Monday, October 31, 2011

Ride, clean, ride, clean....

Last weekend's training consisted of one ride only unfortunately. Despite that I still had to spend a disproportionate amount of time cleaning the bike afterwards. I guess it is the time of year and the fact I live in a rural landscape but the amount of mud on the roads quite astounding. And potentially very dangerous. As a novice roadie I find it very difficult to have any great confidence in staying upright when my wheels are slipping through the brown stuff and I end up cycling very carefully when there is the slightest trace of it on the road.
On Saturday I didn't help myself as I decided to go down a little loop I hadn't done before. Bad move. Muddy roads and a whole pile of dog walkers' cars meant I had a slow and frustrating mile or so. The hill that came after (the reason for the new loop) was steep and long but thankfully free of traffic and mud so it wasn't too bad. Maybe I'm just getting better at hills.
Sadly it all added up to a bike that looked like this at the end.
The picture above was the aftermath of a ride from a couple of weeks ago after which I fitted mudguards. And while they keep me relatively free of mud and water I can't say the same for the bike. It still looked like this on Saturday. But at least it is clean now.

The ride



Road User of the Day


This entry wouldn't be complete without mention of some of the most considerate driving I've been lucky enough to witness. I was coming down into Ceres from Cupar and the white van behind me followed me all the way through the village, only overtaking me on the way out when it was really safe to do so. So many thanks to the driver of the van for A G Thaw, joiner.

Idiot Road User of the Day


I could easily give the reciprocal award to the two drivers overtaking me on the way from Pitscottie to Blebo Craigs but instead I'll give it to the real idiot. Me! Coming up to a junction I completely missed the second car coming from my right. Luckily I was going slowly and had unclipped one foot in preparation to stop. So a quick use of the brakes and all was ok. I guess I probably still gave the driver a fright though. I am truly sorry.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Cycling in the dark

The title of the post is meant literally in this case. I wanted to try out my new lights (upgrades from my about-town lights), so the bike and I went for a wee spin this morning. I'll admit to being nervous because so far all my real road riding has been done in daylight hours with the occasional flashing rear light being employed for peace of mind. My anxiety led me to load up me and my road bike with

  • the new front light,
  • my about-town front light in flashing mode,
  • my new rear light,
  • head torch on the helmet,
  • about-town rear light in flashing mode on the rear of the helmet,
  • high-viz jacket,
  • high-viz detailing on my leggings and overshoes.

Over the top? I don't think so, and hopefully I could be seen for miles. Certainly the majority of cars dipped their headlights for me, and whether that was out of courtesy or because I was beaming back loads of light at them I don't know. I'll need to get a pal to drive past me and then give me a report.
From a riding point of view I found the combination of front light and head torch very useful although I could probably do with a little longer beam of light for the downhill sections. The strange thing was that I felt safer when it was pitch black than I did when it started to brighten up. Certainly it is easier for me to see vehicles when it's very dark; the headlamps and their light gives them away.
The ride itself was nothing special, but it has given me the confidence to go out and do it again. The temperature will need to be right though. I'm not at all sure about popping out onto country roads with the possibility of frost or, worse, ice.

The Ride

Technical Details

For those of you who are interested the new lights are

Monday, October 24, 2011

Cycling, a challenge and a blog

Welcome. Whether you've come here by mistake or have picked up the link and decided to have a look, thanks for dropping by. Let me start by introducing the reason for this blog.
A little while I ago I started cycling again. With a little experience under my belt I decided that I needed a challenge to keep my interest up. And, as an experiment in blogging, I have decided to write about my training for it. I'm not saying that everything here will be cycling and challenge related but that will be the major thrust.
My personal challenge is to cycle across mainland Scotland, from the west-most point to the east-most in 2 days. That works out as cycling from the Point of Ardnamuchan to Boddam, south of Peterhead, approximately 240 miles. An approximate route is shown below.

View Scotland C2C in a larger map
The absolute details have not been finalised yet. Now all I have to do is get fit for it. I'm looking forward to the experience, both getting fitter and the blogging. I hope you will too.