Not as planned

Plans

Today's ride wasn't at all as planned. Earlier in the week the weather forecast was for a dry morning and a mate had said yes to coming out for 20 miles or so as long as I kept them flat. Flat routes aren't exactly easy to find in Fife, but there are some flat roads in the Howe of Fife. You just need to avoid the main routes if you want to have a pleasant day. So I planned a route for me to and from Cupar and a flat route around the roads for the rest.

Reality

The first change in plans came on Thursday came when my companion called off. I left the route as it was. Then on Saturday I woke to wet roads and grey, grey clouds. It took a lot of internal wrangling before I actually decided to just go anyway. It did look a little brighter and I was hoping that the sun would break through the clouds. I didn't take a waterproof, the conditions were really hot and humid.

The ride out to Hill of Tarvit was pleasant and it did look like the weather might turn nice. However the view into the Howe of Fife from the top of the hill did not inspire that confidence. Grey clouds on top of the Lomond hills and a streamer low above the valley. There was definitely rain around. I carried on regardless. Sadly rain caught up with me on the road to Collessie but it wasn't too heavy, just annoying.

At Collessie I changed my plans slightly. I opted for the drier, and probably less muddy, main road to Lindores over the back road to Letham. This gave me an excellent flat drag from Lindores to the crossroads at the A92. I tried as much as possible to stay in the drops. I find this position difficult to maintain; my back doesn't like it much. However today I managed to longer sections like this, so maybe I'm getting more flexible.

I tracked for home through Cupar, which was a bit of a bottleneck today. Then more water from above on the road back to Pitscottie. I wasn't going for any detours this morning. Then the second section of rding in the drops on the road down to St. Andrews from Blebo.

The ride

Idiot Road Users of the Day

I think all the idiot drivers came out today so I'm going to list all the offenders here. Thanks to you all for deciding that your powered trip is so much more important than my feeling of safety.

• Heading around a left hand bend, after which I was taking a right hand junction, I was glad to be nearer the left hand side of the road as a car came the other way on my side of the road. Now I'd seen them coming down the road towards me, so what was their excuse?
• The car that overtook me just outside Lindores when we were approaching a blind bend. The clue is in the description. If I can't see round the bend, then you can't see round the bend.
• The taxi that decided to overtake me on the Lindores to Cupar road when I was tripping along at over 20 mph with a car coming the other way. I had loads of space, honest. The driver's time saving? About 5 seconds.
• The family people carrier who decided to overtake me and leave me around 6 inches of space. I could easily have knocked on the window. But I didn't really want to take my hands of the handlebars.
• The car that overtook me on the road out of Cupar, again on a blind bend. What's up with car drivers?

There were others that came close, but I'm less bothered by them. Those above though were un-excusable. And I'm going to continue being upset by them.

Idiot Cyclist of the Day

Me! On the hill from the crossroads on the A92 to Cupar I managed to drop my water bottle. Doh! I hate doing that. At least the bottle rolled safely into the gutter and I was able to retrieve it.

All about balance

For anyone actually interested in reading my blog I apologise for being away for so long. After the Lighthouse to Lighthouse ride my golf took priority for while as I tried to get ready for some competitions. That meant less bike riding and more time swinging a club and hitting little white balls. Not that I haven't been riding; I've just been doing slightly less of it. Which is probably no bad thing.

Before I did the L2L ride I had begun to get a little bored; certainly of training. It's hard to get up and "do the miles" especially if they are the same miles you've done for the last 10 months. And it was precisely this non-enjoyment of golf that led me to do the cycling in the first place.

The change to cycling can't be underestimated. For around 12 years I had been a highly driven competitive club golfer. For me that meant practice, games with mates and, most importantly, lots of competition golf. I was averaging over 50 competitive rounds a year. For someone holding down a full-time job that's no mean feat. I had stopped being obsessed by golf but I was still very keen.

Then my game started to slip away. Ironically it started to go after I started to go to the gym to get fitter to improve my golf. I lost some distance with my shots and, although my scoring improved for a while, I started to be unhappy with my game. Then it all went and I started playing worse. Of course competition golf is not the place to be when this happens. And eventually, in the summer of 2011, I found myself not enjoying the game at all. I still played because I enjoy the company and the banter as much as anything. But the golf, no, no enjoyment at all. And that's when I decided to do something else. You know all about the something else!

Now you might see my dilemma. I really don't want cycling to go the same way. However, I'm lucky. My golfing desire isn't finished, not at all. Having taken it back up (I never really went away from it completely) I'm enjoying it again. And you know what? I'm also playing better than I have in ages. It's like my body has re-adjusted itself and my brain has stopped tying me up in knots. I even managed to win a competition the other day. For me that is a complete vindication of my taking a break.

And here's the meaning of the title of this piece. I'm determined to maintain this balance. Golf and cycling as my main activities. If I've a cycling challenge in the offing, or a big golfing season coming up one or other of them might take priority for a while. But I never want to get in the position I was in last year; all out of balance.