Friends take city bikes across border within 24-hour limit
THE capital's new bikes are not built for speed.
That's the verdict of the first man to bring one across the border -- and back -- on the same day.
When student Ben Kitchin heard about the launch of the Dublinbikes scheme last month, he and friend David Moran hatched an ambitious plan to see if they could cycle to Co Down, Northern Ireland, on the bikes, but still manage to return them within the mandatory 24-hour time period.
"I sent an email to Dublin City Council and I got a call back the next morning -- the guy said the whole office was in stitches to think someone could be that stupidly ambitious," said Mr Kitchin (22) from Sligo.
"They thought it would be good fun to see if we could do it and offered to waive the fee."
He and Mr Moran (24) an IT worker from Dublin, set off from the city centre at 6am on Saturday morning to attempt their 115km odyssey.
"We were completely unprepared, hadn't done any training and quickly realised that the bikes weren't road bikes," said Mr Kitchin, a business and economics student at Trinity College Dublin. "They're very heavy and between that and the strong headwind we were facing into, we made slow progress."
The pair arrived in Warrenpoint, outside Newry, at around 6pm, after cycling roughly nine or 10 miles an hour to get there.
"We were exhausted and treated ourselves to a well-earned pint," said Mr Kitchin.
The friends hired a van to drive them and the bikes home, and had both slotted into their stands in the nick of time.
"It was great craic and we're proud to say we were the first people to take them out of the country," said Mr Kitchin.
- Caitrina Cody
Irish Independent
