Home Sweet Home*

For some ridiculous reason I thought that the day after a 7hr flight home would be a great day to have my first race. Less than optimal preparation immediately preceding the race meant that my only objective was to finish in the bunch. After getting lost on the way to the race as well as procrastinating while eating my breakfast and changing, I was rushed in signing in; I thought I'd only have a mile warm-up, but luckily the race was delayed and I could at least do a one-lap preview of the course, which as it turned out proved to be more useful than usual.  But great success for the day, managed to finish around 10th I think, without having to dig too deeply yet partially because of a stupid tactical move on my part. The course was pretty boring, a lot like NASCAR, just a trapezoid with easy corners. Too short to be a road course, yet a little too long to be a crit the distance fell in a weird middle ground. The racing as still fun as always. No hills but ferocious winds at times help separate the field.





*Awesome Song

Evolution

Some rides just evolve. I wanted to take Quique to Devon Pass, and we both adore Eden Ridge Road so we rolled out of St Andrews heading East. We warmed up thoroughly, spinning all the way through Ceres; we spun for most of the ride in reality, just relaxing and chatting--a lot about the apparent ticking time bomb that is RadioSchleck-Nissan-Trek-Jingleheimer-Schmidt (Red Kite Prayer shout out for that gem). We hit the bottom of the northern approach to Devon Pass--what I now think is the hardest climb in the area after the Lomond Hills--and we made our way up, not too slowly, but the steep pitches necessitate super low gearing. The climb is beautiful, lots of fun, and it tapers out towards the top: the hardest climbing is really on the lower slopes before the road swings to the right. A fun, fast descent ensued, and we were soon on the Eden Ridge Road, one of the most scenic stretches of tarmac, if also one of the roughest at times. Both of us had good legs, so we decided to take a slight detour and extend our ride, something that we did again, heading towards Peat Inn before veering off again and rolling towards Largoward. We wanted to keep going, the legs and minds felt fresh, it wasn't too cold, and it was still sunny. While I'm always a little wary about extending past a plan (as that's usually when bad stuff happens) the day was just too nice to give up on. Taking more descents to Kingsbarns we just kept talking away the miles, I barely believed what my Garmin was showing me. Turning back towards St Andrews, I realized my legs had never felt this fresh for so long. I felt the miles (its hard not to from my bike), but it didn't affect me as badly. Cooling off along St Andrews, both Enrique and I were surprised at our apparent fitness, always a nice feeling before you enter race season. Some rides just evolve from just a spin with a friend, further, more time, into a great confidence boosting ride that lets you know you may be ready.

Almost Made It!

Beautiful day today, picturesque blue skies, incredible visibility, not too too cold. Went out with a Uni employee, Clifford, and had a lovely ride--almost. Chatting, spinning away the opening miles up to Strathkinness, down to Kemback before climbing back out to Ceres opened up my tired legs nicely. We turned onto the Eden Ridge Road (now listed in the "Easy Climbs" map in "The Climbs" tab; the one that heads to Star and eventually Falkland) and made our way through its rollers, admiring the views and the weather. I was sad to reach its end, but was wonderfully surprised by Devon Pass; climbing higher and higher, by the top we could see Edinburgh and most of the surrounding valleys. A fun descent ensued (I'm sure it would be a savage climb--will have to check it out soon) and more relaxing rolling miles ticked by, going down into Cupar, skirting the edge, before climbing back towards Pitscottie when my rear goes flat. Not a big deal anymore with all the practice I've had; as I'm about to jump back in the saddle, the tire literally explodes. Manage to patch it up and cover some of the spoke holes in the rim, re-inflate, turns out I have to true the rim--by the time I'm done, I hear a hissing noise. Find the hole, patch, pumping up with Clifford's frame pump, as I'm centering the brake after I pop the wheel in hear more hissing and decide its cab time, only seven or so miles away from being a fantastically good ride, my bike almost made it all the way. At least I didn't flat on a descent, something that always worries me and makes me squeeze the brakes early and at least I didn't flat like this further away from St Andrews.

Early on while riding the Eden Ridge Road

Eden Ridge Road

Eden Ridge Road

Eden Ridge Road

Eden Ridge Road

Devon Pass

Lomond Hills from Devon Pass

Towards Edinburgh from Devon Pass

Looking towards the top of Devon Pass

Gravel

After two straight days of rain, the stuff was absolutely everywhere. The roads were covered in debris which led to near constant weaving around the stones and pebbles, cringing at every pop of the gravel under my tires. Luckily no flats throughout today's ride, and despite the bike handling practice, it turned out to be a very nice day. Blue skies for the most part, halfway warm, with a bit of wind to cool things down: took a normal route up to Ceres d'Huez, but went down to Leven instead of Largo, finding some nice quiet farm roads along the way before the fast descent down to the coast. A few miles of slamming into a headwind before climbing back up and over the hump and going down a fun, technical descent that began in New Gilston.

February in May

Days like today make everyone want to shake their fists at the weather gods of Scotland, to put it mildly. 6-7ºC/42-44ºF, the second full day of rain (driving at times), and 15-20 mph winds. We literally had these exact conditions in February. Even January. And December. In fact, for the most part that was the average weather for the whole winter. But after a long riding-free exam diet, I'm looking to boost mileage as much as possible before my racing season starts in the summer, which destined me to get in the saddle as miserable as it was. With this type of weather its difficult, nigh on impossible to get the legs warmed up, despite starting out with the wind at my back. I turned to head up to Martyr Road (opposite the Strath High Road on the other side of the Low Road) and made my way to the Mossmuur where I was greeted by a large truck doing some form of cleaning, and taking up the entire road. I was forced to unclilp as we squeezed past each other, taking away every last ounce of crucial momentum for the nasty wall in front of me. The first section of the climb had me pushing straight into the wind as I was trying to get back up to speed, luckily as the climb really picks up it also turns, giving me a solid tailwind. There's no other way for me to get up the final section of the Mossmuur except to grind, and grind away I did. Turning back towards St Andrews meant more headwinds; throwing in the rain and cold made it feel like thousands of needles were pricking my face as the rain had picked up and was lashing away at my body. Thankfully I ducked into a forested area for a little respite before finally rolling home.

Dichotomies

Today was the very best and the very worst of Scotland. Beautiful weather greeted me this morning: sunny, if still a bit too cold for my liking. Excited for dry weather I got out as fast as I could, but my buzz was quickly killed off by my ever dysfunctional bike. Even more mechanical issues culminated in a loud blowout while descending towards Pitscottie. I change the tire and get back on my way yet within a mile I run over a thistle branch or some other thorny shrub branch, which quickly leads to a double flat. Despite Andrew and James riding by separately, they only had a tire each. Pitscottie is not a town brimming with services; since the farm store was closed I had no access to cash (the bill I did have was far away in my jeans pocket at home, forgotten in the morning rush) yet someone picking up a large order from there generously gave me what I thought would be ample bus fare back to town. Waiting for 45 minutes with really nothing to do, I adjusted my position...then kept waiting...and waited some more. Finally the bus, and in turn, the worst of Scotland showed up. First off, the driver hassled me about bringing my bike on the bus (legal and allowed, item #6 here) when there were 3 other people on the coach and therefore ample room for my bicycle and I. Secondly, and this I understand a little more, but only just, the fare cost £3.35 whereas I had a grand total of £3. At this point I would like to note two things: a) the other two times I had brought a bicycle on the bus, the drivers didn't bat an eye and b) Stagecoach in Fife might want to rethink their pricing scheme: Leuchars is the same distance from St Andrews as Pitscottie yet it is over a Pound Sterling less expensive to travel from Leuchars. So I was not allowed on the bus, despite explaining that I had few other options if any to get back. For 35p a bus driver would not let me on a bus that was already running; stranding me for even longer. I had to pry my girlfriend away from her studies in order to run to town to pull money out of a cash point so I could call a taxi to take me home. 2.5 hours for 7 miles.

Rest day before a rest week

My training schedule surprised me today with a "Rest or 45 minutes easy spinning." Seeing as I'm off traveling for a week I did want to get into the saddle, and I'm never one to take an easy spin day for granted. I actually managed to plan this one right, so that I had a tailwind while going uphill and the headwinds while I was going downhill. That's something that very very rarely happens, and I was quite proud of my seemingly excellent mapping abilities. Nothing too new to report, The Grange is still quiet; Station Road to Kingsbarns still has a few nice turns, although the wind kept me at too safe a speed for my personal liking; and I flew towards St Andrews with the wind behind my back. After heading up St Leonard's Hill, I stopped for a quick dopo bici double espresso before a quick cobbles run right before getting home.

Looking at Kingsbarns. (The steeple in the distance)