Ride 10/08/2024

20 of us on the bun run today and although the forecast was to stay dry by the time I got to the meet up point it was hammering it down. Thankfully I had my rain jacket with me so it was a complete wash out 😉 Anyway I was feeling better this week so went with the first (fast) group, all of 6 of us 😕 and after riding about 10 mins the rain had stopped and we were heading for some sunny weather. The only bad part about this was the strong head wind we would face all the way to the cafe stop. Usual fuel intake at the cafe stop before we started up again and it was decided we would head for Milnathort rather than going over Knockhill. This would afford us a great tail wind but this was when Paul put the hammer down and I ended up doing a 5 mile time trial just trying to catch him up 😰Thankfully from Milnathort things calmed down a bit so I wasn’t flat out all the way home. So 53 miles traveled at an avg speed just shy of 19 mph, so I got quite the workout today 😄

Ride 04/08/2024

9 of us on the bun run this morning, weather wise it was overcast but warm with not much wind around, a decent day for a ride 😊 Usual route today, with coffee and cake at the cafe stop before heading back. Not pushing it again today, only doing the necessary to get back to shape at a gradual pace. So this meant 50 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 16 mph which will do for today.

Ride 03/08/2024

Well first ride after a 10 day hiatus with being off ill with some weird left lung infection 🤔 not sure what was going on there, could breath fine, no coughing, no fever, no loss of appetite, just painful to breath heavily on it or when I laid down to sleep. So a couple of sleepless nights and a few days for the pain to go away later, I’m back on the bike 😊 although the toll to my performance is very noticeable 🙁 This is why I decided to go with the slower third group ride this morning and take it easy until I got some idea where I was performance wise. Usual cafe stop for food and drink and the normal route back home with no extra miles. I was able to get a couple of efforts in to gauge my performance, not terrible but not exactly good with my heart rate running about 10 beats faster for the given effort put in. Anyway this should return to normal once I get back in the swing of things, so 45 miles clocked up at and avg speed of 16 mph but I’m at least glad to be back on the bike, just annoyed I missed all the good weather where I could have been cycling 😕

Ride 21/07/2024

9 of us on the bun run today and another decent weather day, a little bit windier than yesterday but not enough to bother me 😊 Usual route today over Knockhill, down to Dollar and up to the cafe stop for the usual coffee and cake. We had a head wind on the way to the cafe stop but that also meant we had a tail wind all the way home again 😊 with Ken and I taking the slightly longer route home via Dalgey Bay and back up Goat Quarry hill to Crossgates. So that meant 55 miles clocked up at a decent speed of over 17 mph.

Ride 20/07/2024

28 on the bun run today, weather wise its quite warm and dry, good cycling weather ☺ We split into 3 groups with me in the faster first group again. Not quite as crazy fast as last week but still a fast ride today, we were just over the hour getting to the cafe stop, good pace for me, requiring some effort but not blowing me up 😁 Usual OJ and roll for fuel before we headed back, taking the normal route home and not doing any extra even though it was a nice enough day to do so. So 50 miles clocked up at just over 18 mph and I’m happy with that 🙂

Ride 13/07/2024 July Randonee

Since there was no official Randonee this month I organised an ad-hoc one starting in Denny and heading out to Balloch and Loch Lomond and returning to Denny. 7 of us on the ride today and weather wise it was quite pleasant, no rain, warm with little wind 😊 All of the elevation was stacked towards the beginning of the ride, but it’s a lumpy route, so even after the cafe stop we still had a few lumps to get over. We started in Denny and straight away we were climbing up to Carron Valley. We would then head for Fintry and drop down into Killearn before heading along to Balloch where we would have our cafe stop. Soup, coffee and cake were the order of the day before we headed back to Denny. This time we would take the slightly flatter route to Strathblane, Lennoxtown and Kilsyth before the last 10 miles back to our starting point in Denny. So 66 miles clocked up at an avg speed just under 16 mph, and we even had some sunshine on the way back 😀

Ride 13/07/2024

Well this was an interesting ride, 19 of us at the gates this morning so we split into the usual 2 groups, the first group being the faster one, which I’m in, and we head for the usual cafe stop. What I didn’t know was they were planning to take the KOM for this route and it was put the hammer down from the start 😮 We absolutely motored our way around the route avg over 21 mph all the way to the cafe stop which was a 20 mile ride. Suffice to say I was a sweaty mess by the time we got the cafe stop, I had dressed for a rainy day, which it did not 😠 so I was pretty cooked by the time we stopped. But all in all we broke the KOM and got to the cafe in 56 mins and since 4 of us all rocked up at the same time I got the KOM as well 😁 The usual OJ and roll for the stop before we decided on the route home. This being heading down to Dollar and along to Milnathort before heading south again towards Kelty and home. I was hoping we would calm down for the ride back home but nope, it was a rapid ride back as well. So I clocked up 55 miles in under 3 hours, which is damn fast even for me, with an avg speed of 19 mph 😳😎

Ride 07/07/2024

11 of us on the bun run today doing the usual Sunday bun run route. Weather wise it’s not as windy as yesterday but I didn’t check the weather forecast this morning and that was an error as I would find out later on. Anyway usual stop at Muircott for coffee and cake before heading back home again. Unfortunately it was when we hit Fishcross and Clackmannan the heavens opened up, and I was planning to do extra today by riding to Denny but that put the nail on the head to that idea, so I just followed everyone else and headed home instead. I had no wet weather gear, had I looked at the forecast I may have made a better decision but it was what it was. So I was wet through for the rest of the ride back, thankfully the rain did eventually stop and I did dry out a little bit but my feet were soaked and I was covered in a lot of spray. We took the longer way home from Cairneyhill down to Roysth and Dalgety bay before heading back up hill via Mill farm road where it started to rain again, but by this time I was only 5 mins from home so didn’t care 😊 So 55 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 17 mph.

Ride 06/07/2024

Well this was a better ride than last week, I feel a little bit more myself, not quite 100% but getting there. After taking a few days off and the stupid hard TT race this Wednesday 😫 which although I took easier than last time, I actually didn’t do as bad as I thought 😊 I’m feeling not as fatigued as last Saturday. So weather wise the forecast was for rain, but ironically it didn’t rain when I was riding, I was fully prepared for it with overshoes and rain jacket but in the end I didn’t need them 😊 21 of us today so we split into 2 groups and I joined the faster paced first group doing the normal bun run route, I wasn’t going to be doing extra just due to the weather forecast. Usual food and drink at the cafe stop before we headed back home over Knockhill and down to Dunfermline. Tomorrow is a better weather day to I’ll get my extra miles tomorrow but for today I clocked up 50 miles at an avg speed of just under 18 mph and that will do me nicely 😃

Ride 29/06/2024

20 on the bun run this morning and weather wise it was overcast with some sunny spells but the wind was the killer. We split into 2 groups and I was in the faster first group leading that out straight into a headwind all the way to the cafe stop. I got some rest bite when Paul took the lead just after Kincardine but I would be on my own after the cafe stop. Had the usual beverage and roll before splitting from the group to do my own thing. I wanted to do about 60 miles today so I continued on into the head wind all the way to the Coffee Bothy cafe before swinging around to the hill foots and riding all the way to Yetts with a glorious tailwind 😀 I then headed back home the usual route over Knockhill and back down into Dunfermline and home. So I clocked up 61 miles and got my target at an avg speed of just under 18 mph 😊

Ride 22/06/2024 100 miles Loch Earn

Today we decided to move away from the normal bun run ride and do a 100 miles ride around Loch Earn since it was going to be a good weather day. Although it was overcast for most of the morning the sun did make an appearance after lunchtime and it was clear blue sky’s all the way home. We would start at the usual spot in Dunfermline before heading over Knockhill and heading up Glendevon before dropping back down again to Gleneagles. From here we headed for Crieff before turning west towards Loch Earn and straight into a headwind. Thankfully once through Comrie we would be stopping at our first cafe stop from some refreshments, which meant in my case a roll that practically had everything on it, beacon, egg, lorne sausage and hash brown followed by cake 😊 With me leading the crew we headed around Loch Earn and up to Strathyre and then back down to Callander where we stopped for lunch which consisted of soup, coffee and cake again (you can never have too much cake 😁) After lunch we then headed for Doune, Bridge of Allan and Stirling where we had our final stop for some ice cream, since it was now sunny and hot 😋 before heading back home the usual coastal route up into Dunfermline. So 116 miles clocked up at an avg speed of over 16 mph, a good steady pace for me given all the cycling I’ve done this week.

Ride 22/06/2024

6 of us on the 08:30 bun run this morning and weather wise it was overcast, a little bit of wind, dry with some sunny patches here and there. Usual route to the cafe stop, with a head wind most of the way, not too strong but enough to be noticed. Orange juice and scrambled egg roll as per usual at the stop before we headed back home again. Doing a slightly shorter route by going via the golf club rather than all the way up to Yetts but still doing the full Knockhill climb. Colin and I decided to do a little bit extra when we got to Redcraigs and headed along to Kelty rather than down to Wellwood and Dunfermline. We too the road up to Hill of Beath rather than Kingseat and then down to Fordell Firs where we split and I turned around and headed back up the road to Crossgates and home. So 55 miles clocked up at a decent pace of over 17 mph 😊