Ride 14/10/2021 Portugal Day 5

Ride 14/10/2021 Portugal Day 5

Another hot day in the sun and for what seemed like a very flat route I seemed to have climbed nearly 4000 feet for an 80 miles ride. Riding in the southern part of Portugal has a wild west to feel to it, it’s hot, flat and arid. Not much to see, hence no photos, but slowly rolling land on good tarmac makes for a good ride. Even taking an easy day today I still managed to clock up 16 mph avg speed but this also allowed us to have longer breaks and stops Tomorrow is the last day with a 60 mile ride and as per usual it’s gone by so fast.

Ride 13/10/2021 Portugal Day 4

Ride 13/10/2021 Portugal Day 4

Well to day was a long hot day in the saddle, with a few climbs but mostly flat as we hit the south of Portugal. I started out at the back today with one of the girls, who’s not a cyclist which is why the first 30 miles nearly took 3 hours. We had a pit stop at 30 miles and Sarah the girl I was riding with hitched a ride in the van after this. This left me with a lot to catch up with as I was way behind the group. I went pretty hard for the next 30 miles to the lunch stop and did manage to catch them up, and thankfully I was still in one piece So after lunch I pushed on by myself still trying to make up for some lost time and made the final stop on my own. After this stop I rode the last 15 miles with one of he guys to the Hotel, which is a kind of range hotel in the middle of no where. Any way I managed to clock up the 109 miles in 7 hours with an avg speed of 15 mph with some 6000 feet of climbing

Ride 12/10/2021 Portugal day 3

Ride 12/10/2021 Portugal Day 3

So it’s day 3 in Portugal and today’s ride was probably slightly harder than yesterdays. For one it’s warmer now, temps hitting highs of 29 degrees but although the ride was a few miles shorter than yesterday we had more climbs today. This was true for the big Cat 2 climb in the middle of the ride but also for the smaller ones before and after it. The Cat 2 climb was a very good climb because it wasn’t steep probably avg 5% but the first climb we had for the day was 16%, thankfully this was short. Again good food was served for the pit stops which was very handy for the smaller climbs which although short was getting on for 11%. This shows up in the total ascent for today which was 5800 feet compared to yesterdays 5400 feet but all in all another good day of cycling For today I did 71 miles at an avg speed of 15 mph and thankfully I didn’t get lost like some other people did today by quite a big distance

Ride 11/10/2021 Portugal Day 2

Ride 11/10/2021 Portugal Day 2

Another fantastic day in the saddle, only better as there were more hills and a longer distance Day2 in Portugal started with a Cat 2 climb which took just under an hour to climb, the good things about the climbs here are they are never steep, around 5% – 6%. Most of the ride today would be downhill with a couple of Cat 3 climbs in the middle but these would be after the first stop. Quite a long way to the first stop about 40 miles but it was fine for me and we had some great food again here. The second stop would be around the 60 mile mark but first we had a couple of Cat 3 climbs which although shorter than this mornings Cat 2 were steeper around 7%. The second stop was a smaller affair with a bowl of soup and a can of coke, but this was fine with me as I wasn’t really hunger after only doing 20 miles. The last section to this nights hotel was just under 19 miles which again was still going downhill which meant that today was a fairly easy day for me but the best so far So I clocked up just under 80 miles at an avg speed of 17 mph but since it was mostly downhill the avg power is quite low today

Ride 10/10/2021 Portugal Day 1

Ride 10/10/2021 Portugal Day 1

Well I can’t say how much I’m glad to be back in the saddle abroad it’s been 2 years since I’ve manged to ride abroad and I’ve sorely missed it. Today was the first day in Portugal and what a lovely place to be, glorious sunshine and stunning scenery. I’ll be riding the entire length of the country from north to south, so we start in the hillier part of the country before we head into the southern flatter part of the country. Today we rode 65 miles over some lumpy sections but nothing too hard, roughly 5% climbs most of the time getting up to around 2500 feet before dropping down to about 300 feet for our lunch stop. The food was good nothing too fancy, pasta and some salad, but the right stuff for cycling with and lots of coffee After lunch we had to climb back up to 1500 feet to get to tonight’s hotel stop but I enjoyed this as most of the climbs today were smallish In fact I was enjoying the climb so much I shot past the hotel all together and didn’t realise until I came to a junction and wondered why the route map had stopped With an avg speed of 15 mph I wasn’t hammering it which meant that all in all today was a good ride and I’m looking forwards to tomorrows longer ride.

Ride 03/10/2021

Ride 03/10/2021

So today’s ride was a far better affair than yesterday ride, yesterday the garmin decided to go flat after 2 miles so no ride details and it rained which meant I got pretty soaked. I did do extra yesterday probably about 55 miles but hard to say without any ride data. Today there were only 3 of us so we decided to go a different route. I wanted to ride up to the Wallace Monument so we went over Knockhill as usual then along the hillfoots to the Wallace Monument and along to the Coffee Bothy for our cafe stop. After lunch we headed over the river and along the south shore through Fallin and Airth and back over the Clackmannan bridge to follow our usual route home. Nick wanted to get 100 km today so he joined me going through Rosyth and then headed north back to Crossford. I continued on but headed home via Duloch for a change rather than going up the hill to Crossgates. We had a little bit of rain but for the most part it turned out to be a nice day, a little windy here and there but nothing too bad. My Garmin didn’t like me taking it into the cafe stop hence the long time and low avg speed, the timer didn’t stop when it should have done we were in the cafe for about 40 mins so my time should have been around four and a quarter hours and my avg speed would have been around the 16 mph mark.

Ride 26/09/2021

Ride 26/09/2021

7 of us today and due to the Knockhill racing we decided to miss out Knockhill as it would be car bumper to bumper getting over the hill. We went via Saline instead and did a clockwise route around Loch Leven with a cafe stop at Loch Leven. I parted ways at this point as I wanted to do another 65 mile ride so I opted to head for Leslie and up and over Falkland hill, along to Strathmiglo and back to Milnathort before heading south and back home. The weather was good today some sunny spots, warm but with a bit of a strong headwind going home. This was fine heading towards Falkland but it made the last 20 miles a painful drag all the way home Anyway I got my 65 miles but at a slower speed that yesterday thanks to the wind.

Ride 25/09/2021

Ride 25/09/2021

Bit of a mild overcast day with a little wind but not enough to bother me cycling. 16 on the bun run today and as per usual after the cafe stop I decided to do a little extra. I basically did a loop around Kirkcaldy, although I didn’t go the coastal route more along the inland route, which I seldom ride. Good distance and avg speed today, clocking up nearly 65 miles at an avg speed of 17 mph

Ride 18/09/2021

Ride 18/09/2021

It started out to be a cold morning but actually turned into a nice afternoon with some warm sun There were 14 of us on the bun run doing the normal route, I was looking to get some extra again, so after the cafe stop I headed for a loop around Loch Leven. After lunchtime the sun came out so my loop around Loch Leven was a pleasant one. Not going particularly fast today, a steady pace, so my avg speed for the 63 mile ride was a consistent 17 mph No cycling tomorrow as my bike will be in for it’s service before I do my Portugal Ride next month

Ride 12/09/2021

Ride 12/09/2021

Another good days cycling, not as warm as yesterday and a lot less wind but a decent ride none the less. It was the usual bun run today with 8 of us but again I was looking to do some extra so once we had out coffee and cake I parted ways at Kincardine bridge with Alistair who was joining me today. Wasn’t looking to go too hard so we did the 2 bridges route going via Linlithgow rather than Boness and then north over the Forth Bridge from Kirkliston. 67 miles clocked up at and avg speed of 16 mph

Ride 11/09/2021

Ride 11/09/2021

It’s a warm, dull if not windy day for the bun run and since we were headwind all the way to the cafe stop I spent most of the time at the back I did do a little stint at the front but I was wanting to do some extra hilly stuff today so I didn’t stay long at the front. After the cafe stop we would be tail wind but I was planning on going to Dunning and up the Dragon today so I would split at Dollarbeg. There were 5 of us who were doing some extra but only Robert and I were going for Dunning and the Dragon, so we split again at Yetts. We had a quick stop in Dunning for a little bite to eat and then it was up the Dragon which is a short sharp hill climb with a few lumpy bits after it. Once over the Dragon it was down to Milnathort and Kinross heading for home. I wanted to get 4000 feet of climbing today so I split from Robert once we hit Kelty and I headed up Hill of Beath and then back home. So 65 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 16 mph and over 4000 feet of climbing, all in all a good days cycling

Ride 05/09/2021 Club 100 mile ride to Dunkeld

Ride 05/09/2021

So today is the clubs 100 miles ride up to Dunkeld, I’ve done some of this ride but not the full route before, so this was a first for me this far north. It started pretty cold in the morning, we had an 08:30 start, although there was some sun around but it soon disappeared. We headed north up to Crieff for our first pit stop, and then onto Dunkeld, the first time I’ve been here. We stopped at Murthly for our second pit stop where it had managed to warm up a bit so we could sit outside for our coffee and cake. By the time we hit Perth the sun had finally come out again, where we were riding the cycle paths, again a first for me so I had no idea where we were going. Once past Perth we were back on the roads again and in familiar ground for me, along to Kinross and Cowdenbeath. By this time the sun had disappeared again but it wasn’t cold and I decided to do some extra miles I had been riding at the head of the group for about 90% of the ride so I was getting tired but I wanted to get up to 125 miles today so I soldiered on. Down to Dalgety Bay and along to Crossford where I turned and headed back home again. I got my 125 miles and even managed to clock up over 5500 feet of climbing which was surprising as it’s not a particular hilly route apparently, with a steady 16 mph avg speed. Slightly soar legs by the time I got home and quite hungry to boot