Five weeks and four Sundays until Lap The Lough, and I’ve been off the bike for a while. I need to get some miles in!
An early start was not compatible with the previous evening’s staying up to the wee hours to watch (on Sky+) the Tour de France riders climb Mont Ventoux, so it was into the early afternoon before I was on the road. I’d no specific route planned, so I headed in roughly a Comber direction along the Newtownabbey Way and Sustrans NCN 9 cycle path following the shoreline of Belfast Lough.
Weather conditions were middling; it was dry and quite warm, but there was a strong, blustery headwind making progress difficult.
I arrived in east Belfast and stopped at my parents’ house for a water refill before linking up with the Comber Greenway, which I duly followed to the end in Comber. After a quick second pit stop in the town itself, I headed out into the country towards Castle Espie along the Ballydrain Road and Sustrans NCN 99.
Sustrans Route NCN 99
I’d been down this route a few weeks ago, but this time instead of turning for Whiterock I took the other fork in the road for Mahee Island along the Ringneill Road. This was surprisingly hilly for an essentially coastal route, and the wind speed stepped up too just to make things interesting.
Mahee Castle
After a few windy miles and a spot of ogling of the private islands (really) in the area, I came to the ruins of Mahee Castle, also known as Nendrum Castle. This castle was built in 1570 and stands guard on Mahee Island itself at the end of a short causeway. The causeway dates from the 19th century and, before its construction, the only means of access to the island would have been by crossing the water. I took the opportunity to take a few snaps and have a short refuelling and rest stop before setting off back the way I came along the Ringneill Road.
On the A22
Once back at the crossroads on Ballydrain Road, I turned for the Lisbane along Quarry Road, completing a reasonable climb into the village. I then headed right along the main A22 Killinchy Road to return to Comber. This is a straight, fast road that was fun to ride despite the short rain shower that showed up at this point. Once back in Comber I retraced my earlier route along the Comber Greenway all the way back into east Belfast, and from there into the city centre.
Flags Flying in Comber
Here, I can only assume that some kind of temporary madness overtook me. Instead of following my usual route home along the A6 Antrim Road or the NCN 9 cycle path, I decided that I hadn’t had enough of a challenge today and took a detour along the Shankill Road towards Cave Hill. It’d been a long time since I’d followed this route, the last time was probably 15 years ago when I was in the mountain bike club at university, and it was a lot longer and steeper than I seem to remember! Following the Shankill and then Crumlin Roads, I made the climb up towards the famous “horseshoe bend” before making a final turn on to the B95 Upper Hightown Road.
I’d been pushing quite a good pace (for me) on the ride and the 50 miles up until now were really starting to tell in my legs. This is ideally not how you wish to arrive at the bottom of a road that, at it’s steepest, rates a knee-breaking 11% gradient. Gritting my teeth, I willed – mainly by way of whole new classes of swear words / noises – my by-now knackered legs to keep turning those cranks and get me to the top. The situation was not helped by the onset of the trapped nerve style pain I’ve been experiencing, nor by the heavens opening in a torrential downpour. When the road finally flattened out, I felt like doing a Tour-de-France style winner’s celebration, but, now thoroughly exhausted and soaked through, I lacked the energy to do much more than fall down the not-quite-11% other side of the summit at an impressive 41mph and follow the hill down to home.
Unbelievably, the rain actually got more intense along the way. I swear I was less wet in the (well deserved) bath afterwards than during this final stretch!
Sunday Ride 2009/07/26 - Route
Sunday Ride 2009/07/26 - Elevation
There is an interactive map of this ride available on BikeHike. You can view more photos from this and other rides on my Bike Trips Flickr Set.
Sunday Ride 2009/07/26 - Statistics
55.5 miles on the clock at an average speed of 14.3 mph, with a maximum of 41 mph attained hurtling down the back side of the Upper Hightown Road. The average speed may seem a little low, but I blame the final climb up the Shankill Road and the crawl up the Upper Hightown Road though as I’d been maintaining around a 15.5mph average for most of the route. I was exhausted at the end, so I think I’d had a decent training session in any case!
45 miles last week, 55 miles this week. In training I’m aiming to reach 70% of the 140Km distance of Lap The Lough, which works out at around 60 miles so I’m almost there. I’ll be happy if I can get in a few 60 miles rides between now and the end of August.
