It was a spin of two halves for Trim Cycling Club’s G1 today, with a strong wind to work against from Navan to Kells on the way out, then an exhilarating and speedy Crossakiel to Trim on the way home.
As we waited at the traffic lights before leaving Trim I turned around to count the group and see who was present. I had to tell them that not only was I pleased to cycle with such a fine group, I was even excited. And I was proven right, everybody worked really well together.
Heading to Kells we rigidly operated a kilometer on each side up front meaning that we were all pretty fresh in spite of the wind. At the Millbrook coffee stop, after minor adjustments to our hair and make up, we had the choice of the treats and felt really bad when Group 2 arrived to no freshly baked fruit scones. (Bernie actually punched me when I pointed this out to Harro and herself.)
Group 2 looked like they were enjoying themselves as well although Marcus unfortunately broke a spoke and ended up having to be collected.
Anyway having successfully negotiated Loughcrew us glamour guys attacked the spin home, ending up with a 28.8 average moving speed per my Garmin. Seán.
O.B.E: Out of Body Experiences. Were deliberately induced by mystics and gurus in olden days by exercising to exhaustion. OBE’s would begin with the sensation of floating outside one’s own body. But enough about the Blackstairs Challenge for now.
We had a huge group out tonight, delighted to see “new” cyclist John in the yard. He obviously understands the slagging in the club, claiming that he only cycled 110k at the weekend and wouldn’t be strong enough for the first group.
Also present was another member of Anthony’s Fan Club, he really shouldn’t be arranging to meet young ones in the car park before cycles.
Dave Jordan brought us all home at a nice pace, a martyr as always for the front of the peloton. As we struggled in behind him Gary Costello wondered about the type of people our club attracts. Eccentrics was suggested and got a good laugh…
Fin and Marcus were flying after the Blackstairs Challenge on Sunday. Unfortunately Canice came off his bike but by all accounts he seems to be on the mend. Hopefully he will be back before long. It was a really tough route, with the bulk of the climbing towards the end. Two ascents of Mount Leinster made for a long day, the second route being particularly steep, but the descents were pretty exhilarating. A good spin to have in the legs. An Out of Body Experience would have been most welcome at one particularly steep point, when the realisation dawned that instead of easing ahead it was actually ramping up again, but at least its all behind us now. Roll on the good weather!
John Lee’s bike – which is for sale and goes up hills on its own – joined us in the first group this evening for what was a very pleasant spin. It was a bit like one of those horses in the Grand National who has lost his rider but keeps going.
Does anybody else think this is a little like Toy Story 3? I haven’t seen the movie but apparently its very sad. The boy doesn’t play with his toys anymore so they are moved on. They are very disappointed given all the fun they’ve had together etc. etc. Maybe its just me.
Anyway we had a group of eight cyclists and although the breeze was chilly, the sky was clear and the sun was bright. It was a pleasure to be out on a fine evening in such good company.
If Thursday’s spin was for the Graceful Gazelles well today’s was one for the Wildebeests. Big, ungainly, hairy creatures we set out today without quite realising the full extent of the punishing wind we would have to battle to get home.
First technical happened on the road to Athboy when Michael Murtagh’s chain came off. It tangled and snapped his rear derailleur, broke one of his spokes and the wheel jammed solid. He did very well to stay upright but it was the end of his day out.
50k in and it was clear that some unlikely candidates were intent on having fun. In particular Dessie and Canice were punishing in their approach to some of the drags, stringing the group out in one complaining line of anguish and perspiration.
Leaving Castlepollard we had our second minor but costly incident when Fin’s lamp flew off as we sped over a rough surface, ending up in smithereens.
By the time we got to the coffee stop in Donnelly’s Filling Station we were ready for a break. Standing in the coal shed outside we were impressed with today’s talk on “The Secret of a Happy Marriage”, well done Davy. We look forward to continuing this rarely spoken about tradition of enlightening talks on our cycles.
The return journey was into the face of a very strong and gusty wind, made worse for Stephen by his rapidly deteriorating bottom bracket. it was time for the Wildebeest to grit their teeth and get home which we all did after almost 4:30 in the saddle. Good for the character as Canice suggested. Sean.
Good News from Today’s New York Times: a medical study has found that regular walking, cycling, swimming, dancing and even gardening can substantially reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Walk, Jog or Dance: It’s All Good for the Aging Brain
CreditIllustration by Sam Island
More people are living longer these days, but the good news comes shadowed by the possible increase in cases of age-related mental decline. By some estimates, the global incidence of dementia will more than triple in the next 35 years. That grim prospect is what makes a study published in March in The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease so encouraging: It turns out that regular walking, cycling, swimming, dancing and even gardening may substantially reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.
Exercise has long been linked to better mental capacity in older people. Little research, however, has tracked individuals over years, while also including actual brain scans. So for the new study, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and other institutions analyzed data produced by the Cardiovascular Health Study, begun in 1989, which has evaluated almost 6,000 older men and women. The subjects complete medical and cognitive tests, fill out questionnaires about their lives and physical activities and receive M.R.I. scans of their brains. Looking at 10 years of data from nearly 900 participants who were at least 65 upon entering the study, the researchers first determined who was cognitively impaired, based on their cognitive assessments. Next they estimated the number of calories burned through weekly exercise, based on the participants’ questionnaires.
The scans showed that the top quartile of active individuals proved to have substantially more gray matter, compared with their peers, in those parts of the brain related to memory and higher-level thinking. More gray matter, which consists mostly of neurons, is generally equated with greater brain health. At the same time, those whose physical activity increased over a five-year period — though these cases were few — showed notable increases in gray-matter volume in those same parts of their brains. And, perhaps most meaningful, people who had more gray matter correlated with physical activity also had 50 percent less risk five years later of having experienced memory decline or of having developed Alzheimer’s.
“For the purposes of brain health, it looks like it’s a very good idea to stay as physically active as possible,” says Cyrus Raji, a senior radiology resident at U.C.L.A., who led the study. He points out that “physical activity” is an elastic term in this study: It includes walking, jogging and moderate cycling as well as gardening, ballroom dancing and other calorie-burning recreational pursuits. Dr. Raji said he hopes that further research might show whether this caloric expenditure is remodeling the brain, perhaps by reducing inflammation or vascular diseases.
The ideal amount and type of activity for staving off memory loss is unknown, he says, although even the most avid exercisers in this group were generally cycling or dancing only a few times a week. Still, the takeaway is that physical activity might change aging’s arc. “If we want to live a long time but also keep our memories, our basic selves, intact, keep moving,” Dr. Raji says.
Received this query from a lady whose son is abroad and is dubious about life cover. She asked me to give her some ideas so they could talk about it.
“First of all, the key issue around life insurance is whether or not your son has financial dependants.
If he has, life insurance would replace the income lost in the unfortunate event of his death.
Normally the term of the cover would equate to the term of the financial dependancy, so for children it might be until they reach age 21 for instance. In my opinion the most suitable plans are those (i) priced to simply provide the cover for the term, with (ii) an inbuilt option to continue cover thereafter without having to provide any further evidence of health (important if a person’s health has deteriorated – they can still get cover). Such plans are reasonably inexpensive.
Plans that have associated savings, while seeming like a good idea, don’t really work (again in my opinion) as (i) one normally doesn’t know how much is being deducted from the fund to pay for the cover; (ii) if one suffers financial issues and has to cut back there is only one plan to stop, hence the life cover is lost as well; and (iii) Joe Duffy is making a living from those type of plans. If I thought longer I’d probably come up with more reasons but I believe that it is better to separate savings from life insurance.
So far so good. However I know that your son lives in Australia. Unless he intends to return home in the near term he should probably get his life cover there. We could possibly get him cover here if he has an Irish bank account but I suspect it would be better for him to get his cover where he and any financial dependants live. If he doesn’t have an Irish bank account we would have significant difficulty getting him cover here due to constantly updating Anti-Money Laundering legislation.”
“Slowing … Stopping … Go Go Go! … Clear … Faster … Faster … Are they all through at the back?”
As we crossed at Tara-na-Ri tonight it was like those gazelles(?) on the nature programme trying to cross the river while watching out for the crocodiles. It was slightly different though as us Gazelles (on the inside) Harro, Mark, Dave, Canice, Marcus, Fergus and Fin were accompanied by young Lion Cub Ben Mahon who attacked on every descent and climb. Its great to have somebody else to blame.
Thanks to Anthony for a very potent bottle of water(?) and for putting up a most enjoyable route.
A glorious St Patrick’s Day in Trim. Crowds lined the Boyne and the four bridges under which the race would pass. Tony Stark had designed and built our Daft Raft. What could go wrong?
