A chilly but very beautiful Sunday morning ride, it was a day for the main roads today though as the back roads were way too dicey or should I say icy!

You can see the conditions on my local cycle path, they now have the new lights working but its a shame they never grit the paths though...
This is the road from Newhouse to Whitburn and it starts with a gradual climb and then ramps up before plunging down into Harthill, I stopped part way down the descent for a couple of photos looking north with the Ochil Hills way in the distance!
Just before Whitburn I turned south to take the big climb up through Forth, stopping before the start of the climb for more photos of this lovely wintry scene!
I worked my way up the climb and had the road mostly to myself, this is the beauty of riding on a Sunday morning! At the top of the climb the road drops gradually all the way through Forth, such a fun road to ride going this way! Another photo opportunity before arriving in Forth!
Then I had a nice descent to enjoy for a bit and the nice views kept coming, this is looking east with the Pentland Hills in the background!
The frost was still present and actually continued for the whole ride, so I was sticking to the main roads! Another view of the Pentlands!
I reached the roundabout at the end of the road and decided to turn west to have the 15-20mph bitterly cold easterly wind at my back, the difference in temp was immediate and although it was a big climb it didn't seem like it! I was nearing Kilncadzow and stopped for more photos!
I then had the awesome descent from Kilncadzow to Carluke to enjoy, this is one of my favourite roads and never disappoints! At Carluke the road flattens before yet another big descent where I hit 41.5mph with the easterly wind at my back! After passing through Carluke I took the main road north to Bogside where I turned west for Waterloo (no battles today

) and on through Overtown where I continued NW to Wishaw and then through Motherwell where the roads were starting to get busy! I was only at 38 miles at this point so I continued NW to Bellshill which I haven't passed through since I retired in 2020 and it hasn't changed much...
I then took the road from Bellshill to Coatbridge and then on through Bargeddie which I passed through every morning for 21 years on my way to work in Glasgow! From there I turned north for Gartcosh, more memories of work here as I used this road for almost a year when I was moved from one part of Glasgow to another! As I passed through Gartcosh I stopped at Johnston Loch for a photo and almost fell off the bike at very low speed... I had turned off the road on to a narrow footpath covered in leaves and never noticed there was a kerb stone hidden under the leaves and my front wheel caught it, thankfully I was going very slowly and managed to stay on board!
From one loch to another, Glenboig this time which is only about a mile east of Johnston Loch!
I then took the main road from Glenboig back into Coatbridge which involves a lovely big descent followed by a big climb and another descent down to the centre of Coatbridge, I had now covered 52 miles and was still feeling strong so instead of heading home I turned east for Glenmavis which is a beast of a climb and I actually passed my late dads first ever workplace which dates back to 1942, he started working as an apprentice truck mechanic! After passing through Glenmavis I turned north and joined the back roads for the first time all day, only because I knew it was going to be all uphill and way safer than going downhill on the still frosty roads!
Part way up the climb I had some nice views of the Campsie Hills shrouded in mist!
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A short time later I came across a field with lots of Shetland ponies grazing, I think these 2 thought they were in for a feed...
Now I had another big climb to tackle, up into Greengairs and more photo opportunties presented themselves!
From Greengairs it was a short ride home on the back roads, arriving with a very filthy bike which got a proper wash to remove all the salt from the roads! I noticed I am only 6 miles short of 29000 miles now, the bike still rides like new!

Another fantastic ride, tomorrow and Tuesday are looking truly awful so it was a no brainer getting out today despite the below zero temps!