Ride 08/06/2025 DCC ToK Sportive full route

So today I did the clubs Sportive and weather wise its was quite a nice day, cold to start with, but sunny, and it did warm up eventually. I was on the back foot from the get go as I was the last one to start the long route (92 miles) this morning 😁 So I was solo for the first 20 odd miles, until I started passing other riders. I did join a couple of groups here and there but I was wanting to do the ride on my own at my own pace. Riding in groups is fine but it’s a fine line between finding a group that’s too slow to one that’s too fast, which throws off my pacing strategy. But given I was cycling into the wind for those first 20 miles I could have done with a group. Anyway by the time I got to the first hill climb, Saline, I was in a small group which was roughly riding at my pace so I stuck with them until we got to Falkland hill. But first we would have to climb over Cleish on the easy side first before cycling to Leslie and up and over Falkland hill. This was a pleasant ride as we now had a tail wind but as I was looking to ride at pace I dropped off going up Falkland hill, I knew Cleish was the final climb of the day and I didn’t want to blow myself up before then. The second feed station was in Freuchie cricket club, familiar territory for me as this is where I do most of the TT races each week, so I stopped there to fill up on supplies to get me back to Dunfermline. I ran into Alan there but didn’t stop too long so I left before he did, but it didn’t take too long for him to catch me up. It was from here onwards that I stuck with Alan down to Lindores and back up to Auchtermuchty before heading to Strathmiglo which would put us into a head wind again 😕 From here we were heading for dryside road which is a long steady climb, not steep at all, but into the headwind I was struggling now, with all the fatigue and attrition I had taken to keep pace at this point was doing damage now and I knew I was going to have a bad time going up Cleish. I kept with the group up to Cleish but I dropped off at this point. This is probably the slowest I’ve ever gone up Cleish, I was suffering a lot at this point so I was in first gear for most of the climb just trying desperately not to blow myself up or cramp up. Thankfully I did get up it without having to push my bike, that’s just not going to happen 😆 and I got a little bit of a rest going down the other side. From here it was undulating but going past the rubbish tip would mean a bloody head wind again 🙁 I struggled on alone until Derek caught me up so I tagged along with him until the end which thank God was only 5 miles and down hill a bit. So, I’m absolutely shattered now and my pace of trying to do this at an avg speed of 18 mph was missed by 0.2 mph, as when I crossed the finish line I had avg 17.8 mph, so close yet so far, and I still had to ride home 😳 Anyway by the time I got home I had ridden 102 miles at an avg speed of 17.5 mph over 5300 feet of climbing, so I’m calling that a win 😋

Ride 01/06/2025

Well given the weather conditions I wasn’t surprised it was just me and Mark this morning doing the bun run 🙄 It was pretty horrendous to begin with, it was pissing it down and pretty windy to being with and given it’s a head wind it was just blasting into me 😫 It didn’t let up until we had climbed over Knockhill and were down into Powmill at which point the sun decided to come out for a little bit. Anyway we carried on to Tillicoultry and our cafe stop where I had coffee and cake before we cracked on with the rest of the ride. Thankfully the rain held off all the way home so I did get a small chance to dry out but not by much. So 50 miles clocked up at over 16 mph avg speed and I was glad to get home for a hot shower and some dry clothes.

Ride 31/05/2025

4 of us on the early bun run, weather wise it was wet roads but it didn’t rain, thankfully, but it was still muggy out. The wind seemed to be blowing from all directions but given it wasn’t strong it wasn’t a big deal. Given it was just the 4 of us we decided to go to Tilly Tea rooms for our cafe stop, this would still be our normal route, just a different cafe in Tillicoultry. Some cake and coffee we had at the cafe stop before heading home over knockhill. Once back in Dunfermline I did a little extra to get me to my 55 miles before calling it a day with an avg speed of 17 mph.

Ride 24/05/2025

5 of us on the early bun run and weather wise it was wet and windy but still warm. We were into a strong headwind most of the way to the cafe stop this morning with some showers here and there. Thankfully I was prepared, maybe a little too prepared, it was warmer than I had thought but I kept my cool 😎 usual food stop at Stirling Mills cafe with the 09:00 group a couple of minutes behind us. Thankfully it was a tail wind most of the way home, again with some showers here and there. I wasn’t doing any extra today, still a bit tired from this weeks efforts and the weather wasn’t conducive to long rides today 😉 So I followed everyone else over Knockhill today and back down to Dunfermline, so 55 miles clocked up at 18 mph avg speed. Tomorrow looks dire weather wise so may skip that or just use the turbo trainer…

Ride 18/05/2025 May Randonee

12 of us on May’s Randonee which would take us to North Berwick. Weather wise it’s as sunny as yesterday 😎 so out with the Sun Cream today, given the distance and time it would take. We would be crossing the Forth road bridge and heading through Edinburgh along the coastal route for Musselburgh where our first stop of the day would be at Cafe Kaffeine. Coffee and cake were the order of the day before we headed on for Prestonpans and out into the countryside for quieter roads. I had scheduled a cafe stop at North Berwick but we didn’t need this so soon, so we pressed onto Gifford for our second stop at the Lanterne Rouge Cafe. Some more coffee and toasties, which were very delicious, we were then on our leg back home via Pencaitland and Ormiston before heading north back into Musselburgh and Edinburgh. We took a different route through Edinburgh using some of the cycle paths and quieter roads before heading back over the Forth road bridge. I was doing some extra again today to get over the 100 miles mark, and in the end I ended up doing 115 miles in total 😀 In fact I was riding long enough to flatten the Rally power pedals, so the last few miles have no power data, and the Garmin Edge was down to it’s last 5% and the Di2 was warning me also of low power, so made it in time to not run out of power completely 😁 Anyway 115 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 16 mph and because it was a good pace I was the only bit that wasn’t running out of power so by the time I got back home I felt pretty good and not totally knackered 😅

Ride 17/05/2025

10 of us on the early bun run and on a cracking day, sunshine and warm with little wind 😀 Since I’m doing the Randonee tomorrow I wasn’t going hard or an extended runtoday, so decide to stick to the back of the group mostly. Usual food and drink at the cafe stop today but I would be returning over Knockhill rather than going with some of the other on the longer Milnathort route. About 6 of us were going this route and it was at this point that I stepped up my game a little bit and went for a fast one over Knockhill. Not my faster ever climb, but only 20 seconds off my pb. So 55 miles clocked up, and even though I wasn’t going hard today I still managed to do 55 miles at an avg speed of over 18 mph, I’ll take that 😁

Ride 11/05/2025

I organised another ad-hoc Sunday ride today for Ken, Nick, Davy and I to do a ride around to Caldercruix and back. Weather wise it’s the same as yesterday, Sunny and warm, but a little overcast as well. The ride was 70 odd miles but again I was looking to do 100 miles again 😄 We headed along the usual coastal road to Kincardine bridge where we crossed and made our way into Falkirk and Larbert. This ride is a little different in that I hadn’t organised any cafe stops, the route is on quiet roads away from most towns and cities, so we would need to stop at local shops for supplies. Speaking of the roads we really lucked out today as most of the road we road on were new tarmac, which I was not expecting, given the condition of them the last time I rode them. Once through Larbert we were heading west for a while along to Bonnybridge and Allendale before we turned south and up the first climb which would take us to the south side of Cumbernauld, away from the town centre, which is far too busy these days. Once past Cumbernauld it was onto Upperton, Greengairs, Wattston and out into the wilderness along some more quiet smooth roads before we dropped down into Plains and the A89. Now it was my plan to only ride this until we hit Caldercruix and then head North for Avonbridge which would ultimately take us back to Falkirk and the Kelpies which was the only place we could at an actual cafe, but the best laid plan of mice and men and all that, this didn’t happen. Ken was struggling a bit, due to not stopping so we changed the route and continued along the A89 along to Armadale where we stopped at a local garage with a Spar shop that we could get some food and coffee and rest a bit. So some sandwiches, orange juice and cake later we were back on the road again (one that I hadn’t ridden in a number of years now since moving out of Falkirk) and heading north towards Linlithgow. Once in Linlithgow we would follow the 2 bridges road that would take us back over the Forth river via the Forth road bridge and back into Fife. I had clocked up about 75 miles at this point so I bid my goodbyes to the rest of the guys and continued on my travels to make up the 100 miles. I decided I would ride back to Carineyhill and head to Oakely before heading down to Saline and back home along our chain gang route to Redcraigs. Today was the Jack Murray road race which was using this road as well but I thought it would have been finished by the time I got there, it hadn’t so I ended up passing a lot of riders racing around this route as I headed for Kelty. I did think about stopping to spectate but decided to continue on, time was a ticking 😋 Once into Kelty I headed up to Kingseat before dropping back down into Dunfermline and back home again. So 100 miles clocked up at what I’m calling 16 mph avg speed which is what it said a 99.9 miles done, in actuality it was 15.9 mph 🙄 but all in all a great days ride 😁

Ride 10/05/2025

14 of us on the early bun this morning which is a lot considering the avg group size is about 8. Weather wise it’s a cracking sunny day 😍😎 and warm to boot. I was able to cycle with 2 layers on and my arm warmers, which did come off after the cafe stop. WIth such a large group we were keeping a pretty fast pace up all the way to the cafe stop and thats with some headwind thrown in, but not too windy. The usual consumables were had at the cafe stop before we started our leg home. We decided to take the route to Milnathort home today given the great weather so that lightened the group to about 8 of us, the rest were going the route that took them over Knockhill. Even with just 8 of us we were hammering it along with a slight tail wind before we hit Milnathort and then headed for Kinross were we were back into a slight cross head wind. This didn’t bother me I was feeling good today so kept my foot down a little bit all the way to Kelty. I then followed the rest up to Kingseat where some of us split from the group whilst I and a couple of others heading down into Dunfermline were I split from the remaining riders and headed on my own for home. So 60 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 19 mph which is fast for a bun run ride but I’ll take that 🤗😁

Ride 04/05/2025

8 of us on today’s ad-hoc ride that I organised and weather wise it was cold and windy to start with, although the sun did eventually come out but unfortunately the wind did not abate the whole ride round 😬😡 which made this tougher than needed. The route I had chosen was over Knockhill, up to Yetts, through Glendevon and Gleneagles and on to Crieff where we had our first stop. Scrambled egg roll and coffee were the choice of the day. We then headed for Comrie and up and over the moors to Braco before heading round to Dunblane, Bridge of Allan and Stirling where we stopped at Corrieri’s for our second stop of the day. I had soup, coffee and cake which was much needed 😁 before we headed back to Dunfermline via Alloa, Kincardine and along the coastal road to Cairneyhill where we split to go our separate ways home. Normally I would just head back into Dunfermline from here but I was looking to ride 100 miles today so I opted to head along to Rosyth and Dalgety bay before heading back up to Crossgates. I was still about 10 miles short at this point so I did a little extra along the road before heading back home. So 100 miles clocked up at 17 mph avg speed which is a decent pace for me on a 100 mile ride, so I’ll take that as a win 🤗 but I’m pretty tired now so thank god tomorrow is a rest day.

Ride 03/05/2025

7 of us on the early bun run and weather wise it was a little chilly to start with, overcast, and the wind didn’t know what it was doing, I felt like I was in a head wind all the way round today 😕 The usual route to the cafe stop today where the usual culinary delights were had before heading back home. I wasn’t looking to do any extra today, that would come tomorrow, to I just followed the rest up to Yetts and over Knockhill where the sun finally came out and it started to warm up a little bit. So, 55 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 18 mph, the standard affair 😀

Ride 27/04/2025

6 of us on the Sunday bun run and weather wise it was wet 😕 not hammering it down, just consistent rain, at least until we got to the cafe stop. Thankfully it wasn’t windy or cold, and I was well prepared for the weather with weet gear at hand, but it would have been nice if it hadn’t rained for half the ride. We decided to go to a different cafe stop yesterday, doing the same route to Tillicoultry but bypassing Sterling Mills cafe and riding on to Coffee Bothy instead, where I had some very tasty scrambled eggs with toast, avocado and sun dried tomatoes 🤗 and of course the usual coffee, no cake today though 😥 As noted when we left the cafe the rain had stopped and we had a nice dry ride home going via Tullibody and Alloa before picking up the usual route at Clackmannan. With a nice zone 2 pace for me I clocked up 56 miles at an avg speed of 16 mph.

Ride 26/04/2025

Just me and Mark on the early bun run this morning and weather wise it was wet and raining to start with, little wind and not too cold, but it did stop raining once we hit Kincardine, suffice to say I was clothed for the occasion with wet gear. Even with 2 of us it was a decent ride at a good pace and by the time we got to the cafe stop I had avg 18 mph for 30 miles 👍 The usual orange juice and roll with sausage and hash browns at the cafe stop, and it was here we meet the 09:00 group which had a few more riders in it than us 😉 We decided to tag along with them after the cafe stop and so we headed for Yetts o’Muckhart where the group split into 2 groups, one bound for Knockhill and the other, we me in it, for Milnathort. With 4 of us heading for Milnathort we kept a decent pace up to and beyond Milnathort as we headed back home via Kinross and Kelty. So 57 miles clocked up at nearly 18 mph, a good day’s ride despite the weather 😀