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@Prairie Dog 's incredible posts? what a spectacular place to ride a bike, your photos were just jaw droppingly gorgeous PD!
Anyway I got up for the toilet in the early hours and the rain was hammering down so i thought my chances of a ride today were slim at best, I had my alarm set for 6.45am but decided to turn it off and just have a lie in! I somehow woke at 6.15am and had a look out my window and the rain wasn't falling but the roads were soaking wet, so I had a look at the forecast and it was looking promising in the morning with strong winds and heavy rain due later and the winds are here to stay most of the week...so I decided to chance it!
After Thursdays tough ride it wasn't going to be a long one so I went for a 50 miler which would get me home long before the worst of the weather, I had Torphicen as my planned destination! On Thursday it was 6C when I set off around 7am and today it was 13C so I had to go back indoors and remove a layer...
The wind was a direct southerly today and around 15-20mph, much better than my last ride! I headed NE so I had the breeze behind me for a while! I stopped at Hillend Loch for a couple of photos and was surprised to see the water so calm but then I realised it was due to being sheltered from the wind!
This is looking west!
This is looking east!
A few miles later I was passing the Black Loch and the water was a bit more choppy here!
I continued on the quiet back roads towards Avonbridge but turned north before the village to head for Shieldhill, you can see how wet it was here and the road in the background in the first picture is the one I was about to take and its a cracker!
The road starts with a nice downhill and is followed by a beast of a climb, I passed this stream before the climb and the water was in spate today!
I climbed the steep part but it wasn't finished just yet, it almost looks like a little climb in the photo...
I reached the road to Shieldhill and the low lying mist was shrouding the Firth of Forth, a lone horse was enjoying the view also!
The back road down into Falkirk was a little tempting but I didn't fancy it today as its pretty rough in parts and very wet!
So I chose the smoother main road which was deserted today anyway, I virtually freewheeled down this at 42.4mph with the southerly breeze pushing me! I wasn't going to pedal down it today due to the wet conditions especially with the curve part way down!
I then took the road through Hallglen and passed through many villages on my way down to the Avon Gorge, I was glad this descent was into the breeze to slow me down as its a steep descent and the road was a bit slippery! The road immediately ramps up from the valley but its pretty sheltered so the climb wasn't much of a problem! I was close to my turning point at Torphicen now, once again its a big descent followed by a pretty sharp climb! This is at the top of the climb looking north!
Then it is yet another climb up through the village before I turned west and enjoyed a really nice descent down towards Westfield where I then turned south towards Bridgehouse! Another big climb from Bridgehouse heading towards Heights wind farm and the climb was straight into the now
strengthening southerly wind!
Now I had another lovely descent down into Blackridge on a very narrow road, thankfully I didn't meet any cars or farm equipment!
Normally when I reach Blackridge I turn west to head for home but I decided to continue south towards Harthill as my mileage was only around 35 miles at this point! There is another quiet back road before Harthill so I took that one and had it all to myself, its mostly uphill but nothing too steep and then a nice descent down to the main road from Harthill to Salsburgh! It was time for another climb with a crosswind at times in the exposed parts, especially at the top of the climb at just over 1000ft! Then its anotherbig descent down towards Kirk of Shotts where I decided to take the back road to Hareshaw as my mileage was around 40 miles now so I needed to add another 10 miles!
It was no chore taking this road as its one of my favourites, it heads due west so the wind wasn't any factor as its mostly tree lined!
After this awesome road I would be turning north so I had the strong breeze right at my back almost all the way home, that was sure fun!
I turned into my street feeling elated with another cracking ride but as I turned into my drive the bike felt a bit strange, I had a front wheel puncture! Oh well if you are going to get a puncture is there a better place?
The weird thing is I didn't find anything inside the tyre, I'm guessing it was probably a thorn that had dislodged itself somehow! Just before I stopped my gps I took this photo which showed over 4000ft of elevation gain but Ridewithgps is showing 3783ft...you can see how filthy my bike was after that ride!
@Readytoride What a shame you got such awful weather for the charity ride, kudos to you for getting out in that and a big well done to everyone involved!