Fabulous day today, if not a wee bit challenging. Today was the West Lothian Clarion's RAD tour (Reliability Trial). 62 miles around the county, taking in 7 castles and what seem endless hills and undulations. To top that off I rode to the start and finish, adding 14 miles, to give a total mileage today of 76 miles.
The day started well, as the first 2 miles are uphill and then is a gradual drop of altitude over the next 5 miles to the start. Just under 40 of us started. I had opted to for group 2, with the aim to average 15 mph + breaks. It all started off well but then somehow I lost the back of the group, when overtaking the group 1. Took me a while to catch up to the stragglers but the main bunch were gone. As it was pretty windy this was not the best situation. But hey ho, I just had to make do. After a bit of cat and mouse on the next few miles three of us rode together. This soon dropped to two when David had a blow out and had to bail out. Steve and I rode on, riding at a consistent pace with a nice chat to take the mind off things.
Now I had thought the ride would not involve many hills. How wrong could I be. As well as those constant rises that sap your legs there was a endless climb from West Calder to one of the highest roads in West Lothian. But at the top was the most welcoming sign ever....3 miles to the feed stop! And what feed stop it was. After meanearing down a long drive we arrived to a very warm welcome at Neil's house and lots of happy cyclists. Three varieties of soup, bread, the best collection of cakes I have ever seen, bacon rolls, tea and in the comfort of a dining room. I wasn't the only one who could have quiet happily whiled away the afternoon here. Finally we dragged ourselves away and formed a nice group of six for the last 22 miles.
Bizzare moment at the traffic lights. A car came completely towards us as we were sitting in a filter lane (single lane). At the last minute they mounted the pavement in the middle of the lights and careened up off the hill almost taking out some other riders. We were so dumstruck we missed that the lights had turned green.
Looking forward to some downhill we trotted off and five minutes later there were two punctures. 15 minutes later we were finally off again. Beautiful country lanes were our reward but not as easy as we thought. Every time we turned west there was a very taxing head wind. The last ten miles were tough as mostly uphill with a head wind. I think everyone was in their own personal hell at this point, with most silently riding on their own. At 3:30 we finally saw the end, nicely situated by a cafe. Time to relax at last! or not as I still have 7 miles, mostly uphill to get home (and with that persisent head wind). Still there was time to gather the energy over a latte.
Not a pretty ride home. I don't think I have ridden so slow in a long time. I was having to use my granny on the most pathetic of rises. At about 3 miles from home I was confronted with the final hill, which was as bad as it looked (see above). Needless to say I sit here now extremely tired, but pleased with my efforts. And it was such a brilliant day talking to so many friendly happy local cyclists. Wonder what next week brings?
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