2024 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[Stefan Mikes]

It was pretty much overcast all day but the temperature was just perfect for riding, around 15C so nothing like the crazy temps Stefan was enduring, kudos to you for riding in those temps mate! @Stefan Mikes I continued east with a slight downhill so I was really flying along and at the end of the road I turned north for Threemiletown where I had another big fast descent to enjoy! I continued south through Old Philpstoun and joined the main road east towards Newton, the road was busy here as expected but I was only 4 miles away from the bridges now! Of course I had to stop for some photos here, sadly there are new houses appearing and spoiling the view!

100 miles again and in a crazily short time! Kudos to you Rab!

It must be getting very cold when you ride downhill at a high speed?!

 

[RabH]

100 miles again and in a crazily short time! Kudos to you Rab!

It must be getting very cold when you ride downhill at a high speed?!

Not cold in the slightest, Stefan! 15C is very hot for here...

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Not cold in the slightest, Stefan! 15C is very hot for here...

Wind-chill factor at 40 mph could be killing at the ambient T of 15 C I freeze at such speeds even during hot summer during my rare mountain trips. Once, my skinny brother lost a KOM to me as he stopped to put a windbreaker on!

 

[RabH]

Wind-chill factor at 40 mph could be killing at the ambient T of 15 C I freeze at such speeds even during hot summer during my rare mountain trips. Once, my skinny brother lost a KOM to me as he stopped to put a windbreaker on!

A windproof jacket makes all the difference, I don't feel it at all!

 

[DaveMatthews]

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E bike ride number 600!

I had an epic ride planned for my 600th ride and it was supposed to be today, but the forecast completely changed with heavy rain replacing the clouds that were predicted! Yesterday it was pretty wet in the morning but it cleared up a little just before midday so I decided to chance it and head for the Forth bridges, with a light westerly wind (10-15mph) I enjoyed a fast ride out to the bridges! I actually set off in light rain but 2 miles east the roads were bone dry, it was like they hadn't had any rain whatsoever! I had left in a bit of a rush and realised I hadn't charged my phone, it only had a 48% charge so I had to limit my photos to pretty much snack stops only!

I headed out to Torphicen and took the climb up to Beecraigs Country Park and then enjoyed the brilliant descent down into the valley with a top speed of 40.6mph recorded, it would have been much faster if there wasn't a 90 degree bend at the bottom... Most of the time I do this road in the other direction and forgot how good it was heading east! I then had the big climb up to Kingscavil where I had my first snack stop! My average speed was 18.2mph at this point, I was really flying along and loving it!

I grabbed some photos here of course!

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It was pretty much overcast all day but the temperature was just perfect for riding, around 15C so nothing like the crazy temps Stefan was enduring, kudos to you for riding in those temps mate! @Stefan Mikes I continued east with a slight downhill so I was really flying along and at the end of the road I turned north for Threemiletown where I had another big fast descent to enjoy! I continued south through Old Philpstoun and joined the main road east towards Newton, the road was busy here as expected but I was only 4 miles away from the bridges now! Of course I had to stop for some photos here, sadly there are new houses appearing and spoiling the view!

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A short time later I arrived at the Forth Road Bridge!

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I crossed the bridge which was pretty busy today due to people taking advantage of the light winds, one last photo of the rail bridge before heading for Inverkeithing!

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At Inverkeithing it was time to head west, once more I was on the busy main road for a few miles!uI was using the paths as often as I could before joining the new cycle path towards Crombie! I have to say I was disappointed with the path as it was very lumpy, they are still working on it with 2 lanes being built but the lane I was using looked finished! At Crombie I had to take the road again but only for a short time before turning on to the back road to Torryburn, another lovely descent here although into the wind now which was starting to strengthen! I continued on through Newmills and Low Valleyfield and on to Culross which was jumping with people, there was some kind of fete taking place!

The road had little to no traffic on it though and within a minute I was through the village and had peace and quiet again! I continued west for Kincardine bridge and spotted a lunatic riding on the cycle path with a high speed e bike, he must have been doing close to 30mph on the straight part! There were families with kids on the path so he had no need to be using it at all because the road had no traffic whatsoever! There is a big descent at the end of the road and I could see him at the bottom turning on to the cycle path to the bridge, I decided to stick to the road over the bridge to avoid him in case I got into a confrontation...

I crossed the bridge and stopped on the other side for a snack and a couple of photos of the Ochil Hills! Construction work on the bridge will be ongoing until March 2025!

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The view over the Forth to the south!

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I joined the cycle path here and headed south towards Grangemouth, passing through Skinflats and then on into Falkirk! It was now time to start climbing again, I used a back road which has been closed for many weeks and discovered it had been closed to install a new 2 lane cycle path, this one was super smooth! I then had the big climb up Glenbrae to Glenn Village where I turned for Lionthorn where I stopped for a couple of photos and the sun made a very brief appearance!

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Now I had the big climb up to Slamannan and decided to stick to the main road there as there was very little traffic around, continuing west towards Greengairs where I turned south on the back roads towards home! I was climbing the final hill with 71 miles covered when I had a lightbulb moment and thought it would be a good idea to have my dinner and continue the ride on my local roads to make it another 100 miler, especially considering I had planned a ride of around 150 miles for my 600th ride!

After dinner and an hours break I set off just before 6pm with a pretty leaden sky but the wind had completely dropped now and riding conditions were just perfect! I felt a little rain in the air but it wasn't enough to even wet the roads! I started on the main road in town but the traffic was very light, within a couple of miles I was on the back roads and loving the peace and quiet! I passed through Hareshaw and continued down into Allanton where I took the awesome back road to the far side of Allanton and joined the main road towards Breich, I have been through Breich a lot recently so I turned off and took the road to Shotts! I then took the back road to Eastfield and turned west to take the back road to Blackridge, this road is so much fun to ride and its extremely narrow but I didn't see a single car!

This part is a real blast!

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Its much steeper than it looks, I have been nudging 40mph here before with a tailwind! A mere 30mph yesterday! I arrived in Blackridge and turned west for home, passing Hillend Loch on the way so I stopped for some photos!

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I had covered 99 miles now and noticed it was going to be my fastest ever 100 miler so I stopped when the 100 appeared on my gps to take this photo!

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I arrived home with 104 miles in the bag and very happy I decided to go for that evening ride, it was just amazing! So ride no 600 was in the bag and what a ride it was, my bike was 6 years old just over a month ago and I have now covered 31836 miles so my average is just over 53 miles!

Congrats mate, and awesome as usual!

 

[Prairie Dog]

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E bike ride number 600!

I had an epic ride planned for my 600th ride and it was supposed to be today, but the forecast completely changed with heavy rain replacing the clouds that were predicted! Yesterday it was pretty wet in the morning but it cleared up a little just before midday so I decided to chance it and head for the Forth bridges, with a light westerly wind (10-15mph) I enjoyed a fast ride out to the bridges! I actually set off in light rain but 2 miles east the roads were bone dry, it was like they hadn't had any rain whatsoever! I had left in a bit of a rush and realised I hadn't charged my phone, it only had a 48% charge so I had to limit my photos to pretty much snack stops only!

I headed out to Torphicen and took the climb up to Beecraigs Country Park and then enjoyed the brilliant descent down into the valley with a top speed of 40.6mph recorded, it would have been much faster if there wasn't a 90 degree bend at the bottom... Most of the time I do this road in the other direction and forgot how good it was heading east! I then had the big climb up to Kingscavil where I had my first snack stop! My average speed was 18.2mph at this point, I was really flying along and loving it!

I grabbed some photos here of course!

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It was pretty much overcast all day but the temperature was just perfect for riding, around 15C so nothing like the crazy temps Stefan was enduring, kudos to you for riding in those temps mate! @Stefan Mikes I continued east with a slight downhill so I was really flying along and at the end of the road I turned north for Threemiletown where I had another big fast descent to enjoy! I continued south through Old Philpstoun and joined the main road east towards Newton, the road was busy here as expected but I was only 4 miles away from the bridges now! Of course I had to stop for some photos here, sadly there are new houses appearing and spoiling the view!

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A short time later I arrived at the Forth Road Bridge!

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I crossed the bridge which was pretty busy today due to people taking advantage of the light winds, one last photo of the rail bridge before heading for Inverkeithing!

View attachment 175290
At Inverkeithing it was time to head west, once more I was on the busy main road for a few miles!uI was using the paths as often as I could before joining the new cycle path towards Crombie! I have to say I was disappointed with the path as it was very lumpy, they are still working on it with 2 lanes being built but the lane I was using looked finished! At Crombie I had to take the road again but only for a short time before turning on to the back road to Torryburn, another lovely descent here although into the wind now which was starting to strengthen! I continued on through Newmills and Low Valleyfield and on to Culross which was jumping with people, there was some kind of fete taking place!

The road had little to no traffic on it though and within a minute I was through the village and had peace and quiet again! I continued west for Kincardine bridge and spotted a lunatic riding on the cycle path with a high speed e bike, he must have been doing close to 30mph on the straight part! There were families with kids on the path so he had no need to be using it at all because the road had no traffic whatsoever! There is a big descent at the end of the road and I could see him at the bottom turning on to the cycle path to the bridge, I decided to stick to the road over the bridge to avoid him in case I got into a confrontation...

I crossed the bridge and stopped on the other side for a snack and a couple of photos of the Ochil Hills! Construction work on the bridge will be ongoing until March 2025!

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The view over the Forth to the south!

View attachment 175293
I joined the cycle path here and headed south towards Grangemouth, passing through Skinflats and then on into Falkirk! It was now time to start climbing again, I used a back road which has been closed for many weeks and discovered it had been closed to install a new 2 lane cycle path, this one was super smooth! I then had the big climb up Glenbrae to Glenn Village where I turned for Lionthorn where I stopped for a couple of photos and the sun made a very brief appearance!

View attachment 175295
Now I had the big climb up to Slamannan and decided to stick to the main road there as there was very little traffic around, continuing west towards Greengairs where I turned south on the back roads towards home! I was climbing the final hill with 71 miles covered when I had a lightbulb moment and thought it would be a good idea to have my dinner and continue the ride on my local roads to make it another 100 miler, especially considering I had planned a ride of around 150 miles for my 600th ride!

After dinner and an hours break I set off just before 6pm with a pretty leaden sky but the wind had completely dropped now and riding conditions were just perfect! I felt a little rain in the air but it wasn't enough to even wet the roads! I started on the main road in town but the traffic was very light, within a couple of miles I was on the back roads and loving the peace and quiet! I passed through Hareshaw and continued down into Allanton where I took the awesome back road to the far side of Allanton and joined the main road towards Breich, I have been through Breich a lot recently so I turned off and took the road to Shotts! I then took the back road to Eastfield and turned west to take the back road to Blackridge, this road is so much fun to ride and its extremely narrow but I didn't see a single car!

This part is a real blast!

View attachment 175297
Its much steeper than it looks, I have been nudging 40mph here before with a tailwind! A mere 30mph yesterday! I arrived in Blackridge and turned west for home, passing Hillend Loch on the way so I stopped for some photos!

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I had covered 99 miles now and noticed it was going to be my fastest ever 100 miler so I stopped when the 100 appeared on my gps to take this photo!

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I arrived home with 104 miles in the bag and very happy I decided to go for that evening ride, it was just amazing! So ride no 600 was in the bag and what a ride it was, my bike was 6 years old just over a month ago and I have now covered 31836 miles so my average is just over 53 miles!

Awesome feat Rab! Well done. It was too windy yesterday so I decided instead to hit the trails plus heavy rain is expected to fall on our region over the next three days.

I rode two usual trails followed up by a gnarly DH section called the Phoenix. It branches off less than a kilometer in from the Bench single. Conditions were good with the exception of the Phoenix which likely doesn’t see much traffic as it’s not what I would consider much of a flowy trail due to the number of exposed roots and TTFs. I don’t believe the rudimentary structures were constructed with anything else in mind other than to keep folks suspended above the water table and to simply have them complete the run. I rode the Phoenix last season in the opposite direction and seemed like it was in better shape then.

X marks the spot where the Phoenix splits off from the Bench single.

The first of several TTFs encountered along the way. The fallen trees made it nearly impossible to ride through.

Not what I would consider a loamy section of trail and would have been more to my liking if approached from the opposite direction.

This was far to risky to ride across as the earth was collapsing beneath it.

Then there were the series of skinny planks that don't do a thing for me at my age although I was glad to see that the ground beneath was dry enough that I could walk across without getting my feet soaked.

This one I'm happy to say that I did make across safely.

The only rider I came across and it was near the bottom of the trail.

 

[JGcycle]

Pics from today's 47km ride to the local nature park:

I shared an apple with a furry little friend:

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I shared an apple with a furry little friend:

Oh, so you have red squirrels in Canada, too?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Jerzy's Funeral

As my car is presently inoperable, I had no other way than to ride my big Vado to the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw. It is the oldest of Warsaw cemeteries with many famous people buried there. To look decent, I wore semi-formal clothes; at least the weather was decent even if it was rather cold, and it could have been raining.

I had to stop at the service station to do a small shopping and use an ATM. A sales assistant who knows me well asked: 'Wow! Are you riding for a date?' to which I replied 'It's a funeral...' As I arrived close to the cemetery, I bought a funeral wreath from @Brix and me. The florist understood I was riding, so she and her mother nicely packed the flowers for me. I parked my e-bike in a quiet inner courtyard next to the church (an absolutely safe place!) I left my helmet and gloves there, and started looking a decent mourner!

The funeral service took place at that old church.

The service was attended by the family, and four Jerzy's younger friends (we all have been friends for years).

Jerzy's family tomb in Powązki. At least the weather became fair when we were walking in the funeral procession... I admired the quality of the photo placed on the tomb: it was taken just recently during the First Communion of Jerzy's grandson. I talked with the family. Several of the members could recognise me as "the Jerzy's cycling friend".

I rode for 50 km and walked for 2 km for the day. I'm still very sad. Once you lose a close friend, you realize how much he will be missed!

 

[JGcycle]

Oh, so you have red squirrels in Canada, too?

In my area we have red and grey squirrels, and there's a colour variant of they grey squirrel that looks black: