Glen Clova and Glen Shee

This was a brilliant trip, spectacular roads, tough hills and incredible descents. It was cut short slightly as the mountain bikers finished before us and it was getting dark. Although I'm not sure if I could have managed much more with how exhausted I was by that point.

Switzerland

Hitting the hills (and the lakes) for a few days. Smooth roads, twisting and turning, respectful drivers, tons of water fountains, and as a result its basically heaven for the roadie.

Nice

Over the Glens

Quite a new one for today. I agreed to go with Jamie to Stirling for a road ride. After much debate, we decided to not bother doing a loop around that city and then have to wait for mountain bikers, so we ended up opting to ride from Stirling all the way back to St Andrews. We were both over-confident enough to start our ride with a painfully steep hill all of 2 kilometers into our ride; with a nice average of over 9% our legs were screaming with 110 kilometers left to ride. Some sweeping and rolling hills allowed us to recover for the 3 blocks of serious climbing that lay in front of us. After skirting the A9 we started to head up into the misty glens, passing Gleneagles (the town, not the resort), and the scenery became more and more stunning. It felt as though we had been transported many miles north west, into the heart of the highlands. I always love riding somewhere new, especially when the roads get exceptionally twisty. After a fast descent through the thick cloud we turned and began another long climb deeper into the mists--these roads were incredibly quiet, often experiencing 1-2 cars for every time we turned onto a new road. After pushing relatively easily to the top of the glen we plummeted down a twisty, dirty, white knuckle descent. This continued until a quick coffee break before the spin home.

Winter Almost in the Rearview Mirror

It's been a long, snowy winter. Sorry for not checking in more often, but here are a few pics of the past months. Mud, snow, cold. Nothing too new. Managed to hit Bear Mountain for the first time, a famous training ground for NY based cyclists (including Big George when he was a kid).