Ride 05/03/2022

Well it’s a bright sunny day with little wind today but it also made it a bloody cold day to start, barely getting above zero degrees to start with. There were 9 of us on the bun run today doing the usual route. The day did warm up a bit after the cafe stop but ti didn’t really get any higher than 7 degrees or so but at least there was little wind to make the chill factor worse. Once we topped Knockhill I went on my own again to make up some millage, heading towards Kelty and through Cowdenbeath down to Aberdour and Dalgety Bay before heading back up to Crossgates. 57 miles clocked up today at an avg speed of 15 mph.

Ride 27/02/2022

Well today was a far better ride as I got home still in one piece. There were 8 of us today and it’s quite a nice day, very sunny, little wind, compared to yesterday but a little bit colder than yesterday. We did the usual bun run today with a slight detour going home. I headed into Dalgety bay with some of the other guys and then headed uphill to home, this afforded me 55 miles compared to the usual 50 that I would do on a Sunday but at a slightly slower speed today. A better ride than yesterday but I wasn’t looking to go nuts today I’m still trying to recover from yesterdays ride

Ride 26/02/2022

Well at least today I wasn’t on my own There were 10 of us today on a dry but windy day. Usual bun run to the cafe stop and then home again but at Redcraigs I would be leaving the group to do some extra miles. Having the group to shelter me from the wind was handy to start with but once on my own I would be feeling the full force of it. This wasn’t an issue when it’s a tail wind but OMG once I hit the east side of Loch Leven I was slammed by it, I barely got any faster than 13-14 mph and that was with putting down close to 300 watts! I had this pretty much all the way home and since I was looking to do 70 miles today it hurt. Glad to be back home and completed the distance but I’m shattered now, so 70 miles clocked up at a shy off 16 mph avg speed, need to stay off my legs for the rest of the day

Ride 20/02/2022

Me, myself and I today. So today I was on my own, it wasn’t a terrible weather day, on the contrary it was dry and sunny when I left the house but it was very windy today and I suspect that was why no one else turned up today. I decided to change the route a little bit and skip out Knockhill again and go down Saline along my way to the cafe stop. I was head wind all the way so it was hard going but manageable. At the cafe stop I had my usual coffee and cake and headed back home, again changing the route to do the reverse of the Saturday bun run and not go the usual Sunday route home. It was at this point it started to rain a bit but not very much, at least compared to what I was expecting from the weather forecast for today. In fact the rain didn’t get very heavy at all at least until I hit Cairneyhill then it got a bit heavier but no way near as bad as last Sunday. Thankfully no mechanical’s so a good run today clocking up 45 miles at an avg speed of 15 mph.

Ride 19/02/2022

Interesting ride today no thanks to the issues I had with my front wheel. So there were 4 of us today and the weather was ok, sunny, little wind but a bit on the cold side. Pace was good today so I didn’t feel the cold too much but about 2 miles from the cafe stop I noticed my front tyre was a bit soft but I couldn’t pump it up any more than it was already, I’m guessing it was a slow puncture but it didn’t go completely flat, so I pressed onto the cafe stop where I would take a closer look. At the cafe stop I looked at the front tyre and tube, the tyre had a small split in it but it hadn’t gone right through the tyre so I replaced the inner tube and all was well, or so I thought… After our cafe stop we headed home, skipping out Knockhill in favour for Saline where once at the top I departed and decided I would go for the 65 miles target I had for today. I nearly made it back home but unfortunately my tyre decided at this point to blow out with quite the bang. Luckily for me I was only 1 and a half miles from home so I walked the rest of the way back home but when the tyre blew I had only done 59 miles. So at home it was a quick pit stop to replace the tyre and tube with new ones and I carried on to make up the rest of the miles I needed. So target meet but my avg speed took a nose dive thanks to the walk home, I was sitting at around 16.5 mph but once I had completed the ride it had dropped to 14.5 mph

Ride 13/02/2022

Wet, wet veerryy weeett!! I think this is probably the wettest ride I’ve ridden since 2011 and as much as I tried to prepare for this, I wasn’t going to win. So today we were doing the first official club ride of the year which was going to be about 60 odd miles. I new it was going to rain so I had my wet gear and 2 pairs of cloves just to make sure, and as much as it wasn’t hammering it down, it was consistent for the entire ride. This meant that by the time we got to Auchtermuchty, our cafe stop, I was soaked through and through. The cafe stop was probably the best one we’ve had in quite a while, great food and service. A bowl of soup, coffee and cake later and I was ready to crack on, although I was only partially dried out and I did put on my second set of gloves at this point. On the road back to home we had a couple of punctures and mechanicals which slowed us down a bit, and we did take the shortest route home rather than doing the course that was set out, mainly to get out of the rain as quickly as possible, but overall I think it was worth doing the ride So 59 miles clocked up, this was enough for me I was soaked and a little cold and just wanted to get home to a warm shower, at an avg speed of 15 mph. I will be glad when we can get out of the monsoon season and into a more drier one.

Ride 12/02/2022

Another windy day today, there were 9 of us on the ride and given the weather conditions we weren’t going particularly fast. Unfortunately I was having bike issues with me even falling of the bike and grazing my knee due to my chain ring being worn down, thankfully I was at a T junction and not going fast. I’ll have to replace that asap otherwise my chain will just keep slipping causing me to fall off the bike Anyway given the weather and bike issues I opted to not do extra, especially given we’re doing our first 100k bike ride tomorrow, where I’ll have to probably ride in the little ring given the big ring being worn out, should make for an interesting ride tomorrow. Anyway just shy of 45 miles clocked up today at an avg speed of 14 mph.

Ride 06/02/2022

Bit of a 4 seasons in 1 day today, there were 6 of us today and we decided to do the same route as we did a few weeks ago, heading through Saline and down to Dollar following the foot hills to Stirling. We would stop there for our coffee stop and then head home via Fallin and Airth, crossing back over the Kincardine bridge to head home the usual Sunday route. It started out pretty windy, head wind all the way to Stirling and then it started raining but thankfully not as bad as yesterday, I wasn’t soaked by the time I got home. We then hit snow after the cafe stop and then had some sunshine which lasted most off the way home, at least until I hit Crossgates where it started to snow again. Anyway 60 miles clocked up at 15 mph avg speed so given the weather conditions we still did quite well.

Ride 05/02/2022

7 of us braved it out today and what a day it was! Very windy and wet and although it wasn’t hammering it down, it was heavy enough to soak me through even before we got to the cafe stop! Even with all my layers and wet gear by the time I got home I had to wring the water out of my gear before going inside. We even decide to skip out Knockhill due to the conditions and head straight up Saline where I departed on my own way home heading to Kelty and then over Hill of Beath. So only 45 miles done at an avg speed of 15 mph and I was very glad of the hot shower when I got home, now I hope I can dry out my cycling gear for tomorrow…

Ride 30/01/2022

Well it’s a far better day today than yesterday, there was no wind or rain although it was a little bit colder but not enough to bother me. 9 of us today doing the usual Sunday bun run with the cafe stop at Muircot unfortunately Robert punctured again about a mile from the cafe stop. Once I had my coffee and cake Robert punctured again going out of the cafe so that ended his day their and then whilst the rest of us continued on without incident. 6 of us went home via Rosyth with me doing a little extra towards the end of the ride to make up 8 miles I missed yesterday. So all in all I did 60 miles at an avg speed of 16 mph.

Ride 29/01/2022

With storm Malik causing havoc last night and today I decided not to try and ride in 60+ mph winds this morning and wait until this afternoon until the wind had died down to 40+ mph. This was still difficult to ride in, riding into a 40 mph headwind just sucks, a lot I was lucky if I got to 12 mph and that was me peddling hard! It got even hairyer when I was side winds, I had to be careful I didn’t get blown off my bike there. So I decided to do a shortened version of the bun run today and skip out Knockhill and just head up Saline instead, this would mean knocking nearly 10 miles of my total distance but given the weather conditions I was willing to let that one go. Because I waited until after lunch I was on my own for the ride and I also didn’t bother stopping, it would be a shorter route and getting dark by the time I got home. Thankfully once I got as far as the usual cafe stop I would be turning and heading home with a very fast tailwind This helped a lot for getting me home quick and keeping the avg speed to a decent level. So in the end I clocked up 42 miles at an avg speed of 15 mph and that was fine with me.

Ride 23/01/2022

Weather wise today was pretty much the same as yesterday which meant we had a head wind to start with but a tail wind for the return home. It started out ok today we got to the cafe stop without incident but unfortunately after the cafe stop one of us was plagued with punctures, 3 of them in short succession which goes to explain why today’s ride was so long and delayed. After blowing 2 inner tubes I gave Robert one of my thicker larger tubes and that got him back to Dunfermline without any more punctures. I was again looking to do some extra elevation today so I headed for Hill of Beath and rep’d the Old Perth Road a few times to get me to 4000 feet of climbing. So 63 miles clocked up at 14 mph avg speed, not a particularly fast ride today but head winds, punctures and hill climbing don’t make up for fast riding