CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
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.
I'll be at the start tomorrow. I've been mulling it over, and whilst I'm still a bit nervous about the weather conditions, I'll turn up and see where I get to. My main concerns are getting too cold, and/or getting too tired/slow (which may lead to the former).
I'm hoping the bridge will be open, as there are more options for bailing and training it back in Fife if the going gets too tough... ;-)
I'll be there. Had a wee shake down ride today post bike service out to Dalmeny and back from the Meadows. It feels much less bad out than the weather reads. Plus the worst of the wind will be Auchtermuchty to Tayport and that's pretty flat.
Aye, that's the section I've been most concerned about. I was in Dundee yesterday, cycling next to the Tay and that headwind is hard work, and cold. What should be the 'easy' part of the ride could turn out to be the toughest!
Good, there will be people I know...
Well, that was annoying. My rear gear cable snapped not long after we got over the bridge, and that was the end of that. I did know the bike needed re-cabling, but hadn't got round to it. Bailed to Dunfirmline station and discovered there wouldn't be a train for over two hours so went down to Inverkeithing and arrived not long before what I assume was the first train of the day (which I got the bike on without any issues).
I guess I would be a bit more irritated if the weather was nice... there was quite a lot of snow in Fife... however it is quite nice here and no doubt when my boyfriend gets home he'll be chasing me out to go for a run or something.
I think I will try and do a 200km ride myself at some point - would anyone out there be interested in joining me?
fimm, I think I could be up for a group 200k perm at some point. I bailed out, along with many others, on the north approach of the Forth bridge. The preceding blizzard, and visibility reduced to about 10 feet, was the decider. I hear it's even worse conditions further north.
I had spare cables with me so could have got your bike up and running again, but to be honest in this weather I think we're all better off staying in. Not worth risking a fall or suchlike.
I have to say that the weather did look like it was improving at the point I bailed, but then got worse again as I headed for the train.
I'm not personally that interested in going through the process of creating a formal DIY Audax - I'd just do the ride and know I'd done it. I guess I could be interested in doing a suitable perm, though.
(A quick search of the AUK website suggests that this is the only "suitable perm"... the alternative route for today might also be an option.)
Maybe worth approaching the Forth & Tay organiser (he's on CCE) to see if the route could be ridden as a perm? It's a really nice route and I'm probably not the only rider who feels robbed by the foul weather today...
Once he's over the disappointment, perhaps.
It's a shame the weather was so bad for your first 200kms.
I'm half tempted by the Dave Harris audax in 2 weeks - deadline is 17 March.
Dave Harris is a bit too lumpy for my liking, and trickier to get to/from the start for me. I'll hopefully be doing a DIY on 19th anyway. Might be April before I manage a 200...
The Dave Harris is a good route with some fine lumps, although the last hour or two is just a grind back up to Edinburgh on the A7.
I'd be inclined to do something like the Erit Lass as a perm - scenic but much quieter.
Hmmm I could be tempted by the Dave Harris - would need to work out how far it is to the start for me... I don't have anything on that day anyway.
Will think about it...
I did think of the poor F&T folk, specifically the beardless ones, as I was getting battered by hail on the return from North Berwick after a pretty miserable slog into the headwind.
I got fairly lucky as I only had to suffer it broadsiding me for about a mile, then it fizzled out a few more later, then it was just a matter of making most use of the glorious tailwind all the way home.
I'm game for an informal 200.
Commiserations with all who have missed out on the F&T today for various reasons. Know how you feel!
My lousy planning saw me wait 50 mins for a train from Inverkeithing to Edinburgh, only to get to Edinburgh an discover there are line works on the Edin-Queen street line so there is a replacement bus service, or as the fat railway bloke at the barriers unhelpfully bawled "there's nae bikes oan the buses, you'll no get on. It's no the first weekend thurs been wurks"
So I just had a 30 miler in non bikey clothes on the Surly fitted with wide and draggy marathon spikies. At least I had a tailwind for most of it, def bathtime now though... :-o
We made it through Dollar and about 3 miles after that it really was a joke. Total whiteout verging on the dangerous. Turned round and headed back the way we came into equally bad weather which brightened up then got worse then brightened up..... ........ 50 miles all in and hail battered eyballs.
DaveC is thunderously quiet. I'm concerned.
-edit- Then I remembered I have his mobbly number and texted him. Home safe.
@Uberuce it is funny, I was envying Crowriver his beard as we were going across the Bridge! I should be able to improvise something with a buff, but didn't fancy trying to do so one-handed while riding a skinny-tyred road bike through snow in a hooly...
We knew the bike was in need of a service so I took it down to the Bicycle Works this afternoon, and it isn't certain that they'll be able to get a part that needs replacing (weird Giant front fork) so I'm not going to even think about organising anything until I know more about that.
recombodna did I speak to you? I thought the person I was talking to was Dr Afternoon...
I don't know if it makes me chivalrous or sexist or just aware of the difference in nerve attenuation and dermal thickness across genders, but between recomdodna, DaveC and yourself, the unfurry chin and cheeks I was most sympathetic to were yours.
Eleven people were possibly still out mid-afternoon. The wife of the organiser told my wife she had made nearly ninety muffins for this which is a real shame. They've had a pretty bad day I think.
@Tom, I had a muffin before the départ, it was delicious. Feel free to pass on my compliments.
@fimm, I've been letting it grow a bit longer than normal the past two weeks as I thought I might need it for insulation. Turned out I was right!
Apparently three riders have completed the Forth & Tay so far, in decent time too: 18:30 arrivée. Chapeau to them! Three others so far unaccounted for...
EDIT: Final tally is apparently 4 finishers from a field of 87 entries. 55 DNS; 2 "missing in action" currently; the rest (including me) DNF.
@Fimm no I don't think I spoke to you. I arrived just n tme to leave but dd end up in the group on the north side of the bridge that turned back. I kept going with my pal and we were gong great guns until dollar..... anyhoo well done to the hardcore who completed it......
Yes, I did feel sorry for the organiser's wife! I think the muffins might freeze ok...
recombodna, you and your pal might then have been the two cyclists who I passed as I was going back towards Dunfirmline - I was in a hi-vis coat by that point.
Has anyone heard from Dr Afternoon? He was in the small group that I was with that were keeping going...
I did it. I was that fourth finisher, at 9.30pm. Somehow managed to add on an extra 10 miles to make it 140. By far the toughest physical thing I've ever done. I was with three others, and then just two of us until Abernethy and then lost him. I'm guessing they were the other finishers, though I don't know, they had talked of cutting short, and apparently I was the only one that did the climb over the Lomonds from Falkland.
The whole north end against the wind and snow was really pretty horrid, but alright after St.Andrews. Of course, on cue the wind dropped and I didn't get the push back across. The climb from Falkland was so icy I had to push the bike a fair bit. Back wheel spinning with anything out of the saddle. Fine after that though, exciting downhill in dark on snow and then nice roads back to the bridge.
Totalled 160 miles with Dalmeny and back. Went down a couple of times in the snow near Crammond. Home 11pm.
And big cheers to Martin. It was incredibly welcome to come back to a lit hall with tea and food. Feel slightly guilty not to have had another muffin though!
Wow. Very well done. That was a very long time to be out in that weather.
True grit, I declare.
@Fimm yeah could've been us. DrAfternoon I doff my cap in your honour!!
Crikey. Well done.
Well done DrAfternoon!
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts