Castlebar Christmas Eve Ride

I had to get a few photos of this tire shop located next to a brook.

As long as I have been here in Ireland, I have wondered if our 

zoning rules back in the States would allow something like this 

to be built in such a bucolic setting 

Looking down to it from the relatively steep hill that drops down to it.

Dead tires appeared on one side of the building

The gate here leads to a graveyard (closed to the public)

 that sits on the other side

Before I made it around to the back of the business above, 

a friendly horse joined me 

As did a rainbow

From slopping around in the field,

 my shoes were a muddy mess.

Once back in town, 

the Castlebar Concert and Marching Band

was hard at work

All in an Irish Castlebar Christmas Ride

These guys were playing on Main St.

A few blocks away I found Juliano. You can hear him at this blog.

He's pretty amazing!!

This guy was moving dead cars from one box to the other.

On the side of the road, no less!!

On the edges of town, when I see 'Castlebar Walks', I know there is good riding ahead..

If you keep looking, you might be able to see the cows....

Peter Matthews - a Cyclist with Few Equals

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Pawel Bullet Proofs my Rim!!

Pawel Guba, a talent beyond compare (see why), had me come in yesterday to get my 

rim. It's done!! A 4 mil layer of stainless steel now runs around the entire inside of the rim. He

used the machine above to press the metal into an exact fit on the rim before he 

then tig welded it in place!  Once he then drilled all 72 spoke holes through 

what is now two layers of steel, I had a perfectly round rim again!! 

And strong enough now for the Irish roads!! Yahoo!!

Next step: Painting and then building it!!  

It took longer than expected because Pawel was waiting on his 

friend to build a custom cam for the machine above.

Pawel's studio is located in the industrial section of Castlebar. I rode home in

30 degree temps. On the recumbent or mountain bike, 10 -15 miles a day, 5x a week, 

I'm usually rolling in the low 30's and 40's anymore.....

Pawel Guba ROX!!

Irish Lunch Ride Summer & Fall

On this short clip (pictures taken at the end of September), I try to capture the simple beauty just a few bicycle minutes from  the center of town that few seem to take the time to experience. And yet there again with roads like this almost everywhere to be found here in the west of Ireland, this kind of stuff is easy to overlook.......
2:25

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BELOW is what that same stretch looks like a month and a half later.....

Only the Sheep Were Outside

The temps were running at 32 degrees when I was out for my ride today.

Even though all the little ponds were all starting to freeze.

The sheep, in their full woolen outfits, didn't seem to mind........

Ireland Before & After the European Union

This the kind of Ireland I thought I'd see when I got here. 

Home like these, however are now in the minority.

Thanks to the European Union, and the influx of people joining that brought during the 1990's, 

most people here now live in sprawling housing estates like the one above 

(Virginia, Cayo and I live in a small one).