The Dublin Community Blog

I’m Roseanne Smith, a newly recruited blogger to the Dublin Community Blog. Actually I’m not that newly recruited having been moved to volunteer when Red Mum was collecting the blog’s award at the Irish Blog Awards in February and mentioned that they were looking for some actual Dubliners to blog. So I’m an actual Dubliner. You can find out more about me on my own blog because I’m here to talk about what’s going on in Dublin not in my head (as a general rule…). I’m hoping once I get into the swing of things and have lulled you into a false sense of security to contribute the odd blog in Irish. Enough of the intros, here goes!

I am a cyclist. I wouldn’t say avid or fanatical while I’m just sitting here at my laptop. Not at all.

But get me onto the saddle and I become something else. Half woman, half bike: melded with my machine, senses heightened, coordination controlled, I’m a dynamic dynamo and I’m getting there faster than all of you.

Well except for anyone who’s running. Really I’m a very average cyclist. I always stop at red lights. I wear nerdy hi-viz clothing on all my limbs and a helmet. I have front and rear lights and I move at a leisurely pace.

I do cycle everywhere. I cycle to and from work, the kids’ school and creche, to meetings, out at the weekend; come rain or shine. I even sometimes bring our bikes on holidays. I do lots of  thinking on the bike when I’m not avoiding potholes or pedestrians. I find it’s a great way to start the day.

Dublin is a grand place to cycle. Okay it’s no Amsterdam or even Groningen. It’s fairly flat, there are new bits of bike lane all the time. (I’m trying to accentuate the positive here, folks! It’s my first post – I don’t want to come across as crabby on Day 1) As you will see I live close to the canal and there’s nothing like zipping along the canal no matter what the weather.

One of the main reasons people often give for not cycling is the weather: they are worried that they will get drenched on their way to work. As another cyclist puts it on his blog “it’s the prospect of getting wet that puts people off.” Well I’ve been doing a little experiment since January. Everyday I get stopped on Sally’s Bridge on the canal on the way home. It’s just not possible to get from one set of traffic lights to the other at my pedestrian pace. So every day I take a snap and post it to my Flickr account. You can see the set here. Or better still:

Now I’ll admit straight off that due to the fact that I was in Santry for work recently I failed to take a photo between the 20 and 23 May when there was some torrential rain. This is also just snaps from weekdays and there’s some days when I’d be so deeply in thought that I would forget to take a photo.

So even adding in, say, about five wet days that I missed, that is not a lot of wet in nearly six months. And, as your mammy would say (and I am a mammy so I know about these things), there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad dressing. A good set of raingear will get you to and from work dry as a bone. Although I will admit to getting a bit cheesed off lugging my raingear around and unlike my other half I haven’t gone as far as gaiters so I keep dry footwear under my desk for days that I am caught on the hop.

So why have I chosen now to out myself as a wannabe fanatical cyclist? Next week is National Bike Week. Two years ago we took part in the Dublin City Cycle and it was a great day. As proof of my very average cycling, I was the very last back to the finish – I blame the youngest for my poor performance as he fell asleep which slowed me down something rotten! Here are a few of my snaps.

So I was delighted when I read that the activities have been extended to not only a full week but they have gone national. Among the events are free bike check-ups, charity cycles, cycling workshops and family fun days. I love the idea that Parnassus theatre company have: show your bike light at their production of Abigail’s Party in the Samuel Beckett Centre in TCD and you’ll get 33% off on the 16th, 17th and 16th June. Bargain! And it’s a very entertaining play so win-win!

This year the Dublin City Cycle takes place on Wednesday 17 June and while it may not be so family oriented it will draw more Dubliners’ attention to the cyclists in their midst. This was actually my biggest gripe with the Dublin City Cycle two years ago: it happened on a Sunday so there was no real impact on the rest of the citizens. I think a city cycle like this should remind other road users that cyclists are really there.

So keep an eye out for me at the Dublin City Cycle or taking pics on Sally’s Bridge of an evening!