Joy and I drove up to Scotland last week for a holiday and I didn’t want to take a week out of my training just three weeks before the G2P ride so after a lot of trial and error to fit it in whilst still having room for luggage I packed the bike into the back of the TT and took it with us.
First day into the holiday and we had been very kindly invited to a family BBQ at one of Joy’s cousins houses in Linlithgow, not far from where we were staying with Joy’s aunt and uncle in Queensferry. We stayed with Joy’s cousins a couple of years back and I remembered how Linlithgow backed onto some fantastic countryside so with the assistance of Google’s streetview I plotted a 20 mile route off the beaten track taking in some potential scenic spots around Beecraigs. The sun was shining and the views where breath taking, the road surfaces where generally smoooooth tarmac and despite the constant undulating terrain the ride was a complete pleasure, I even went off route to tackle a stonking climb at Cairnpapple Hill as I was enjoying the ride so much. I got to the cousins house a little early so headed back out and did another 10 miles to notch just over 30 miles for the ride. Joy’s cousins laid on a fantastic BBQ and we had a great afternoon so all in all pretty much a perfect day.
Got out on the bike first thing on the second day of the holiday as the weather man was showing sunny for the morning followed by rain for the rest of the week so I wanted to get out whilst I could. I had spotted an alternative road to Beecraigs that looked interesting the day before so planned a route around this and taking in the Forth road bridge whilst keeping the mileage down to 30 miles as we had plans to visit The Hill House in the afternoon. Whilst it was dry when I headed out it was not sunny and there was a pretty strong wind. The road where smooth and quiet again and he route didn’t seem quite as hilly, the heavens decided to open about the ten mile mark and I was then heading straight into wind five miles later so the combined wind and rain made the ride a little unpleasant. Coming across some road works on route was not ideal in view of the time I was allowing myself on the ride and I didn’t like seeing my virtual partner go past me (virtual partner just ignored the roadwork’s) so I picked up the pace to get back in front of it. Going across the Forth road bridge was an experience as I had to lean over to about 75 degrees due to the side wind and stopped on the bridge to discover that whilst it looks like the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco it is not as stable as the Forth wobbles a lot. Managed to beat the virtual partner back to base so pleased with ride. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210594531
I gave the bike a rest for a couple of days to stick to holiday activities and headed back out on the Thursday. Turned out that a friend of Joys uncle is a keen cyclist and he sent over a few good routes to try. One which particularly appealed included a loop around Loch Leven so having woken up to a glorious morning I loaded the course onto the Garmin and located a bird sanctuary Joy and I could meet at for lunch next to the loch. The route was pretty much a constant climb for the first 18 miles, followed by an awesome twisting 2 mile downhill with just small climbs for the remainder. Scenery was spectacular and Joy was waiting for me with sandwiches, fruit, tea and some of her auntie’s home-made tiffin (yum) just after the 30 mile point. Got back to base having done 50 miles and decided to tag another ten miles on but the clouds dumped a torrential load on me which had me soaked within seconds so I called it a day and headed back. http://connect.garmin.com/player/211339176
Thoroughly enjoyed the cycling in Scotland, you see so much more on the bike and tackling a challenge of a killer hill gives an instant reward with the view from the top, really pleased Joy told me to take the bike.
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