Big Al

18:30 meet for 18:45 start at Georgetown Road

Finally recovered enough to write a bit!

Another fantastic day of weather in East Lothian for a great event on some hilly country roads. Mike Ferguson and I were along for another TT outing on a hilly course, and it was a cracker!

Two laps of an 11.5m course made it interesting as there were more people than usual to chase down! The course begins with a slightly uphill start, then plunges into East Saltoun with a couple of (well marshalled) junctions to negotiate and then downhill for a couple of miles, easily mid 30's and I passed my first victim at 43mph after 4 minutes. There was steady uphill and some 33mph flats with the tailwind for the next few miles, then came a challenging downhill with a couple of sharp "red flagged" corners. Not for the faint hearted!

It got interesting at the 18minute point as Stuart Balfour, a wee slip of a boy who regularly wins the 'A' races at track league, caught me just at the end of the biggest hill. He was on his second lap and flying, he went off number 5 and I went off 33. I knew he was going to well up the standings at the end, and I did the maths on how much he had taken out me and where we were at, and realised I was doing quite well. We started on a long undulating section heading back towards the finish line and I managed to power up, push myself well into the red and pass him again at speed. He caught me again on the last hill before lap 2 but I overtook him at 40 on the start/finish straight for the start of lap 2 for me.

I hit lap 2 spurred on and knew I was going to be well inside my target of 60 minutes as I started lap 2 on 29 minutes. Knowing exactly what was coming I managed to keep pushing and caught another 5 or 6 riders on the way round. Great fun!

So, I finished up getting the prize for 3rd (I was actually 4th in the end) as Gary Robson 14secs in front of me got the 1st Vet prize. Stuart Balfour ended up just about 1 minute in front of me and he won overall, impressive for a junior!

I was quite pleased with the day out, as I left with my petrol paid for in prize money and 3 minutes faster over the hour relative to everyone there that I'd competed against already this year. That said, I did have to actually lie down a couple of times mid conversation on the pavement while chatting to Jon from Glasgow Wheelers afterwards.

Bring on the flat stuff!

A for me!

I'll be there, racing on Sunday morning so not drinking, can I get a carry oot?

I would in July but not June, Coach!

lbl yes depending on Spring holiday dates, would love to do the Etape too Colin, this years route looks fun, was tempted to do a diversion up the Hautacam after the Tourmalet this year!

Get your road bike out George, you legs'll need the fast miles before this 25 in a couple of weeks

Excellent, I'm going to ride if I feel slightly better than today, still recovering from Sunday's windy 25

Ok, so just visited G Town and as of 1700 today the traffic lights were not there, although the signs are still indicating the roadworks. Hopefully it will still be clear tomorrow, and if the weather is still so good hopefully we'll have a good turnout!

Ginty, you're looking no bad for 72, what's your secret?

18:30 Georgetown 7.2 miles

Roll up, roll up for the (hopefully hopefully this time till I get told the road is shut, again) first of the Georgetown club confined time trials of the year!

Meet at 18:15 at the Inchinnan end of the Georgetown Road for an 18:30 start.

2-up means you ride in teams of two and share the effort of cutting through the wind. Open to all club members and those without a club intending to join the Wheelers. A reasonable road for a first try at a time trial, if you need someone to ride with just post here and we'll fix you up! You can just come along on a normal road bike if you wish, if you really want to ride on your own you can do that too.

So, who's coming along and do we have a volunteer for timekeeping duties?

Obviously I remembered it's on the 19th and not this week George....

Paul, what time is it on Saturday for marshalling?

Allan, that's most of our 25 course that we're looking to move from for the 25's, thanks for the idea tho!

Thanks Iain, I didn't know that was used as an APR course but when I was riding on it yesterday afternoon I thought it would be ideal and was my next option! Most of the Tarmac I was on was perfect! Went with the Smiddy option as it was last minute and just round the corner

A77 would be good for 25 I reckon

Will see towards the end of the week, I would be up for 10's but it was getting dark as I drove into Bishopton tonight after our 1845 start, we would have to be sharp

Dave, do you not mean the Comedy Store Paisley?

I'll be along, although wish I wasn't racing the next morning!

5 intrepid riders (2 sharing a top tube and wheels) showed up for a cold damp outing on an alternative course.

After some discussion we decided on 2 laps of the Red Smiddy to new roundabout on the A8 course.

First on the night was a chilly Sport Billy, with a good effort by Al(l)an's M & T, and also the 'F' family on a tandem

Red Smiddy Course 5.3 miles

1. Billy Mac 14:58

2. Alan T 16:17

3. Allan M 18:09

4. Jane and Graham F (Tandem) 18:40

Well done!

No probs

Alan, that part of the road is 1.3 miles in each direction. Will clarify the route when you arrive, I'm here already.

Meet at 1815, on A8, 50 yards up the road from Red Smiddy towards Bishopton

Just let me know when you're heading out, I've got nothing else planned anyway

I'm up for it, how many miles?

It was fantastic! Watching it for a second time right now