Ride 06/06/2020

Well I seriously underestimated the weather today and didn’t realise just how cold and windy it was I got about 2 miles out and thought bugger this and headed home for some more appropriate clothing. So once suitably dressed I carried on with the ride only this time deciding to change what I had in mind. I was going to go to kincardine but decided I would head into the wind and ride to kinglassie and then head around Loch Leven. So rather than doing an east west ride I would do more of a north south ride and not get hit so badly with the wind. I covered the same distance I had in mind for today but on a different route.which is why the map looks a little odd today

Ride 30/05/2020

So it’s a great day for a cycle although it is a bit breezy which would come to bite me towards the end of the ride. I was looking to do 110 miles today so I set a course of about 107 miles heading towards Leven first since, I would be riding into the wind in this direction. I then headed for Cupar which meant I would be cross wind until I got to the Tay river, now the fun bit starts. I didn’t appreciate just how windy it was today although the forecast said 15 mph it felt faster but this was a benefit I was was going with the wind all the way to Glaneagles so I got a good ride in this section. I then swung south through Glendevon and round to Dollar where I would once again have a tail wind heading for alloa and Kincardine. Now this is where the sting in the tail is once past Kincardine and after doing nearly 90 miles I would be head wind again heading home. This bit was tough the wind rips off what little energy you have at this point and it was mostly uphill which only made things worse By the time I got back to Crossgates I was shattered and my lovely 16 mph avg speed had been blown out the window. I kinda new this would happen but thats the lay of the land and the slight disadvantage of living on top of a hill Of course at Crossgates I was only 107 miles which meant I had to struggle a wee bit more to clock up the extra 3 miles, doesn’t sound like much but its a real pain in the arse when you’ve no strength left. Anyway goal reached and my avg didn’t go completely awry still got 15.4 mph

Ride 20/05/2020

It’s a warm sunny evening and given the weekend is a disaster with gale force winds I don’t see me doing much riding then so lets get as much done through the week So I did a sprint around “the block”, a 24 mile loop that I’ve done faster than this before with my best effort a avg 19.5 mph to todays avg 18,8 mph but still a good effort The avg power is the same for both ride at 240 watts average so I must of had slightly better weather conditions the last time

Ride 17/05/2020

Another windy day only this time I had to contend with a little rain. I kept the ride about the same as yesterday distance wise but started with going over Knockhill like on a normal Sunday bun run. I changed it after that point to skip out Dollar and just headed straight for Kincardine and the coastal road home. I added a little loop at the end just to make sure I got over 40 miles. So I was a little slower today only getting 16 mph avg speed but not to far off yesterdays power output.

Ride 16/05/2020

Not a particular good weather day with the winds quite high so I decided to do a bun run type of ride but I mixed it up to miss out most of the hills I had to ride into a headwind all the way to Kincardine but once past this point I would have a tail wind. I wasn’t expecting a fast pace with all the wind around but with so few hills and a good tail wind I was surprised I got up to an avg speed of 17 mph

Ride 09/05/2020

Weather was forecast to be naff this weekend so I decided to stick to the usual club bun runs, although I seemed to have hammered this one this morning I wasn’t planning to go fast that just seemed to happen. Slight detour towards the end to skip out going through Dunfermline and return via Kelty, Cowdenbeath and Hill of Beath. So 43 miles clocked up at a fast pace of over 17 mph

Ride 02/05/2020 Ochils full loop

Well it’s been 2 years since I’ve done my Ochils full loop and this is the first from Crossgates so it’s a slight derivative from the Falkirk route, this one is actually longer, the normal route is about 83 miles but I was looking to do 90 miles today. Weather wise it’s about the same as last week, a little chilly to start with some sunshine a low winds. In fact by the time I got back to Crossgates I had clocked up 85 miles, hence the little loop around Cowdenbeath to get the extra 5 miles I was after A good pace again about the same as last week but this ride had a few more hills in it so just over 4000 feet of climbing but it does take it’s toll on me, quite tired now with sore legs towards the end of the ride. If I can get a slightly warmer day I should be able to break the 100 miles mark you always start to get a little cold towards the end of the ride after burning over 3500 calories so all the heat I can get the better

Ride 26/04/2020

Todays ride was about maintaining a set wattage, some strength training, I wasn’t looking to do a long ride today after yesterdays effort so a short hard ride made more sense. I basically did loop around Kelty, Forestmill, Kincardine and home trying to keep the hill to a minimum. Although it’s sunny again there was still some wind around and it’s still a bit chilly in the mornings, so I was headwind on the outbound leg and tailwind on the return leg. As I found out last night my left leg was a victim of the sun and got burnt although my right leg didn’t get a scratch so getting into the shower today without my leg feeling like someone had put a naked flame next to it was a bit of an issue 😢 Anyway I meet my target so 37 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 17.5 mph, good effort

Ride 25/04/2020 North Berwick

I decided to ride to North Berwick, somewhere I’ve thought about going to before but never really got there. In fact the furthest I’ve got is to Prestonpans but that was when I was living in Falkirk. So made a conscious effort to get there today as the weather was ok, still a bit cold in the morning but I was in the cycling shorts today with three layers on still It was still overcast by the time I got to North Berwick and had my packed lunch but I was bloody freezing when I started back up again Thankfully it was starting to clear up and by the time I got back to Edinburgh the sun was out and it was warmer, so I could take of my overshoes and full length cloves for some mitts It’s a flat route hence the speed I managed to get, I wasn’t intentionally going fast and the winds were light so I got close to 16 mph for the 80 miles that I clocked up. What amazed me the most were the number of cyclists on the roads today especially leaving Edinburgh and heading to North Berwick, I must have passed 50 cyclists over that stretch of road not in big groups but in 2s, 3s and 4s, makes me wonder if that road would usually get that many cyclists if it weren’t for the coronavirus environment we are in. I suppose since the roads are quieter there is opportunity for people who otherwise wouldn’t ride to actually get out and ride their bikes.

Ride 19/04/2020

So after yesterdays fun stuff I wasn’t looking to do anything strenuous today so I opted to do a north south ride and stay away from the east west headwinds. I decided to ride down to Balerno, it’s been a while since I was there probably a good 3 years or more. I’ts also almost a straight shot south for me but I was looking to do about 50 miles today so I added some dumbbell loops in to bump up the millage. Weather wise it’s sunny but still below 10 degrees when I started but by lunch time it gotten up to about 13 degrees. The only mishap today was getting a puncture at Balerno but that was a quick fix with a spare tube. So just shy of 50 miles knocked up at a easy pace of 14 mph

Ride 18/04/2020

So todays plan was to ride to Largo, just over 20 miles away, turn around and ride back. Reason being I would be into a head wind all the way to Largo and have a nice tail wind all the way back with no plans to ride particularly hard. Well being the numpty that I am that kinda went out the window. Sure the ride to Largo was a pain against the wind but I thought I would have an easy ride home. Oh no, idiot me saw a couple of riders up front on the homeward leg and though “i’ll use them as a pace setter” Not the smartest idea as I soon found out, they were going pretty fast but like a bull to a red flag I just went for it and Christ do my legs know about it, they got a little painful just as I was reaching Dalgety Bay. To put that into perspective I have the Garmin set to do 5 miles laps so the first 5 laps were an avg of 20 mins at an avg speed of 13 mpg. The next 5 laps were avg 16 min at an avg of 17 mph, thats a big jump for me Suffice to say for the climb back up to Crossgates I just took my time. That climb on a good day I can do in under 11 mins, today I took nearly 16 min So 53 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 15.6 mph, not bad when I think about it but I’m going to feel that on tomorrows ride

Ride 12/04/2020

It’s a pleasant enough day so I decided I would ride to Falkirk and do my old Falkirk loop. It was my old 15 mile training loop but I added a bit more on to go through Bonnybridge to bump my millage to over 60 miles, I was looking for roughly 65 miles today. I wasn’t going hard just a pleasant enough ride to get the mileage without knackering me