I was hoping to get out this morning but thick fog descended so I had to sit it out and hope it would clear, thankfully it did so I set off just after midday without any planned route! With very little wind I could choose any direction and a temp of 6C meant there was no danger of any ice so the back roads were in play! Just as I left the house the sun made a rare appearance and amazingly it lasted the whole ride, this meant a ride NE was the way to go to avoid that bright sun! I took the back roads to Slamannan and I took this photo just before getting there, with the Campsie Hills shrouded in low cloud in the distance!
From Slamannan I took the back road to Avonbridge, it starts with a big climb and then this awesome descent!
At the bottom of the descent I decided to turn north and take the big climb up to Shieldhill, the descent I just came down can be seen to the left here!
Just as I was about to start my way up the big climb I heard a proper racket, it was a massive flock of geese in the field! I decided not to try counting them...
I headed up the climb and turned for Shieldhill and got my first view of the Ochil Hills with the snow covered peaks of the mountains way in the distance!
Then I enjoyed the big descent down into Glen Village, its a bit rough in parts but I still managed 41.5mph on the smoother part!
I took this photo just before flying down the descent!
Then I went through Hallglen where another fast descent was awaiting and continued on to Laurieston where I headed due east for Linlithgow, its been a while since I have used this road in this direction and I forgot how much fun it was as its mostly downhill all the way to Linlithgow! I decided to chance riding through the town and luckily it wasn't too busy, continuing east and I turned south at Kingscavil to take on a proper rollercoaster road!
The last time I used this road I freewheeled in the other direction at almost 45mph, today was a different story as I was climbing the steep part! I used assist level 3 to tackle the climb and actually had to stop just before the top as a car appeared, its very narrow so you even have to pull over on the bike! As I set off again my summit software reported a climb of 425ft with an average grade of 29.9%!
I think it was more like 20% though...I reached the top of the climb and turned west towards Beecraigs Country Park, where I had an amazing panoramic view!
The Ochil Hills were now much clearer and looked amazing bathed in the lovely sunshine!
This is looking west into the valley where I would be arriving very soon after a very fast descent!
The descent was amazing but is immediately followed by a huge climb up to the country park! Part way up I got another stunning view of the hills and the Firth of Forth in the distance!
Near the top of the climb I got an even better view with parts of the hills shrouded in low cloud!
The road levels off for a short time before rising up once more, then its another fast descent down into Torphicen! I stopped for this photo on the way down the descent!
At Torphicen the descent continues towards Westfield, it was just amazing today with the light winds! I passed through Westfield and continued west towards Avonbridge and on to Limerigg where I passed the Black Loch which was flat calm today!
I wasn't sure how this photo would come out but I was pleasantly surprised with the result!
From there its pretty much a direct road home and into the setting sun, for once I wanted some clouds to block the sun!
Another fantastic ride in near perfect conditions for the time of year, this was the last of the mild weather though with the temps not much above zero all next week! A Sunday ride is looking very doubtful with a blanket of freezing fog set to descend on us...
@Saratoga Dave You can always use the snowblower to clear a path for the Creo...
