Is the perfect bike ride a reality? today it happened for me so I would say yes it is!
My day started off with a low, I was intending to go to Knockhill for the car racing but the weather had other ideas and left a blanket of dense fog at home and up at Knockhill! I decided I would go in the car but thought I should check on conditions at Knockhill before wasting fuel, I tuned into the online commentary at the circuit as the practise and qualifying should have been happening at this time and all I could hear was chatting and music! Eventually they said there was no action on track due to the fog and were hoping it would lift soon, the action was supposed to start at 8.30am and didn't get underway until almost 11.30am! At that point I decided it wasn't worth travelling as there was every chance the fog would return...
I then looked out of my window and the fog had lifted, it was still misty but I could see much further now so I decided to chance it and hope things didn't go downhill...it was my best decision ever!
What then ensued was utter cycling perfection, from the first pedal stroke to the last pedal stroke 70 miles later! I like to ride fast and love ups and downs and twists and turns and this ride had everything I could ever ask for! I made my way out to Breich and took on the big climb up to Forth, with light winds it was the perfect day for this road which climbs up to over 1100ft!
From the top looking back down!
I found a safe spot to plonk the bike while taking the photos!
After the climb the road descends gradually towards Forth and I was flying along and absolutely loving it, just before Forth I turned on to the back road to Breahead and this road is a cyclists dream with mostly downhills in this direction and lots of twists and turns! I then stopped before the climb up to Braehead for a snack and took this photo!
After the climb I had this descent to enjoy!
Just after taking this photo around 10 motorcycles shot down the hill in front of me, I used to use this road a lot on my motorbikes and knew how much fun it was and I can guarantee the riders were loving it as much as I did! The road snakes its way down into the valley before rising up for a bit and then its another downhill into Carnwath, its just incredible! At Carnwath I turned south towards Libberton and almost instantly had this awesome descent!
I stopped at Libberton for these photos!
Then I took the road to Thankerton, another cracker!
This is the first time I have used this road in this direction, its almost downhill all the way to Thankerton! I climbed it in the opposite direction earlier this year so I knew what was coming and I was buzzing!
Tinto Hill was shrouded in cloud at this point!
At the bottom of the descent I stopped next to the River Clyde close to Thankerton for some photos!
Just as I approached the village I spotted this gorgeous white Shetland pony grazing!
Then its friend appeared...
A short time later I got a closer view of Tinto Hill and the cloud had mostly lifted!
I then joined the main A73 towards Hyndford Bridge, I missed a turn that would have taken me away from the main road but as it was a Sunday I decided to continue and I was rewarded a short time later!
This is also such a great road when its not full of big trucks like today!
I was nearing Hyndford when I stopped for this photo, the hill in the background is the road I should have taken when I missed my turn! It would have been a fun descent but the main road made up for it with light traffic!
I reached Hyndford and started the big climb up towards Lanark but I turned off near the top to take the road to Carstairs Village to avoid the very busy town! This is another great road and has a nice view of Tinto Hill also!
I passed through Carstairs and joined the main A70 for a short time before taking the back road towards Yieldshields, this road passes the farm which breeds Alpacas and they were enjoying the afternoon sun that had now emerged!
Its a big climb from here but at the top I had another awesome descent to enjoy, 41.4mph down this one! I now had lots of climbing ahead up to Yieldshields but its followed by many cracking descents down into Morningside! I then turned for Allanton and the climbing was about to start in earnest, culminating in the hardest climb of the day up towards Kirk of Shotts! Near the top I turned on to my favourite local back to Hareshaw, time for more descending and the wind had actually picked up now and gave me a cracking tailwind for more than 2 miles down the descent!
From Hareshaw I headed out to Newhouse and down another awesome descent into Chapelhall where 68 miles appeared on my gps and it was only a mile from home, I did a little circuit at home to bring up the 70 miles!
I can honestly say that was my best ride ever, just incredible from start to finish! 100 miles less than my longest ever ride but probably twice as good as that one!
I will be on cloud 9 for a while after this one, the weather is going downhill with very strong winds coming so I'm so glad I was able to get out today!