Ride 26/12/2023 New YEars Eve

Last bun run of the year with 8 of us braving the cold, but at least it was dry and sunny Slightly different route today, we skipped out Knockhill and went down Saline instead, thought it would be safer this way, less icy roads. Usual coffee and cake at the cafe stop before heading home the usual route. Nick followed me down to Dalgety Bay, he wanted to clock up 6000 miles for the year, before heading back to Crossford. I headed onward before swinging North up hill back to Crossgates and home. So I clocked up 55 miles today at an avg speed of 16 mph but I totaled 9655 miles for the year, which is my highest so far roll on 2024.

Ride 26/12/2023 Boxing day

So it’s the Boxing day ride and given how cold it was to start with and icy, I was surprised to see 7 of us out today. We ditched the planned route and took our own, with Mr Penman saying the Coffee Bothy was open, I had my doubts any cafe would be open today, but we went that way anyway, taking the route we thought would be best gritted. It was a slow start due to the ice, we were being cautious, but this made the ride bitterly cold, my hands were frozen and it was difficult to change gears even with mine being Di2. As I thought when we got to the cafe it was shut so we headed to Tillicoultry and stopped at Costa Coffee instead, for coffee and cake before heading back home. We were able to warm ourselves back up at this point and the temp had risen enough, up to two degrees now, that we were able to not freeze our arses off on the road back. I was looking to do 65 miles today so when we got to Saline I split from the group, who headed home and I carried on to make up the mileage. I basically headed to Kelty and did a loop around Loch Leven before heading back home through Lochgelly and Cowdenbeath. I was feeling ok still at this point so I kept going a little bit longer, almost down to Aberdour before heading back up hill through Fordell and back home. In the end I clocked up 76 miles at an avg speed of 17 mph, which all in all was a good days ride

Ride 23/12/2023

A very wet and windy day to go cycling, 8 of us on the bun run today and it was a headwind slog all the way to the cafe stop. Thankfully it wasn’t raining hard up to this point so I wasn’t too wet when I got there. Unfortunately after the cafe stop on the way back home the rain was getting steadily heavier, so by the time I got back home I was quite wet, although thankfully not as bad as other times, but enough to have soggy feet. Our saving grace going back home though was having the tailwind which made things easier cycling home and we didn’t have to worry about having the rain whip lashing us in the face Anyway 45 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 15 mph.

Ride 17/12/2023

Me, Myself and I today. I didn’t ride yesterday due to the windy weather and it’s not much better today, but it was calming down through the day so I chanced my luck on today. I decided to do a flatish route, due to the winds, and hadn’t done the 2 bridges in a while so did that today. Very strong headwind to begin with, all the way to Kincardine before crossing the bridge and getting hit with side winds all the way to Grangemouth. But once I got to Grangemouth then all the fun was had with a strong tailwind all the way to South Queensferry. By the time I got here the winds had abated a bit so crossing the Forth Road bridge wasn’t as hazardous as I was expecting. Although the rain had be on and off for most of the ride, so I wasn’t that wet, it did start to pick up a bit by the time I got home again, so thankfully I missed all of that anyway 46 miles clocked up at 16 mph.

Ride 10/12/2023

5 of us on the bun run today and weather wise it’s a slightly better day, slightly colder but dry. It only actually started to rain a few miles from home, I didn’t even need to put my rain jacket on Usual route to the cafe stop with the obligatory coffee and cake before the loop home So 50 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 15 mph, not a bad winters day ride

Ride 09/12/2023

Dull wet day that wasn’t too cold to start with, 5 of us on the bun run to start with but people joined further along the route, so we ended up with 8 in total on our way to the cafe stop. The usual beverage and food had before continuing on, unfortunately the rain started to get a bit harder and colder as we started off. Usual route home with a slight detour due to the road being closed before we got to Wellwood so we returned via Townhill. By the time I got back home my hands were wet and really started to get very cold and sore, anyway 45 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 15 mph and it looks about the same weather tomorrow