11 May 2018

RevUp Rolls Again

Paul Browne joined RevUp and enjoyed some fine riding in good company whilst raising funds for a good cause.

RevUp has been running each and every May Bank Holiday since in 2006, raising almost two million Euro for Down Syndrome Ireland along the way.

The routes are always fascinating and even for a well-travelled motorcycle journalist, there is always a new and interesting selection of roads to ride. Some are excellent, all are good!

The participants pay in to ride the event and all the money raised went, this year, to buying a school bus for St Michaels School Holy Angels. All the students at this Dublin school have a Mild General Learning Disability.

The event kicks off each year at Joe Duffy BMW in Dublin’s Finglas. The  happiest motorcycle store staff have the place opened up nice and early and the ever pleasant Paddy Dagger mans the coffee machine like the pro that he is!

RevUp is a navigation exercise so there is no riding out ‘en masse’. Rather riders pick up a route sheet or a download one onto a navigation unit and head off in there own time in smaller groups.

The first section was very much an ‘old school’ Sunday morning run for those of us who live in or around the Dublin area, with a long spin through Wicklow all the way down to Woodenbridge.

Some of us stopped here to take in the warm weather and snack on the packed lunches that were provided by the crew back in Dublin.

From there we rode on over a selection of fantastic roads to the home of the Electric Picnic, Stradbally, in County Laois.

Getting the hump

The final stage of the day led us to the midlands and over the most epic hump back bridge I’ve ridden over since a bit of bother I had years ago on Leeson Street in Dublin. From there we rode on to the Hodson Bay Hotel on the correct side of the Shannon.

The following day was all on the west side of the country with a stop in Glenamaddy before riding out to the Atlantic coast.

Now usually what goes on tour stays on tour. On the way there, however, we paused to take in the view over Killary Fjord. While stopped in the layby someone parked his brand new R1200RT on a slope and it rolled off the stand. Ouch! That was, thankfully, the worst incident of the weekend. Don’t worry Arthur, your secret is safe with us and we won’t breathe a word of it to anyone!

By the time we reached Roundstone some of us were so relaxed and sociable over an excellent lunch that we had to take the shorter route back to the hotel to make dinner at 8pm.

Dinner in the Hodson Bay was excellent, the presentations brief and included some very moving letters from the students of St Michaels, including Robyn Lynam, Aidan’s daughter.

The following day we wound our way back to the Lucan Spa Hotel on the outskirts of Dublin where we learned that we had raised enough money to buy the bus and more. You would have been proud of us Ted…

Registration for 2019 will open soon so save the date: 4th – 6th May 2019!! For more details visit www.revup.ie.