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

Ride 22/01/2022

Another mild winters day with a little wind around but nothing to untoward. There were quite a few of us today about 16 or so, so we split into 2 groups and made our way to the usual cafe stop. After scramble egg rolls we carried on with me needing to do some extra elevation today. I decided I would just go a second loop up Knockhill it would get me the elevation I needed without having to travel too far. So today was 57 miles at 15 mph avg speed with just over 3000 feet of climbing

Ride 16/01/2022

A good day to be cycling, bight and sunny, not too cold and little wind, so given the conditions I decided to do 65 miles today There were 8 of us today and we decided to do a different route to the normal one, we would skip out Knockhill and head for Dollar via Saline. One in Dollar we followed the hillfoots road (A91) to our cafe stop. After some food and drink we headed South over the Forth and this is were I departed from the group. They would go back to Kincardine via Fallin, Throsk and Airth whereas I would do some extra miles going via Bannockburn, Plean and Larbert before crossing the Kincardine bridge. I would then follow the coastal road through Rosyth and Dalgety Bay before heading back uphill to home. This would allow me to get my 65 miles at and avg speed of 16 mph.

Ride 15/01/2022

Decent weather day today, light winds, no rain and not freezing. We also got a good turnout with 13 of us on the ride. We did the usual route and cafe stop with me doing the little extra miles towards the end to make up the 50 miles target.

Ride 09/01/2022

On a cold wet day 8 of us turned up for the club Sunday bun run. It wasn’t raining when we first started but by the time we hit Knockhill it started to rain, not hard but steady. After the cafe stop it was still a bit wet but once we reached Kincardine the sun started to come out and the rain had stopped. On the return leg I followed a couple of the guys down through Rosyth again to make up my 50 mile ride but this time I went a different route up to Crossgates, just to change things a bit which is a little longer and thus today I got 55 miles at 15 mph avg speed.

Ride 08/01/2022

When I woke up this morning it was pissing it down and I doubted we would be riding today but by the time I had to leave the house the rain had calmed down so weather wise we were ok today, it actually stopped raining for most of the ride so it turned out to be a better day than expected. There were 9 of us today with some of the faster wrecking crew guys with us today since no one had signed up for their ride earlier this morning. It wasn’t windy today so the ride went well and after the cafe stop heading up Knockhill I got a really good workout chasing the fast guys up over the hill to the point my heart rate managed to reach 204 bpm which I haven’t seen in years Anyway I followed Ken down to Inverkeithing where we parted as I headed back uphill to Crossgates and home. So 50 miles clocked up at 15 mph avg speed on a good days ride.