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

Ride 08/04/2023

5 of us on the bun run today, which was a bit surprising at the low numbers but I suppose it’s the Easter bank holiday so people will be doing other stuff. It’s even a reasonable weather day, still cold in the morning but sunny and with little wind. We headed for the cafe stop at a fare pace, about 5 minutes shy of the fastest time I’ve ever done to the cafe stop which is saying something as we avg 18 mph there, little did I know this would be the trend for the rest of the ride Anyhow scrambled egg roll and orange juice later we were back on the road. Andy wanted to do some extra mileage, which was fine with me, so we skipped out Knockhill and headed for Milnathort and Kinross. I should point out Andy is a Semi Pro rider, ie he does it for a job. I was not expecting the pace to be so high but thankfully Andy was happy to lead all the way and I just had to keep up, and that was only possible by drafting him all the way Even with the drafting there was a point where I got dropped and I tried to catch back on, with me absolutely flat out at 196 bpm I did not catch him, no big surprise there at least he waited for me So today I did 55 miles in the fastest time I think I’ve ever done at a lung splitting avg speed of 18.6 mph, suffice to say I got a good work out today

Ride 02/04/2023

Better weather day today, not quite as cold as yesterday, no rain and not windy, it even brightened up in the afternoon with some sunshine which warmed the day up so it actually turned the day into a good day to ride. I was looking to ride 80 miles today so I started before the bun run and clocked up 23 miles before I meet up with the club. First going to Kelty and then up and over Knockhill, this turned out to be advantageous as unbeknownst to me the group was going to take a different route today and I was looking fro some elevation today as well. Anyway I meet up with the group and they decided to take a different route tot he normal bun run on a Sunday and decided to head to Saline, down to Dollar and along to the Coffee Bothy for the cafe stop today. So 8 of us on the bun run today along to the cafe stop where I had a “smash avocado breakfast” with coffee and cake which was most delicious After the cafe stop I lead the way back home heading around to the “Pineapple route” home, through Airth, across the Kincardine Bridge and the usual coastal route home that we would normally do on a Sunday ride. I then split from the group at Carineyhill had headed for Dalgety Bay and my normal route back up to Crossgates and home. So 80 miles clocked up at just shy of 17 mph.

Ride 01/04/2023

5 of us on the bun run today, a bit overcast and quite cold given the time of the year. I read 2 degrees Celsius by the time I got to the bottom of Knockhill, just as well as I had 4 layers on today, I was expecting it to rain but thankfully it didn’t. We had a tailwind to the cafe stop so we got there pretty fast for my scrambled egg roll and orange juice. The group didn’t want to do any extra today so we went back home the normal route down to Dollar, Yetts, Powmill and over Knockhill. So 50 miles knocked up at an avg speed of 17 mph.