Ride 14/08/2021

Mixed bag of weather today only made worse by the bloody high winds We had mostly cloud with a few spots of rain but I did get some sunshine on the way back home until I hit crossgates where it started to rain a bit again but since I was nearly home I didn’t care I did the start of the bun run as per usual up to the cafe stop with the club but after that I was on my own to do some extra mileage. I wanted to ride up to Carron Valley and then head home from their which would get me about 70 miles, 75 miles by the time I got home. But the friggin wind was in my face all the way up to Carron Valley, in fact it was like that all the way from home when I started the ride but I was hiding in the group until I was on my own At least once I got to Carron Valley I would have a tail wind all the way home and it was good! Mostly a flat route with a couple of bumps in the middle but a decent ride of 75 miles at an avg speed of 17 mph

Ride 08/08/2021

Well suffice to say it was a wee bit wet today. The ride started in the rain but stopped after the first 30 mins and was a little sunny after that, so for most of the ride I was dry, but the last 10 miles were just wow! We did the usual route to start with but decided at the cafe stop to do a little extra so after the cafe stop we headed into Stirling and then doubled back on ourselves and headed home the normal route. I wanted to do 70 miles today but given the weather I knew I would be pushing my luck a bit. When I past my home heading towards to Auchtertool I could see the black clouds and new I was in for a soaking but not as bad as the one I got. The second I hit Lochgelly the heavens opened up big time. It was like I was back in Vietnam cycling in the monsoon rains, crater sized rain drops hammering down so hard I was soaked in an instant. It was hard to see where I was going so I had to slow down as I tried to clear the rain from my eyes. No point wearing glasses at this time as they were useless, so I just soldiered on. By the time I got to Cowdenbeath it had eased up a little bit to the point I could see where I was going but this had caused flash flooding and was still chucking it down. Heading along the road to Hill of Beath the road was now flooded and there was no way around it so I just ploughed through the floods which turned out to be a lot deeper than I thought! I was now riding through water deep enough to submerge my feet, a wee bit concerning, hoping I didn’t run into a pot holes or get stranded in the middle of it Anyway I made it home thoroughly soaked, feet swimming in the water in my shoes but thankfully it wasn’t cold otherwise I would be in trouble. 72 miles clocked up and a hot shower to dry me off, so to speak

Ride 07/08/2021

Bit of a mixed bag of weather today, some sun, some rain, some wind but overall reasonably warm especially when the sun came out. The usual bun run today but with us going up Saline hill rather than Knockhill with a little bit added towards the end for me as I had to be home by 13:00 so not long distances today and only an avg speed of 16 mph.

Ride 1/08/2021

Today was the clubs second 100 Km ride heading towards Stirling, Gargunnock and back but a few of us planned to make it 100 miles, mainly because the rest hadn’t done a 100 miles ride this year. All the 100 miles rides I’ve done this year were mainly me on my own so it would be nice to have some company. The club would split at Yetts to head over Knockhill but we would continue on until Milnathort and head around Loch Leven. We stopped at the Loch for our second break and then continued on Kinglassie and through Cluny heading towards Kirkcaldy. Before hitting Kirkcaldy we headed west towards Lochgelly and Cowdenbeath. I wasn’t at a 100 miles yet so I continued on with the others down to Aberdour and along the coast to Dalgety Bay were we hit the 100 miles mark. I was still feeling good at this point so I continued on with one of the remaining guys through Rosyth and up to Crossford where he finished. I decided that I would continue on to 120 miles as I was feeling fine still so I did a loop to Kelty and back through Cowdenbeath and onto to Crossgates and home. If I had the time, it was getting late at this point, I think I may have carried on to see how far I could get before tiring myself. Anyhow 120 miles clocked up at an avg of 17 mph, another record for me

Ride 31/07/2021

Bit of a bull wet day, little wind and cool but none the less a day I required some extra layers when cycling. I was sticking to the 50 miles workout today since I would be doing the Club 100 Km ride tomorrow which I may bump up to 100 miles depending on the weather conditions. So today’s ride was the usual bun run returning over knockhill with me adding on a little bit at the end to get me to the 50 mile mark.

Ride 25/07/2021

7 of us on the bun run today so we decided to do a slightly different route and go clockwise round rather than anticlockwise. We headed over Knockhill as usual but headed towards Loch Leven and around that today with a cafe stop just after passing Loch Leven. I was looking to do 100 km today to complement yesterdays 100 miles and keep it easy as I was still tired from yesterdays effort. We all split up at Cowdenbeath to head home but I carried on down towards Dalgety Bay to make up the extra miles, with a loop through Cairneyhill back home. 66 miles knocked out at 17 mph avg pleased with that

Ride 24/07/2021

Another glorious day but it didn’t start that way, it was cloudy to begin with but by the time we got to the first cafe stop the sun had started to come out. I was doing my Ochils loop today so I started with the club up to the first cafe stop (about 25 miles) and then I headed towards Bridge of Allan as the club returned to Dunfermline. It’s been a while since I’ve done this and given the nice day that it was this was a good excuse to go. Second stop of the day would be at Auchterarder for a quick cup of coffee and then I pressed on to Bridge of Earn. I was going quite fast today as I was trying to do 100 miles in under 6 hours which of the 22 100 miles or greater rides that I’ve done I’ve never been able to do it in under 6 hours, the closest was 6 hours 5 mins, so I know I had a good shot at it. Once past Bridge of Earn it was onto Milnathort and along to powmill where my third and final stop would be, time for some coke and cake By this time I was getting very tired and I still had to climb up Knockhill so the rest was appreciated. Once over Knockhill it was back to Dunfermline and home. My Garmin had the cheek to crash as I entered Crossgates which was a bit of a piss take had I lost the data but thankfully I managed to get it back bar the last half mile to home but it showed I had done the 100 in under 6 hours, 5 hours 47 mins to be precise with and avg speed of 17 mph.

Ride 17/07/2021

It’s a glorious hot sunny day only ruined by the strong winds. There were 10 of us today but this time I wasn’t doing the bun run it was just a ride with some of the club members. Thankfully after yesterdays mad fast ride I wasn’t riding into the headwind to begin with I was still tired from yesterdays ride and not fully recovered yet. We would be in a head wind all the way up to close to Kippen where we would be stopping for a cafe break, I stayed at the back in this part. We would then return via Stirling and the Foothills this time with a tail wind and I took lead for a little while, I wanted to conserve energy here as I would be doing 100 miles today whereas everyone else would be doing around 70 miles. I would split with the group just at the turn off for Knockhill and I would continue on to Milnathort and around Loch Leven. This would still not be enough mileage so I had to tag on some extra miles and here was my problem. Once past Loch Leven I would be into the headwind on my own and by this time I was over the 80 mile mark and tired. The headwind was brutal it had me going at a snails pace and I just didn’t have the power to punch through like I did on yesterdays ride. Anyway 102 miles clocked up at 16 mph avg speed, that would have been 17 mph if it weren’t for the head wind

Ride 11/07/2021

Another great day to be cycling, hot, no wind and no rain 7 of us today and we did the usual bun run route. I decided again to add a bit more on the end to make it 60 plus miles and managed to keep a good avg speed again, the same as yesterday 17 mph.

Ride 10/07/2021

It’s a nice warm day with little wind, a little overcast with rain forecast for this afternoon. About 15 of us today doing the usual bun run route, a little faster than the norm but that was fine with me. After going over knockhill I did a little bit more to knock it up to 60 miles before the rain hit.

Ride 04/07/2021

Today was the clubs first 100k bike ride since lock down and it would be a loop over knockhill down to dunning and Bridge of Earn, up through Glanfarg to Milnathort for our cafe stop. It was nearly 50 miles to the cafe stop so by this time I was quite hungry. After the cafe stop we headed through Kinross and Kelty and down through Cowdenbeath and into Dunferline. I decided I would continue on since it was a nice sunny day with a little bit of wind around but not enough to deter me I continued on doing a loop through Oakley back to Kelty and home getting home just before the thunder storms hit. 100 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 16 mph, another good days ride

Ride 03/07/2021

Well as far as weather goes today it was overcast with little wind and thankfully although it was forecast to rain it didn’t Anyway todays ride had 15 of us and I was out in the first group who were actually going quite fast to begin with, we had an avg speed of 17 mph by the time we got to the cafe stop, usually this is around the 16 mph mark. Things slowed down a bit after the cafe stop since it was all up hill and by the time I got to the bottom of knockhill I was back to my usual 16 mph avg speed and this is where things got interesting. I had decided to do some extra miles with one of the Kinross Cycle Club girls who rides with us on the Saturday ride, she is a strong fast rider. To put that into context the first 35 miles from home to the cafe stop were an avg speed of 16 mph but riding at Rachael’s pace the second 35 miles were an avg speed of 22 mph This is unheard of territory for me, I’ve never come close to doing that kind of speeds for the last 10 years that I’ve been riding, suffice to say I have sore legs now So 70 miles clocked up in 4 hours at and avg speed of 17 mph, this is the fastest 70 miles I’ve ever done