So yeah, I’m cycling to Sligo

That’ll be me on the left in the Sky jersey, heading off on first cycle yesterday

SLIGO. I’ve driven there countless times. I’ve taken the bus there. I’ve taken the train there. But I’ve never cycled there. Actually, the farthest I ever cycled in one swoop was about 10 miles on an exercise bike, a run around town is enough for me and at that, only if the weather is good. To correct that, I’m cycling to Sligo. Last week I didn’t have a bike, now I do. Last week I had never cycled beyond ten miles, now I have.

The route we’re taking (when I say we, I’ll be joined on this trip by my father, brother and cousin, the latter pair also pretty much in the same position as myself) runs about 150 miles and the plan is to do this over two days in October. 2010. I bought the bike on Friday gone, had the first cycle yesterday (and managed 22.17 miles at first time of asking, ticking along around 16.5 mph average) and I’ve got six weeks to get myself into some kind of shape to make the cycle to Sligo. This coming from someone who sits at a desk most of the day, hasn’t maintained any serious level of fitness or exercise in years and who has developed a serious taste for dining out and ordering in over the last few months, much to the detrement of both my wallet and health.

There are plenty of reasons for doing this. Festival season has been good to us folk in Kilkenny and I’ve just come off ten days and nights of the Kilkenny Arts Festival, which were rather good to me in terms of food and the late night pint. Throw in a comedy festival, Roots festival, and more besides and it turns out I haven’t been completely looking after myself food and fitness-wise, so I figure it’s a good way to get in shape. Then there’s the challenge part of it. There’s nothing like overcoming a massive obstacle when you put your mind to it. In my case, the obstacle is a 238 km trip from my home in Kilkenny to the family home in Sligo. It’ll save on diesel anyway.

I’ve tried the C25K running programme, made it half-way once, almost finished it another time but found that I was able to carry the pace of 5km a lot sooner than 9 weeks so got bored. I don’t get to see my kayak all that often (it resides in Sligo at the moment) so figure cycling is a good a way as any to get fit and give yourself a challenge. I get a call one day last week from my cousin (also pictured above) that went something along the lines of “come on, we’ll go look at bikes in Dublin”. After all, if one is to cycle anywhere, one must have a bike and unfortunately I don’t think the mountain bike picked up last summer would cut such a trek.

So, Friday meant a trip to Cycle Superstore in Dublin to collect the bike above, a Cube Agree SL 10. I should thank Justin for his assistance in the shop there, he looked after us well for the afternoon both with the bikes, the service and the pricing (we walked in looking for three bikes, pedals, new gear for me and more besides).

Next thing you know I’m up on the bike, first cycle out of the way (yesterday) and on my way to getting in some kind of “show shape” as I like to call it, for October. We’ve earmarked the weekend of October 8/9/10, take a chunk of one day to cycle Kilkeny to Athlone, then do Athlone to Sligo the following morning. If things go really well and there’s nice weather the previous weekend, sure we might try that one. Either way, I’ve got six weeks before hitting the road and I’m very much looking forward to it.

Note that this isn’t a charity cycle or fundraising cycle, this is four of us (two at complete beginner status, one with a few years experience, and one who gets notions to travel the world by bike every now and again) taking off for the fun element, and hopefully with a pint at the finish line. It’s all healthy eating until then! If you’re interested, I’ll be writing about the experience over here for a few weeks. May as well be blogging about the whole thing. Whether or not I stay cycling afterwards remains to be seen but it’s a nice goal to have in sight for a start!

2manydjs Tickets Up For Grabs

If you’re not a reader of KilkennyMusic.com you might have missed a ticket giveaway there.

Heineken Green Spheres comes to Kilkenny this weekend bringing with it Delorentos, Alex Metric (both Friday), Jape (Saturday) and 2manydjs on Sunday night.

While the first three gigs have tickets available first come first served, we’ve got two pairs of tickets for 2manydjs to give away for the Sunday night.

All you have to do is answer a simple question on the blog and we’ll draw the winners on Wednesday at midday.

Get in while you can…

Note: posted via WordPress for Android.

Kilkenny Arts Festival Needs You

I’m back on the festival trail again this year with the Kilkenny Arts Festival and they’re looking for volunteers (see Facebook) on the ground and on the road from August 5th to 20th (the festival itself runs from August 6th to 15th this year). There is no previous experience necessary for festival volunteers, with the minimum requirement being that you are at least 14 years old. If successful, you’ll be briefed on your role a full week before the festival, though the closing date to get your application in is this Friday July 23rd.

Days volunteering may be short, long, a real mixed bag of things but it can be a great way to see a festival and meet some new folk at the same time.

The festival team are also looking for drivers throughout the festival. If you’re aged 25 or over and have a full, clean driving license and are interested in working as a driver on the festival, get in touch with Valerie on 056 7763663. Drivers with Class D (minibus) licenses are also required. The forms are also available to download here.

Note: The above clip is part of a conversation I had with Theatre and Dance curator Tom Creed ahead of this year’s festival. Thanks to the Project Arts Centre in Dublin for letting us use the space in the afternoon. I’ll be blogging my way through the Festival over at KilkennyArts.ie.

Keep It Easy (Short)

THANKLESS FILMS have been making a name for themselves locally over the past few weeks and months with the production of a number of comedic shorts including Collusion, La Grande Chasse De L’ane Amende and ComaStoned. Last Thursday night they premiered their latest offering, Keep It Easy, at the Bridgebrook Arms in Thomastown. Check it out above, featuring the on-screen talents of David Thompson (guy), Freda Murphy (girl) and Dermot Tobin (guy in woods).

Check out Dave’s blog for more.

Devious Theatre & Dario Fo

FROM LAST September to March gone, I spent seven months producing (and acting in) two major productions with The Devious Theatre Company. We embarked on the mission of a Dario Fo season. Not content with doing just one show, we sprang for two and almost went for a third two months ago. Of all of our productions to date, Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay! will stand out for a long time to come.

Whereby with previous shows we’ve released clips of various scenes, the Mycrofilms crew have put together a mashup of both productions in around six minutes or so to give you a flavour of what took place in the Set Theatre in Kilkenny in December 2009 and March 2010.

The good news for theatre folk is that we may be back sooner than you thought. After all, it wouldn’t be a summer in Kilkenny without some kind of Devious activity…

Kilkenny Arts Festival Launches

ONE OF the highlights of my calendar year (and that of Kilkenny) is the Kilkenny Arts Festival. Now in its 36th year, this year’s festival runs from August 6th to 15th and is packed to the hilt with the best in music, theatre and dance, visual arts, literature, children’s events and more. A long time spectator, last year was the first year I’ve volunteered on the festival and I’m back (along with John Morton) in the same role last year in producing the online content for the festival duration (and blogging the festival via the KAF blog).

That started yesterday with the launch in Dublin where Fergus Shiel put a group of professional singers through their paces to announce the KAF programme for 2010 through a choral performance. The same will be repeated in Kilkenny on August 14th where Fergus will lead a group of around 200 singers through a performance in St. Canice’s Catherdral where works will include Rossini’s Sabat Mater and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy.

Check out the video above, or watch the Qik clip of the launch yesterday as it happened.

Make Money On YouTube – YouTube Partnerships

There have been some good chats going on locally of late in relation to video content creation and monetising video content online. A mail in the inbox over the weekend prompted me towards the YouTube Partner Programme. On the outside it’s certainly looks more like an option for those who are uploading regularly and clocking up some serious video videos (thousands to millions) but the minimum criteria covers ownership, copyright and age.

Check the full details here or view the video above for more of an insight as to how the Partner programme works.

Next thing I’d like to know is what (if any, or many) Irish groups are able to generate reasonable revenue from their YouTube content?

Kilkenny Open Coffee For June

photo credit: Yuki Mizuguchi

IT’S THAT time of the month again, tomorrow today is Open Coffee morning in Kilkenny (follow on Twitter).

For almost 18 months now we’ve been operating on the first Wednesday of every month and regardless of whether there’s a dozen people there or two people there, it’s a morning I very much look forward to in the month as a chance to catch up with folk, shoot the breeze over some tea, talk a little shop, sport, tech, gadgets, demos, whatever is going.

Wednesday’s meet takes place, as usual, at the rear of the Kilkenny Café in Market Cross Shopping Centre (map here) and kicks off at 11am. Free wifi and chats are available so if you’re reading this at your desk or on your phone this morning and you’ve got a half hour / hour to spare in your day or just want to pop your head in to say hello, do come along.

May Everyone Everywhere Find Their Way

It’s rare enough that I’ll pop my head up to share an advertising video, but the theatrical side of me really likes this extended viral for Nokia’s SatNav campaign. Between work and new ventures in the past two months I’ve found myself on the road a lot, have taken many wrong turns in Dublin, some wrong turns in Cork, but having a sat nav in the van and on the phone eventually brought me back to Kilkenny.

I’ve strayed from the N95 as my primary handset in recent weeks but for road and street warriors packing any of Nokia’s recently released handsets, there’s some free maps to be had with Ovi Maps.

Now to break out the notebook and get me some blog posts…

Kilkenny Open Coffee for May

photo credit: insidious_plots

THE NEXT gathering of Kilkenny Open Coffee is tomorrow morning (Wednesday 5th) at Kilkenny Cafe, Market Cross Shopping Centre on High St., Kilkenny. All are welcome, whether you’re involved in business, technology, a web worker, home worker, artist or otherwise. Come along, tell us what you’re up to, bring a friend, plug your business, website and meet new people working (quite possibly) in the same sector as yourself. This will be the fifth meetup of the year and I’ll be looking to get back to KOCC tomorrow morning myself having missed last month’s outing.

If you’re coming along, we usually meet up at 11am at the back of Kilkenny Cafe (around the couches and bigger tables). There’s usually some type of offer available on coffee / tea / scones etc., free wifi available and powerpoints on the floor too for anyone bringing a laptop along, though admittedly laptops are rare at the Kilkenny mornings.

You can follow Kilkenny Open Coffee on Twitter or check the map here. For those cycling / driving, there is plenty of parking available in Market Cross car park with bike bays available on street level as well.

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