About my Secret

Sorry about the delay. Stuff going on and so little time yadda yadda yadda.....

Anyway, last post I wrote about a secret location which I would share with you if you promised not to tell. Well, I'm going to hold you all to that promise. The secret location is the Isle of Arran, of the west coast of Scotland, tucked in between Ardrossan and the Kintyre peninsula-



This is a beautiful island. For me as a road cyclist, there are a handful of routes to explore, with the bonus of it being impossible to get lost. I say this because there are a very small number of roads that lead anywhere other than into small residential closes or to remote farms. There is the main island circuit road of around 57 miles and two other roads that bisect the island. These roads provide a number of options-

Each of these routes starts at the main town (big village) of Brodick.

The Island Loop- the full 57 mile loop.

The Northern Loop- Via Lochranza and then cutting across the island on The String Road from Blackwaterfoot on the west side of the Island.

The Southern Loop- Via Lamlash and Sliddery, again cutting across the island on The String Road.

The Northern Loop can be extended by cutting across the island from Sliddery to Lamlash via The Ross Road.

The Southern Loop can be shortened by using The Ross Road as opposed to The String.

Any one of these options can be interchanged to make longer r shorter routes (a figure 8 ride doing north and south and cutting across The String or The Ross?)

Each route can be ridden clockwise or anti clockwise, providing different challenges such as climbing steeper sides of the ascents.

I did two rides whilst I was there. The first was thew shortened Southern Loop, starting at Brodick, over The String to Blackwaterfoot and then back over The Ross to Lamlash-

To start with, The Ross goes up


and up


and up


but ends up providing stunning views back down towards Brodick


and onwards towards Blackwaterfoot


a pretty little village looking towards the Kintyre Peninsula and, on a clear day, the coast of Northern Ireland




I then headed south towards Sliddery along the coast road

(looking back toward Blackwaterfoot) before cutting back across the island via The Ross and through Glen Scorrodale

which eventually started going up


and then dropped down towards Lamlash


which is just a short boat ride from Holy Isle


It was then about half an hour back to Brodick where, after dinner, this was my view whilst doing the washing up


A 31 mile loop and lovely all the way.

Some of the road surfaces are a bit iffy, particularly on The Ross. The descent into Lamalsh is steep and fast but I wasn't confident about it's quality so took it a bit easy. A few laps and a bit of familiarity would soon see Yahoo Banshee Warrior descending though. One 'moment' was on this descent. I had walked across a couple of cattle grids because they were the large gap type but, as I reached the bottom of the last descent I saw another approaching- fast!. I grabbed big handfuls of brake and stopped with a couple of feet to spare. I bloke was just getting out of a van as I did this. He commented that it could have got interesting to which I agreed. He reassured me though that all would have been well. He was leading a Scout camp and there were several young folk dying to practice their first aid!

I will post about the second ride when I come back from my holiday.

See you all in a couple of weeks.

I have a secret

I have just returned from a break at a secret location. This location has some tremendous cycling routes and stunning views.

Once I get my photo collection sorted and if you promise not to tell anyone (don't want just anyone finding out) I may share some of it with you.

As a taster, on the second of the two rides I did, the second half of the ride was in rain and drizzle. Therfore the descent I rode was taken a little on the 'cautious' side, mostly freewheeling. I still topped out at a smidge over 49mph!

Butterfly and Clarion got married

On Saturday 31st July 2010 I rode from my home to Didcot Parkway railway station.

What possesed me to do this I hear you ask?

I rode to Didcot Parkway railway station to meet up with fellow cyclists with whom I am aquainted at yacf. Included in the cyclists I was to meet were Butterfly and Clarion. They ahd got married earlier that day in London and had then ridden their tandem (in complete wedding regalia) to Paddington where they boarded a train to Didcot. We then had a wedding convoy to a camp site in Watlington where the happy couple hosted a wedding reception BBQ/ campover. A really good idea and a tremendous day.



Thanks to Charlotte (aka Bicycleslut) who took the photo.

Many more can be found here along with a flavour of the day.

Congratulations again to Butterfly and Clarion.

The Tour is over

Well, that's it for another year. The dust has settled (hopefully) on the latest installment of Le Grand Boucle and I sit here waiting for next year.

I thoroughly enjoyed this years instalment ad will write more when time allows.

I survived.

On Monday I posted about Yin and Yang and Karma and stuff just before setting off for home.

Just to put your minds at rest- I survived but, no thanks to the lawmakers known as Murphy and his evil henchman Sod.

Murphy saw fit to make sure EVERY traffic light was at red and a lot of junctions were occupied whilst Sod just wound up his lungs and spent the whole journey providing me with my very own private 15mph headwind.

To cap it all however, a mad Scientist somewhere must have failed an experiment which caused a warp or a tear in the Space Time Contiueinueinueinum. That is the only explanation I have. What happened was I was negotiating a roundabout and as I did so, a car that should have given way failed to. Why the theory about the warp or a tear in the Space Time Contiueinueinueinum? Well, as the driver failed to give way to me, he also failed to even look at me. The only explanation I can come up with for this is, he didn't look at me because I wasn't there. The only possible explanation for me not being there must be because I was viewing our universe from a parallel one on the other side of the warp or a tear in the Space Time Contiueinueinueinum.

Simples.

P.S.

The Tour de France!
Wow, what a great first few days. The stage across the cobbles used during Paris- Roubaix is probably one of the most exiting stages I have ever watched.

Bring it on!

Should I be scared?

I am about to leave the desk and get ready to ride home.

The problem is that, what with Karma or Ying and Yang, this could be payback time.

The ride to work this morning was flawless. Each junction I came to had no approaching traffic on the major route so I didn't need to give way/ stop. Each roundabout I came to was clear to the right so I didn't need to give way. Each set of traffic lights I encountered was either green or changed to green on my approach so I didn't need to stop. Each vehicle that overtook me this morning did so giving me loads of room.

If you don't hear from me for a while- Murphy must have caught up with me.

Me and my big mouth!

Remember the question I asked at the end of my last post?

A reminder- Whats not to love about this cycling lark eh?

I'll answer the question for you now shall I?

Headwinds. That is whats not to love about this cycling lark.

My ride home last night was into wind all the way. Not the end of the world but it doesn't half detract from what should have been a fine ride.

To cap it all, when I got home I decided to hit the gym before my evening meal. I got changed and walked down to to the gym intending to do 45- 60 minutes on the weights and sit ups. I signed in and was just about to start when a mate, who is a spinning instructor said that there were 3 spare bikes for his class about to start and that I should join in. I tried to cry off but he persuaded me against my better judgement.

My mate is also a colleague and I often wonder why he does spinning insrtuction. I think there are two prime reasons-

a) He is a bit of a babe magnet. H is the type of bloke that makes women go weak at the knees. I have seen him walking through the crowd at Ryal Ascot and suddenly get grabbed and have his tonsils tasted by a succesion of young fillies. Spinning gets him within striking distance of pretty young things.

b) He likes to cause pain. Ever been to a spinning class?

Last night, he caused me pain. I wasn't prepared for spinning. I was wearing training shoes and had no towel with me. I enjoy spinning but like to use clipless pedals. Clips and straps and me don't get on. I can't sprint unkless 'clipped in. When the class was doing sprints I had to make do with winding up the resistance and 'climbing'. It was horrible. I was blind for a lot of the class because of the sweat getting into my eyes.

I won't let him persuade me aging (until next time.....).