Ride 24/07/2021

Another glorious day but it didn’t start that way, it was cloudy to begin with but by the time we got to the first cafe stop the sun had started to come out. I was doing my Ochils loop today so I started with the club up to the first cafe stop (about 25 miles) and then I headed towards Bridge of Allan as the club returned to Dunfermline. It’s been a while since I’ve done this and given the nice day that it was this was a good excuse to go. Second stop of the day would be at Auchterarder for a quick cup of coffee and then I pressed on to Bridge of Earn. I was going quite fast today as I was trying to do 100 miles in under 6 hours which of the 22 100 miles or greater rides that I’ve done I’ve never been able to do it in under 6 hours, the closest was 6 hours 5 mins, so I know I had a good shot at it. Once past Bridge of Earn it was onto Milnathort and along to powmill where my third and final stop would be, time for some coke and cake By this time I was getting very tired and I still had to climb up Knockhill so the rest was appreciated. Once over Knockhill it was back to Dunfermline and home. My Garmin had the cheek to crash as I entered Crossgates which was a bit of a piss take had I lost the data but thankfully I managed to get it back bar the last half mile to home but it showed I had done the 100 in under 6 hours, 5 hours 47 mins to be precise with and avg speed of 17 mph.

Ride 17/07/2021

It’s a glorious hot sunny day only ruined by the strong winds. There were 10 of us today but this time I wasn’t doing the bun run it was just a ride with some of the club members. Thankfully after yesterdays mad fast ride I wasn’t riding into the headwind to begin with I was still tired from yesterdays ride and not fully recovered yet. We would be in a head wind all the way up to close to Kippen where we would be stopping for a cafe break, I stayed at the back in this part. We would then return via Stirling and the Foothills this time with a tail wind and I took lead for a little while, I wanted to conserve energy here as I would be doing 100 miles today whereas everyone else would be doing around 70 miles. I would split with the group just at the turn off for Knockhill and I would continue on to Milnathort and around Loch Leven. This would still not be enough mileage so I had to tag on some extra miles and here was my problem. Once past Loch Leven I would be into the headwind on my own and by this time I was over the 80 mile mark and tired. The headwind was brutal it had me going at a snails pace and I just didn’t have the power to punch through like I did on yesterdays ride. Anyway 102 miles clocked up at 16 mph avg speed, that would have been 17 mph if it weren’t for the head wind

Ride 11/07/2021

Another great day to be cycling, hot, no wind and no rain 7 of us today and we did the usual bun run route. I decided again to add a bit more on the end to make it 60 plus miles and managed to keep a good avg speed again, the same as yesterday 17 mph.

Ride 10/07/2021

It’s a nice warm day with little wind, a little overcast with rain forecast for this afternoon. About 15 of us today doing the usual bun run route, a little faster than the norm but that was fine with me. After going over knockhill I did a little bit more to knock it up to 60 miles before the rain hit.

Ride 04/07/2021

Today was the clubs first 100k bike ride since lock down and it would be a loop over knockhill down to dunning and Bridge of Earn, up through Glanfarg to Milnathort for our cafe stop. It was nearly 50 miles to the cafe stop so by this time I was quite hungry. After the cafe stop we headed through Kinross and Kelty and down through Cowdenbeath and into Dunferline. I decided I would continue on since it was a nice sunny day with a little bit of wind around but not enough to deter me I continued on doing a loop through Oakley back to Kelty and home getting home just before the thunder storms hit. 100 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 16 mph, another good days ride

Ride 03/07/2021

Well as far as weather goes today it was overcast with little wind and thankfully although it was forecast to rain it didn’t Anyway todays ride had 15 of us and I was out in the first group who were actually going quite fast to begin with, we had an avg speed of 17 mph by the time we got to the cafe stop, usually this is around the 16 mph mark. Things slowed down a bit after the cafe stop since it was all up hill and by the time I got to the bottom of knockhill I was back to my usual 16 mph avg speed and this is where things got interesting. I had decided to do some extra miles with one of the Kinross Cycle Club girls who rides with us on the Saturday ride, she is a strong fast rider. To put that into context the first 35 miles from home to the cafe stop were an avg speed of 16 mph but riding at Rachael’s pace the second 35 miles were an avg speed of 22 mph This is unheard of territory for me, I’ve never come close to doing that kind of speeds for the last 10 years that I’ve been riding, suffice to say I have sore legs now So 70 miles clocked up in 4 hours at and avg speed of 17 mph, this is the fastest 70 miles I’ve ever done

Ride 27/06/2021

It’s a fine sunny day with little wind so well worth cycling today 8 of us today and we did the usual Sunday bun run route but since I was looking to do 80 miles today I started an hour early to get a few miles in before I meet up with the club. I also added a bit more on the end to get to my target an actually did a little extra since it’s such a nice day. So 86 miles knocked out today at 16 mph avg can’t complain about that I got a good weekend’s worth of cycling done this week

Ride 26/06/2021

It’s a dull slightly wet day but given that we still had 20 people turn up for the bun run. I wasn’t planning on doing 100 miles today, that was for tomorrow which is a better weather day but I don’t think I’m going to have enough time to do it tomorrow since I have my second covid jab in the evening so it ended up being today. At the cafe stop 3 of us elected to do a few more miles so we went around Loch Leven and then at Mossmorran I would be on my own for the last 40 miles. Thankfully with a new chain on I didn’t need to worry about anything breaking this time so I did a loop around Kirkcaldy (no drama this time) and then headed home at Cairneyhill but by the time I got home I was only at 90 miles so another little loop around Mossmorran bumped me up the extra miles I needed Good ride today even with a few spots of rain here and there and I even managed to do the 100 miles at 16 mph avg speed so very happy with that

Ride 20/06/2021

Well it was another eventful day of cycling. Again it was only me and Nick cycling today, its a nice day to cycle again so why no one else turns up I don’t know. Anyway we decided to extend todays ride a little bit by cycling the usual route at the start but instead of heading up Dollarbeg we just carried on to Stirling and stopped there for the cafe stop. After the cafe stop we headed for Alloa and then followed the normal way home along the coastal route but again with a slight detour of skipping out Dunfermline and heading for Rosyth where Nick turned off for home. I decided to carry on as I was feeling fine still and headed for Kirkcaldy and when I hit Kirkcaldy this is where the shit hit the fan At Kirkcaldy I broke my chain >:-( I was not a happy bunny I was still about 8 miles from home. You could argue that it could have been worse and I could have broken my chain 50 miles from home. Had that happened in Stirling I’m close enough to family for them to pick me up but in Kirkcaldy I’m too far for family assistance. Thankfully my multi tool does have a chain tool on it so I was able to break a link in the chain and put it back together but this is a temp fix so I had to nurse the bike home at a slow pace and just to piss me off even more it started to rain :’-( thank god it wasn’t as bad as yesterday. Anyway I made it home clocking up 77 miles (I was aiming for 80 but didn’t want to push my luck) at an avg speed of 16 mph, I now need to hope I can get a new chain…

Ride 19/06/2021

Well for the last 5 miles of this ride it absolutely pissed it down and I wasn’t expecting that so in cycling shorts and no wet gear I got fucking soaked to the bone, I even had a cup of water in each shoe and very squelchy feet
It started out ok overcast but no forecast for torrential rain so I didn’t bother with any wet gear, which was a mistake Again there were 20 of us today and when we got to the cafe stop a few of us decided to extend the ride by going to Dunning. I haven’t ridden up that in a while so I was up for that. Again the weather was fine all the way up but the second we hit Dunfermline it just chucked it down. Anyway thankfully I was feeling fine even after 70 miles of riding and I was only 5 miles from home so I just plodded on. So despite the rain it was a good ride with 75 miles clocked up at 16 mph avg and some decent climbing

Ride 13/06/2021

Another glorious day to be cycling So today there was only 2 of us which given the weather we had was quite surprising. It’s a hot sunny day but another windy one like yesterday so we decided to do a north south route and today we went for Crieff. This of course did mean some hill climbing and after yesterdays ride I wasn’t wanting anything too hard today so this was a good compromise. We kept an easy pace of 15 mph and stopped at a cafe in Crieff where I had a decent lunch of panini and chips and a slice of carrot cake some decent fuel to get me home again over the hills. 70 miles clocked up and a damn good ride to boot

Ride 12/06/2021

So weather wise it was cloudy to begin with but would clear in the afternoon with sunshine and it’s a warm day, the biggest issue I have today is it’s friggin windy and this would hurt. Again we had a big group today of +20 riders so I took the lead of the first group. I would stay in the lead all the way to the cafe stop which was all into the strong wind which I didn’t mind as we weren’t riding fast, After the cafe stop I was leading again this time with a tail wind again I didn’t mind as this bit was easy. What took it’s toll was me doing an extra 40 miles to bump the distance up to 80 miles and since I was on my own I was into the wind by myself. Suffice to say by the time I got home (all head wind again) I was shattered. I now have sore legs and I would bet they’re still sore by tomorrows ride which again is a very windy day I thin we’ll need to change the route to accommodate this otherwise I’m going to be at the back of the group all the way