. The trick will be maintaining progress without leaving me too tired for cycling.

On Wednesday afternoon it looked like I was finishing work in good time and with a bright evening it looked like sunset would be well after 6pm. The plan was to get home, change and get out shortly after 5.30pm for a 40km spin and finally get some mid-week daylight cycling. In the end up I was slightly delayed by two work calls I had to take, a certain amount of faffing about and then a disaster with a contact lens that ripped in my eye. I lost 20min trying to get the smaller piece out from behind my upper eyelid leaving me leaving at 6.15pm with less than 10min of twilight. Despite a bitterly cold wind it was still good to get out on the road bike even if it was mostly in the dark.

Yesterday was the usual Stabiliser Group with a nice steady 40km and a tea stop in Raphoe. A very sociable ride and just the right pace to set me up for today’s spin…

Today’s plan was a big distance spin. The weather was looking challenging with 25-30km winds in the morning and rain in the afternoon with worsening winds. However, with 4 weeks to go now I knew I needed a longer spin today, followed by a a longer one again in 2 weeks, to get me sorted for Ballinasloe on March 21st. I also figured that a Donegal 125km spin with tough weather and 1200m of climbing might actually be harder than 200km with 1000m of climbing in the Midlands.

Time will tell about that theory but today was definitely tough. We had a strong headwind for most of the first half before we turned North for Ardara just outside Killybegs at just over 60km. We also managed to get this far without any rain. In fact I was too warm and sweating inside my waterproof jacket.

A lunch stop in Ardara at 75km and we were heading West with what felt a good tailwind. I can’t remember if the rain started before or after Glenties but when it came, it came hard. I was very glad I had the protection of the jacket for most of the next hour. Even so my gloves were soon wet through and my shoes and covers weren’t able to cope with the volume of spray off the road. Getting to Fintown my fingers and toes were in miserable shape and mostly numb.

Not long after Fintown the rain gradually stopped and the sun even came out for our last 10-15km into Ballybofey. Getting changed back at the car was a lot better without rain dripping down my neck!

Despite the earlier headwind and later rain we made very good time in the second half with the wind on our back. It took a lot of planning to get a route that would make the most of the day but it worked out well.

The plan now is to maintain the rowing 3 evenings per week (although tomorrow’s may be a bit slower than last week!) with one mid-week ride and two weekend rides. Next weekend I’ll keep it easier with a 40km and 60km spin but the following weekend I need to get in a decent 160km. That will give me 2 weeks then to taper and recover for March 21st and the 200km event. I’ll wait until next week to start looking at routes as it will depend on the weather again and especially the wind conditions.

With my increasing mileage I’ve been getting a real taste for long distance cycling again. 200km Audax still seems like a big stretch in terms of fitness but I came across the RRTY 100 Challenge recently that was introduced by Audax Ireland this year.

A standard RRTY (Randonneur Round The Year) involves completing a 200km Audax Ireland approved route each month for 12 months in a row. This year they have started adding 100km routes as a taster and introduction to Audax. In tandem they have created the RRTY 100 for the shorter distance ie ride a 100km Audax Ireland approved route 12 months in a row.

Checking out the Audax Ireland site it quickly became clear that the closest route was in Sligo! A discussion on the Audax WhatsApp group turned up a more local 106km route that is in the planning stages but it has a mental 1600m of climbing and I’m not sure I’m ready for that!

It was clear I was going to have to come up with at least one route of my own. I have a few 100km+ routes I’ve done in the past but one in particular that I’ve been thinking about for a while.

It was originally developed by one of the guys in the Club as a charity event a few years ago. Our Club is the Finn Wheelers and we live in the Finn Valley area which is named after the river Finn. The Finn is 64km long and rises from Lough Finn, close to Fintown (are you getting the theme yet!). It flows East to Lifford where it joins with the Mourne coming out of Tyrone to form the Foyle which flows to Derry and out to sea at Lough Foyle.

The aim of the route is to cycle the length of the river on both sides crossing only at the two end points. As a play on the well known Lap The Lough event in Northern Ireland we named it Lap The Finn.

As its been 5 years since the original event I arranged to ride the route as an organiser ride recce and get credit from Audax Ireland for having done it even though it hadn’t been published as an official route just yet. I’d no idea what condition the roads would be in and didn’t want to have to change the route post publication.

I was hoping for company but ended up doing it solo on a blustery Sunday, just one week after the DNF at the Club Sportive. It was a cool enough day with blustery showers but I’d learned my lesson from the week before and was kitted out in my winter tights, long finger gloves, rear mudguard and overshoes.

It turned out to be a challenging but enjoyable ride and apart from one section, descending from Lough Muck to Fintown, was pretty good surfaces the whole way. There’s a fantastic variety of scenery with the section above Ballybofey getting up into the edge of the Bluestacks and quite remote.

Photos from the day make it look like I had sunshine the whole time!

“Muc” is Irish for pig and I particularly like this sculpture looking down over “Loch Muc”

It felt really good to get this ride done and it was huge boost to my confidence that had taken a bit of hammering after the previous weekend.

That evening Grainne (one of my clubmates and fairly regular cycling companion) contacted me about the route. She’s completed the Cycle Against Suicide Mizen to Malin ride a couple of weeks ago and thinks the RRTY 100 would be a good challenge to keep her on the bike. I wanted another long spin for the weekend so we arranged to ride it on the Sunday.

So glad we did as it was about as perfect a cycling day as could be hoped for. It was chilly, but not cold, sunny and dry for the whole day and barely a breath of wind. It was already an enjoyable route but it’s always better to have company.

Since then the route has been officially posted on the Audax Ireland website. A bunch of others have also gone live and we’re hoping to ride one of them this weekend…