Yorkshire Grit - 20 January 2019

A calendar event at last!  Having almost forgotten what to do with a real paper Brevet card and what it's like having other around me I was looking forward to the trip south.

Gathering at the Start

With the newspapers proclaiming a deep freeze I set off into the darkness of the morning with a slight chill in the air arriving at the start with plenty time to tuck into a bowl of cereal that organizer Dean had laid on.


Eventually start time came around and we shot off into the dawn, the start of the ride largely downhill saw Robbie and I flying along trying to work out a good pace, I also over cooked it a tad at a few junctions and the greasy roads didn't help much with that.

Trying to hang on to Robbie on the flat

I was struggling to find a good pace that I could hold and after Croft a slight rise in the road saw me struggling to hang on to the pace while Robbie managed to hold on, so when a group of riders he knew passed at a decent pace that he reckoned he could hold, he set off to catch them.

Gentle rises have always been a weak point for me, most riders will find a long 3% hill to be nothing, but for me it's the worst, not steep enough to slow everyone else down but enough to sap all my speed, I like my hills a tad sharper, but then that's what I'm used to in the Fife hills.

As always in the gap there always seems to be very few riders around, the fast groups are way ahead leaving the full value riders to carry on at their own pace, rarely holding it together in groups so you're naturally more strung out.

Our first control was an Info Control at Topcliffe, where I caught up with Scottish Borders Randonneurs Ian and Jason who having hung onto a fast group had decided to take a break from the pace.  Taking longer than really necessary to write down the answer to the question they cracked on ahead but I passed them not long after and I didn't see them again on the ride.

A church, somewhere

Unfortunately this part of Yorkshire as well as being very flat is not too hot on scenic value so plugging on was the order of the day; soon though the air was filled with the smell of melting chocolate as the Nestlé plant on the edge of town arrived.  From here we were routed along the cycle paths of York, I missed a few turns but worked out a route from my Wahoo's mapping so didn't need to retrace, however it wasn't long before the pedestrian traffic increased and then as I was preparing to pass someone the dreaded sound of air escaping from a tyre filled my ears.  20 minutes spent changing the tyre while also making sure people were aware there was glass around and I was on my way again.

Dunnington: New Café, Good food

Along the York Cycle Paths the speed was much lower as pedestrian and particularly dog traffic made pushing on unreasonable.  Eventually though the road to Dunnington and the first full control was reached where impatient Sunday drivers obviously in too much of a rush to dig into their Roast Beef Lunch got in the way a bit.  In Dunnington where we believed there was only a Costcutter by chance many found a new Café that had opened during the week!  The Old Butcher's coffee shop served up a smashing "Butcher's Breakfast" sandwich and slab of cake, much recommended.

Robbie was there with Leighn and Carolyn who had decided that with such good pace made south they may as well have a leisurely lunch which they were just finishing as I arrived.

With a belly full there was only 17kmn to the next stop at Bilbrough Top services, to get to there we had to snake through the southern edge of york mixing between quiet A roads, residential roads, crossing the race course on a variety of different surface boards and the ring Road's Cycle path.
At the services a gaggle of riders were standing outside McDonald's but I had no need for another big feed so soon grabbing some sweets and liquid.
Now the ride started to climb seriously in a long drawn out, false summit laden drag through Tockwith to Boroughbridge and then onto the new A1(M) support road which I was expecting to be as deserted as the B7076, sadly it wasn't as the reduced number of junctions in the A1's upgrade meant the numerous villages along the way are now served from the support road.

Aiden disappearing into the distance

Somewhere along here I came across a large group of VC167 riders watching a puncture being fixed, I gathered they'd been there a while as I hadn't seen any of them since the start, and eventually Aiden caught up with me on the trike and we rode together for a while, I was expecting the big group to catch up but they never did, even Dave C who like Aiden had decided to carry on before the rest of them arrived at the finish after me.  Before long the long drag slowed me down and Aiden disappeared into the distance, I saw him about 1km away stop to put the lights on and then I saw them disappear over a false summit and that was it until I passed him at "Rest Stop" on High Brough Moor which was selling hot food.

Darkness falls near Scotch Corner

The routes summit was finally reached at Scotch Corner services, and the plunge back into Darlington in the dark was only broken by the branch into the control at the Barton Truck Stop (World Heritage Site), as World Heritage Sites it's maybe not quite St Kilda or the Forth Bridges but the selection of sweets were second to none and a number of Cadbury's Creme eggs were dispatched in succession.
As I left there was still no sign of any other riders around me, and in plunged into Darlington with an average speed of 20km on the clock meaning I'd be slightly over the 10 hour mark, if only for that puncture and a less leisurely lunch!



A good route for January and PBP qualification on a relatively mild day, the flattness was the eye opener, I've entered the Great North Road down this way for a 400km ride and it's similarly lacking in elevation profile so it looks like I'm going to need to get out on Tentsmuir and get some speed back in my legs, it'll be useful all round I suppose.

Tour of the Ochils - 12th January 2019

Why is it that Headwinds never turn into the tailwinds they promise to be?

It's something I've wondered for a while, sometimes you do get an epic tailwind, for example the day I sailed up the road from Ardvourlie towards the Kershader turn off with the Gale Force 8 wind blowing out of Gleann Sgaladail*  shoving me along at 64kmh, too fast for my Marine Diesel legs to add anything to the motion, the cost of that was descending off An Clisham at a similar speed and fighting my way past Caisteal Aird at 4kmh.

However most times you fight into the headwind convincing yourself that you'll be flying home like your'e on a Hayabussa and then when you make that turn you discover there's nothing behind you, either the road has magically become sheltered, with only the odd shove in the right places or worse the winds handily dropped altogether just as you turned. **

This was one of those days.

I've been working on this route for a while, not quite sure how to get the distance up without having to use a horribly busy road without backup NMU such as the A84 or needing a serious leg away from the Ochils.

My alarm woke me up at 6am, The wind howled in the trees outside the house, Queen were blaring out that they wanted to ride their bicycle, I wasn't so convinced and hit the silence button; next up it was Kraftwerks turns to try and get me on the bike, I silenced it again.   This wasn't a great start and the DIY Audax entry fee was looking like it might have been wasted. However by 8 I'd come to my senses and convinced myself that as it was a Saturday it didn't matter if I got home a tad later...

On the Balcony

Just before 9 I got on the road the wind not too noticeable as I left the village and set off for Dairsie bridge where I started the climb of Dura Den, as I poked out onto the Craigrothie road the wind hit me as I turned directly into the wind.  On the Balcony somehow it was sheltered from the Fresh Breeze blowing from the West, it's been a while since I last rode along here in this direction and I took in the views, spotting the odd bump a tad late.

Along Loch Leven looking back to West Lomon

I missed the turn I wanted in Markinch and found myself at the bottom of Kirk Brae, rather than be sensible and carry onto the High Street I went back up; I'd picked a route through Cadham after spotting an NMU path alongside the A92 that I'd never seen before which goes almost under the carwash and then onto the reasonably quiet cadham road towards Leslie.  Navigating the town is tricky enough most of the time so seeing lots of perfectly good paths I could have used to cut the corner was unsurprising and why is there always a new perfectly clean, smooth and deserted NMU path right beside you with no dropped kerb to get onto it when you find yourself in traffic?

Along the Hillfoots

Out of leslie and back into the countryside, my route took me to Auchmuir bridge and then up to Fruix, where I carried on past Cleish and up an imperceptible climb to Crook of Devon where I took the road past Muckhart Golf Club, I was by now rather hungry. Despite this I decided against stopping at Dollar Co-Op, sheer folly really as I spent the rest of the blast through the Hillfoots thinking of food.  At Stirling I'd decided to try a "cycle path" I'd seen marked through the University grounds that turned out to start off as a dirt road followed by a speed bump strewn ride through the halls of residence; I think next time I'll head down to Tullibody and then ride in to Causeway head on the NCN76.

I gave into the need to eat at last when I spotted the Tesco Express in Bridge of Allan, their Sheffield stands are hopelessly placed but at least they have both them and food.  It also proved to be just short of halfway so not too bad really.

The direct route to Doune from BoA is to ride up to the Keir Roundabout, which is fine if you're going to Dunblane as there's an NMU path on the East of the Roundabout, or you could alterantively use the Glen road, but going straight across it at 2pm on a Saturday, no chance.

Looking over to the Trossachs

Thankfully I'd spotted a route along the Carse of Lecropt, also signed "Abattoir", this was a pleasant if windy flat ride until I realized I could see a rather steep hill ahead of me, starting with a sharp 13.6% dig with a car behind me who thankfully waited until I could let them past.

Having just eaten I felt there was no need to stop in Doune so I rode to the cross which I looped and awaited the shove of the much anticipated tailwind, it didn't come, on reaching Dunblane I took a new road to me via Auchenlay, still no tailwind, the lack of wind continued until I reached the top of Greenbrae where the sidewind hit me; I'd been sheltered by the hills for a fair while.

The descent into Muthill was rather rapid, hitting an unseen ridge in the road at speed while hanging onto both brakes to try and stop for a junction is also rather uncomfortable, but I'm writing this so all's good for me, maybe not the woman holding onto her dog at the roadside though.
In Crieff I just turned for Kinky*** Bridge at the junction, I'd set this as the control anyway and I all I was hankering after was the cakes and chocolate I was carrying.  At the bridge I was briefly blinded by the light of a tractor crossing and piled onto the bridge without checking for anything else on it, thankfully there wasn't.  Rolling into Auchterarder I stopped at the junction to eat and drink.

Dunning by Night

Onto the Dunning road now, and at last I felt that welcoming shove from the wind, the gentle climbs that normally drag were hardly noticed, and I rolled into the village convinced I'd missed the shop's closing time of 6pm, thankfully that's only their Sunday closing time and having run out of juice I topped up with Lucozade sport and crisps.  Usually I take the Forteviot road to Forgandenny rather than the Invermay road but decided on the shorter route convincing myself that the climb of the dip isn't that bad heading east.  The wind continued to shove me along and as expected I hardly noticed the small digs that normally slow you down.  

Even the short climb out of Forgandenny was hardly noticeable and at that I knew it was downhill all the way to Aberargie. Pace was good, the dark hid the lumps and I was going well, Newburgh arrived in no time and then it was onto the Tay Coast Road, normally you feel the extended drag as it teases you with the odd loss of height gain, I was still getting that shove though!

The great thing about riding in a bubble of light is the loss of perception of speed and what's ahead of you, I know that Hazleton walls is the top of a long drag that leads to a short dig after a bit of descent to the road summit of the Green Hill, but with the wind and the dark not only could I not see the climb rising ahead of me, I also didn't need to put that much effort in.

The down side of riding in the dark is loss of perception of speed when flying into a K-Left at 40kmh that you've never managed to get round any faster than 30kmh before; at the bottom of the gutchers I was all over the shop as I tried to knock speed off and make the corner; thankfully nothing was on coming. and I got away with it.

As I rolled into the village I was pretty happy to get round the route in just over 11 hours, the push into the wind took a lot out of me and I was pretty dodgy at Bridge of Allan.

* Note the combined Gaelic (Gleann) and Norse name (Dail)

** Let's not mention the times that during your lunch stop the wind swings through 180 degrees.

*** Kinkell

A Mull 200 - 1st January 2019

Quarter to 7 I left the bunkhouse and headed north for Salen, being passed only by the Coastguard's pickup.
Light started to crack in the sky as I rode up Loch Na Keal and by Kilbrennan there was enough light to see by.

I was surprised by the progress I was making along the coast road as it lumps significantly in places and Calgary came faster than I expected.
The climb to Dervaig where I ate my first pre-prepared roll of the day and then up the hill road before descending to the Mishnish Lochs proved to be nowhere near as hard as I was expecting nor was the last dig over to Tobermory where I encountered my 3rd, 4th and 5th cars of the day as well as the only motorbike.
Thankfully I'd set up the control to be the roundabout (the only one on the island) so with a bottle of water and rolls in my bag I didn't need to descend to the harbour and then drag myself back out.

The climbs from Tobermory to Salen always catch me out a bit but proved not too difficult; the lack of boat traffic was also handy as it meant I could handle passing places properly in most cases.

Rolling through Craignure again I felt that horrible deflated feeling from the back wheel and set about resolving the fairy's work on the ramp out of the village after eating the 2nd roll.
The glen more road was a horrible drag, possibly because I could see it, and I felt like it would never end, though eventually it did and I descended to Pen-Y-Gael as rapidly as the traffic, road and wind conditions allowed.

Hitting the Ross I thought my climbing legs would get a rest but there's some sharp ramps on there and Fionnphort felt like it would never arrive, though the quiet village did eventually arrive and I consumed roll number 3. I also realized that I needed something a bit more rapidly metabolized and scoffed most of a bag of jelly babies.

Back along the Ross seemed to be faster as the light dropped and there was quite a bit of traffic and blinding headlights, but Pen-Y-Gael and the climb of Glen More was soon reached.
Once again the climb seemed to be easier in this direction and no headwind this time, can't think why...
The darkness certainly helped avoid seeing the road climbing the glen, and once at the summit the blast down then through Lochdon and back into Cragnure and the finished off the ride with just enough time to titivate myself before sitting down for Steak Pie with the hiking club mates.