I help retirees rediscover cycling through Ireland's most beautiful lakeland routes

I grew up in Athlone and spent my teenage years cycling the quiet roads around Lough Ennell and Lough Derravaragh. Those weren't planned routes back then — just me on a bike, exploring what was around the next bend. But something stuck with me about those journeys. It wasn't just the cycling. It was the stories in every landscape.

After finishing my Geography degree at UCD, I worked for the Irish Tourist Board cataloguing rural routes. That's where I learned the technical side — GPS data, accessibility audits, safety documentation. But it felt incomplete. The routes on paper didn't capture what made them special. They didn't show you the crannog islands, the heritage stories, or why a 65-year-old cyclist would suddenly feel confident again on these roads.

In 2013, I published a comprehensive guide to the Belvedere House cycling loop. It went viral among retirement cycling communities. That's when things changed. I started getting messages from people saying they'd gotten back on bikes after years away. Some were recovering from health challenges. Others just needed permission to try something they thought they'd outgrown. That's when I realized what I actually wanted to do — create routes and guides specifically designed for older adults who wanted to cycle again, not routes that happened to work for them.

The past decade's been about testing routes with cyclists of varying abilities, interviewing hundreds of riders about what actually matters to them, and partnering with local historians to uncover the stories behind each path. I've worked with Westmeath Tourism Board, local councils, and community groups to establish proper cycling infrastructure. And I've guided relatives and friends back into cycling after health setbacks. That personal experience shapes everything I write.