Sunday, 16 February 2020
Wednesday, 1 January 2020
2019 in Review
So 2019 is over and with a last push I managed a 100km to reach my 8000km target for the year.
The previous 2 years I broke the 10000km mark but I was going for quality over quantity this last year and changing my training slightly.
I also usually get some Spanish cycling in on holiday but in 2019 I went to Florida with the family for most of July which was almost totally non cycling in what is usually my most active month.
There was of course some standout cycles in the year. I managed 4 century rides ( 2 just under 2 just over) which I was looking for to celebrate being fit in my 40th year.
The first was a training ride I did on the mountain bike Loch Doon to Glentrool and Back in glorious, spring weathe. This was a training ride for the Dirty Reiver 200km off road in Kielder Forest which was my biggest ride of the year and after swearing i wouldnt do it again.......I'm signed up for 2020s version.
Returning from America I headed up north for some cycling and managed a Coast to Coast to Coast in some spectacular and as remote scenery as you'll find in Britain.
Last of the 4 was a late autumn 100 around All the Ayrshires before the good summer bike went away.
Although not a century ride there was of course my 10 hour MTB Race at Kirroughtree which was enjoyable and tough.
So plenty of highs, a couple of lows but even though the stats arent as high as previous years I am feeling fitter this year and enjoying quality over quantity.
Who knows what 2020 will bring. I am in my 40s so its only goign to continue to be difficult with hard work to maintain this level of average.
Although I don't want to I am going to withdraw from my attempts at making my club better. There is a total lack of engagaement across the club by memebers old and new and at times I feel I am wasting my time trying to improve it with new rides, social rides, social media, competition etc so who knows. I will remain optimistic about the clubs future but as the title says I am The Lone Biker so might better just doing my own thing and avoiding the disapointment.
Anyway cyclists, may the wind be at your back in 2020 and enjoy your miles.
The previous 2 years I broke the 10000km mark but I was going for quality over quantity this last year and changing my training slightly.
I also usually get some Spanish cycling in on holiday but in 2019 I went to Florida with the family for most of July which was almost totally non cycling in what is usually my most active month.
There was of course some standout cycles in the year. I managed 4 century rides ( 2 just under 2 just over) which I was looking for to celebrate being fit in my 40th year.
The first was a training ride I did on the mountain bike Loch Doon to Glentrool and Back in glorious, spring weathe. This was a training ride for the Dirty Reiver 200km off road in Kielder Forest which was my biggest ride of the year and after swearing i wouldnt do it again.......I'm signed up for 2020s version.
Returning from America I headed up north for some cycling and managed a Coast to Coast to Coast in some spectacular and as remote scenery as you'll find in Britain.
Last of the 4 was a late autumn 100 around All the Ayrshires before the good summer bike went away.
Although not a century ride there was of course my 10 hour MTB Race at Kirroughtree which was enjoyable and tough.
So plenty of highs, a couple of lows but even though the stats arent as high as previous years I am feeling fitter this year and enjoying quality over quantity.
Who knows what 2020 will bring. I am in my 40s so its only goign to continue to be difficult with hard work to maintain this level of average.
Although I don't want to I am going to withdraw from my attempts at making my club better. There is a total lack of engagaement across the club by memebers old and new and at times I feel I am wasting my time trying to improve it with new rides, social rides, social media, competition etc so who knows. I will remain optimistic about the clubs future but as the title says I am The Lone Biker so might better just doing my own thing and avoiding the disapointment.
Anyway cyclists, may the wind be at your back in 2020 and enjoy your miles.
Sunday, 15 September 2019
10@Kirroughtree Solo
I returned to some mountain biking in August and also to a race I did previously in 2016 the 10@Kirroughtree put on at the 7 Stanes centre by the Galloway Hillbillies.
The concept is simple (roughly) 10 mile lap as many times as possible in 10 hours.
last time I did this I managed 5 laps for about 7 or 8 of the hours.
My goal this time was to complete the whole 10 hours and see where i went from there. In the end I managed this cycling for the 10 hours from 8.30am to 6.30pm with 7 laps completed at around 95km.
10 hours of mtb is a bit hard on the whole body not just the legs but I enjoyed the day.
The weather played well with the last of the summers warm weather making the course mostly dry. I am glad of this as a lot of the course was off the trail centre piste on rooty segments. I have to admit roots are my off road nemesis and had it rained I'd have been running most of the course.
As it was there were parts I got off and ran but they became fewer as the day went on.
I haven't mountain biked enough in the last few years so i found myself learning to do it again over the first lap or two and by lap 5 and 6 I was confidently taking on all the obstacles (like in my youthful mtb days.) Lap 7 though was the last hour and I found myself mentally tired more than anything else and I was starting to make mistakes.
Having my support crew there made a difference too with bike cleaned and water and food changed over slickly between laps.
This is a great race and even though I was nowhere near the young 12 lap whipper snapper who won the solo race I did enjoy my last race before I become a 40 year old "man"!
You cant beta a free t-shirt either so thanks to the Hillbillies for a great race in one of my favourite parts not just of Scotland but the world!
The concept is simple (roughly) 10 mile lap as many times as possible in 10 hours.
last time I did this I managed 5 laps for about 7 or 8 of the hours.
My goal this time was to complete the whole 10 hours and see where i went from there. In the end I managed this cycling for the 10 hours from 8.30am to 6.30pm with 7 laps completed at around 95km.
10 hours of mtb is a bit hard on the whole body not just the legs but I enjoyed the day.
The weather played well with the last of the summers warm weather making the course mostly dry. I am glad of this as a lot of the course was off the trail centre piste on rooty segments. I have to admit roots are my off road nemesis and had it rained I'd have been running most of the course.
As it was there were parts I got off and ran but they became fewer as the day went on.
I haven't mountain biked enough in the last few years so i found myself learning to do it again over the first lap or two and by lap 5 and 6 I was confidently taking on all the obstacles (like in my youthful mtb days.) Lap 7 though was the last hour and I found myself mentally tired more than anything else and I was starting to make mistakes.
Having my support crew there made a difference too with bike cleaned and water and food changed over slickly between laps.
This is a great race and even though I was nowhere near the young 12 lap whipper snapper who won the solo race I did enjoy my last race before I become a 40 year old "man"!
You cant beta a free t-shirt either so thanks to the Hillbillies for a great race in one of my favourite parts not just of Scotland but the world!
Thursday, 15 August 2019
Days of Summer Passed
So July, the month where i have in the last few years, enjoyed fabulous cycling in foreign climes namely Mallorca and really pushed up my annual miles and climbing i almost did nothing.
I kind of expected a dip as this year I was off to Florida and Disney, but a 2 week holiday turned to 3 weeks and the whole of July as my daughter got chicken pox and we were stranded thanks to virgins flight rules for another week.
I did manage to score some strava miles doing running on the hotel running route. as nice as it was, its not my thing. I did manage to get some cycling miles but on the hotel surrey bikes.
August though provided me with better luck. I headed up north to Portmahomack for a weekend. I decided to do a variation of a route I had done before in 2011 (coast to coast x2.) The Shortest coast to coast in Britain is Bonar Bridge to Ullapool but I'd done that before (check my strava) so I created a loop that did a double Coast to Coast heading from Bonar Bridge to Scourie then back on a more southerly route.
I was lucky with fabulous weather and after Disney and Florida enjoyed the solitude of this century ride.
The route took in some of the NC500 which I hope to do in the future.
I kind of expected a dip as this year I was off to Florida and Disney, but a 2 week holiday turned to 3 weeks and the whole of July as my daughter got chicken pox and we were stranded thanks to virgins flight rules for another week.
I did manage to score some strava miles doing running on the hotel running route. as nice as it was, its not my thing. I did manage to get some cycling miles but on the hotel surrey bikes.
I was lucky with fabulous weather and after Disney and Florida enjoyed the solitude of this century ride.
The route took in some of the NC500 which I hope to do in the future.
The next day i loosened up the legs with a ride around Portmahomack and Tain. I had spent my youth holidaying up here and it was a first time for me on the bike exploring the local lanes and roads at a cyclists pace
Really enjoyed my weekend up north and rescued my summer from a cycling perspective. There are still countless routes and roads still to explore here and i will be back next year.
........but Mallorca 2020 is booked !!!
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