20th June 2015, Aisling and Karen Take to The Tracks for 50km+ Roundtrip!

Sunny Saturday Cycles 

Aisling Writes:

Today I cycled from Ballintemple to Crosshaven with my friend Karen.

Aisling  and Karen on the Old Railway line to Crosshaven

We had only intended to cycle to Monkstown but it was just such a beautiful day, we continued onto Crosshaven.

Aisling's Scenic Coastal Route from Ballintemple to Monkstown

We stopped off in the Bosun restaurant in Monkstown for some food and water. And of course we had to have a 99-ice cream when we got to Crosshaven!

Karen would be a much more experienced cyclist than myself so she was giving good tips along the journey . 

The Bosun Bar/Restaurant "famous for its fine food" as depicted on: http://monkstown.org/- A website where there is a diverting extract describing the town taken from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837

Editor's Footnote:

The old cork Railway line has been converted into a walk/cycle route from Centre park Road to Rochestown, Rochestown to Monkstown and Carrigaline to Crosshaven. You can see evidence of its former use along the way as illustrated in the images below:

Also from: http://monkstown.org/:
The old Railway Station (above) and the railway underpass 

For more on the history of these Railway ports see: http://www.passagewestmonkstown.ie/history-1800-1900.asp and  http://crosshaven.ie/information/about/crosshaven-railway

The old Passage-West Steam Train from: http://www.passagewestmonkstown.ie/history-1800-1900.asp 

The Crosshaven Station from:
http://crosshaven.ie/information/about/crosshaven-railway

14th June, 2015 Hop Island and Passage West evening sunset cycle

The Dynamic Duo: Marcia and Chris

Marcia and her beloved companions 

MARCIA WRITES: 

Today's Operation Transportation diary update comes from Chris (13), my partner-in-crime for the week's challenge. 

He writes here about his little expedition with Ethel (7), but he later accompanied me on a trip down the line towards Hop Island. 

I tried running two of the dogs on leads alongside, so he and I were like the hare and the tortoise. The sunset was so glorious, we spent as much time taking photos as we did cycling! :-)

CHRIS WRITES:

"Today I went on my first cycle (of 10 days) for operation transportation with my sister, Ethel (who is 7 and wanted to go for a random cycle) The weather was warm and humid with a bit of sun, which was just beginning to set on the other side of the hills. Passage west is a complete hill, so Ethel and I had high gears all the way down from the top of the hill starting from our house. We headed down the line beside the sea, only making two stops for Ethel.

Beautiful sunset in Passage West

I expected it to rain, so I was surprised when it was dry for the trip. On the way back we stopped off at our favourite spot by the sea to watch the sunset.

Then we headed back up the hill to our house on our lowest gears. (We had checked our bikes before we left so everything went smooth and there were no breakages). 

The flowers were in full bloom as it was summer. Ethel tripped over a kerb but got back on her bike and rode after me at full pelt so we would not be late for dinner. Our small cycle took 30 minutes in total, so happy faces at home:)"

Why not grab your bike and catch a sunrise/sunset this summer! Check out Cork's Sunrise and Sunset times here: http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/ireland/cork 

June 13th, 2015 Cycling: TheTug and Recoil for Chris and Marcia

Fear and Longing in Passage

Marcia Writes:

So, this is National Bike Week ( www.bikeweek.ie ). Thanks to the goodwill of my sporty friend, I have a bike. She gave it to me last year when she upgraded. 

The only Irish made bike: http://www.highnelly.ie/

Her old bike was a massive upgrade for me too. Before that, I used to puddle along the Passage West - Blackrock line occasionally during the summer on my aunt's 100-year old High Nelly, small dog in Wiser bottle box on the backer and bigger dog on a lead running alongside. Several of the kids usually in tow on various sizes of bikes, generally rescued from the civic amenity site in Raffeen. Travelling Wilburys!

But my bike has been growing rustier and rustier as I spend more and more time rushing between work, being mom's taxi, cooking dinners and preparing tomorrow's school lunches. To the extent that I am now positively scared to get up on it. Even worse is the ghastly hill up to our house that seems to go on forever. Embarrassingly, I always have to get off and walk.

Marcia is not alone
in her uphill struggles
as this blogger in Austin acknowledges:
 http://www.treegrowsinaustin.com/2010/04/

On the other hand, Chris is 13. He can cycle anything. Nothing can kill him, stop him or slow him. He wants to road cycle from Passage West to Crosshaven. Thinking of my lovely son negotiating the narrow roads around Raffeen and the fast cars clipping hedges, I baulk.

So Chris and I have both taken on a challenge. Cork City Council is running Operation Transportation for the week. We've signed up to cycle at least 10 minutes every day, keeping a diary of what we do, where we go and how we feel. He's champing at the bit. I'm dreading it. He will need to try road cycling. I will just need to try!

We started this morning with 3 hours of an "introduction" to our bikes outside the main gates of UCC:

• How they work, 
• How to recognise when they need attention and 
• The basics of road cycling safety.

I felt like a total cheat for driving with the bikes to the UCC car park! I had visions of my two-wheeled rust bucket being pitted against Lycra and carbon wheels. Thankfully, no. My chariot was perfectly adequate. And I even had company in walking rather than cycling up Donovan's Road. A thoroughly enjoyable session and a very gentle confidence builder for both Chris and for me, albeit in different ways.

So how I'm going to fit 10 minutes of cycling in to my already overstretched daily routine, I don't know. It'll take me 10 minutes alone to make it back up the estate home! But I've got to start somewhere, so here goes ... 

http://www.inspireux.com/2014/06/21/methods-to-achieve-user-delight/

16th June Michelle Walsh & Anthony Shine doing their bit for operation transportation

Walsh and Shine

Cycle in the Sunshine

Editor's Preface:

Cycling Couple Michelle Walsh and Anthony Shine have decided on a joint approach to Operation Transportation. Each will support the other.

They were unable to commence their cycle challenge over the weekend, so Monday June 16th is their Day One!

 

Anthony writes:

 

 Well now on day one we did a "leisurely"  spin* over the walk/cycle paths around Douglas, Rochestown  & Passage West.

[Check out our 18.5 km Ride on Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/154382508]

 

 

On the old railway line from Hop Island to Passage West there were people as far as the eye could see: walking, roller-blading, jogging, cycling and everyone was unsure which side to keep to. Should we use "road rules" or "walking rules"?

 



Michelle by the Waterfront



There is a major problem with people parking on the new cycle lanes in the Douglas area maybe the authorities can do something about that ? ? 

 

Tune in for tomorrow's adventures in the Douglas area. 

 Editor's Responses:

Firstly, I am laughing at the description of an 18.5 km cycle as a leisurely spin! But I guess being leisurely is all about attitude and pace? Well done guys anyway.

 

Secondly I am curious about "walking rules". Tell us more Anthony! I did meet a polish lady a few months ago who told me of her shock that Irish people did not stick to different sides of the pavement depending on the direction of walking. Do I infer that we should all walk on the right hand edge of the footpath?

 

Or do you mean Irish walking rules- i.e. walk where ever you please but try to avoid knocking anyone down. That one seems to make most sense to me.

The most important walking rule?

 

Anyway my understanding of how to use shared space is that the most vulnerable road user - i.e. the pedestrian here has priority so cyclists need to slow down on the shared cyclepaths and yield right of way to walkers...

 

Finally on the Cars in bike lanes issue- during the day you can report this to the traffic wardens in th ecity or county council area covered- if there are wardens in the district. In all other cases- report it to the Gardaí.

 

I read an interesting story  awhile ago about how Clowns were used to "police" bike lanes in a very successful light-hearted way. It was less confrontational- people were more likely to laugh and comply when the person "ticketing" them was clowning about!

I can't find the original story, but here is a similar one:

http://gothamist.com/2009/03/16/clowns_police_bike_lanes.php#photo-5