Ride 02/11/2025

Well today was a much better ride, probably because it was an easier ride and the hill climb was at the beginning rather than the end 😀 13 of us on the bun run today and weather wise it was ok, overcast, a little windy but dry and not freezing, pretty good for November. Normal route today and I was able to keep up with my peers (just) and not get spat out the back. Coffee and cake were had at the cafe stop with a nice tail wind on the way home. So today I clocked up 50 miles at an avg speed of 17 mph and didn’t suffer too much for it, slightly sore arms due to being in the aero position a bit more but the rest of me is still in one piece and that can only be a good thing 😁

Ride 01/11/2025 bun run pt 1
Ride 01/11/2025 bun run pt 2

Well back on the club run after a month off with COVID and the performance damage is very evident 😥😵 I absolutely hate being of ill as the hit to my cycling prowess is immediate and destructive, and this makes it so much harder each time to gain back 😭 Each claw back is harder than the previous one, no thanks to me getting older 😁 but all the same I can really do without it, as just maintaining the fitness is difficult enough as is. So, today’s ride was wet, windy but not too cold but it was still a struggle to keep up with the group, I was either at the back or out the back and chasing back on was taking its toll. They say data doesn’t lie, and if so then the numbers were very worrying, this isn’t to say I won’t get them back but oh boy the hard work that I’m going to have to do is going to suck. As an example the last 2 rides I did with the club at the end of Sep went like this –
27/09/2025 51 miles 18.7 mph 139 avg bpm 167 avg watts
28/09/2025 73 miles 16.4 mph 126 avg bmp 152 avg watts
And today’s ride went like –
01/11/2025 47 miles 16.9 mph 160 avg bpm 155 avg watts
The fact that today my heart rate was through the roof (by my normal standards, just look at the ride data above) for not a very fast ride, not bad speed wise, but not where I was before. And the power I was putting down, again sucks, compared to before where I was a lower heart rate for a better power and speed just goes to prove the hill climb I have ahead and the length of time it’s going to take me to get there. Anyway rant over with 😉 There was 9 of us on the bun run today and like I said it was wet and windy which meant a head wind to begin with to the cafe stop. Suffice to say I was at the back for the entire ride, just doing my best to keep up and not get completely dropped. I made it to the cafe stop for coffee and cake before we headed back. Of course now the sun was out and the rain had abated a bit and we also had a tailwind now. But this is where the hard work would come in, the route back is mostly uphill and for some stupid reason my garmin decided to end the ride just as we were leaving the cafe stop 😕 so a ride of 2 halves it would be. I knew Knockhill was coming up so I was trying to save all my matches for that as I knew I would get hammered there but I was still pretty much put the back most of the way to the bottom of the climb. Anyway I made it to Knockhill and smashed all my matches to keep up with Colin and Iain, I was able to keep up but only at 189 bpm which is pretty much max heart rate for me. Under normal circumstances I would be able to put down more power and sit around 170 bpm which is fine with me, I do that when racing TT’s but now thats a little concerning, so here’s to when that starts to drop to normality. So, 47 miles clocked up at an avg speed of just under 17 mph for the total ride but with an avg heart rate of 160 bpm when it would usually be around 130/140 avg bpm. The one bright side was by the time I got home I wasn’t knackered, tired yes but not in bits and pieces, thank God for small graces 😁

Ride 28/09/2025
6 of us on the bun run today and it’s quite a pleasant day weather wise, chilly to start with but eventually the sun came out and warmed up the place. Usual run to the cafe stop for coffee and cake before heading home again. I decided to do some extra given it’s a nice day to cycle so did an extra loop over Cleish before heading back home again. So 73 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 16 mph 🙂

Ride 27/09/2025

Over 40 of us on the bun run today and weather wise it’s overcast but dry with little wind, so a decent day for cycling. I went with the first group today and given this was the slower ride at 09:00 I still had to ride at the 08:30 pace 😬 Not that I mind too much, it just wasn’t expected. Anyhow I did the normal route today with the cafe stop at the usual Stirling Mills cafes for roll and orange juice. Things went a little wry on the way back as I thought we were going to be riding to Milnathort, so Paul and I waited for the rest to catch up with us on the split for Knockhill, only to find out that everyone went over Knockhill 🙄 so you can imagine the chase we had to give to catch everyone up when we realised that everyone went over Knockhill instead 😳🥵 This lead to a very fast finish to the ride for us with some cups gained on the way 👍🏆 but I did burn poor old Paul a bit in the process 😁 This also meant that I was short on my distance by the time I got home so I had to tag on an extra 4 miles to make it to the 50 mile mark with and avg speed of over 18 mph 🚴 😅

Ride 21/09/2025

10 of us on the Sunday bun run and it’s another cold morning but sunny and a little bit of wind, the usual headwind to start with and tailwind to end with. Standard route for today with coffee and cake at the cafe stop before we headed home again. With some of the stronger riders in the group today it was a faster ride than normal with me clocking up 50 miles at and avg speed of over 17 mph, but given we are now heading into the winter months this will probably drop from now onwards.

Ride 20/09/2025

Belated yesterday’s ride on the early bun run, which was the last of the season. 8 of us turned up on a chilly morning albeit sunny with little wind. Normal route today to the cafe stop for the usual roll and drink before heading home again. Given my racing season is over now I decided to follow the rest of the group up to Milnathort and Kelty before heading home. So 60 miles clocked up at an avg speed of over 18 mph and that will be the last of that as I return to the slower 09:00 group next week 🙂

Ride 14/09/2025 Sep Randonee

6 of us on the Sep Randonee today and weather wise it was a bit chilly, overcast but not too windy but it was forecast to rain later on, so I was prepared with appropriate clothing which I was glad I had as it kept me warm today. Unfortunately for Colin he punctured just shot of Muthill and had to abandon the ride after 30 miles but we made it to the cafe stop in Crieff. Soup, cake and coffee were the order of the day before we continued on. We were kinda lucky today as the road over the moors was closed but we were able to get through, had we not gotten through it would have been quite the trek back the way we came as we had ridden 50 miles by that point. With a quick stop in Stirling for water we continued on through Aloa and down to Kincardine with the coastal road back to Dunfermline. I was looking to do 100 miles today so I continued on until my target with a little extra around Cowdenbeath before heading home. We were also lucky in that we didn’t get rained on as it was forecast to rain around 14:00 today but I managed to stay dry all the way up to 16:30 😁 Anyway 100 miles clocked up at and avg speed of 17 mph happy with that.

Ride 13/09/2025

Just Calum and I on the early bun run this morning, at least until Kincardine where Calum turned back to Dunfermline as he had a time limit on what he could do this morning. After that I was on my own to the cafe stop for the usual roll and orange juice. I meet up with the normal bun run group and followed then for the ride back home. Nothing extra this week, it was a straight shot home on the usual route over Knockhill and down to Dunfermline, and thankfully I beat the rain home. It was a cold start this morning, you can feel autumn is coming, but the sun was out a couple of times, but it got quite dark on the way home and as stated I got home just in time to miss the rain. So 51 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 17 mph.

Ride 07/09/2025

10 of us on the bun run today and weather wise it’s pretty much the same as yesterday but probably a little windier. No frills today, normal route taken with coffee and cake at the cafe stop before heading home again, although I did lead pretty much the entire ride round, but this was fine, I wasn’t going hard today. So 50 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 16 mph.

Ride 06/09/2025

4 of us on the early bun run and weather wise it’s a little overcast, light winds and warm, although the sun did show it’s face here and there. Usual route to the cafe stop for my morning roll and orange juice. We decided to take a different route home this time by heading to Stirling but swinging away from it at the last moment as we crossed the Forth river and headed north towards Bannockburn. We didn’t go into Bannockburn as we turned again back East towards Plean but took the quieter roads past the Pineapple and into Airth before crossing Kincardine bridge and heading back along the cost towards Dunfermline. Overall I clocked up 67 miles at an avg speed of 18 mph, a little low on the elevation but it was a flat route we took so that couldn’t be helped 😉

Ride 31/08/2025

7 of us on the Sunday bun run and weather wise it was warm but very windy, with most of the wind being cross wind 😬 Usual route this morning down to Stirling Mills cafe for coffee and cake 🙂 On the way back I think the wind picked up a little bit which made for some interesting cycling but overall a good day’s ride. 50 miles clocked up at an avg pace of 17 mph, not bad for a windy day 😅

Ride 30/08/2025

7 of us on the early bun run and weather wise it’s overcast but dry, warm and little wind. It was the usual route to the cafe stop for the usual fueling options, but afterwards since I have now finished the hill climb races I didn’t need to go up Cleish hill climb this week so I decided to join the rest of the group by heading up to Milnathort and doing a loop around loch Leven, before heading for Cowdenbeath and home. So, 65 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 19 mph, which is quite fast for a bun run ride but not too stressful for me, so I’m calling that a win 😁