I am not a cyclist. I am a runner or, at least I still hope to be one. I had great running plans for 2025 but they haven’t quite worked out as I hoped so far.
In January I had to DNF a marathon for the first time, after one of my hamstrings partially tore from the seat bone. Instead of doing the Donadea 50k in February, I had hamstring surgery. And while I had a great holiday in Boston in April, I did not run the marathon I had worked so hard to qualify for.
Things were not looking good for the 100k I was hoping to attempt for the first time this summer. That was until my friends James, Donal and Ted suggested that I could cycle the Royal Canal Odyssey instead.
I was nervous. I am not a confident cyclist and my longest rides were probably in Centerparcs with the kids.
I need to train. So last Sunday, 4 May, I joined in to cycle the first leg of the Odyssey. We set off at the starting point of the James Joyce tower at 8am.
Six runners and three cyclists. There is a buzz for sure but I am excited and very nervous at the same time.
We do the first few stops of the route. Fitzgerald’s Albert House in Sandycove, Joyce’s family home in Carysfort, Paddy Dignam’s house in Sandymount. I am less than 4k away from home but I’m not really relaxed. It’s a lovely day, the sun is shining but I’m focusing on cycling slowly, staying close to the runners and making sure I don’t get hit by a car on strand road. Ultimately, that’s my biggest fear as a beginner cyclist. Sharing the roads with buses and cars.
I stop at the lights and I see the Luas driving by. We are close to the city centre now. This is not Centerparcs.
I am in awe of James that cycles and takes snaps and videos of the runners. My hands are firmly on the handlebars and then we are at the start of the Royal Canal!
I immediately relax. No cars here. Too relaxed, I chat to Donal who’s running and forget to change gears on the uphill. I stop and walk and back on the bike.
We come off the Canal and after the Five Lamps (20 years of life in Dublin and I had never been here!), we are back in Joyce and Ulysses’ territory, Monto, James Joyce Street, the James Joyce statue on North Earl Street, the James Joyce Centre of North Great George’s Street and Belvedere College where he studied.
Not much of nervous city cycling left to do after that, as we are soon back on the Royal Canal in Drumcondra. We go as far as Cross Guns bridge and turn back towards home.
We discover a giant mural of James Joyce on North Richmond St, close to O’Connell School where he also attended. I relax a bit more. It feels like a good omen, he’s looking down at us as we ran and cycled back towards home. I chat to Ted about water carrying on the bike the day of the Odyssey. I’d like to be able to help the 100k runners on that day; it will give this injured-runner-turned-slow-cyclist a real purpose.
I cycle back on the Rock Road and I’m on the same side of the road as my friends running on the path and we can even chat a little. Before today the idea of cycling on this road would have filled me with fear but I can feel my confidence growing.
I’m finally back home in Dún Laoghaire, after cycling 38k (I thought I was going to do 28k). I realise how today gave me back something I really miss about running, that push out of my comfort zone and that knowledge that you can do so much more than your brain tells you you are capable of, as well as a morning out with friends which is always great.
In the end, the cycling part was like a walk in the park, once I stopped listening to the fears I had in my brain. Looking forward to 14 June already!