Ride 07/06/2026

Just me, myself, and I on the bun run this morning and weather wise its overcast, a bit windy and wet. I was lucky with the rain holding off until I got to the cafe stop but the roads were wet so I still got sprayed on. Given the weather conditions I decided to do a slightly shorter route and skip out Knockhill, so headed straight for Saline instead. This would allow me to get to the cafe stop on a more direct, shorter route and miss most of the rain. I had the usual coffee and cake at the cafe but on the way home it did start to rain a little bit. I was cycling between showers for the most part but about 10 miles from home the rain became persistent so I was glad for the wet gear I was wearing to get me home. I was also glad for the tail wind on the way home as this allowed me to get there faster. So, 45 miles clocked up today at an avg speed of 17 mph, a decent ride given the weather conditions 🙂

Ride 06/06/2026

No one had signed up for the 08:30 start today so I joined the 09:00 ride instead. 18 at the gates this morning and weather wise it was overcast, little wind and although it was forecast to rain it didn’t for the entire ride 😁 I joined the first group as we headed for the cafe stop with a slight tail wind which made the journey there a fairly quick one. The usual roll and orange juice were had before we headed back. Given the small group I was in and I didn’t want to chance my luck with the weather, I stayed with the group over Knockhill, rather than doing extra miles today. So it was a shorter 47 mile route at a good pace of 18 mph.

Ride 31/05/2026 DCC ToK Sportive

I forgot to write about the clubs sportive last Sunday so a belated update for today. This year’s Tour of the Kingdom had a slightly different start this year compared to last year. Rather start at the club house we started at Queen Anne High School, not that it made much of a difference to the distance, but a difference nonetheless. I rode with the guys this year, which meant a 05:30 start 😫 to be at the start line for 07:00 but made it was a couple of mins to spare. There was 6 of us doing the long route of 92 miles and weather wise it was wet to start with. Not heavy rain but enough to make us damp, thankfully it didn’t last all day and eventually turned out nice and sunny which eventually dried out the roads as well. The route has a lot of climbing in it over 5000 feet of it with 3 major climbs with the last one at mile 87, which makes it pretty hard on tired legs 😩 The start is our chain gang route so that’s fine as it’s mostly flat until you hit the climb out of Saline which takes you to the first feed stop. I only stopped for water and a toilet break before heading on to the first climb of the day over Cleish, the easier side to begin with. We will visit this climb again on the way back, but for now it’s onto Leslie and our second big climb of the day over Falkland hill, again the easier side, I race up the harder side when I do the hill climbs in September, but this side although longer is an easier climb, so all fine with me 🙂 Once over Falkland we head for Freuchie Cricket club (race headquarters for me in the Fife TT season) and our second stop for food and water. I was also able to oil my squeaky chain thanks to the rain washing it out at the start before we continued on. By now the sun was out and it was warming up but we also now had to deal with a head wind most of the way back to the finish line. Before that though we would head to Lindores and another climb back up to Auchtermuchty, Dunshalt and Strathmiglo, but before we got there we had an unscheduled stop at the Pillars of Hercules for toilet break and fuel. We then headed for Strathmiglo and Dryside road into a head wind heading back to Loch Leven and Kinross. We were now heading for the last climb of the day over Cleish, the harder side (the side I race up) and by now we’re all pretty tired. Thankfully the harder side is quite short and sharp, a 7 min effort when I’m racing up it but today I took a leisurely 10 mins to climb it 😁 From here it’s a steady ride back to the finish line for a medal and a well earned cup of coffee for me. So, by the time I got back home I had clocked up 100 miles at an avg speed of 16 mph.