Ride 26/11/2023

16 of us on the bun run today and thankfully it’s not quite as cold as yesterday, it remained above zero, just about, for the entire ride and with little wind and an overcast day it was an ok day to cycling. We split into 2 groups and thankfully I went with the second group, as it would turn out the first group went a completely different route to us and one I would not wanted to have done. So we stuck to the usual route today over Knockhill and down to Dollar before heading up Dollarbeg and along to the cafe stop. Usual coffee and cake was had before we headed for the leg home along the coast. I split with Ken and Chris along to Dalgety bay as the rest of the group headed for Dunfermline, not noticing Rachael was on our tail, as I was leading with head down in TT mode, so much so I missed our turning Anyway we climbed up to Crossgates from Inverkeithing before going our separate ways home. So 55 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 16 mph.

Ride 25/11/2023

16 of us on the bun run and weather wise it was friggin cold, it’s a clear bright sunny day with little wind but stupidly cold. Given how most of the day it was -3 I’m surprised so many people turned up. Given the size of us we started as one big group but split into 2 soon after, and I ended up in group 2 leading the pack. I stayed there for most of the ride, only relinquishing it about 2 miles from the cafe stop. Thankfully I got to warm up a bit at the cafe stop before we pressed on. Getting back on the bike was not fun, although the temps had risen a bit they were still only plus one degree, but it was enough to ride without losing any sense from my fingers or toes. We decided to keep it short so cut out Knockhill and headed up Saline instead. This would mean I wouldn’t hit my target of 50 miles today but I was fine with that so all in all 45 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 15 mph.

Ride 19/11/2023

11 of us on the bun run today and weather wise it’s ok, dry, not freezing and little wind, so a decent day to ride on. The usual route today to the cafe stop for coffee and cake but with a slightly different way home, I wasn’t doing any extra today but now that Ken has moved at to Crossgates by me, and he didn’t fancy climbing the hill up to his house we took a slightly less hilly route instead. It was the usual route to where we would split from the rest of the group and we head for Dalgety Bay but instead we only went as far as Rosyth and then headed up to Dunfermline and then along Aberdour road to the cycle path that I would use to cycle up from Dalgety bay to Crossgates. Fairly easy from this point on the cycle path up to Crossgates and home, thus completing a 55 mile ride at an avg speed of 16 mph.

Ride 18/11/2023

8 of us on the bun run this morning and boy was it a wet one It’s not Baltic or windy but the consistent rain just gets you wet through and then you’re wet for the rest of the ride which can get cold if you’re not going at a hard pace. We debated stopping at the cafe stop but it would at least allow us to get some fuel and dry off a little bit, at least until we try to start back up again by putting our wet cloths back on The usual route home today I wasn’t about to do any extra given the conditions but I did put in an effort up over Knockhill to warm me up a bit before the decent back down to Dunfermline and home. So 44 miles clocked up today at an avg speed of 16 mph and thank god for the hot shower when I got home

Ride 12/11/2023

Well normality has returned 6 on the bun run today, another cold but sunny one, with a little bit of wind but a load of fog and mist, which made for an even colder ride. The consensus was to skip out Knockhill and the normal route and head on a similar route as last week heading for the Coffee Bothy, much to my disappointment as I was wanting to get some elevation in today, but things would turn out to be more my liking as it would turn out We headed for Kincardine and Clackmannan along the coast where the mist was, which was a bit of a pea souper and cold, but as we turned to head for Kennet Paul broke his chain, he’s a strong lad Thankfully Graeme had a spare chain link which was used to fix the chain but it was decided at this point to just do a quick ride and head for Muircot cafe instead. The mist cleared as we moved away from the coast to Muircot and it was quite clear by the time we got their. Coffee and cake were had and some time to warm up again. Since the guys wanted the quickest way home we headed for Saline and this was were I split from them, as this gave me the opportunity to get some additional elevation in I headed up from Saline to Redcraigs and then onto Knockhill from here, I then took the road to Cleish and then climbed Cleish hill before heading for Kelty and home. So in the end it turned out to be a good day as I got my elevation whilst clocking up 56 miles at an avg speed of 16 mph, happy days

Ride 11/11/2023

Well shockingly again there was a large turn out this morning, 32 of us in total, given the time of year I never see this many riders, even in the summer time we don’t always get this many riders and it’s totally freezing this morning. Weather wise it’s a sunny day with little wind but of course in winter time it makes for a very cold day, there was even frost on the ground this morning. I headed off in group 2 towards the cafe stop, not the fast group, there were a lot in that this morning, I was taking it easy today. The usual scrambled egg roll and OJ before we headed back, and thankfully it had warmed up a little but, not much about 5 degrees, but enough not to freeze my nuts off on the way back. I headed back in group 3 with Ken and Chris as we were all going the same way back to Crossgates. We took a different route through Dunfermline which actually increased my mileage a little bit but did allow me to get 50 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 15 mph, we’ll see if this trend of large numbers continues over the winter but I’d be very surprised if it does

Ride 05/11/2023

10 on the bun run today and it’s quite a nice day to ride weather wise, little wind, dry and with some sunshine here and there. We decided to take a different route today and headed to the Coffee Bothy for our cafe stop. This would mean missing out Knockhill and heading for Saline instead, we then cut down to the Hillfoots for the last few miles to the cafe. Soup, coffee and cake were had before setting off again. It wasn’t all plain sailing from here though as by the time we got to Kincardine Robert got a puncture, and then even with the new tube in it was still slowly going down, so we didn’t quite make it to Culross before we had to stop again for another tube change but thankfully this was the last stop. I went down to Dalgety Bay with Ken as usual but I was looking to do some extra today, so I followed Ken up to his house and then carried on myself up hill to Mossmorran and back to Crossgates, thus getting my 100 Kilometer ride done for the month at an avg speed of 16 mph

Ride 04/11/2023

Well this was a turn up for the books, there were over 30 of us on the bun run today I was not expecting that given the weather, as I left the house this morning it was raining, so I wasn’t expecting to see many out today. Anyway we split into 3 groups and headed for the cafe stop. By the time we got to the cafe the rain had stopped and with a slight headwind it made it a pleasant ride to get there. After the cafe stop we took a different route home skipping out Knockhill, where some people decided to go up Knockhill due to time constraints, and headed for Milnathort. At Milnathort we then headed south to Kinross and Kelty before I split at Dunfermline and headed for home. The sun did start to show it’s face by the time I hit Dunfermline but I was happy to head for home rather than do extra, I had clocked up nearly 55 miles by this point and that was fine for me. So 55 miles done at an avg speed of 17 mph