CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting

The "I had a lovely ride today, thankyou" thread

(2682 posts)

  1. Arellcat
    Moderator

    I extended my training route this morning to 30 miles. Out along the A8, taking in the Gogar underpass this time for fun, and out to the Broxburn roundabout. Doubled back as usual, managed to ratchet up the speed to perhaps 36mph, but eventually met a red light at Newbridge.

    Had a brief rest and then up the Col de Clifton Hall, posting one of my better times, then had an energy gel at the top. The run down to Wilkieston was entertaining when the torpedo launched itself a foot to the left on a diagonal bump. For a change I turned right and rode out to Kirknewton, past the airfield and up to the Whang for a 40mph blast back into town. I paused just after the Gillespie crossroads to eat half a banana, before flying down the big hill. Peeled off just before Slateford station and went back home via the Royal Ed.

    My knees hurt a little bit now though.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  2. amir
    Member

    Absolutely chucked it down as I was waking this morning. Fortunately the forecast was wrong and it cleared so I could do the longer and quieter commute route. :)

    Posted 6 years ago #
  3. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Went home through the Hermitage downriver in the dark last night with photon cannon ablaze. Many beasts a-scurrying, no humans except....a youth rave party with glow sticks totally freaked out by the oncoming fireball. One tried a nineties style 'Ayeaye!' but I remained silently aloof lest they make friends.

    On through the dark at totally irresponsible speeds. What a hoot.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  4. Trixie
    Member

    I did a lovely loop of Innocent, Meadows, canal, over to Haymarket, Roseburn path, bits of NEPN (my first time - a joy!), Leith to Porty, a break for lunch watching dugs romping on the beach then back through the Magdalenes. Great day for it. *happy sigh*

    Posted 6 years ago #
  5. rider73
    Member

    this mornings commute was nice - warm, dry, quiet roads,
    went via meadows straight north through the city on dundas, then the 75 - goldenacre , ferry road

    can someone tell me what NEPN is???? ;-)

    Posted 6 years ago #
  6. HankChief
    Member

    North
    Edinburgh
    Path
    Network

    All the old railway lines round the North of the city - like the Ferry Road Path.

    Fantastic if they coincide with your route and still pretty good if you have to detour to get to them as there are no cars or traffic lights and steady inclines.

    Less good for having dog walkers and sometimes neds

    Posted 6 years ago #
  7. rider73
    Member

    gotcha! thanks!

    the ferry road one certainly seems popular , even at 7am ish.... and at 4.30 - crikeyyyyyy - still people (and dogs!) are better than cars to deal with ;-)

    Posted 6 years ago #
  8. gembo
    Member

    Lang Whang currently all open, lovely new Tarmac. Carnwath though will be closed from1/9. The community council newsletter made sensational reading if little sense. Cyclists will doubtless be able to use the pavement. Or the back road which has new Tarmac tho beware no quarter ever given by locals there.

    The route we took was A70 to kaimend turn, kaimend to newbigging, newbigging to dunsyre via poetry garden, dunsyre to dolphinton, dolphinton to netherurd, signposted Blyth bridge, turn right and cycle for less than a mile and take the road signposted Glasgow . Bit of a climb then descent to red barn, but we did not stop as we had a man up ahead waiting for us in Carnwath, so red barn to elsrickle, elsrickle to Carnwath and then Carnwath to Balerno.

    The entire route has fairly good Tarmac and some new Tarmac for all you new Tarmac junkies.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  9. Greenroofer
    Member

    I caught the train to Alnmouth yesterday and rode home via NCN1, Duns, Gifford and Tranent. Beautiful weather, lovely views of the Northumberland coast and then, from the top of the Lammermuirs, across the Forth valley.

    The first train to Alnmouth leaves Waverley at 10:00, so I wasn't on the road until 11:00, which meant I didn't get home until 19:45 (due to my gentle pace on rides like this), so it's a ride to do in summer rather than winter if you want to do it in daylight.

    I'm working my way round the 'train-able from Edinburgh' start points, and this route rates a 'perfectly OK' (because the Northumberland section is a bit fiddly). My favorite so far has been home from Oxenholme, which makes a grand day out with some classic climbs and lovely roads.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  10. HankChief
    Member

    @greenroofer - sounds a lovely ride.

    What's next? Helensburgh?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  11. Greenroofer
    Member

    @HC - Next month's trip is home from Blair Atholl via Ben Lawers. Dep EDB 0633, arrive BLA 0852, via Stirling.

    Helensburgh's on the list, although I need to find a nice way back. It's also quite a long trip to get there: this month's trip has shown that I prefer starting my rides first thing rather than at lunchtime.

    I also need to get back on the turbo between now and then if I'm to survive the ascent of Ben Lawers.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  12. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Next month's trip is home from Blair Atholl via Ben Lawers.

    The climb over Lochan na Làirige will be easy if you have cake in the Bridge of Balgie post office. I'm sure you were going to anyway.

    Fun fact - the Finlarig power station fed from the lochan has the greatest head of any power station in the country.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  13. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    PS Did HankChief do a write-up of his London-Edinburgh insanity?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  14. Greenroofer
    Member

    We await that write up with interest. I am led to believe it may be turning into an epic even more epic than the original epic.

    The Bridge of Balgie always reminds me unhelpfully of the childhood rhyme:

    Algy saw the bear
    The bear saw Algy
    The bear was bulgy
    The bulge was Algy

    Posted 6 years ago #
  15. sallyhinch
    Member

    Parts 1-3 are up now https://hankchiefblog.wordpress.com/

    Posted 6 years ago #
  16. HankChief
    Member

    IWRATS - a bit like the ride the write up is turning into a something of an Epic.

    Unlike the ride, I'm having to deal with a backlog of non-cycling related activities so finding time to do finish it is challenging.

    I have done the first 3 days which are available on my blog but all the juicy stuff is on Day 4 which is as of yet incomplete, so you won't find out how it ends...

    I will flag up once I've concluded it.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  17. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @HankChief

    Lovely. Focus on the gut-wrenching inner torment?

    'Shermer's Neck' - good Lord.....

    Posted 6 years ago #
  18. Stickman
    Member

    Excellent stuff.

    When it starts "[i]I’ll start with a confession – I enjoy a long cycle, nothing too extreme but a century ride (100 miles)..." then I know it's going to be good!

    Posted 6 years ago #
  19. acsimpson
    Member

    Greenroofer, better do the long way back from Briech before it's too late.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  20. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Cycling home last night I drifted off the path and down the fairway of the eighth hole of the Wee Braids golf course. Lovely, but totally disorienting in the dark with spray off the grass in the beam of the photon cannon. Green ground, black sky and silence.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  21. morepathsplease
    Member

    First time on NCN 76 today. Early morning from FRB to Clackmannanshire bridge and back on the South side. A wonderful route with lots of variety and some lovely stretches through the countryside. Had fun getting out of Grangemouth as I lost the route. Not the best surface in places for the road bike but idyllic otherwise and stunning at times (even Longannet power station although not in a good way perhaps).

    Posted 6 years ago #
  22. gembo
    Member

    Ncn76 always vanishes in Grangemouth.

    Near bad roads

    An alternate is to keep going straight through the refinery road

    Ends at little bridge turn left and head to Bo'ness, from there quiet roads or back on the path to blackness etc

    Posted 6 years ago #
  23. morepathsplease
    Member

    @gembo - I was on the A904 through Grangemouth then Bo'ness where I took the path to Bridgeness and eventually found route 76 again. Will look for that alternative next time, thanks.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  24. ARobComp
    Member

    I had the pleasure of heading off into Argyll and Bute this weekend with a buddy from London. We had the road bikes packed with a one man tent each, sleeping mats, one change of clothes, stove and tools. Pretty lightweight bikes although you could feel it on the big hills! Picture of bikes below in first link. (Can someone show me how to embed images - no idea what I'm doing wrong)

    Overall Route - https://www.strava.com/routes/10463918

    Friday - 56km - Helensburgh to Loch Fyne Brewery
    We set off just about midday after catching the 10am train from haymarket. The roads were wet but drivers considerate as we headed up the A814, past various military bases and with some great views off across the loch. We rounded the loch-head and found the base of the Rest and Be Thankful road stretching ahead. The old road is accessible by a bollarded off section on the left. There were a few gates to lift our bikes over but overall we climbed the pass on the old road which was fantastic! The main road would have been miserable.

    https://imgur.com/BQo1xZs

    The decent down to Loch Fyne was awesome. Big clear lines in primary position. Great stuff. We finished day one off by heading to the Fyne Ales tap room at the head of the loch and sampling all the beers, then setting up camp a little way down the loch and heading to the Loch Fyne Oyster bar for an enormous dinner. Quite a wet campsite and a very sad amount of litter left by inconsiderate previous campers (inordinate numbers of cans of fosters, and burnt camping equipment scattered through the trees).

    Saturday - 180km - Invarary to Ballahulich
    We woke up to a beautiful day, packed up tents and headed to Invarary (30 mins from awake to on the road fully packed!)

    https://imgur.com/y98Ru8U

    The view from the campsite was the above picture - lovely clouds in the hills!

    We rode down to Lochgilphead in a pretty speedy fashion. Able to maintain soem decent speeds with the bike packing gear only seeming to change our roadies from wippets into desert camels, able to carry great loads at speed over difficult terrain. This section averaged about 25kmph.

    This was a great warm up for the next section heading gradually west touching a section of the Crinan Canal and then joining Sustrans route 78 off up to the west side of Loch Awe. This road was fantastic with challenging climbs and rewarding views. I got up to almost 70kmph on a decent which was exciting.

    We had icecream at a lovely village shop and continued on northwards to some spectacular munro vistas (lots of short sharp climbs) and then turned west towards oban through some stunning valleys. This was a bit of a trudge with a tough road surface and we were lacking food. It was the slowest point in the trip. From LochGilphead to Oban we averaged about 20-22kmph with all the hills and certainly felt the drain in the legs.

    Oban Fish Bar fueled us with a fish tea and we headed along the coastal route out of oban to avoid a bit of a main traffic out of town. At this point we wanted to smash out the 50km to our chosen pub for the evening, the Loch Levan Hotel in Ballachulich. We rejoined the Route 78 and realised there was a completely segregated shared use path heading our way. However it wasn't clear exactly what route it took, how far it went, or when it randomly turned off into a forest at 90 degrees from our road route, whether it would actually go the way we needed. We abandoned the worming path and hit the road again maintaining high speeds and bashing out the remaining 50km in just about 2 hours from Oban. The route is very pretty and the road was surprisingly quiet on a Saturday late afternoon. Imagine it'd be awful during the week though.

    We found a cracking campsite on the beach and were treated to spectacular sunset before food and some beers before brandy and a fire into the wee hours back at the tent.
    https://i.imgur.com/uEXJZ8E.jpg

    Sunday - 25km to Fort William
    Sunday we got rained on, rode up to Fort William and got the train home. Apologies to those on the train we hadn't so much as washed our faces since Friday morning (well we had brushed our teeth twice a day)

    Overall a perfect mix of food, beer and cycling! Really showed that we could pack the bikes up in a really short time and have enough stuff to comfortably tour for up to a week considering we could easily have packed a few days rations. In fact if anything the good weather meant we'd both taken too many clothes!

    We were able to travel at speed and comfortably climb 16% inclines without feeling unbalanced or like we were crawling. Let's call it speed touring!

    My favourite moment was upon completing the 110 mile Saturday cycle my mate announced that he'd never cycled more than 110km before on his unloaded road bike. Considering I'd been mashing along assuming he was an old hand at distance this was pretty impressive from him (runner/rider/adventurous type)

    Route 78 is recommended if you want an offroad route with great views. Although beware that it does involve a ferry at Corran if you want to do the whole thing.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  25. gembo
    Member

    @morepathsplease, sounds like the same route except we don't bother with the NCN route 76 path after skinflats

    Posted 6 years ago #
  26. fimm
    Member

    ARobComp that sounds fantastic!
    (I believe that Sustrans path north of Oban is actually very good.)

    Posted 6 years ago #
  27. ARobComp
    Member

    @fimm - yep it was reasonable. Main complaints form me were it was a little too indirect for road bikes trying to get the last few miles ticked off, and quite a few bits of it were not very well kept. Lots of stones on the path, encroaching green slimey bits, and overgrown bushes.

    If I had been in less of a hurry and had slightly wider tyres, I think it would have ben a rather lovely route.

    I wish they would put up route boards every 10 miles or so though. Would have helped me understand what the route was doing when it took random 90 degree right turns up long country roads away from the direction we were travelling!

    Posted 6 years ago #
  28. rider73
    Member

    lovely ride this morning because I dodged the rain that was expected! ;-) makes up for all the times its not forecast for rain and you get caught without any waterproofs - soggy socks :-(

    Posted 6 years ago #
  29. dessert rat
    Member

    The South Downs, mtb over the weekend. Arduous doesn't come close.

    epic
    exhausting
    glorious

    Posted 6 years ago #
  30. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @Iain McR

    What you need is a breather on good Scotch estate tracks, not that filthy southern chalk.

    Posted 6 years ago #

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