Edinburgh to Conundrum

Last  year we managed to cycle (or run) to every race in the excellent Borders Cross Country series. This year we'd hoped to at least run to our home race at Gala and cycle to any other five, but various logistical issues had conspired to stop us from cycling to any so far.  With those in the east being too far to drive to we missed three of the races altogether.  This left the final race at Conundrum farm as our last chance to get a good cycle in and ensure we got our series memento for completing four out of the seven races.

The problem with the front facing camera when riding into the sun.

The cold Berit was nursing on our trip to Forfar had become a full-blown proper illness with actual puss coming out of her eyes in the following week.  She'd largely recovered and been back at work, but was still a bit worried about the 50 mile ride which was once again, and rather unfairly given we were heading in the opposite direction from Forfar, into the wind.

Mud on the road

Deciding on the start time for these rides is always a bit of a numbers game. With a hard deadline of the midday race start there was some harder negotiating over our start time.  I went for the optimistic 8am, banking on a 15mph average, but Berit was keen on a more conservative 7am fearing that we would struggle to make 13mph given the headwind and her recent illness. We compromised on 7:30 and managed to actually get under way just before 7:45.

Switched the camera to back-facing.  Failed to move my hood. Nice blue sky though.

Our ride out of  Edinburgh on the familiar Musselburgh-Tranent-Gifford route to the  Redstone Rigg was blessed with bright sunshine and cursed by the forecast headwind.  The Rigg itself doesn't get any easier - you can have as low a gear as you like, but 17% with a pannier and a headwind is always going to take it out of you.  As usual I was relying on the GoPro taking photos automatically, but was tempted to stop here to make sure I got one from the top, but time was ticking so we just cracked on.  Before Gifford we had been well ahead of our required average speed, but by the time we reached the top of the Rigg we had fallen back a fair way.  Fortunately the next section was mostly downhill and we were back on schedule by Chirnside.

From here it seemed a bit of a slog and hillier than I remember to get within sight of the coast and the short up and over to Conundrum. With time running out I was reduced to calculating and recalculating the speed required to make the race.  Finally the wind seemed to turn and we got there with minutes to spare - just time for a quick change and hello to some fellow runners before it was time to to hear these three shouted consonants that greet the start of every race in the east of Scotland.

The wind taking its toll on Berit's riding style.

After the race we picked up series mementoes (buffs this year) soup and a bacon roll before riding the two miles to Berwick station for the train back to Edinburgh.  We both felt better than expected and I did give some thought to suggesting riding home, but we probably didn't have enough food with us.  Maybe next year.

Berit finds her stem fascinating

 

Total time: 4:04:36

Google reckons

Public Transport: 1:48:00

Driving: 1:02:00

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/255292316

Forfar into the wind

I've sung the praises of the Crack'd T-Pot in Perth on here before.  It's our traditional first cake stop on the ride up to Aberdeen and we're always warmly welcomed by the owner.  We've been trying to talk her into to doing the East Fife Triathlon - just a few more years and we'll have her convinced I'm sure.  We failed to make the trip last year, but the Forfar Multi-terrain Half Marathon provided the perfect excuse to pay an early visit this year.

The weather forecasts for the past few weeks have been increasingly doom-laden with dire predictions of snowmageddon that has never materialized.  As Saturday approached it looked like the wind would be our enemy with the prevailing south-westerly being replaced by a bracing northerly.  With Berit nursing a cold and the wind set against us, it would have been easy to wimp out and head for the station - or worse, the van - but we sharpened our resolve and got going more or less on schedule at 8am.

Bridges

Since we had a long way to go and it might have been icy we decided not to mess about with the bike paths had headed along the A90 for the bridge. While we were riding two men were attempting two very different world records.  In Melbournce Jack Bobridge set off about the same time as us. Steve Abraham had already been heading south (I guess he'd seen the forecast too) from Milton Keynes for two hours.  By the time we reached the bridge Bobridge had climbed off his bike having ridden 51.3km - an agonizing 500 meters short of the Hour Record.  Abraham was still riding long after we'd finished and has 11 months to go in his attempt to break the record of miles ridden in one year.  In 1939 Tommy Godwin rode  75,065 miles.  That's over 200 miles a day.  Today was a rest day for Abraham: he only rode 150 miles.

The trees are bare now

After the bridge it's through Inverkeithing and up a steady climb to Crossgates. This road always feels like the proper start of any trip north and I usually drop Berit and wait for her at the top. Today the wind kept me pegged back and she was able to tuck in and keep on me all the way up. It was the same story all the way through Fife and into Perth and Kinross. North of Milnathort I decided to drop back for a rest from pushing the wind, but it wasn't enough.  I could feel the bonk coming on. The thought of the Crack'd T-Pot sustained me and for a while I thought I could last till then but common sense prevailed and I called a halt at Glenfarg. We dug out our sandwiches and half a filled rolled was enough to perk me up again and I was soon pushing the wind again heading for our well earned panini in Perth.

Chickens

We rolled into Perth bang on midday and eagerly parked outside the cafe.  Disaster.  It was closed - for ever!  The chairs were on the tables and there was a nice note in the window thanking everyone for their custom. There wasn't even a ToLet sign up yet - it seems we had only just missed it.  It wasn't quite an Old Penang moment, but it was pretty close.  The rides to Aberdeen just won't be the same.  I hope they decided to close and weren't forced out of business by lack of custom.

Disaster

There was a much posher looking restaurant, Duo, across the road, so we went there instead.  It didn't look ideal, but we didn't have time to mess about looking for somewhere else.  We ordered soup, coffee and cake to all come at the same time much to the bemusement of the very French waiter. It did all come at once and was all delicious.

Posh desserts in Duo

Out of Perth and this time I did drop Berit on the climb through Scone.  I always do.  The first time we did this  I didn't notice for ages until I went to say something to her and she wasn't there.  She wasn't too happy when she eventually caught up.  Lunch always seems to speed me up and slow Berit down.  Combine that with a long steady climb and you've got a recipe for one of the few arguments we've had when riding together.  Not this time though, practically trackstanding at times I managed to keep her in my mirror until she'd digested her lunch and the road had levelled off.  From here it was a succession of straight, flat back roads all the way to Forfar.  We did the race the next day and then rode to Arbroath to get the train home on the Monday.

As close to Dundee as we want to get

Total time: 6:56 ( including ~45 minute lunch stop)

Google reckons

Public Transport: 2:57:00

Driving: 1:38:00

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/249483536

Me failing to break 90 minutes in the race: https://www.flickr.com/photos/22960608@N06/15809283503/in/set-72157650600744662

Zig-Zagging from Galashiels to Edinburgh.

We're having a wee post-Christmas holiday in Gala but  Berit's friend, Ish, invited us to help her celebrate becoming a British citizen on Tuesday night in Edinburgh.  We hummed and hawed but decided that Ish would only become Brit-Ish once so we would have city break from our country holiday and take the opportunity to check out some of the route we plan to run later in the year.

Mud on the road

Our route for the big run will take us between the A7 and the A68 and cross each of the connecting roads in turn.  So we planned a cycle route to criss-cross between the two main roads allowing us to check out the running path where it crosses the back roads.

The coach road.

We started north on the A7 and then zigged up and over to Lauder.  We'd already had a look at where the old path we plan to follow, the Girthgate joins this road, so there was no need to stop here. At Lauder a sharp left had us zagging back to Stow.  A couple of map-check stops later we found where the Girthgate crossed the road.  It was pretty clear and looked like the point where we will first spot the Eildons, no doubt a most welcome sight on the day (weather permitting).  From Stow it was up the familiar coach road where we missed the desired turn off and had to double back along the A7 for a bit to zig back to the A68 at Soutra.  We spotted our running route without stopping and we were soon at Soutra Aisle, where a sign for Dere Street tempted us to alter our plans to incorporate this Roman road into our route.

As we turned onto the A68, I spotted a cafe - the House of Soutra - so with Berit's brakes screeching we made an earlier stop than planned.  We didn't regret it. We both find it hard to look past a brie, bacon and cranberry panini.  We'd done enough to team it up with the leak and potato soup.  Both were top notch - the panini rivalling our favourite ever from the Dairy at Daviot near Inverness.

 

Is this thing working?

From Soutra we stopped our zig-zagging and headed to Humbie and the familiar road of East Lothian for our approach to the city.  Since it was getting near rush hour, we decided to take the bike path route home.

Once home we quickly changed our shoes and headed out to the royal mile to get a suitable gift for our newly British friend.  Sadly the Queen's Gallery shop was closed - so no tasteful royal themed crockery for Ish - but the tartan tat shop opposite did have a rather splendid I heart Union Jack tea towel that would do the job nicely.

The next day we got the bus to Straiton to have another look at the Loanhead to Gorebridge section of the big run.  We found some improvements and got the bus from Gorebridge to Gala in time for a late lunch of the spicy carrot and coriander soup Berit made in preparation for our return.  We now have seen enough to draft the running route from Edinburgh to Gala.

By choosing active transport we turned something that could have been a bit of chore - coming home in the middle of our holiday - into a mini adventure where we found a new route we will use between Gala and Edinburgh when time is not an issue and new coffee shop that will make the new route all the more attractive.

https://www.strava.com/activities/237545394

Draft running route: http://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/8644917

Active Transport: It's not all about the bike

I've been a bit quiet on here lately, not because I haven't been riding my bike, but because I've been too lazy to write about it.  I've been getting about as normal - with trips to Kilsyth and Galashiels (via parkrun) supplementing the usual getting about town.  My bike mileage has been a bit lower though, because I have been ramping up the running, in training for the Paris Marathon in the spring.

We just about managed to get going in daylight

A few weeks before Christmas, Berit and I had a plan to get up early, cycle down to Gala and then do a long run. But then an unplanned late night put paid to us getting up early. Feeling somewhat delicate we talked over ways to justify ditching the planned 5+ hours of exercise when Berit came up with the perfect excuse. A couple of weeks earlier I suggested that we run to Gala in the summer. It'll be about 40 miles and will require some  planning and reconnoitering to find the best route.  And maybe a bit of training to be fit for it. We could start both by running the first leg and getting the bus the rest of the way. This would get us to Gala for the cross country and get the required long run done.

ERC Juniors appear over the brow of the hill

The bypass is always the most annoying obstacle when seeking to run south out of Edinburgh. There is a fairly new bike path between Straiton and Lasswade, so we figured we'd make for that. We started by heading over the shoulder of Arthur's seat and through Duddingston to get to  Craigmillar Castle park. Here we met a large group of ERC juniors on their mountain bikes - all well drilled by the coaches to clear the path for us. The route from there though the Ellen Glen's wood and the Burdiehouse Burn Valley park is one of Ednburgh's many hidden gems. I used to work up at Loanhead. This route to work is about the only thing I miss about that old job. We didn't go all the way to Straiton, instead turning up Lasswade road to get on the bike path. One of Edinburgh's many dismantled railways, it has recently been cleared and tarmacked by sustrans.

Horse Statue, Loanhead.

 In Loanhead we found the public toilets open and functional. A crazy steep narrow winding road led us down to to Bilston wood where a sign showed us we should have stayed on the railway path for longer and avoided much of the road. Over a river and then it was up The Cast. Marked as a road on Google maps it was little more than a muddy track. The going was getting tough and we were beginning to question the wisdom of road shoes. Across a main road and then another track and some country roads took us into Carrington.

Frequent map checks provide a wee rest

That way!

It was pretty much dark now, so it was head torches on for the final section to Gorebridge. This was mostly along country roads until we came upon the Gore Way and we headed into the darkness alongside the Gore river.  After some messing about to find the path again after it took us along the A7 to cross the river we came upon a bus stop outside Gorebridge. We didn't have long to wait for a bus to Gala, where the exertion and the cold finally caught up with us and it was an emergency shower and a strictly medicinal hot orange liqueur for Berit.

It was a great afternoon of running and has been enough to convince us that the whole trip is doable.
Since then we've re-visited the Loanhead to Middleton section to confirm we can avoid the steep road to Bilston wood and sadly discover that the paths to avoid the  country roads to Carrington have been largely destroyed by farming, so it'll be back to the tarmac on the big day for us.

So what is this doing on a blog about riding my bike?  Well, I guess it's really a blog about active travel.  Usually that means riding my bike, but it does involve running.  Strictly speaking walking is active travel too, but it takes ages.  Running from Edinburgh to Galashiels might seem extreme, but over the last few years I have run for transport for many shorter distances - to work, home from the pub (an interesting  GPS trace that) and on Christmas eve round the town to get the last of the shopping done.

 

Strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/219546590 

Christmas shopping criteria: it must be light and fit in my backpack.