Tri4Kona2014: Post 56 - Playing on the hill and on the golf course

The day after the cross-country race, I took another lie in. I do like my lie-ins. 6:22am is not a nice time to be getting up when I’m at work. And, now that I’m getting older, I find it takes a bit longer to recover from my races. Back in the day, 10 years ago (yes, 10 years ago, I am not getting any younger!), I used to be able to hammer out crazy training and racing schedules, with no problem and minimal recovery time. It’s a bit different now. The body demands more rest. Between 6am and 10am on a day off, I'm more than happy to oblige...

I decided I’d go for a longer bike ride, taking in Binevenagh mountain and the Bishop’s Road which passes up, over, and down the other side of the mountain. Regular readers of the blog will know that there’s a statue on the top of Binevenagh – the mythological Irish god of the sea – Mannanán Mac Lir. It’s a great view up there.

The day started grey, but gradually improved. I went out along the Murderhole Road (yes, honestly. It’s also known, less ominously, as the Windyhill Road). This road goes past the Ringrash Road (yes, honestly), and up the back end of Binevenagh. There’s a new wind farm up there, I counted 21 big beasts. There’s a dead silence up on Binevenagh apart from whatever breeze there is. There’s next to no traffic and no civilisation. But coming into the vicinity of these wind turbines, there’s a distinctive whooshing noise, and an electrical hum. It doesn’t fit with the landscape at all. Neither does their visual appearance enhance the natural beauty. I’ve got mixed feelings about these wind farms that keep cropping up. Surely vast wind farms could be built out to sea, beyond the horizon? Then you get all the benefits, and none of the noise or visuals.

I left the windmills behind and I passed the Largantea picnic area on the Murderhole Road, with the little river running past the small car park. Another statue had appeared at Largantea – the Cushy Glen highwayman. Centuries ago, this mountain road was a merchant trading route. Bandits lay in wait along the roadside for people to pass. The bandits would spring out on their unsuspecting victims. There would be fighting, chaos, robbery and murder. The Murderhole Road. It must have been gruesome, and the statue does indeed look quite gruesome, with the evil face and the big knife. After a quick photo or two, I was on my way. The remoteness was left behind as I dropped down the other side of the hill at over 40mph.

At the bottom, a sharp right hander led onto the Bishop’s Road, up the front of the mountain. It’s a great climb. The first section is the steepest section, winding past farmland and a few houses. Then the terrain becomes moorland and scrub, with forest in the background, and a few bubbling streams. The road continues to rise up to the top. A backward glance reveals a mighty panorama – Limavady, Benbradagh mountain, Lough Foyle and Donegal. But you can’t look back for too long as you have to keep your bike on the black stuff (the road, not the Guinness) and keep pumping the pedals. Over the top and onto the plateau about 400m above sea level, it’s a few more miles to the Gortmore viewpoint, with Magilligan, Lough Foyle, the Atlantic, and Donegal below, to the left.

Binevenagh

There’s a very steep road down to the left just after cresting the climb, and I decided to go down this road and then back up it. It was so steep, narrow and dangerous that I was on the brakes the whole way down. At the bottom, I went as far along as the church, then turned and attacked the climb. It’s a tough, tough slog, even in the lowest gear. No time to appreciate the view, you’re breathing hard and struggling to keep the pedals turning. I made it back up, then headed for the Gortmore viewpoint.

Mannanán was still there, overlooking the view below with arms aloft. I really like taking photos, it's something I might start to get into a bit more seriously in future. I framed a few cool photographs with the setting sun in the background creating a stark silhouette. In a few pictures, I managed to make it look like Mannanán was a bike rider who had just clinched a stage of the Tour de France, triumphant arms in the air, helmet on and bike underneath.

I ended up tweeting a few of these photos to the Tour de France. After the success of this year’s Giro d’Italia, which spent a few days in Northern Ireland, there has been a lot of talk of the Tour de France coming to Northern Ireland in the future. This would be amazing in so many ways. I tweeted the pictures of the highwayman and the bike-helmeted Mannanán, saying, in my rusty French, "Nos gens aiment le cyclisme et veulent souhaite la bienvenue pour @LeTour en Irlande du Nord @DiscoverNI"…

By now dusk was falling so I jumped back on the bike, descended down the mountain, and got on the bigger and faster roads back home. I pushed hard to get home because I wanted to be back before dark. It felt good to push on tired legs, and to have the energy to maintain a good output all the way back. Some internet browsing that evening revealed that the statues I saw en route are part of the borough’s “sculpture trail”. There are seven of these statues in various locations in the Limavady and Dungiven areas, each associated with a local myth or legend. There will definitely be a blog about this in more detail over Christmas, as it would be a really good day, and a long ride, to visit them all on the bike. Roll on Christmas…

The next day, before I took the evening flight back to London, I went down to the golf course for a few holes with my brother. I used to be pretty good at golf in my teens. I could ping a big drive down the middle, hit decent iron shots and usually get them on the green, and I enjoyed putting too. But I haven’t golfed seriously for years – my attention turned to running and then triathlon when I moved away from home. So, my golfing abilities have diminished embarrassingly. Now I can barely hit drives and iron shots. My short game is still reasonable, but I’ve lost the wrist strength and muscle memory needed for the full shots. I’m a bit of a hacker now. Maybe in years to come I’ll get back into the golf. Have I just planned my retirement? Golf and photography? Hmmmmm...