I caught a break in our awful weather today and with rain forecast early afternoon I grabbed a quick 50 miler before it was due to hit, I would have been out earlier but had things to do that couldn't wait so I didn't get out until 9.45am! Once I was out I wasn't actually bothered about getting wet as it was pretty mild and there was virtually no wind to speak of, so I picked one of my local routes that would give me a good workout and wasn't intending to take any photos but after reaching my turning point at Broxburn the weather was still fine so...
The Forth Bridges from around 7 miles away!
Looking north with the Ochil Hills way in the distance!
I was now heading west towards Beecraigs Country Park on a narrow back road and was looking forward to the big descent at the end of the flattish road, this road is mostly in the shade in the summer months due to all the trees!
I reached the end of the road and stopped before the descent to grab some photos again, the fields look so nice at this time of year!
I then plunged down the descent at over 40mph and the road then rises steeply up to the Beecraigs Country Park, my gps was showing a climb of 0.8 miles with an average grade of 7.2%! Just before starting the climb I grabbed more photos, the first one is looking back at the descent I just came down!
This is half way up the climb looking north!
I passed the country park and joined the road to Torphicen which starts with yet another big climb but is soon a lovely big descent down to Westfield where I had a choice of roads, another big climb or a big descent...guess what I chose? No, not the climb this time...
Although the descent is a big one the road is pretty rough so it has to be taken with extreme care, once down in the valley the road to Avonbridge is just amazing and I didn't meet a single vehicle all the way to the village!
Once again I had a choice of roads coming out of Avonbridge and picked the lovely back road to Slamannan which rises and falls all the way to the village, this is looking back down the road I just climbed and the sky was still looking good but this wasn't the direction I was headed...
I then took the back road from Slamannan to Longriggend which is another narrow one but once again I had it all to myself, I reached Longriggend and turned south for Caldercruix which is one of those places that is known for getting rained on and the skies were getting darker! I passed through the village and the rain still hadn't arrived and I was now hopeful of getting home dry with only 3 miles to go, passing through Plains I could now feel rain in the air and some of the droplets were getting bigger!
I arrived in my home town and I could still feel the rain on my face but it wasn't enough to make me or the roads wet, I reached home and put the bike away and was walking to my back door when the rain really started to come down...it was my lucky day!
After 5 minutes the rain stopped and within a couple of minutes it was dry again and it hasn't rained since, another foecast to be taken with a pinch of salt!
Another fun day on the bike, it felt strange doing a shorter ride after all those long ones but it was a nice change to get home with something still in the tank so to speak!
@DiggyGun Its nice to see you posting again, I hope you and your wife are keeping well and enjoying some nice picnics when our awful weather allows...
!
)! As I learned it Italy, "piano piano" (little by little)...
