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My best ever cycle ride, not scenery wise but just road riding at its aboslute best!
Last night I was thinking about where to ride today and thought about a 50 miler as I was intending to do a big ride this coming Sunday, but on checkling the Sunday forecast it didn't fill me with confidence as it looks like our spell of amazing weather will be absent that day! So then I got to thinking why not do a big ride today, but there was a bit of a problem regarding that also...a small matter of a 25mph wind from the ENE! So I set about plotting a route that would make the most of the blustery conditions and came up with an absolute corker! Just 110 miles with 7500ft of climbing, was I insane to even think about it?
I came up with a hilly route out to Moscow and set off at 5.15am to avoid the traffic, this Moscow is a blink and you'll miss it village in Ayrshire! I got 47 miles from my first battery with around 3000ft of climbing due to the stromg wind at my back most of the way! I went over the Eaglesham Moors which is a beast of a climb but way easier with a 25mph wind pushing you on and with roads like this to enjoy it really was cycling heaven!
Looking back down the climb towards Eaglesham!
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The flattish part near the top of the climb!
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Then the awesome descent down into Ayrshire!
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Now I was heading SE towards Galston with a pretty strong crosswind but I had lots of tree cover and the amazing roads just kept coming!
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The road descends mostly (with some climbs of course) all the way down into Galston, the final descent is just incredible! Just after passing through Galston I changed my first battery at 47 miles, I knew some big climbs were coming and I was now about to tackle that 25mph headwind! The first village I reached is called Sornhill and its easy to see how it got the hill in its name...
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I had a really nice view from the top of the hill!
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Looking back down, its amazing how the camera makes it look almost flat....
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Next is the village of Sorn which is picturesque in some parts but pretty awful in others!
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I was now on the road to Muirkirk and battling the strong wind but the amazing roads just continued and lifted my spirits round every corner!
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It was mostly overcast today but I was glad as it kept me cool, along with that ENE wind of course!
The view to the south just before arriving in Muirkirk!
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On reaching Muirkirk it was time to turn NE with a big climb up to almost 1000ft at first, followed by some nice descents and some nice views of the local hills!
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I knew I was getting close to one of the rougher parts of this road but as I turned the corner I got a very pleasant surprise to see lovely new tarmac had been laid!
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This made this descent even more enjoyable than ever, even though I was still battling the wind!
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This road leads to Strathaven and can be busy at times but to my amazement it was very quiet today, it was one of those days when almost everything was in my favour and I sure wasn't complaining! There are some lovely views on this road also, like this fishery with a stunning tree lined background!
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I eventually arrived in Strathaven and continued into the wind down into the Clyde Valley which was bathed in sunshine, this was taken on the bridge over the River Clyde at Crossford!
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At this stage I had now covered 90 miles, having changed my second battery at around 82 miles! I was on my last battery now which had a 94% charge and I only had about 30 miles to go so I was able to up the assist level to tackle the big climbs out of the valley, what a godsend that was as I was obviously getting tired now! At the top of the climb I took to my back roads which I ride a lot and know them like the back of my hand, once again I was closing in on some rougher parts of the road and I was astonished to see they had also laid new tarmac on the worst parts!
Somebody was watching over me today (thanks dad
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
), I just couldn't believe my luck with the roads all being fixed and it just continued all the way home! What a brilliant day on the bike, one week ago I was cycling round the beautiful Isle Of Arran but today topped that with the amazing roads! I'm very tired now but on cloud 9 after that incredible day!
@Readytoride Congratulations on becoming a Grandma, my younger brother is due to become a Grandpa in October and he is super excited about meeting his little granddaughter! I hope the awful smoke will be gone soon and you can enjoy riding your bike again, in between babysitting...