Ride 01/09/2024

10 of us on the bun run today and weather wise it was overcast and a little bit windy, only this time we would start with a tail wind and then end with a head wind. Usual route today, over Knockhill and down to Dollar before the kick back up to Dollarbeg and along to the cafe stop for coffee and cake, with the tail wind this was easy going, but of course once we left the cafe it was a head wind. I lead most of the way to the cafe stop and some of the way back home again. I didn’t mind the head wind as it afforded me some effort to get my performance back up to where it once was. Ironically enough because of this it ended up being 50 miles at an avg speed of over 17 mph which is fast for a Sunday ride but thats fine with me, I needed the workout 😄

Ride 31/08/2024

It’s a beautiful day for a bike ride, sunny, little wind and warm 😀 and given the weather it was no wonder 27 people turned up for the bun run. We split into 3 groups with me in the faster first group doing the usual route to the cafe stop. With 2 fully working lungs again it was a joy to be able to put power down (what was available after being off the bike for so long) and not feel breathless or sore left lung. The usual beverage and roll were had at the cafe stop before we decided on the route home. It was decided we would take the Aldi road, it’s a quieter road compared to the A91 or A977 which run parallel to it. We then headed for Balado and up to Dalqueich before dropping down to Milnathort and heading back home via Kinross and Kelty. So 59 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 18 mph which given my current fitness was going some and I could definitely feel the burn in the legs 😅

Ride 18/08/2024 Aug Randonee – Cupar

So today was the clubs monthly Randonee and today it was to Cupar, weather wise it’s about the same as yesterday, slightly overcast with some sunny spells, dry, ok temp wise, although it could be chilly when we were riding into the wind, but the biggest issue was said wind 😣 The route was a westerly start with us going to Cupar which meant a great tailwind and on the way home we would be into a headwind 😢 9 of us on the run this morning heading back home to Crossgates to begin with and along the road to Auchtertool and Kirkcaldy. Ken was following us as far as here before heading off on his own route so we said goodbye at this point and carried on. Heading through Coaltown of Wemyss, Buckhaven and Leven before arriving at Largo for our first hill climb of the day. I’ve climbed this hill before so I knew what to expect but performance wise I was not up to par, my PB up this hill is 8 mins, today the most I could manage was 11 mins and that was going as hard as I could manage, it would appear a long road to recovery from here out 😕 Anyway once we were in Largoward we headed North down to Cupar for our cafe stop, the usual soup, coffee and cake were had here before I prepared myself for the slog home. Up till this point I had been leading most of the way since I organised this route and I had the route map, I didn’t want to be leading all the way back I just didn’t have the performance for that so I sat in the bunch all the way back with Paul Mitchell leading all the way back, thanks Paul 😉 although I did get dropped a couple of time but I made it in the end. The route back would take us through Kingskettle, where I warm up sometime when doing the Fife TT races I do, so I knew where I was going off the top of my head at this point, along to Glenrothes and basically the route I would take home from work when I worked in Glenrothes, so I could switch off the route planner and go automatic mode 😀 We would then go through Kinglassie, Lochgelly and along to Cowdenbeath where I would split from the group and head home. So 68 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 16 mph and that was enough for me.

Ride 17/08/2024

20 of us on the bun run this morning and weather wise it was overcast and windy but at least it stayed dry 😊 We split into 3 groups with me in the first group of 7. The usual route today, nothing fancy, I’m still trying to get my performance back after illness so no extra either. Usual headwind all the way to the cafe stop for scrambled egg roll and orange juice before heading back home. Tailwind on the way home but this time I went down to Dollar and then past the golf course to miss out Yetts o’Muckhart before heading over Knockhill. Did an effort over Knockhill to gauge my performance and get a little bit of training for the TT hill climbs coming in the next 2 weeks, not great but doable for now until I can train back up again. So 50 miles clocked up at just under 17 mph.

Ride 11/08/2024

Glorious day for a bike ride 😁 hot, sunny with little wind. 15 of us on the bun run and oddly enough we went as one group which is unusual. Usual route today although I would be doing some extra today given the good conditions. Usual coffee and cake at the cafe stop before continuing the ride. When I got back to Crossgates I decided to bump the ride up to 65 miles so carried on to Auchtertool before heading over the hills to Lochgelly and along the road back home again as if I were coming back from Fife Cycle Park. I was about 2 miles short of where I wanted so a quick ride down the cycle path to Fordell to get my mileage before heading home again. So 65 miles clocked up today at an avg speed of just shy of 17 mph, just wish we had more days like this 🤨😎

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 😳😎