Discover Cycling - Get Ireland Active

Saves money – by cycling you will save
money on fuel or fares and once you
have a bike, the running costs are very
small.
Saves time – if your commute involves
driving in traffic it is quite possible that
you will cycle the same journey faster by
bike than by car especially over a short
distance. If you cycle instead of using
public transport you can eliminate the
need to wait for buses to arrive and the
delays often experienced when a bus
doesn’t turn up.
Provides exercise – when commuting
by bike you are getting exercise twice a
day without eating into time for other
things. Cycling every day is a great way
to maintain fitness.
Enjoyment and wellbeing – cycling to
work can get you out of the drudgery
involved in driving or using public
transport and your journey to and from
work can become an enjoyable
experience which you look forward to.
The cycle helps you to wake up fully in
the morning and clears your head on
the way home after work. When you
arrive at work or home after your cycle
you are refreshed and full of energy.
Environment – cycling to work
minimises your impact on the
environment.
Michael Crowley
Age 43, West Cork
Following an introduction to recreational
cycling at age 36 by the local doc here on
the Beara peninsula, I wondered why I
hadn’t been motivated before to get out
and enjoy this wonderful sport. I have
been very active all my life with the usual
pursuits of football, golf and some indoor
soccer but had missed a connection with
cycling. It is now a very big part of every
week, not just spring and summer but year
round. From a reasonably small group, we
have now up to 20 on the road with
average of 12 to 15 on every spin.
The main attraction for some of us may be
the coffee and cake stop at the half way
mark in Harringtons Post Office, but that is
all well deserved after climbing the
awesome Healy Pass before crossing the
border to Kerry and making our way along
the coast road back to Ardgroom. This ring
of Beara approx 50 miles is our most
regular route winter and summer and
every day we comment on how lucky we
are to have on our doorstep this
wonderfully quiet winding road with the
most spectacular scenery anywhere in
Ireland. Over the summer we extend the
miles to 80/100 from Castletownbere to
Adrigole and rising out from Glengarriff to
climb the Caha Pass over the border into
Kerry and downhill into Kenmare for that
well deserved break in one of the many
great coffee stops.
It is amazing how quickly you can build up
the miles from a beginner with no
experience, to doing 50 or 100 miles
reasonably comfortably. I would
encourage any reader to at least try it out
and get a small group of mates out and
about on the bikes, you will be amazed
how much fun you can have.
My bike is a Willier Triestina aluminium
frame with campagnolia set.
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