A shock to the system with a very wet 43km Club Spin at 9am with temperatures between 12 and 14°C – Spain 🇪🇸 is a distant memory already! 😭 At least it did give me a chance to road test my new Galibier Tourmalet 4 jacket – very impressed 👌
Unfortunately, tomorrow’s Club Sportive is a victim of the weather and has been postponed until September 14th. I should definitely be back to fitness after the holiday by that stage 🍻 💪🤣
📸 by Brian
I was going to start this blog update by saying I’ve neglected it quite a bit this year but to be honest I’ve found myself stepping away from all forms of social media and at the risk of sounding very pretentious, all forms of creativity. I’ve thought about blogging and YouTube quite a bit but the drive to put something in words or on film just hasn’t been there. I’ve also been less inclined to take and post photos this year which is a big change for me. The majority of photos that I have taken have stayed on my phone only.
Last year that would have worried me as over the last couple of years I’d been struggling mentally to get the motivation to get anything done. A large part of that was that I was desperately unhappy at work and that was affecting me mentally and bleeding into my daily life. The main symptom was an increasing lethargy and lack of drive to do anything.
Having changed jobs back in August last year I’ve now had a significant turnaround. 3 years of negativity will take some work to reverse completely but I’m definitely feeling much better than I did this time last year. I’m putting the lack of social media interaction down to the fact that I’m too busy enjoying the moment to be able to document it or even feel the need to.
One of the very first changes was a renewed interest in cycling. I hadn’t turned a pedal in over 12 months when I started back briefly in April 2024 with a spurt of 5 short rides over a 3 week period.
Self motivation was desperately lacking though and I stopped again until September following a good start to my new job. I had a few solo short spins again before reconnecting with the Club and joining the Saturday morning Stabiliser Group in mid-October for my first Club spin since February 2023!
Very quickly this became a regular Saturday fixture and I was hitting the 50km marker by the end of October having originally thought that it would be a good aim for the end of the year!
This year, despite a week here and there off the bike, I’ve made cycling a regular activity again and I’m enjoying it too. I’ve increased my distance to completing at least 100km most weeks and hitting the 100km marker at the really enjoyable Donegal Bay Sportive at Easter when a big group from the Club did various routes with many of the Stabiliser beginners completing 50km for the first time also.
For the May Bank Holiday there was an organised group spin from Ballybofey to Buncrana with the option to join depending on the distance you wanted to cycle. I joined in Raphoe for just shy of 90km.
The Club then rounded off the Summer with a fun day on Saturday last week. We bussed to Errigal and did a summit walk followed by dinner and drinks in Lettermacaward before returning to Ballybofey and more drinks before heading home at a very late (for me!) 1am. A great day of fun and laughter and a good physical challenge that was highly enjoyable.
In the last couple of years I’ve struggled to gel with the Club. It’s been mostly my own fault, being in a bad mindset and finding it difficult to connect with the other members, despite knowing some of them for a few years. Thankfully this year has been very different.
I’m not setting any massive records for the year but so far I’ve managed to clock up 2,650km for the year. It’s not a huge amount but considering 4-4,500km is average for me, that my biggest year was 8,000km and the combined total of 2022,2023 and 2024 was slightly over 2,400km I’m doing pretty well for 2025!
On Sunday the Club is running a Sportive again. There are two routes, 62km and 135km, and I’m planning for the longer route. I’ve been doing steady mileage over the last few weeks including two longer rides of 90km and 110km. I’m feeling in a good place for 135km but I’m currently in Spain for a very lazy family holiday and not sure how that will affect my fitness. We’re back home on Friday so I’ll take a short leg loosening spin on Saturday to see if that helps.
Increasing my distance like this and the subsequent increased fitness, has brought back a hunger for Audax. I’ve stayed in all the Audax Ireland WhatsApp groups so I haven’t really lost touch but it’s taken until now to really consider the daunting 200km distance once again.
The RRTY challenge (1 x 200km Audax event per month for 12 consecutive months) has had a new version launched for 2025 called RRTY 100. Basically it’s an introductory challenge for those looking to get into full-on Audax and consists of 1 x 100km Audax event per month for 12 months. I’m thinking of using that as a pathway back to Audax similar to how I used the Club Stabiliser Group to get me back cycling regularly. I’m not setting any great targets for next year but seeing as 2015 was my first ever Audax I’d quite like to get one done before the end of the year and I’m seriously considering giving the Four Provinces Challenge (see the link above) a go in 2026 as I did it previously in 2016.
To get the RRTY 100 completed I’m going to have to get at least one route published for Donegal. The nearest is currently in Sligo and the only one I’m currently aware of in development is a massive 1600m of climbing in 106km!
My last solo hillwalk was in The Sperrins at Banagher Glen in the last of the Winter snow on 11th January. I’d earmarked that route for a period of snow and just managed to time it right although I did have a mild panic at the car park, deep in the Glen, when I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get the car back back out in the compacted snow!
I haven’t given up on hillwalking though as I’ve been active with the Bluestack Ramblers Walking Club this year, completing 8 group walks from January to June with 3 in June alone. There were some great walks in there with Knockalla and the Aghlas definitely being my favourites.
I didn’t get out at all during July or August as the walks weren’t as interesting and I was busy with jobs around the house and cycling. As my cycling mileage increased my free time for hillwalking decreased and, if I’m being honest, I struggled to get enough fitness for cycling and hillwalking in the same weekend! However, I have two of interest in September that I’d like to do. They’re on the 7th and 14th which will hopefully allow me a chance to get an Audax 100 completed later in September to get the RRTY 100 started.
Another victim of cycling and the lack of solo hiking has been camping. Despite buying two new tents in the last 12 months my last wild camp was in April 2024 ! I simply haven’t had the time to give up two days for an overnighter and have had too many other things I wanted to do instead. I would like to get out and do something in the Bluestacks before the end of the year though, preferably in September or October. If nothing else I need to try out my new 2 person tent I bought specifically for Spring and Autumn camping! It was my Xmas present last year but I haven’t even managed to get it out of the box for a test pitch…
Of all my social media posting it’s YouTube that has taken the biggest hit this year. My last video release was in November last year. I did record my hike in Banagher Glen that I mentioned above, but somehow haven’t had the time or drive to get it edited and published. I’ve given it a go a couple of times and have it about 50% done so I probably will finish it eventually. However, I wasn’t really in a filming mood that day and it’s a bit disjointed. It could be a feeling that it’s not that great that’s as much to blame as lack of time for not getting it finished. I do enjoy filming and editing for YouTube though so I do see myself getting back to it, possibly with a return to solo hiking and camping but I’d like to start adding some cycling content also. That will involve some solo cycling as I don’t like to film with groups so might kick in if I start into Audax preparation…
This is already too long so I’ll add the rest in the next couple of days.
Part II can be found here…
In the parlance of any decent influencer I started my barefoot journey just over a year ago now. While my Plantar Fasciitis (PF) hasn’t gone away completely it definitely has improved. In the last couple of months I’ve gone full barefoot with all my shoes now in a zero drop, minimalist style with a proper vivobarefoot hiking boot being the latest addition.
While my feet haven’t yet developed the typical full-on toe spread associated with barefoot shoes they have definitely changed shape and are now considerably wider.
Starting back to cycling at the beginning of September it soon became very clear that my snug, narrow cycling shoes were now in serious need of replacement. It also became clear that wide cycling shoes aren’t that common which surprised me. Sidi seem to be the main brand specialising in wide fitting cycling shoes but they’re a lot more expensive than I wanted to be spending!
My first port of call was Amazon for a cheap option.
I quite liked these. They were comfortable and looked nice. However, the soft sole meant there was too much flex and I could feel the cleats through the sole. Not a problem for a beginner but anything over 40km and I could see these causing foot ache. The soles are set up for MTB or road cleats with permanently attached receivers for the MTB cleat screws. However, these are mobile when wearing road cleats meaning I could hear them rattling when peddling fast. Finally, I felt the quality of the upper was too cheap with a soft leather look PU material that would damage quite easily. I tried them for one ride but then sent them back. Amazon’s return policy being the main reason I was happy to give these a trial.
Option 2 was from Decathlon.
I liked these. The fit was pretty good and I liked the feel of the materials and the stiffness of the sole. The single boa fastener was easy to use and held the tension nicely but it was still a bit narrow in the toebox. For the cost I wanted something more comfortable.
The third and final pair I tried came to me even before I picked up the Decathlon shoes. I’d been trying to think of options and remembered that Paul had recently bought a pair of gravel/MTB shoes from Planet X. A quick browse of the site had two options. I was really drawn to the Carnac Prove but the tab at the front really put me off
Despite the price difference I decided the Carnac Baroudeur Carbon were a good punt.
I’ve been wearing these for a good few weeks now and have completed a number of 50K+ rides and I’m finding them very good. They’re not perfect and I don’t know how I’d get on with them on a long day but I’m happy with them. The Boa laces work well although they do seem to lose a tiny bit of tension after 40K. Not enough to cause issues but I haven’t been able to check if they do actually loosen as I’ve been wearing overshoes on each ride. I’m getting a couple of hot spots on both feet but I think that may be how I have the cleats set up rather than the shoes themselves combined with the long time I was off cycling. The sole is nice and stiff and they feel good so I think I’ve found the winners. If I ever get back to long distance Audax cycling then I might consider looking at Sidi again but for now these will do the job.
Starting my new job at the end of August came with an unexpected seven days of annual leave to use before the end of the year. Four of these are required for my first Xmas off since 2012 leaving three to be used elsewhere. I used one to make the Halloween Bank Holiday into a four-day weekend and used the other two this weekend to do the same.
My Friday off coincided with a friend Gary’s suggestion to attend a Mountaineering Ireland event in Dublin on Thursday evening to hear Demort Somers speak before being presented with the annual Lynam Award for his contribution to Irish Mountaineering. Dermot was part of the 1993 expedition which saw the first Irish person reach the summit of Everest. Although he spoke only a little about Everest he was very entertaining. I’m not a climber in any sense but it coincided nicely with a podcast I’ve been listening to in the last few weeks.
Gary and myself were very kindly hosted for the night by Miriam, another friend. She attended the event with us and our plan was to go for a day hike in the Wicklow Mountains on Friday. However, a low cloud forecast required a change of plans and we headed for the Dublin Mountains instead and visited a place I’ve been interested in visiting for a long time
Montpelier Hill (Irish: Cnoc Montpelier) is a 383-metre hill in County Dublin, Ireland.It is topped by the Hell Fire Club, the popular name given to the ruined building. This building – an occasional summer residence built in around 1725 by William Conolly – was originally called Mount Pelier and since its construction the hill has also gone by the same name.
Members of the Irish Hell Fire Club, which was active in the years 1735 to 1741, used Mount Pelier summer residence as a meeting place. Stories of wild behaviour and debauchery and occult practices and demonic manifestations have become part of the local lore over the years.
All of this was fuelled by possibly the best ever breakfast I’ve had, supplied by the East Village Coffee Shop in Clondalkin.
Close by the building at the summit there was a trig pillar which I dutifully tapped. Sadly it has been vandalised over the years with all the metalwork removed but the concrete pillar is still in decent shape.
Gary was a geocacher at one time and between the two of us we made a short diversion to grab a nearby cache that was close to the path, making for a trilogy of lists that got ticked off in one short visit.
Following a short diversion into a very picturesque Massey Estate we headed for Timbertrove which according to Miriam, has the best scones in Ireland. They are certainly among the biggest I’ve ever seen anyway!
One thing for sure, I didn’t go hungry on my mini trip to Dublin!
Saturday morning saw me joining the Club Stabiliser Group for the weekly ride. That’s six weeks out with this group now which is becoming a really good and very enjoyable routine again. Also my 5th ride over 50km which I didn’t expect to be coming close to this soon after starting cycling again at the beginning of September.
Sunday afternoon it was my turn to look after my Great Aunt Ruby while Mum and Dad had a few hours to themselves. I’ve spoken here about Ruby before but she is now the oldest living person in Ireland and it’s an honour to be able to spend time with her like this. Unsurprisingly, she is not the same lady at the end of the year that she was at the beginning but she still has moments to make me laugh.
Today I had planned to cycle in the morning but Winter has come rushing in late but with a wicked bite. Temperatures hovering just above freezing created a fog thick enough to make it unsafe that didn’t lift until well after noon. By that stage I was too lazy, was settled in with the heating on and a really good book (The Reckoning by Jane Casey) with a few episodes of Justified to break up the day.
There’s something in me that tends to see days like today as a waste but I managed to ease the “guilt” with a bit of housework in the afternoon. Going back to work tomorrow I may appreciate the rest better in the morning.
Four days definitely is a good long weekend but it has felt a good bit longer in a positive way.
My 3rd week out with the Club Stabiliser Group for beginners or anyone returning to cycling after a long break. Very pleased to get through the 50km marker already and to feel my cycling legs starting to come back 🚴
The one thing I love about this time of year is being able to see the sunrise and sunset in the same day. Sunrise was from the car on my way to work but sunrise was on the bike. I was treated to this beautiful view from Liscooley Bridge on my way home 😍
First time on the MTB in I don’t know how long! It’s so much harder than the road bike but I also picked a tough route with a lot of climbing! 🥵 🥵 🥵
Two weeks ago yesterday I started a new job! It’s my third new job in 5 years and a bit of a career change for me. Having spent approximately 22 years in a customer facing retail role I’ve switched to an on-the-road Sales Representative role*.
At the end of July things fell apart in my old job and I got laid off. It wasn’t totally unexpected but I was caught out by how quickly it happened and I ended up totally unprepared in terms of finding a new job. Thankfully the Irish job market is pretty good right now and I applied for a number of jobs within the first week. One of these was particularly interesting and I’d had a first stage interview when I got a call from a Rep that I’ve been friendly with for a good few years now. “S” was leaving his role to go into a family business and wanted to know if I’d be OK for him to recommend me as his replacement!
For the next week things happened very quickly, I had 3 interviews for his job and the other I’d already started the process for. I also had two other applications that contacted me expressing an interest in speaking to me. In the end I was offered both jobs but this one is the one I really wanted.
Repping is a job I’ve had an interest in for a good few years but it’s one of those roles where you need to be in the right place at the right time or have an inside track when a vacancy come up. This time everything aligned just right for me and I fit the company perfectly in terms of who they wanted. I still had to match them and prove myself in the interview process but having a personal recommendation from S, who is well respected and left on very good terms, was a huge help.
Everything moved so quickly partly as I’d made them aware of the other job application process and partly because S was leaving on the 4th of September. I started on 26th August which gave me a week and a half to shadow S, meeting some of the key accounts and getting an introduction to his region and processes and getting a good background to the full account list. Probably the best introduction I could have had!
Since Thursday I’ve had the training wheels off and I’ve been out visiting accounts on my own that I wasn’t able to get to with S. I’ve also been to Head Office for some training and induction and this will continue once a week for the next 3 or 4. It’s not the normal induction process but this way I get bitesize chunks that I’m able to deal with before I get more. All at once in one week would have been pretty overwhelming. The downside to starting so quickly is that things are a bit disorganised but the benefits definitely outweigh that and in the end it suits me. I’m also the kind of person that isn’t afraid to put my hand up and ask for help when I need it. So far I seem to have made a good impression with my customer accounts, my line manager and the sales office support staff. I just need to keep that going and improving. S was in the role for almost 9 years so I have big shoes to fill.
Some of the benefits of a Sales Rep job are the essential tools that come with the role. I have a good spec laptop and mobile phone, a good spec tablet is on the way and best of all, I have a company car. The photo above isn’t my car but it’s the same model. It’s a 2021 Volkswagen Passat R-Line and it’s way better than anything I could afford myself. I’m doing big miles each day (200-250miles/300-400km per day on average) and comfort is a big priority. This car is a very high spec and an absolute joy to drive. Fully automatic with adaptive cruise control, Android Auto and climate control makes those long drives so much easier. Switching to a mobile office has its challenges but I think I’m adapting well so far.
*I’m not going to name the company here but it’s an Irish brand that manufacture mattresses and beds and one that I know really well from furniture retail over the last 11 years or so. It’s a brand I really like and one I’m proud to now be a part of.
Although my previous job paid the bills quite comfortably I wasn’t really happy there. I was tempted away from the job before that for money and access to a company van which was great but the job satisfaction was definitely missing. The working environment wasn’t as stimulating or as challenging as the one I left and I really missed that. It was definitely grinding me down and negatively affecting me both mentally and physically. I’d lost a lot of interest in activities I’d previously enjoyed and my motivation for pretty much everything had been depleted.
My first week in this new job made a huge difference though. I won’t say I became a different person but my drive definitely came back considerably. The first weekend off I managed to get a number of jobs done around the house that I’d been putting off for far, far too long and this weekend past I actually went out for a bike ride for the first time since April and for the longest ride since April last year!
It was only 34km but mentally it was much bigger than that. I’m starting to shake off the mental negativity that was allowing me to put off activities and tasks, making it acceptable to find excuses to stay at home and stagnate. I have a good way to go yet but I’m pretty sure that this new work/life balance, belonging to a team once again and a sense of achievement will be the driving force to help me get there.
Over the last 12 months I’ve had a number of failures in terms of reaching goals I’ve set myself. Each time I’ve set myself a challenging target, worked hard for a period of time, had some kind of knockback and given up. This last few months I’ve given up on a number of things and it had become worrying to me that giving up and admitting failure was becoming too easy. Not that giving up is always bad but it was having a significantly negative effect on me mentally that I wasn’t happy about. My badly organised trip to the Mournes is a perfect example of that trend and the negative effect it had on me.
Then I had a lightbulb moment last week when listening to a podcast and coming across the 25% Rule for the first time….
The bigger our goal is the harder it is for our brain to get on board with doing it. So, the 25% rule is take anything that you want to accomplish, cut it in half and then cut it in half again. This should be your first goal at a minimum, you can even cut it in half again.
For example if I want to ride a 200km Audax event then my goal is not to ride 200km, not even to ride 100km but is to ride 50km. Once I have that done then I can set a new goal. My approach last year was to target a 600km Audax event! Any wonder I failed, any wonder I gave up in April, tanked my motivation and haven’t ridden a bike again until recently!
Last year was the culmination of a number of years of spiralling goal failures that totally destroyed my enjoyment of cycling. Each time I would set a big goal, run out of steam during the process, give up and leave myself totally demotivated. Eventually I would get myself remotivated and set a new goal. Learning nothing from my previous failure this would be an even bigger goal, I would “fail” even earlier and leave myself feeling even more shit than before, take a longer break from cycling and eventually I end up not cycling for almost a full year.
I’ve done this with multiple things, cycling and weight loss being the two most obvious and closely linked but I’ve done it again this year with hiking. Earlier this year I decided that I wanted to do some multi-day hiking. Two YouTube friends (Andrew and Ian) did two big adventures last year that were pretty inspiring. Andrew hiked a large section of the GR221 in Mallorca while Ian hiked The Fisherman’s Trail in Portugal.
Both trips inspired me to do some multi-day hiking myself. Some kind of divine intervention must have occurred as it did dawn on me that heading to a foreign country with little to no backpacking experience was probably not the best idea so I came up with a plan to do something similar in Ireland before committing to a foreign trip. I decided that The International Appalachian Trail was a good idea. I have walked some sections of this during other hikes, have wanted to walk more for a while now and it’s easy to access as it’s all within Ulster. I decided on a 3-Day trip (Dungiven to Castlerock) and a 5-Day trip (Portstewart to Waterfoot)
I scheduled the first trip for the end of March and the second for the end of May so the first one is already done. It was a bit of a disaster! My plan was 18km Day 1, 30km Day 2 and 14km Day 3 for a total of 62km. This was nuts! The only day that made sense was Day 3 and there was no way I was going to be able to walk 30km on Day 2 with a full camping setup especially after 18km on Day 1. I made a video of my experience that I’ll link to below but SPOILER ALERT – I gave up on Day 2!
Coming home from that trip I felt crap. I was pretty much for giving up on backpacking altogether and I was in a real funk for a week or two. Listening to that podcast though made me recognise the traps that I was falling into. I was in a mindset that only big, challenging goals were worth working towards yet not recognising the steps along the way that are needed to achieve these goals. I was doing exactly what the podcast guest described and predictably failing. As I said at the top this was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me.
What am I doing differently now? First of all I have totally revised my plans for the IAT in May. Instead of a 5-Day 95km trip I’m now planning a 3-Day 45km trip taking a much more achievable 15km per day average. Instead of walking from Portstewart to Waterfoot I’m only going to do the Moyle Way section from Ballycastle to Waterfoot. I’ve walked this distance in training and I know I can do it.
I’ve also got myself back on the bike! Nothing spectacular but I have a pretty low base that I’m re-starting from. Virtually all my cycling fitness has evaporated and it will take some time to get it back. Instead of setting myself big targets I’m being conservative. My first goal is just to get out regularly. I have a simple 20km loop close to home and my plan is to ride that twice a week (hopefully 3) until I get some kind of legs back again. If I can get myself built up to a 50km ride by the end of the summer then I’ll be very happy but I’m not putting myself under any pressure. It’s time to go back to where I started and maybe remember why I enjoyed cycling again!
I have had this idea in my head the last couple of years that I don’t have time to devote to cycling and hiking, that if I’m going to be really good at either one then I won’t be able to do the other. I’ve now realised that I don’t need to climb Everest or ride 600km in a weekend and that I can enjoy both by relaxing, enjoying the process and mixing them up as much as I can.
Now all I need is a decent Summer to get weather that will make it all more enjoyable…
Link: RTE.ie
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