It was a big day in so many ways, The sun was forecast to shine all day, it was the last training Saturday before the Caledonian Etape, and a massive Posse of 6 was scheduled to leave town at 09:00 hours.
Junior II was back from winter resting, The Fit One was fresh from his Triathlon success, as was Santiago, The Ironman was in full winter regalia minus the Ralph Lauren belt and overtrousers, and Bigman ( me) was looking forward to a brilliant day out. A special guest appearance was being made by Skyrider, a new addition to the posse. Skyrider is in training to do the Etape du Tour this year which is from Pau up an over the Tourmalet covering 180km. It is mighty long mighty mountainous and mighty hot. Should be fun. Well our route had the mountains, it had some distance, but minus the heat.
The route was 83km taking in one of Scotlands greatest secret glens through to Dunning, zip along the 5 mile flats to Auchterarder to the Cafe Krista and then back up through the 3 mile climb through Glen Devon and back over Mont VeKnockhill.
There was a chilly wind out of the North east. JR must be out training again. The chatter was volumous as we climbed up out of Dunfie, up and over Mont Veknockhill. Both Santiago and Junior II were sporting shorts. To be honest, Junior II is so young he is still wearing shorts!
We past the point where The Ironman chewed tarmac during our winter training rides and gurgled those immortal words from Simson on Mont Ventoux 'get me back on my bike'. OK a bit melodramatic and untrue however it is only a blog.
The chatter was so volumous during the climb to Dunning, I had to move forward to keep some focus and make sure we kept a reasonable heart rate in preparation for the Etape next week. The 4 mile run down into Dunning was a fantastic ride. After a number 1 haircut last week, it would be stretching things to say the wind ran through my hair but you get the idea.
Cafe Krista was no disappointment with an array of fine cakes spreading over the table.
And then it was time to het the road again and face the might Glen Devon climb. In order to burn some muscle, The Ironman and I set off to raise the heart rate and push ahead up the hill. The analysis on the Garmin shows a climb of the 2.4 miles in 10 minutes, giving an average speed of 14.4 miles per hour on a gradient maximum of 9% and pace. It felt good, with an alignment of cadence and breathing. The silver waters of the Devon were sparkling as we cycled by . Lambs in the fields were shouting 'allez, allez, allez, as we motored past.
Skyrider has yet to learn to love the hills. Mont Veknockhill provided a perfect opportunity to have a positive mental attitude towards them.
A great day out and in one outing we have added 498km of distance to our global circumvention. Over the 4005ft of ascent, Bigman burnt 3525 calories, and could now safely consume 7 Tesco finest triple chocolate muffins without feeling any guilt. The pace was not fantastic at 15 miles per hour however there was a heavy headwind and loads of chat.
Looking forward to next week
Bigman
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