February 1st is traditionally known in the Celtic calendar as Imbolc and the first day of Spring. In the Christian calendar it is also St. Brigid’s Day. For the last few years it’s also been a Bank Holiday and therefore a long weekend.

Over the last few days there has been a definite feeling of Spring on its way. Despite a stormy start to the week with Storm Chandra the weekend turned out quite mild and settled, perfect weather for cycling, with the right clothes….

Saturday morning I was out with the Club Stabiliser Group for a relaxed 40km to Raphoe. I really enjoy this group as it’s a real mixture of abilities with a focus on everyone enjoying themselves and a halfway social coffee stop. I usually make this a longer ride but with plans for a full weekend I met everyone in the Crossroads to keep it around the 45km marker.

In total there were 10 riders out with 3 shiny new bikes on display 🤩

Grainne and myself had targeted Sunday as our Audax RRTY 100 route for February. Despite my talk of Spring, February can still be unpredictable and with a shorter month we didn’t want to leave it too much in the hands of fate. We put it up as a Club Spin and ended up with 6 of us altogether. It’s the 4th month Grainne and myself have used this route but the first time we rode it together and it was good to have the additional company. That’s 6 months done now and halfway through RRTY.

It was a really good spin but I took a nasty fall at 21km on the Greenway heading towards Lifford. We met a group of runners and as I moved to the right to let them by, my rear wheel slid and I hit the ground. It happened that quick I was down before I knew what was happening so my left hip and shoulder took the brunt of it. I skinned my knee, knuckles and elbow and tore my leggings, shoe covers, gloves and my good jacket but thankfully didn’t break anything. The only damage to the bike is a twisted left hood that should be easily moved back. I hit my head a decent thump but my helmet did it’s job and a bit of a headache was the limit of my head injury. I’m just glad I didn’t have time to react and put my hand out to save myself as a broken wrist, arm or collar bone would have made driving and therfore work a bit of a problem. I was a bit shook, bruised and battered but still able to get back in the saddle and finish the ride. Many others come off far worse and for my first road crash I got away lucky.

As a Club we’ve been complaining about the lack of maintenance and the condition of the Greenway. This is a disgrace and Donegal County Council should be ashamed 😡

A bath yesterday evening and plenty of ibuprofen meant that although I was a bit stiff and swollen I was back on the bike this morning. Even yesterday I was of the opinion that movement that wasn’t causing pain was probably better recovery than sitting at the house getting stiffer.

Today’s ride was a good bit more sensible and prefect recovery after yesterday’s distance. We went to Clady and back again. I cycled up this morning so left the group after the tea break which was close to home for me. Finding a tea stop was the biggest challenge today with so many places closed for the Bank Holiday.

I finished the long weekend with 200.62km which I’m delighted about. It’s now just under 7 weeks until my first targeted Audax 200km event and it’s given me a good confidence boost that it’s achievable. I just need to keep the rubber side down…