The day following the final round of The Bog Trials the organiser, Mick, arranged for a social gravel spin around the Galway Wind Park. If you’ve never been to the Galway Wind Park, it is the biggest wind park in Ireland and has over 100 electricity generating wind turbines. Throughout the park there is a network of gravel roads around which Mick had planned three different routes for people of different skill and ability.
I started off the day with a lovely breakfast from a nearby hotel. I travelled with my mum, dad, sister and brother. Unfortunately we ended up getting lost on the way there but luckily we weren’t too far away and a few phone calls later we arrived at the right spot.
As we were slightly late to arrive I had to rush to get the bikes unloaded, bidons filled and get into my kit. While I was getting myself ready to go for the spin I was able to chat to some of the riders who had raced The Bog Trials series. It was a sunny but breezy day and you could feel the cold nipping at your nose.
My mum, brother (Josh) and sister (Molly) rode the shorter route while my dad and I rode the slightly longer route. Three kilometres in and I was descending after a short little kicker, my dad had super tucked his way past me then I saw him pull over on the side of the rocky road. He had a puncture and as we were in a bit of a rush we forgot to pack tubes. Kindly, four nice men from our group stopped and helped us out.
There was a really nice view from the top of a nasty leg burner where we then met some very friendly goats. They were lounging by a wind turbine where the little goats were prancing about. We talked about bikes, races and the damp roads as we made our way through a narrow winding pathway. As we made our way up the final stretch my dad attacked for fun and I followed beating him, of course. We pulled over beside our cars and said goodbye to all the people we met that day.
All in all, we had a fantastic day out which was a great finish to The Bog Trials.