Degrouping to Berrings
Another Saturday, another An Oige cycle. Was bordering on the shocked to learn it was the last one until "winter" returns. I knew the Thursday evening ones were due to resume, but I'd implicitly been assuming the two would run in parallel. Insofar as I'd bothered to think about it at all. Shocker. What will I do with the time? Might have to chase down some boardgaming. (Hint, hint, if anyone still has this thing on.) Or else just stay in bed and listen to the radio, that's always an option. There was talking of a "9:25 for 9:30" on the email, so thought I'd better not be too late even heading for the Meeting Point Two of my own imagining. Turns out there was also a Meeting Point Three! Largeish group showed up at Leemount Cross... could have maybe lazed around another five minutes had I known. Then again, I rather like the Lee Road, even if involves a hill of masochistic ascent and mildly terrifying descent. And easy come, easy go... Lost almost everyone at Inniscarra. Two of us faffed around a little too long at the service station, then had a small brainfart and went straight in at the junction. Then in Wood's Road had a small crisis of confidence -- or laziness -- and decided not to follow the rather hilly way we thought they'd gone to Curraghbeg, but instead to "cut them off" before they got to Farran. Decision making processes rather fuzzy at that hour clearly, as going via Killumney as we ended up doing is evidently much longer. I might have been hallucinating, but think I also saw a certain bike-shop owner going the other way. Also some uncertainty about where the tea stop was. Farran Pantry turned into a replenishment stop, and then we had to ask directions at the top of the hill. (Wheeze.)
And then... sight of hiviz! Caught up with two people, though I wasn't at all sure if they were with our group -- the earlier "merger" made me unsure who was with us. But they were at the back of the group, and they were leaving the tearooms, rather than arriving. D'oh, missed it. See-sawed a couple of times between the stragglers ofd that group, and my own earlier companion, who was suffering a little. Didn't see either after Dripsey, though. Did kindly get a slice of brack which I shared on. Back via Berrings -- was listed on the route, though the Blair's Inn road would have been a deal shorter. Not that I had a map on me to assist in second-guessing. Cloghroe, and criss-crossing the earlier route at the same Leemount crossroads. Then bike tyre went from "is that getting soft on me?" to "nah, it seems OK" to "oh, completely flat", then. Puncture, apparently from a tiny but very sharp thorn still wedged in the tyre when I eventually fixed. But as I was almost at Victoria Cross by that point, rather than trying to fix on the spot, just wheeled it home fro there. Low speed ensured I noticed the poster for St. Vincent playing the Opera House. Unexpected. Amazing weather. Temperature sensor just about had sunstroke, reading 27.1C. 59.6k, and 19.2kph rav prior to getting off and pushing. Wasn't sure if I believed the bikeputer data... thought I might have forgotten to reset the trip distance on the one hand, and been playing up and flatlining on the other... but number is at least plausible, comparing with Gmaps.