Despite a gusty wind of around 30mph I decided it was time for another imperial century ride, it was a chilly start at 7am but it soon warmed up! My destination of choice was beautful Peebles as the forecast was looking really nice and thankfully they were right for once!
I used my usual back roads to Carnwath and saw very little traffic until I joined the main road down to Elsrickle but as it was still quite early it wasn't too busy! This is just before the village of Kaimend not long after Carnwath, a lovely blue sky to start the day!
The wind was from the SW so I was fighting it quite a bit until I reached Elsrickle and could finally enjoy a 30mph tailwind down the lovely descent to Kirkdean (42.3mph) where I joined the main A701 all the way to Leadburn with the tailwind, the road is mainly flat with a few short climbs so it was a lot of fun to ride and the scenery wasn't too shabby!
The Pentland hills looked very nice bathed in sunshine!
I did have a few trucks pass me on this road but they were well behaved, one blasted his horn and I thought it was because of me but it was an idiot in a car passing him with a blind bend coming up!
I was nearing Leadburn where I would turn south back into the wind, one last photo of the Pentlands before turning!
Then it was due south to Peebles for around 10 miles and I had a nasty crosswind to contend with, at first there was no tree cover and the elevation was close to 1000ft so it was pretty bad for a few miles until I reached Eddleston where I had lots of tree cover to shelter from the wind! I soon arrived in Peebles and the town was pretty busy, lots of motorbikes passing through and parked up but not many cyclists due to the wind!
The River Tweed was flowing fast today!
I enjoyed a nice lunch in Peebles before setting off again into the wind on the main A72 which would take me back on to the A701 near Blyth Bridge where I would turn SW directly into the wind towards Biggar! I changed my first battery at 42 miles which was pretty good going in the conditions as I was using level 2 assist most of the time! The road to Blyth Bridge has some really nice scenery on both sides, this first picture is just after leaving Peebles where an old bridge passes over the River Tweed!
I need to investigate this one sometime, it looks like it just leads back to Peebles! I could use it from Peebles to avoid the main road so might check it out next time I'm down this way! Another couple of miles later and the scenery was getting even better!
The road here is in great condition but it soon deteriorates near the junction at Blyth Bridge so I'm glad its a big climb rather than a descent at the roughest part!
The lovely scenery just continues all the way along this road!
There is a road that goes north to Dolphinton and I was tempted to take it today but then I remembered how busy it can be and it would have been a direct headwind again at Dolphinton so I canned that idea, I will leave it for another day as it looks like a nice road that runs between the hills and can be seen here around the centre of the photo!
I reached the junction at Blyth Bridge and headed SW towards Biggar with yet more lovely scenery!
This is looking back at Blyth Bridge, I really enjoyed this road in the opposite direction earlier in the day with that strong tailwind!
The clouds were starting to gather now although they didn't look too threatening at this point!
One final photo before reaching the busy town of Biggar!
Now I would be heading north for a few miles and it was nice to get out of that wind for a bit, I was going to use my usual route to Carnwath but I reached a junction in the road that was signposted for Newbigging and thought this would be a better route given the wind direction! What a road it turned out to be, it started with a big climb but soon became a very fast and exhilirating descent!
I stopped part way up the climb for this photo which would be my last one of the day!
When I reached Newbigging I took the main road back towards Carnwath but turned off at Kaimend and used a new road to me which would take me due north towards Auchengray, it turned out to be another gem! Then the road to Auchengray is a really nice descent, I was actually passed on the descent by a roadie in a time trial position and I was doing almost 40mph at the time!
I don't know how people can ride in this position, it really doesn't look safe...
Just before Auchengray I changed to my final battery at 82 miles and I headed SW to join the road up to Braehead which would mean a turn north again, from there I continued north to Forth and turned off to take the big climb up to Climpy! Once again I was heading north which was the best direction today other than east, with a full battery I could now turn the assist up to level 3 and zoom up the big climb to Climpy and then it was time for an awesome descent down to the A71 where I took the back road to Shotts and I came across a bit of a flood after yesterdays downpours! Thankfully it wasn't too deep...
I passed through Shotts and continued north to join the main road to Kirk Of Shotts, this would mean a turn to the west which I had avoided for quite a bit and it was also a big ascent directly into the wind! Level 3 assist was very welcome here I can tell you, I reached the top of the climb where the road levels off for a short time before descending down to Kirk Of Shotts! Normally I fly down this hill at around 30-35mph but today I was struggling to hit 20mph into that wind! At Kirk Of Shotts I took the road north past the Blackhill transmitter which is another big climb!
Soon it would be a nice descent all the way down to Plains where I would turn west and head for home with just over 2 miles remaining, I did catch a shower passing through Shotts but apart from that it was a dry and very enjoyable day on the bike despite that strong wind! I don't normally go for 100 milers in windy conditions like this but Sunday is looking nasty so I wanted to get a big ride in today and I'm really glad I did as it was fantastic!
When I was climbing the last hill my elevation gain was showing just over 8000ft on my gps but Ridewithgps is only showing 6934ft of elevation gain, I'm almost certain that was over 8000ft and my legs agree!
I will sleep well tonight...
@Readytoride Great work clearing the litter, some of our back roads are covered in the stuff and it really irks me but I would need a massive truck to clear it up! Sorry about your belt problems, I'm glad you got it fixed quickly!