Ride 25/04/2020 North Berwick

I decided to ride to North Berwick, somewhere I’ve thought about going to before but never really got there. In fact the furthest I’ve got is to Prestonpans but that was when I was living in Falkirk. So made a conscious effort to get there today as the weather was ok, still a bit cold in the morning but I was in the cycling shorts today with three layers on still It was still overcast by the time I got to North Berwick and had my packed lunch but I was bloody freezing when I started back up again Thankfully it was starting to clear up and by the time I got back to Edinburgh the sun was out and it was warmer, so I could take of my overshoes and full length cloves for some mitts It’s a flat route hence the speed I managed to get, I wasn’t intentionally going fast and the winds were light so I got close to 16 mph for the 80 miles that I clocked up. What amazed me the most were the number of cyclists on the roads today especially leaving Edinburgh and heading to North Berwick, I must have passed 50 cyclists over that stretch of road not in big groups but in 2s, 3s and 4s, makes me wonder if that road would usually get that many cyclists if it weren’t for the coronavirus environment we are in. I suppose since the roads are quieter there is opportunity for people who otherwise wouldn’t ride to actually get out and ride their bikes.

Ride 19/04/2020

So after yesterdays fun stuff I wasn’t looking to do anything strenuous today so I opted to do a north south ride and stay away from the east west headwinds. I decided to ride down to Balerno, it’s been a while since I was there probably a good 3 years or more. I’ts also almost a straight shot south for me but I was looking to do about 50 miles today so I added some dumbbell loops in to bump up the millage. Weather wise it’s sunny but still below 10 degrees when I started but by lunch time it gotten up to about 13 degrees. The only mishap today was getting a puncture at Balerno but that was a quick fix with a spare tube. So just shy of 50 miles knocked up at a easy pace of 14 mph

Ride 18/04/2020

So todays plan was to ride to Largo, just over 20 miles away, turn around and ride back. Reason being I would be into a head wind all the way to Largo and have a nice tail wind all the way back with no plans to ride particularly hard. Well being the numpty that I am that kinda went out the window. Sure the ride to Largo was a pain against the wind but I thought I would have an easy ride home. Oh no, idiot me saw a couple of riders up front on the homeward leg and though “i’ll use them as a pace setter” Not the smartest idea as I soon found out, they were going pretty fast but like a bull to a red flag I just went for it and Christ do my legs know about it, they got a little painful just as I was reaching Dalgety Bay. To put that into perspective I have the Garmin set to do 5 miles laps so the first 5 laps were an avg of 20 mins at an avg speed of 13 mpg. The next 5 laps were avg 16 min at an avg of 17 mph, thats a big jump for me Suffice to say for the climb back up to Crossgates I just took my time. That climb on a good day I can do in under 11 mins, today I took nearly 16 min So 53 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 15.6 mph, not bad when I think about it but I’m going to feel that on tomorrows ride

Ride 12/04/2020

It’s a pleasant enough day so I decided I would ride to Falkirk and do my old Falkirk loop. It was my old 15 mile training loop but I added a bit more on to go through Bonnybridge to bump my millage to over 60 miles, I was looking for roughly 65 miles today. I wasn’t going hard just a pleasant enough ride to get the mileage without knackering me

Ride 11/04/2020

Bit of a windy day again so I decided to do a “similar” Sat bun run with a little bit of a difference at the begging of the ride but generally the same distance and workout. I also started by cycling into the wind on the outbound leg with a tailwind on the return leg which is a lot easier on my legs 45 miles knocked out at my usual pace.

Ride 05/04/2020

After yesterdays tough ride I wasn’t looking to do anything out of the ordinary so I did the usual Sunday bun ride. The weather is a bit better today but I was still fighting the headwinds on the homeward leg, with a small detour up to Hill of Beath to get my 50 miles clocked up. So 50 miles done at 15 mph with a better avg heart rate of 152 bpm to yesterdays 167 and 177 watts, my normal avg power output for a ride

Ride 04/04/2020

Tough ride today and I’m feeling it in my legs thats for sure. It’s not a long distance ride at 55 miles it’s the damn weather thats killing me especially the head winds. All the way from Auchtermuchty to Powmill, 17 miles or so I was into a headwind which meant head down and pedal. And of course at the end of that I was straight onto Knockhill. To put that into perspective my avg power for this was was just over 200 watts which doesn’t sound like much, at least until you actually try to ride like that but on a normal ride I would avg around 170 watts. The last time I did a ride like this, over 50 miles, at that power rate was 2 years ago. It might be good for the fitness but it doesn’t feel like at the time and it’s not like I had a high avg speed either I just dipped under 16 mph. anyway the end result means tomorrows ride will be short and slow

Ride 29/03/2020

Decided I would ride to Falkirk today and see how the old flat is getting on. It’s a bit cold still and I forgot about the clocks going forward last night so I was a bit slow out the door this morning but there was a little sun around around and the winds were low so the ride wasn’t too bad The flat looks the same bar a kids swing and trampoline in the from garden which is impressive given how small my front garden was It’s a flat route so my speed was better clocking close to 16 mph. In fact by the time I got to Falkirk it was an avg of 17.5 mph but I was starting to tire and the last 10 miles are uphill

Ride 28/03/2020

So it’s back to riding solo, I decided I would a different route than the usual one but roughly the same distance. The weather was ok, a bit on the windy side but sunny here and there so I decided to do an anti clockwise route today. Similar to a route I used to do going around Loch Leven but with some slight differences to go down roads I hadn’t been down before. Of doing this can lead to surprises on road conditions as I ending up on a farm road which isn’t wise on a road bike so I was down to 5 mph there and cycling on unfamiliar cycle paths doesn’t help either. So this route would require some tweaking to skip out the rough stuff and then I could get a decent speed, as it was for today my speed was down to 14 mph, that would have been a lot closer to 16 mph without the dodgy routes and roads.

Ride 22/03/2020

Well it’s a lovely sunny day but still bloody cold, frost on the ground when I awoke. Again I would be on my own and probably for the foreseeable future. I wanted to do a slightly longer route than the usual Sunday bun run so I followed the road to Menstrie rather than turning off at Dollar and the followed the usual route home once I got to Sauchie. Nearly 55 miles clocked up at a casual pace of 14 mph.

Ride 21/03/2020

Well the world’s gone to hell in a handbasket which means I’m pretty much cycling on my own now Since I can’t get into a cafe stop, since they’re all closed I took a slightly different route also because some of the roads I would normally go along were closed too due to road works! I still got my 40 mile ride at close to 16 mph but I wonder how long before I’m stopped from even doing this…

Ride 15/03/2020

So with a fully functioning Garmin today I managed to the Sun bun run without incident. There was only 2 of us today but given how windy it was I wasn’t surprised. It was a real slog into the head wind again but we decided to take a shorter more sheltered route than the usual ride over Knockhill so this helped a lot, I’m not knackered today It was the usual cafe stop for cake and coffee and a tail wind ride home thankfully. So today I only clocked up 45 miles rather than the 50 miles but kept a good avg speed of 15 mph given the wind.