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