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A perfect day for a nice recovery ride, my 3rd ride in as many days and I can't say that very often this year! Light winds and a nice 19C temp made it a very pleasant ride indeed, I would have preferred to go out much earlier when it was cooler though but I'm not complaining!
![Winking face :wink: 😉](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png)
I started my ride with a 44mph descent on a local hill, my best on this one was 48mph a few years ago...might make 50 one day if I'm brave enough!
![Face with tears of joy :joy: 😂](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f602.png)
After the descent I took the back roads up to Salsburgh, from a big descent to a big climb!
I then joined the main road for only a mile or so before taking the back road to Armadale, a very smooth road after some rough parts at the start!
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I joined the cycle path just after this which brings you out at the far side of Armadale, the path looks good but its a bit rough to ride!
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I then joined the new cycle path that runs from Armadale down into Whitburn, this one is very smooth! It runs alongside the main road and is way safer especially down the big descent where I had many idiots trying to pass me before they built the path...
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I then took the new cycle path from Whitburn to Bathgate and another couple of nice paths to Dechmont, I used to use the road before they built the paths and it wasn't fun at times! I arrived at Dechmont and tackled the big climb up over Burnhouse road, just under a month ago I did this climb on my 15 year old hybrid! It was way easier this time!
![Winking face :wink: 😉](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png)
Part way up the climb I stopped for this photo looking west!
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The next part of the climb was awaiting me!
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Now at the top!
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The Pentland hills in the background here and a plane was on approach to Edinburgh Airport!
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Now it was time for a much needed descent!
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I decided to turn off before the final descent to get some photos from a better vantage point, with Beecraigs Country Park surrounded by trees in the distance!
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The Ochill Hills in the background here!
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Now I had this awesome descent to enjoy, I was nudging 40mph down this one!
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The road then rises up immediately up to the country park, I stopped for this photo looking back at the hill I came down before continuing up the climb!
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I stopped again before the steepest part of the climb for more photos, the bridges over the Forth make a nice view from here!
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Almost at the top now, with a nice view of the Ochil Hills!
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The Firth of Forth from near the top of the climb!
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The final part of the climb, there is a reason I didn't tackle this on my old hybrid...
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After this its a short but fast descent, the road then joins the Linlithgow to Torphicen road and I was undecided about which way to go so I stopped for a snack and spotted these 2 posing for a photo!
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Looking down the valley at the Grangemouth oil refinery, which is looking like it might close for good next year and is the last refinery in Scotland...sad times!
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I decided to give Linlithgow a miss and headed for Torphicen, the road starts with some big climbs and ends with some amazing descents and has some nice views on the way!
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I then hurtled down the descent into Torphicen which is quickly followed by another fast descent down to the road that leads to Westfield, I had to enjoy them as I knew what was coming next! I could have taken the easy option but thats not me, I was feeling strong after struggling at the start of my ride so I opted for the climbs from Westfield up over Heights and then down the descent into Blackridge! Its such a great road for a bike anyway so the climbs didn't bother me one bit!
I arrived in Blackridge with 41 miles covered and I knew I had almost 10 miles to go so it worked out perfectly for a nice 50 miler, its virtually a straight road west to home from there! So that was ride no 50 for the year and it was a very enjoyable one in excellent conditions, my mileage so far is 3840 miles so my average is just under 77 miles! It was good to get some rides close together for a change, the weather has been crazy this year so I have had many long breaks between rides!
@RandallS I hope you get your bike sorted soon, my original battery is over 6 years old and still going strong! Have they confirmed the battery is at fault?