Ride 28/05/2023 Ride London 100

Well what can I say, I’m so happy that I was able to finish the ride this year but also within the 5 hour limit that I had set for myself. The day started at 04:00 in the morning and driving into London to my booked parking slot. Bat just like last years event even though I was there by 07:00 it took an hour and half to get through all the crowds and queues to the start of the ride So I was looking for a train to get on today, as I would need that to get anywhere near my time challenge. I got to the first feed station at mile 25 to grab some water, but I had got their alone. To keep to the time limit I was going fast trying to get that 20 mph avg or better. By chance as I was a few miles out from the first stop I saw a 3 man train and tagged on as they were going very fast, over 25 mph or more. My aim here was to keep with them as long as I could, either until I blew up or got to then end of the ride. The 3 riders were the Kenilworth wheelers, there was no way I could pull a turn, I was flat out just keeping up with them, and would only slow them down if I did. But this afforded me the opportunity to get some lead in my overall time and thus allow me some spare time towards the end of the ride if I did blow up. I managed to stay with them for 68 miles non stop which is just awesome for me but I had to pull off at the last stop at 87 miles which incidentally the same place I broke down last year and had to abandon. I was out of water at this point so had to stop or risk having no water until the end of the ride. But I only had 15 miles at this point and I still had a working bike so I soldiered on at my pace, still close to 25 mph as most of the road was downhill back to London. So over all I had a fantastic day and clocked up 102 miles at just shy of 22 mph average, which meant I finished the ride in 4 hours and 40 mins, well happy with that as I probably will never again get close to or beat that

Ride 21/05/2023

6 of us on the bun run this morning with a wet forecast I was on the winter bike and wet weather gear. It actually wasn’t that wet, it was mostly a drizzle with dry patched in between. Usual route to the cafe stop today, I didn’t bother starting early today as I was looking for a recovery ride after 4 days of hard riding. Steady pace to the cafe stop for coffee and cake and again a steady pace for most of the way home. I was with Ken today so we opted to go the coastal route back home, with Chris tagging along. So I was riding at the front now after spending a lot of the time at the back or middle of the group ride. Since I was leading out I kept a steady, but firm pace back to Dalgety Bay with some Tempo work back up to Crossgates. This was why the ride turned out to be faster than I thought it was going to be and a higher avg power, especially compared to yesterdays ride of over 18 mph for less power, this was probably due to a less hilly route. Anyway 55 miles clocked up at over 16 mph avg speed. So this will be the last bun run rides I do for 2 weeks as next week I’ll be doing the Ride London with the aim of cycling 100 miles in less than 5 hours, which equates to 20 mph avg or more, gonna need some good luck for that ride

Ride 20/05/2023

9 of us on the bun run this morning, it wasn’t forecast to rain so I had no rain gear with me, and we had little wind, but we did get a few spots of rain on the ride and thankfully it wasn’t much, so I didn’t suffer getting cold and wet It turned out to be a good days ride in the end, so for the beginning I stuck in the bunch, riding at tempo. After the cafe stop I decided I would do some extra with a few of the guys who were going around Loch Leven. I wasn’t feeling particularly strong today, my legs are still a little sore, I’m not really getting enough recover time giving I’m cycling 5 days a week, but I was feeling good enough to carry the other guys for the bulk of the route when we broke from the main group who headed the normal way back to Dunfermline over Knockhill. There were 4 of us doing the extra miles, heading around Loch Leven and then over some lumpy stuff through Cardenden and Auchtertool before I headed home to Crossgates. I was looking for 65 miles today so I did a little bit past Crossgates to get that, and was quite surprised by the end of the ride I was averaging over 18 mph So all in all a very good day of cycling, lets hope it will continue next week when I do the Ride London 100.

Ride 14/05/2023 Dunning Randonee

Today was May’s Randonee and there were 6 of us on the run. Weather forecast was for rain so I dressed appropriately which turned out to be a bit overkill given that it didn’t rain Anyhow our route today would be going over Knockhill, through Glendevon and along to Dunning for our cafe stop. Then we would be heading for Bridge of Earn and over some lumpy stuff through Wicks o’Baiglie before heading around Loch Leven and then back up and over Knockhill again. After yesterdays 100 mile ride I wasn’t looking to go too hard today especially since we would be doing a lumpy ride over just shy of 4500 feet of elevation. To start with we would have a cross wind and a tailwind to the cafe stop which was nice. For lunch I had soup, coffee and cake before we carried on towards Bridge of earn. The tough part was next, although Wicks o’Baiglie is not a long climb, its quite sharp to begin at 12% before it levels out towards the top, then you have some undulations before heading towards Loch Leven. Unfortunately once around Loch Leven we had a stiff headwind heading back through Cleish and along to Knockhill before the final climb up Knockhill. So overall it was a good ride with a few spots of rain that never came to anything clocking up 77 miles at an avg speed of 16 mph.

Ride 13/05/2023 100 miles

The weather was looking good today which meant I could get a good ride in today. 8 of us on the bun run this morning, although it was chilly and cloudy which I was not expecting. The weather forecast was sunshine from the get go but that wasn’t the case to begin with. Thankfully it wasn’t too windy but we did start with a headwind to the cafe stop and ultimately I would end up with a lot of headwind over the course of this ride. After the cafe stop it did start to warm up a bit and eventually the sun came out and the temps did rise to around 18 degrees Once I had finished the bun run ride I stopped at home to grab some lunch. The plan today was to do a 100 miles but I would split it over the bun run and then on my own for the next 50 miles. It was a headwind riding back home for lunch but as said before it wasn’t too strong so I could keep up a good pace. After lunch I decided I would do the 2 bridges route which is a bit flatter and would allow me to see how I was doing for the ride London which is a flat route. Again I had a tailwind on my outbound leg heading towards Falkirk, where I stopped at the Kelpies for some coffee and cake By this time it was very sunny and hot, just the way I like it although the suncream that I had packed for the ride turned out to be an empty bottle Thankfully I did put cream on my legs before the start of today’s ride but I didn’t put any cream on my arms until I rolled my sleeves on my second outing and then discovered I had no suncream. I took my chances and had my sleeves up and down over the ride just to try and protect my arms but my wrists still got a little bit burnt Anyhow I was back into the headwind for a second time on my final leg home from Kincardine Bridge to Dalgety Bay with the little last slog up to Crossgates. So 100 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 17 mph which is not too bad for the lumpy ride that I was on, I still climbed 4800 feet, but the end result was me being about 45 min over the 5 hour mark that I’m aiming for on the ride London. If I can get into a good of riders I stand a good chance of reaching my goal, assuming the weather isn’t horrendous

Ride 06/05/2023

Bit of a wet one today, only 5 of us on the 08:30 ride given the weather. It was a little windy today as well not too hard but we had a tail wind to start with up to the cafe stop and then a head wind back home again. It started raining about 20 mins into the ride, thankfully I was in full winter mode expecting it to happen, so I was ok but the others were not, so before we got to the cafe stop 3 people bailed to go home and only 2 of us pressed onto the cafe stop. Thankfully the rain stopped by the time we got there but I was a bit wet going into the cafe. Scrambled egg roll and orange juice per usual orders before we continued on. With just the 2 of us it was a bit of a slog into the wind but thankfully the wind wasn’t strong so we kept up a decent speed. Going up Knockhill was a bit of a surprise as by the time we got to the top there was a little bit of sun and a noticeable change in temperature on the warm side, it was nice to experience Didn’t last very long mind you as by the time we got to the bottom it was back to the dull mild day. So 50 miles clocked up at 17 mph avg speed which for the day isn’t too bad.

Ride 29/04/2023 Kinross Sportive

Well it’s my first sportive of the year and the first time I’ve done the Kinross sportive. This one is a bit of a brute, it has a lot of hills in it, just shy of 6000 feet and it 90 miles long. The day started out wet but thankfully stopped by the time I got to the start of the sportive. I decided to ride into Kinross rather than take the car up, this would of course add extra onto my ride but I didn’t mind as it would take me over the 100 miles mark Of course I did the schoolboy error and went our hard to begin with going with the fast guys, I would pay for that but for the first 50 odd miles, at least until I hit Dunning and the feed station I was going great. The first big climb of the day was up Falkland, thankfully I’m familiar with all the climbs, so this helped having the local knowledge. Took Falkland at my pace rather than hammering up it, I knew what was coming so needed to save some energy. After that it was a bit of a bumpy route to Dunning but nothing too bad, so once I hit Dunning I was starting to pay for my enthusiasm. Stopped for food and water and it was at this point I split from the fast guys and went it alone. The next big climb was the Dragon, straight out of the feed station so no time to warm up but you soon got hot once you hit the hill!. It’s a nasty climb, steep but short but hard enough to really hurt the legs, and mine were suffering This would not be the first stop at Dunning, we basically to a loop over the Ochils that takes us back to Dunning but boy is it a very lumpy route, so by the time I got back to Dunning for the second time I was knackered and I still had the Dunning Common climb I’m not sure what my slowest time up this climb is but I couldn’t have been far off, I was pretty much crawling along in my lowest gears, suffering for my sins :’-( I was very clad to be at the top and thankfully it’s a long steady decent from there down to Yetts. After that it was a fairly flat route to Crook of Devon and along the Cleish road to the motorway junction at Fruix. Ironically I’ll be cycling that exact route on the next TT race I do next week After that it was a straight shot back to Kinross and the end of the sportive and boy was I glad for that, I could get a little rest and some food before the ride back home. Oddly enough I wasn’t that hungry, I had tanked a lot of energy bars and gels to keep me going but I did tuck into a little bit of pasta just in case I had passed Paul Davies a couple of time on the ride and meet up with him back at the start, so we rode back home together. All in all I learnt a lot, when looking at the ride data I was avg around the 20 mph mark for the first 50 odd miles, this bodes well for my ride London, what does not is the fact that I can’t sustain that for a 100 miles, my only saving grace is Ride London is flat so I might stand a chance if I can find a “train” to latch onto and hold their wheels for the distance. Last time I did the ride I was averaging 19 mph before the break down but even then I was pretty tired by the time I got to the 86 mile mark. Lets hope I get luck and all my Ducks line up for me So for today I did 112 miles at an avg speed of just under 16 mph but climbing a whooping 7352 feet which is a lot! so I will sleep well tonight

Ride 23/04/2023

3 of us on the bun run today although it did swell to 4 after Knockhill but given the weather and people doing the Etape Loch Ness, there weren’t many of us left. I started out early as usual to get some extra miles in, given this is my first week at cycling 5 days a week I’m going to take Sunday’s ride as a recovery ride and not ride hard, or a least try to I headed into Kelty and up to Blairadam and along to Saline before turning back to Dunfermline to meet the group for the start of the usual Sunday bun run. Only Bill and Findlay turned up so we left Dunfermline for the normal route to the cafe stop. We meet up with Rachael after getting to the bottom of Knockhill which meant there were now 4 of us. Usual coffee and cake at the cafe stop before heading the normal route home. I headed down to Dalgety Bay as I was looking to cycle 75 miles today, before heading back up to Crossgates thus clocking up 67 miles at an avg speed of 16 mph, which I’m not sure qualifies as a recovery ride, that’s still quite fast, and I did floor it a bit up Cairneyhill which was why I hit a 193 bpm but overall I still feel fine which is good.

Ride 22/04/2023

Sunny but blustery day, a little on the chilly side in the morning but warming up in the afternoon. 6 of us on the 08:30 crew hammering it to the cafe stop since we had a strong tailwind getting there. Of course this would mean a strong headwind getting back home again. The usual food at the cafe before we continued on our way, only just catching the 09:00 group as we departed the cafe. We did a slow chain gang on the way back as the headwind was strong, so we all took a turn at the front pushing wind. When we got to Knockhill we had a side wind most of the way so things eased up a bit for a while, at least until I got to Dunfermline were I was on my own full headwind back to home So given the weather conditions I didn’t do too bad, clocked up 50 miles at an avg speed of 17 mph

Ride 16/04/2023 Galashiels Randonee

So today was another Club Randonne with 8 of us doing the ride. We would be starting in Galashiels and doing a loop down to Eskdalemuir for our cafe stop. It was a overcast day with a few rain showers here and there but nothing too bad. We were up against a slight headwind to start with going up hill but the gradient was low about 3-5% so this was a fairly easy ride for me. The cafe stop was excellent I had soup and sticky toffee and custard for pudding with coffee and they were large portions so this was great We then headed back to Galashiels going a slightly different route but we had a tail wind and it was a lot of downhill so we were motoring along on the way back. So 80 miles clocked up today at an avg speed of 16 mph and what a great ride it was

Ride 15/04/2023

8 of us on the bun run this morning and weather wise it’s sunny but still pretty cold in the morning, not to windy but I still wrapped up in 3 layers to stay warm. Nothing too adventurous today, ride to the usual cafe stop then back the normal way. No extra stuff today as I’m doing the club Randonee tomorrow in Galashiels which is 80 miles long so saving a bit of energy for that So I did my usual 50 miles at an avg speed of 17 mph and that will do for today.

Ride 09/04/2023

7 of us on the bun run today, although I did start a little bit before the ride and did 15 miles to start with. I was looking to do 100 miles today so I got an early start before meeting up with the club. We headed for the usual cafe stop where I stocked up on fuel with soup, coffee and cake before heading onwards. I parted ways with the group at Kincardine bridge and headed for Denny to meet up with my Uncle to sort a computer issue out and pick up some sponsorship money. I then headed back to Kincardine bridge and followed the usual route home via Dalgety bay but was still about 20 miles short, so I did a little bit extra again by going to Cowdenbeath, into Ketly a second time and up to Kingseat before heading home and just getting my 100 miles It was a long one today and quite tiring but I got my distance thus making it the first 100 mile ride of the year at an avg speed of 16 mph, not to shabby just need to get a little bit faster