2026 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[JGcycle]

I went for a 23km ride, and stopped in at the Brundage Point River Centre, where I took a couple pics of the installed floating dock.

 

[RabH]

A crazy day of ups and downs and I'm not talking about the hills...

I was fully intending to drive to Knockhill Racing Circuit for the motorcycle racing today but last night the forecast was looking a bit more promising with a day of frequent light showers, so why not just bike it instead? It seemed like a good plan at the time but as I passed through Grangemouth this morning the heavens opened and I got absolutely drenched! I didn't fancy standing watching the racing soaked through so I decided to just continue cycling and hope the weather would improve, thankfully it did! I kept with my original plan to cycle up to the circuit but I was just rode past it and headed east for Kelty!

Earlier as I was making my way to Saline I stopped for this photo of the Ochil Hills, the rain that hit me was making its way over the hills and the sun was shining also so it made for a very nice photo!

At this point I may have dropped my season ticket for Knockhill, I wasn't sure if it happened here though! It was another 15 miles before I realised it wasn't in my bag, after I passed through Crossgates! I stopped for this photo of the cycle path that runs from Crossgates almost all the way to Inverkeithing which is around 4 miles, I had never cycled this part before! It was obvious the rain had hit here also but the sky was sure looking better....

Eventually I had to use the road and it was a very nice descent with a view of the bridges over the Forth!

I had a really nice view of the rail bridge from here!

Some photos from the Forth Road Bridge!

The Majestic Princess cruise ship was in port!

I stopped for this photo after crossing the bridge!

At this point I realised I may have dropped my season ticket when I was taking the photo of the Ochil Hills earlier! I had covered 54 miles now and my 8 year old battery was down to 21% so I switched to battery 2 and decided I had enough juice to head back over the bridge in the hope of finding my ticket!

I had a look at Google maps to try and come up with the best route to get me back to where I thought I had lost my ticket, my plan was to head towards Dunfermline and take the back road to Oakley! When I got to Dunfermline the roads were very busy so I found an alternative route to Oakley, I had some big climbs and descents to deal with at times, this descent was a real blast and the views weren't too shabby!

As I was heading up the climb to Oakley I had another amazing view of the Ochils!

The final climb was a beast!

I then had another big climb up to Saline and I was beginning to question my sanity as I only had 2 batteries with me today... When I arrived in Saline I had 54% remaining, the 18 miles from the Forth Bridge had really depleted my battery! At least I now had a big descent from Saline to Forestmill and I was hoping it would be worth it...sadly I didn't find my ticket! So at this point I had to go into battery conservation mode as I knew the last 16 miles were going to be tough with all the climbs!

At least the weather was nice so the photos continued, the road from Saline to Forestmill!

Many more photos of the stunning Ochils followed!

This back road to Kincardine lifted my spirits, it really is special!

I then joined the main road for a mile or so and of course the wind had strengthened now and it was a direct headwind, on checking the weather app it was showing gusts of 30mph...just what I needed when my battery was depleting quickly!

This descent is amazing but that wind had me struggling to hit 20mph!

My final photos before it was time to concentrate on the remaining 26 gruelling miles with 44% battery power left...

The wind over the Kincardine bridge was brutal, thankfully I was soon on the cycle path towards Grangemouth which is well sheltered! After leaving the path I was heading west for Carronshore with a strong headwind for just over a mile, I was glad to turn south through Carronshore and was now heading for Falkirk! Now the climbs started, the 6 mile climb to Slamannan was so hard in eco mode but I made it...if only the climbing stopped there!

As I turned on to the back road to Longriggend I had just 26% remaining and I was battling the headwind again up a gradual climb! It dropped to 23% before I decided to change back to my first battery at the top of the climb and with only 21% showing I was hoping it wouldn't just drop like a stone! Luckily I got a couple of miles done before it dropped to just 3%!!! From Longriggend I turned south towards Caldercruix and 100 miles appeared on my gps, just 6 to go but all into a strong headwind! Thankfully some of it is sheltered and I was able to turn the power off at times, I had 17% remaining as I crested the final climb to home!

In hindsight I made a wrong decision to turn back and look for my ticket, I called the circuit when I got home and they said they would cancel the ticket in case somebody found it and tried to use it and they would just send me a new one! That was my 4th ride over 100 miles this month, only 9 rides in total but 772 miles in the bag with an average just over 85 miles! Maybe I should take next month off now...not a chance!

Such a crazy map today...

@Rás Cnoic That is a stunning bike!