CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
Hope no-one minds me doing a bit of shameless promotion.
It's our club's annual sportive, Tour of the Kingdom on 26th May, three cracking routes around Fife on offer for a modest fee of £25.
All funds stay within the club a) to keep us afloat and b) more importantly to help fund our youth development and coaching programmes due to start shortly. More detail here -
http://www.dunfermlinecc.com/sportive
Thanks!
Some good looking routes there @deckard112 - the black has some tasty climbs on it. Sadly I'm already committed that weekend.
Back on ebikes - I was more thinking about the ebiker getting to see what an Audax was all about rather than doing it for any sort of sporting achievement.
Not considered range though, so would have to be a shorter event.
Its still going to hurt even if the motor does most of the work. Hands, arms, back, bum these all need to be conditioned just as much as the leg muscles.
Audax is very simple. Cycle a long time, often in beautiful surrounding, usually ending up where you started, not a race, costs less than a sportive. Stop every 30-50km, sometimes organised, could be at a cafe or Coop (I must get a Coop loyalty card).
Ebikes are allowed on BP events which is effectively anything less than 200km. The ride and entry experience should be identical to those on solely human powered bikes except your ride won't be validated and so you won't appear on the list of finishers.
Whilst there's little that can be done to prevent tagging along it can have adverse effects if the organiser has placed a limit on rider numbers due to the size of facilities en route or for safety reasons. Obviously, the more "taggers along" the bigger the potential problem. If organisers knowingly give permission to taggers along it could also invalidate the insurance of all riders on an event. So, taggers along won't be physically prevented from riding the route but don't expect a particularly warm welcome either.
Moffat Toffee this weekend. Entries still open (http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/18-644/). 200km with 13.5 hours to do it in.
This is a lovely route with splendid pretty quiet roads. Should be plenty of lambs to see and perhaps a kite or red squirrel. Also may be robed people wandering along the road. Plus some great place names (eg Nether Cassock, Foulbog) and some excellent cake.
Well we were blessed with good weather for this ride. Great day out, with the valleys between Moffat and Selkirk at their best again.
Next up for me is the Merse and Moors, which includes the Elsdon cafe next to the Winter's Gibbet climb
Just leaving Aberdeen after completing the Edinburgh Feeder Ride to PoP Aberdeen.
Big thanks to @Hankchief for the idea, for leading from the front and towing us north and for giving me some of his pasty. It was good to meet @Frenchy in real life and share the job of keeping @HC's speed under control.
Honourable mention to @DaveC too. He was with us in spirit as we rode the route he'd provided. He nagged us about taking the right kit. We all agreed at the start of the ride that he'd overdone it, but actually he called the weather and the gear perfectly, so because of him we were properly equipped for the sub-zero temperature we experienced.
Now must make sure I don't doze past my stop and end up at King's Cross...
Great work all three!
On Saturday a number of us (including cyclingmollie and panyagua) took part in the Merse and Moors audax. This is a slightly fearsome 300km (with 4.2km ascent) passing through beautiful countryside in the Borders and Northumbria.
The start was inauspicious. Just before it there was a heavy shower and it was still raining as we trekked over the Granites and through the Moorfots. There was also a loud bang as someone tyre exploded in the Musselburg train station car park (glam start) - unfortunately I later found out this was one of my friends - worn rim.
Although the start was milder than expected, the payoff for the drying off of the weather in the Moorfoots was a plunge in temperature. As a result of that we now all suffered the now traditional ice cream head and numb fingers/toes associated with early season rides through the Moorfoots.
Eventually though (after a lot of hills and sunshine), it felt warmer.
The roads around Denholm have a lot to recommend them. Lovely countryside (rivers, hills etc) and interesting history (hill forts, towers on crags, interesting churches) - oh and some bee herders.
The climb to Carter Bar starts nice enough, but the turn onto the A6088 is a long drag with a rough surface. A welcome cuppa in the layby then a swoop down to Catcleugh Reservoir, then a speedy run along the A68 not even stopping to see the Roman Fort. Then left to the wonderful Elsdon, with its Green, Motte & Bailey, Church, Peel, Gibbet and just all round loveliness. A long stop in the cyclist cafe. Then up the ex national hill climb to Winter's Gibbet and Romans Roads. A variety of lanes and cute villages takes us to Alnwick (only one puncture!). Then we head back north via a ford, Ford and Coldstream. Duns for more food and through the Lammermuirs, temperature dropping again, owls and other strange calls, rodents crossing. The Hungry Snout is extra hungry after nearly 300km and in the dark you can only see the glint of its jaws. The return from the top of Redstone Rigg is easy and we are easily able to outrun the drunks of Tranent (no men lost).
All in all this 300 had the best second half of any I've done. We kept the pace down due to one of group only recently returning after injury and that made it much easier after Alnwick (this is where I usually start to wonder why, oh why).
On the return from the Arrivee, I saw a barn owl on the A7 - something I've not see in the wild before - almost as good as the 3 points and progress on this year's SR attempt.
sounds an awesome ride @amir - well done to everyone who did it. Is it the 400 next or more 200s?
Well done to all the Aberdeen riders too- a great effort.
@paddyirish yes, am looking for a 400 today. Then a 600 is planned for July (New Border Raid).
Have you any Audax plans?
@amir- 3 rides planned for the year but not Audaxes or Sportives- Bealach na Ba, the John Muir Way and the Silvretta High Alpine Road in Austria (my pass on /Summer holiday).
Hope to do a 200, but difficult to find time as busy with young kids at weekends.
@amir: great write-up, thanks. I love your line 'a ford, Ford and Coldstream' - very poetic. I too saw a barn owl, on the section between Gifford and Tranent, which for a moment took my mind off the general discomfort I was feeling having ridden much of the way at a pace slightly at odds with my lack of fitness. Fortunately I managed not to blow up completely and finished the event over an hour earlier than I've managed on any of the three previous occasions. Many thanks must go to Alan (don't think he's on this forum) for pacing me but holding back where necessary and bearing with my chain issues. Mentally I found the hardest part to be the endless short leg-sapping climbs on the switchback between Coldstream and Duns.
I would have liked to have chewed the fat more with you and @cyclingmollie but hope to get that opportunity on another ride later in the season. In the meantime, good luck to you (and to everyone else here) with your riding goals.
Those sound really exciting!
Great write-up @amir. My padded gilet really saved my ride (good tip there @panyagua). I was going to use it for the last bit from Duns but kept it on from Innerleithen.
I think the easier pace meant I saw more of the scenery than before - valleys, castles, churches and woods. When the effort did ramp up - on the Hungry Snout - I thought I was going to see my Co-op sandwiches again.
@paddyirish, I know a Pilates instructor from Portobello who's also doing the Bealach na Ba Challenge. You'll probably be able to pick her out doing stretches at the start and finish - something she claims cyclists never do.
@cyclingmollie- Never needed to stretch before or after cycling. Drinking coffee and eating cake seem to be the best warm down exercise. However running is a different story. Started doing a couch to 5k plan this year and now trying to go a little beyond that. If I don't stretch before and after that I pay for it big time.
Won't be doing the challenge. All of these rides will be done on the fly when a suitable opportunity is negotiated.
Supposed to start gingerly which should stretch the muscles you are going to use.? Afterwards I recommend recovery complan and the rolling pin decathlon sells
I picked a good day for my first DIY of the season (Saturday). A 400 from home to Bridge of Allan, up to Comrie, through the Sma Glen to Dunkeld then along to Forfar via Blairgowrie and Kirriemuir. Then to Perth along the south side of the Strath with view of the southern Highlands (Schiehallion, of course/probably/possibly). Then back through Edinburgh to Kingston, East Linton (rain starts) and home.
It was definitely worth adding in the easy climbs from Braco to Comrie and from Crieff to Dunkeld. Also stopped to see the impressive Roman fort at Braco (again).
Main downside is that I still have to sort my saddle situation out (ouch).
There's quite a bit audax and sportive-wise at the moment.
I'm not sure if any from this forum took part in the West Highland 1000, but apparently it was pretty great. Dr Afternoon took part in an impressive part-off-road 600 in Wales.
This weekend, there are two calendar audaxes. I'm doing the Rannoch 210, from Forfar (which goes to Rannoch!). There is also the classic Southern Uplands 400, from Musselburgh. I did that last year - great route. The forecast looks interesting but may turn out fine. No wind.
In 3 weeks there's the Snow Roads 300 audax (that was on the tele). I'm really looking forward to that.
Also Alston and Back on 23/6 (300) and Nae Bother to Us (400) in July, both ex-Galashiels. Anyone else partaking?
<grumpy old git>I wish I'd been well for the 400 amir. The alternatives e.g. tomorrow's 400, are unlikely to be as clement. I've done so many rides in bad weather that I know that they come at a cost - chest-infections and chronic knee problems. It's one thing to ride a cold, wet 400km Audax it's another to spend a month recovering your health afterwards.</grumpy old git>
@edinburgh87 I have a place on the Alston and Back.
Cross fingers on the forecast, cyclingmollie.
Cyclingmollie and I have also signed up for the New Borders Raid in July, to get the SR series.
Saturday I plan to ride a DIY 400 Audax.
https://goo.gl/maps/pcHxG7tuJh12
Same route back. I was going to ride to Ride to the Sun, as a DIY 400, but I'm already booked for that weekend helping riding a 300.
Thanks for the offer Dave C. And good luck with the ride. My eldest is coming back from Copenhagen that day so it's not possible for me.
I am planning to ride amir's DIY400 sometime next week, probably Monday, leaving M'burgh at around 5am. Failing that I'm down for Lucy's Alston and Back the following Saturday.
Having spoken to the Snow Roads Org, it looks like the Org's ride the weekend before may not go ahead, due to lack if numbers. So I may be free to ride the RTTS. (Link here).
Of course I am thinking of going to Carlisle from home by bike, via Berwick on Tweed & Hawick to make it a round 400 diy.
The Adventure Show are filming the RTTS (as I understand) so I can also wave to our friends who film and produce the show.
@Amir, I'm also riding the New Border Raid, I'll look out for you zipping past me near the start! :D
@davec that's great. I looking forward to that event. I'll be pacing it much more than Saturday's 200
Many congrats to Cyclingmollie who did a 400 km diy solo on Thursday.
Snow Roads next weekend
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