Ride on, Highway Cat !!: HIGHWAY TO HELLLLLL

DAY 3, Thurs. Sept. 5, 2019
Bike to train station: 4km. Train Ride: 243km. Bike ( N72, Time:4:20, Dist:75km, 17.2k/hr Avg.)

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Got my fat ass to the Heauston Irish Rail Station for 7:30am. Despite being super stressed out, my ride was flawless. I pre booked the ticket well in advance but had an issue at the kiosk. This is why we arrive early- to troubleshoot unexpected problems. Struggling through the turnstiles, I got Shirley set up in the storage car. We grabbed a seat close by. It turned out that I was sitting in the executive area and had to move to my assigned seat. Dragging all my bags through several car lengths was not fun. I was pissed.
The ride was about 2 hours. I thought that it would be nice and relaxing, but I was too stressed out to enjoy it. When it was time to get off, the door release button didn't work and we couldn't exit. More stress! I ended up having to use a regular door which was very difficult and dangerous. I was pissed again! After that nasty ejection from the train, we found the N72 West.
The first 5 km or so out of Mallow were great. The road degraded as we got further from town. Soon, there was virtually no shoulder. In fact, there wasn't really an outside line as it was obstructed by a wall of rock and vegetation. I was essentially trapped in this narrow corridor of doom for the next 75km. To make matters even worse, there were raised metal reflectors installed along the edge of the road. They were located around every 5 metres or so. For about 4 hours I tried dodging these tire enemies while trying not to get run over or crashing into the wall of evil. Turns out that this is was truck route. Even if I wasn't on the side of the road, trucks would have trouble passing each other as the road is too narrow. In my 30 years of cycling, I have never experienced this level of danger and fear. I was thinking "What if I get a flat tire?" There is literally no where to fix it and it would be suicide to walk and push the bike. Gee. No wonder I didn't see another cyclist on this route. Four hours of terror. At one point I found a break in the wall where I could bail and let trucks pass. As my heartrate had a chance to come down, I thought of quitting. Of coarse there is no helicopter coming to pull me out, so forward march!
I rolled into Kilarney and was blown away by how busy it was. An endless lineup of cars. I found an affordable, nice Hotel for 109 Euros. The location was great as everything I needed was within 200 metres. Got settled and took a 3 hour nap. I was exhausted from the stress. (otherwise, it was perfect weather and a flat road).
After recovery, I headed out for a looksy. At one point, I went to a "Spar" (Its a convenience store chain found everywhere in Ireland) They had a sandwich making set up in the back. Nothing special, surprisingly basic actually. A young guy made me a sandwich. He paused a couple times when I chose toppings. Then he stopped and looked at me with a confused expression and said "Your not from here are ya?" Maybe green peppers and mustard arn't popular Irish toppings. Ha ha.

Train pass to Mallow

Heuston Station

Shirley on board and ready to leave Dublin

Highwaycat is clearly freaked out. On route to Mallow. Lovely ride but I felt anxious as well. New horizons for both of us.

Selfie: Ready to hit the road. Feeling excited, unfortunately I look like I just crapped my pants.

Road ahead looks sweet!

Well, the road turned sour after 20 min. Sadly, Ireland has installed these raised reflectors at the edge of the road. They are exactly in line with my tire trajectory and placed every 3 metres or so. I spent the next 4 hours trying to avoid hitting these things while trying not to crash into the wall while avoiding being run over by gravel trucks.

My marker / pen ink artwork depicting the ride to Mallow. There was zero shoulder. In fact, if I had 1 inch for my tire, it was a miracle. I would have to say that this was the worst ride of my life. At one point I actually contemplated stopping the trip. I also imagined if I got a flat tire. How would I deal with that? There was literally no space to do anything. I would need a helicopter rescue.