Comment & Analysis:Michael McDowell and his The Irish Times editors have been around long enough to know that MetroLink as a project is not mainly designed to serve Dublin Airport. Its planned to be a nearly 19km of high-capacity railway with 16 stations.Yet, after decades of some form of metro being proposed on the northside, were still getting articles based around Dublin Airport being the only place north of the Liffey that needs serving by high capacity, high frequency and reasonably fast rail link. The headline of his latest article is Is the Metrolink really the best way to provide a rail link to Dublin Airport? and the standfirst is A new strategy review document favours building a surface railway to serve Dublin Airport by linking it to the Dublin suburban network at Clongriffin.Headlines can often be attributed to editors or subeditors rather than the writer, but within the article text, McDowell writes: Intriguingly the new strategy review document now favours building a surface railway to serve Dublin Airport by linking it to the Dublin suburban network at Clongriffin, but he adds: But we are told that this investment would merely complement the massively expensive Metrolink subway project which the NTA is currently attempting to persuade An Bord Pleanla to authorise.But McDowell also posted a link to the article on Twitter without expressing any issue with its editing.This level of focus on the airport amounts to disinformation.Misinformation is where people are getting the facts wrong, while disinformation is designed to deliberately mislead people. Both often suck people in by being combined with facts and things that sound plausible. On the point of the airport, Ill let McDowell and his editors argue over whos more responsible for it.The article is also another clear example of McDowells unwillingness or inability to do the most basic research before writing an article for a national newspaper. He wrote: The strategic rail review plan does not include any radical expansion of the Dublin Luas network, presumably because it is concerned with heavy rail only.Theres no reason to presume anything here unless hes unable to read All-Island Strategic Rail Review, in which case why is he writing an article about it and muddling his different ideas about rail together. McDowell is known to be a keen legal mind but he uses the phrase reopening lines abandoned and then mentions the Waterford-Wexford and the Mullingar-Athlone lines. These lines have not been abandoned and remain fully in the ownership of the State via CIE.In legal terms, abandoned railways have very clear meanings and a national newspaper calling State-owned property abandoned is reckless, considering that there have been many infringements on some disused lines in the past.He uses much of his article to outline factual points of the rail review, but the way he does so is a distortion too. Readers might be left with the impression they know what the plan is about but a large part of the review suggests capacity improvements along main lines which serve intercity and other inter-urban routes including double tracking lines, adding passing loops, and even building standalone tracks to separate inter-urban services from suburban rail.Some on social media even think McDowells many mistakes are intentional such as saying, A DART underground interconnector between Heuston and Connolly stations. Dart Underground was not planned to go to Connolly but to the Docklands. This is not just a nerdy point; the fact that McDowell keeps getting these points wrong goes to the heart of his lack of understanding of why rail projects are built for capacity reasons along a corridor, not just to serve locations as a tickbox exercise.A Dart Underground tunnel from Heuston and Connolly or a rail link from Clongriffin to the airport would have serious capacity issues. An Irish Rail executive recently informed the Oireachtas Transport Committee that this could be done by Irish Rail in less than five years. The committee was told that such a surface rail link to Dublin Airport would cost less than 1 billion, McDowell wrote. The capacity issue on the northern line to allow for the Clongriffin to airport link is noted and solved in the rail review by adding extra tracks between Clongriffin and the city centre. In other words, not under 1 billion in total. And it would be yet another project where the likes of McDowell can complain about the cost of rail while blindly advocating for more motorways without talking about the best use of funding for society widely, including climate change, good planning, etc.On the lack of Luas he writes: With new technology (including VLR -very light rail- or trackless tramsets), the Luas network could be expanded to cover most of Dublins suburbs rather than the minority of the city now served by the Luas Green and Red lines.Very light rail is total nonsense driven to appease people like McDowell who do not want to spend money on public transport, and trackless tramsets are buses.Maybe the most honest part of his article is his listing of road projects and his apparent fear that rail projects will consume the funding which would otherwise go to large-scale road projects. That seems to get to the real issue he and other commenters like him have with rail transport, which is why they have thrown everything they can at delaying or derailing projects.McDowell writes: The strategy optimistically envisages switching much of the road freight traffic to trains operating from ports to inland rail freight hubs. Is that practical? Does it make sense to largely abandon road transport if we also plan for cars, vans and trucks powered by electricity, hydrogen and other renewables?However, the rail review report states: This Review has therefore considered how the railway could support a level of rail freight mode comparable to Western European countries around 10%, which reflects an ambition to use rail freight to decarbonise the islands transport system.How on earth does McDowell come out with phrases like switching much of the road freight traffic to trains and largely abandon road transport when were talking about around 10% of a share of land freight switching to rail?Readers will have to decide if McDowell is a misinformation mastermind or totally clueless and unable to even skim through a report.Finishing the article, he then asks: Who is making these choices? What likelihood is there of implementing this distant vision? Experts are making the recommendations and, at the end of the day, politicians are making the choices if projects are given the green light once planning is secured.The likelihood of projects getting to that stage is reduced due to highly misleading attacks on public transport. McDowell, in the article, also lists the funding spent on Dart Underground, which is shelved for the foreseeable future. Metro North, the predecessor to MetroLink, also had huge sunken costs because it did not proceed.One of the largest risks to large-scale projects is delay be it sunken costs or inflation. Any time repeated calls for project evaluation based on cost concerns are made, it usually means a higher price tag than if the project had proceeded. The people or politicians who claim to have cost concerns should look for projects to be built faster.A lot of blame for that kind of waste of funding due to large-scale projects not proceeding in a timely manner is the responsibility of Government Ministers over the years, who have collective Cabinet responsibility. This includes McDowells time as Minister. So, McDowell is part of the problem in so many ways.

Another big entry for the circuit test as multiple CTT National Champion Kate Allan goes for a fourth title crown this year

The MBR Show is now available as a podcast on many of the major platforms, so you can listen in the car, on the train, in then gym, or even while you're doing the washing up!Still image taken from the MBR ShowHopefully youve watched the monthly MBR Show on our YouTube channel its been going for 10 months now, and Continue reading

For those who watch cycling closely, it was impossible to miss the name Jonas Abrahamsen during the 2024 Tour de France. The Uno-X Mobility rider was constantly on the attack during the race and the team pulled out all the stop to keep him onboard. A new contract was signed all the way until 2028....

Its a bit moist around these parts at the moment, so this morning I chose a be-fendered bike for my ride:But before heading out I figured Id address my bar tape situation:While I generally like the feel of cork tape, I felt the Homer could use something more befitting its distinguished personality and lugged sensibility. Also, this particular cork tape is recycledI think Ive re-used it three times at this pointand its pretty ragged as a result. (This is why theres so much electrical tape on it.) So I figured Id Riv it up a little with some Newbaums:Despite being a Rivendell owner since March of 2020, Id never actually wrapped a bar with Newbaums myself, which is sort of like being an old-timey gentleman whos never waxed his own moustache:However, Im an old hand at wrapping drop bars, and I also planned to wrap the Newbaums over the tape that was already on there. Not only would this save time, but Id also get to enjoy the best of both worlds: the look and feel of the cotton cloth, and the extra girth and cushioning of the cork. All in, I figured this couldnt possibly take more than 10 or 15 minutes, especially since I wasnt planning to shellac it or wrap it in twine or treat it with rendered beaver fat or whatever else the real cloth tape aficionados do to it. So I opened the package and got to work:Unwrapping the tape, the first thing that surprised me was that the Newbaums has an adhesive backing, and a pretty sticky one at that. No doubt everyone else in the world already knows this, as would I if Id taken two seconds to read about it, but for some reason I just assumed it was plain old cloth and that if you wanted adhesive you had to treat it with rendered beaver fat or something. The second thing I learned was that, unlike cork tape, if youre not careful the Newbaums easily folds over on itself and gets stuck to its own rather tacky adhesive backing, which if youre an idiot whos in a big hurry to head out for a ride means youre soon looking at a situation like this:At every turn it seemed like I managed to get the tape tangled up either in itself or else around some part of the bicycle:So Id untangle it, only for it to quickly get tangled again in some way I didnt think was possible:It was like the zipper scene in Theres Something About Mary:Sorry.Clearly instead of working right off the giant roll I should have figured out how much tape Id need and cut it first, then wrapped the bars more carefully, peeling off the backing slowly as I went. But it was too late now, and in my haste Id not only wound up with a great big knot but also started missing spots along the way:Furthermore, this debacle was now cutting into my ride time, and so using a scissor I quite literally cut my losses and hoped I still had enough tape left to properly wrap the bars another day.Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.With that now behind me, I headed out into a light drizzle:You know, the old cork tapes really not so bad, I tried to convince myself:Speaking of bars, some riders argue that integrated shifting is one of the greatest technological advances of the modern era, and its certainly ideal for race bikes, but Id say that strictly in terms of convenience a bar-end shifter is just as good:And with a low-normal/RapidRise/whatever derailleur a gentle nudge with the palm is all it takes to downshift:Though a bar-end shifter does require you to set your drop bars at a sensible height that allows you to comfortably use all the various hand positions including the drops, whereas 95% of road bike riders keep their hands on their brake hoods 95% of the time and the drops are only there for aesthetic reasons. In any case it felt good to be back on a normal bike:And as much as I enjoy riding the Y-Foil when I think about it while on the Homer it seems like some crazy lampshade I put on my head when I got drunk at a party:Oh, and further to a recent post, Ive confirmed that the Y-Foil was in fact designed to be suspension ready:[PDF]It truly is the anti-Rivendell, right down to the fact that the absence of a seat tube means your water bottle gets splattered with road grit, whereas the Homer allows you to use fenders and keep both your pendulous saddle bag and your rear suspension system (by which I mean the leather saddle) nice and clean:Its truly a bike for all seasons.

Haven't you heard? Every newspaper and website in Britain suddenly cares about cycling for a week?

On the 10th of August we have got the first World Tour event following the Tour de France. The Clsica San Sebastin is often one of the most reputable one-day races, and every year sees a quality field of classics riders and climbers fight for victory. We preview the race ahead.The route will tota...

If you own an ebike, youre probably aware of the limits of your bike rack (if not, you should be). Depending on the model, ebikes can be extremely heavy which could potentially overload your hitch rack. (Photos/Saris)Theres good news for Saris MHS bike rack owners though as the brand just upped the weight limit for the two-bike rack from 60lbs each, to a massive 100lbs per tray. That change comes after extensive testing that confirmed heavier bikes could safely be carried on existing racks. If you run the third bike add-on, that weight limit drops to 80 lbs for the first two trays, and 35 lbs for the third, elevated tray. saris.comThe post Saris MHS 2-Bike Rack Now Certified to Carry Up to 100lbs Per Tray appeared first on Bikerumor.

The Olympic Games have seen a lot of action in the road and Mountain Biking events and the priority now shifts to the track. There has been a lot of thrilling action today, we summarize the events.Day 3 of the Olympic track cycling schedule was kicked offby one of the oldest Olympic events, the me...

The Bearclaw Thunderhawk is a do-it-all titanium gravel bike with clearance for 29 x 2.0" tires, lots of mounting points, and geometry suited for a wide range of conditions and riding styles. Bearclaw just announced an updated version with SRAM UDH, revised geo, and more...The post The Updated 2024 Bearclaw Thunderhawk is Here appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.