Ramsay

Sounds good. Presume it will be 9am at Morrison's?

Got DIY to do on Saturday morning (hiring a corer to drill holes in my house!!), so can't make it. Might get out later on Sat and definetly on Sun. Have a good run. Ramsay

Martin, I'm not going to be able to make it tonight anyway. See you next week. Ramsay

Have been meaning to post this for months, before it turned into a huge novel, but ..... Can't get the embedded pictures to work, so there is a link to the album here and at the bottom. http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/72045749 Lands End to John O'Groats - May 2008 Riders - Ramsay Muirhead, Peter Morgan & Michael Purkis. Support Crew – Sarah Morgan & Elaine Muirhead (lunch on day 7) and Mike Forest (lift back from JoG!). Preparation & Planning The idea of the “LEJoG†was Pete’s; a lifelong ambition for him. He and Mike had planned to do the ride for some time and at the end of 2007 (after my knee had recovered and I had been back on the bike for a few months) they asked if I would like to join them. I jumped at the chance and we all started planning. Sort of! A couple of lunchtime meetings with the three of us and a few basics we agreed on, such as starting at Lands End and cycling north east to John O’Groats, as we would be going with the prevailing winds, as well as going unsupported and staying in youth hostels, B&Bs and hotels, so relatively lightweight. With that we booked flights to Exeter and a train to Penzance, and sort of agreed that we were not going to do the normal route, instead we were going to go over the hills of England. By my very quick calculations I thought the route should be 900miles and between us we thought that 8.5 days should be enough time. As a practice run to make sure we could do the miles and to check our kit, we rode to Oban and back on the last weekend of April, only 3 weeks before we were due to set off. With 220 miles under our belts for the weekend, the main things to come out of it were that Pete and Mike both needed new saddles and that a high calorie diet produces a fair amount of wind!! Couldn’t do much about the wind production, but Pete and Mike went and bought the same saddle as me…so no pressure on my recommendation only a few weeks before setting off!! Travel to LE Friday night was leave early from work and get to the airport in plenty of time to try and get our bikes on board (as they hadn’t guaranteed that we could take the bikes!!). Luckily there were no worries about getting the bikes on the plane and after a quick flight and very tight taxi journey, we built up the bikes in the Exeter Holiday Inn Express, even though it was well past midnight. The train to Penzance was booked, so it was an early start to get to the station and get settled in for the 3 hours trip. As we approached Penzance, the rain started. Day 1 (well, a half day) – Saturday 17 May 2008 The train from Exeter to Penzance did not arrive until 13.30, so once we had some lunch (Cornish Pasty of course), we rode the 9 miles down to Lands End and took the inevitable photos, so didn’t actually start off until 15.10. As we rode into a bit of a headwind, the clouds grew darker and it was not long until we were riding up the busy A30 in rain. When we got to Truro we thankfully came off the A30 and had some dinner in Sainsbury’s café before heading into torrential rain all the way to St Austell (I’m sure I had booked good weather for this trip!). I had stayed in Truro for 6 months about 8 years ago, so knew the area reasonably well, but had forgotten just how up and down it is. Past Truro there was barely a flat section of road to St Austell, it was either a slow grind up or a 40mph down (in the rain). During the preparations (sitting at my desk), my very crude calculations should have had us in Liskeard the first night, but there was not a chance of making it in daylight. Having not booked anywhere we took 45mins in the pouring rain in St Austell to find a B&B. It has to be noted that there are a remarkable amount of care homes in St Austell, but thankfully we were not needing one at the end of just the first half day. The B&B was great except after doing all our hand washing we hung it out on the radiator and the room turned into a steam room, as the windows didn’t open. The rain had been so bad my cycle computer had stopped working, so according to Pete’s computer we had done 56 miles from Lands End and 73 miles for the day, which is not bad given a very late start, the weather and the terrain. More importantly, we had started. LANDS END TO ST AUSTELL – 56MILES & 6,000ft OF CLIMBING Day 2 – Sunday 18 May 2008 The start of the day was cool, the roads were wet from Saturday’s rain and we had a headwind, but it was sunny and clear. Much like the end of the previous day, the road from St Austell towards Dartmoor was very undulating and there seemed to be no flat stretches of road. Even now I was regretting not having triple chain-rings like the other two, anyway, should make the legs stronger (maybe!). The real climbing of the day started after Tavistock with the climb right up Dartmoor, as long as you avoided the ponies on the road. Some of the hills were reasonably long and at a fairly steep gradient, which is not great for the legs on only the second morning, but made for some lovely cycling. The ups, downs, sunshine and great views continued all the way to Exeter. Through Exeter I had a bit of hunger knock and for five minutes could barely focus on the road. Not much fun in busy city centre traffic! From Exeter we followed the minor roads that generally go up the route of the M5 corridor so it was not the most scenic, but eventually it was flat. We stopped for the night in a lovely B&B near the Tiverton services just off junction 27 of the M5 (once again after having spent nearly 45mins looking for somewhere). Cracking pub grub for tea and a sneaky wee beer, because we were on holiday after all! 98.5 miles and a staggering 12,100ft of climbing for the day! Again, we were fairly happy (and a bit knackered) considering the terrain, but were still short of where I had predicted, by some 30miles! I also had a really sore knee for most of the day, but it seemed to clear up somewhere around Exeter. ST AUSTELL TO TIVERTON SERVICES – 98.5MILES & 12,100FT OF CLIMBING Day 3 – Monday 19 May 2008 Another cool start to the day, but glorious sunshine for the most part. Bit of a headwind again for most of the day. The ride up the M5 corridor was honestly quite dull, although there was some lovely views onto the hills around Taunton and Cheddar. The roads generally got busier the farther north we got and although there were no big hills, there were still “undulationsâ€. We got a wee bit lost coming through Bristol and ended up on the A4 heading for the Severn Crossing and not the A38 for Gloucester! It did mean that we went under the Clifton Suspension bridge though, which, as a Civil Engineer is quite impressive. Strangely none of us really remember the stretch of road between Bristol and Gloucester. It was about 30miles, but clearly had nothing of any interest. Either that or we had eaten something funny for lunch in Bristol. By the time we reached Gloucester it was rush hour and the traffic was unbelievable and slowed us a bit until we realised that all the pavements were also cycle lanes, so we eventually cruised by everything. By this time in the trip we had realised that when we were not riding or sleeping, we would be eating as much as we can. So when all our meals/snacks for the day were bought from garage service stations and eaten at the side of the road, it was not very satisfying. It seemed that the towns/villages we passed through did not have any cafe’s etc,..roll on the more remote parts of the country. Mike’s mum lives in Worcester, so we decided to push on for there and got there around 8pm. After I had done nearly an hour on the front in the morning (as I was feeling good), Mike did nearly the entire last hour on the front, with myself and Pete only just able to hang on, let alone take a spell! 125.5miles for the day and pretty tired at the end of it. Mike’s mum very kindly did all our washing, which saved us doing hand washing and hanging it out to dry like the previous nights (very much appreciated). TIVERTON SERVICES TO WORCESTER – 125.5MILES & 5,200FT OF CLIMBING Day 4 – Tuesday 20 May 2008 Leaving Mike’s mum’s house in Worcester, we headed to Kidderminster on back-roads, which did allow us to ride two or even three abreast at times. Unfortunately it was short lived and we were back onto busy main roads to Wolverhampton and Cannock. Mike was very nearly hit by a truck on one of these busy roads. It must have missed him by only inches!! He did give chase and nearly caught the truck at a set of temp roads works (I can only imagine what he would have done with the stop/go board if he had caught the driver!). The sight of an angry Brummie was quite something! We had lunch in Cannock at one of the worst “Coffee Shops†any of us had been in. It was a greasy spoon that sold coffee! Not impressed! After Cannock the roads started to get a bit quieter and the scenery a bit better, especially some lovely villages and houses. Next stop was Uttoxeter, where we went into Mike’s company’s head office (rival engineering firm) for a cup of tea. Pete and I both had our company’s race jerseys on, so that caused a bit of a stir and got us all photographed for their newsletter (although they will probably photoshop out Pete and me). From Uttoxeter we were very gladly back onto country roads to Ashbourne, past the JCB factory (again, I’m an Engineer…). We found a great wee cafe in Ashbourne, which was also a flower shop and it set us up for the start of the Peak district and into the hills again. In fact the climb out of Ashbourne is a bit of a killer after a huge piece of carrot cake and pot of tea. For the second evening in a row Mike went to the front on the last 5 – 10 miles and Pete and I did everything we could just to hang on to the flying Purkis express. We arrived in Buxton to try and find the Youth Hostel I had marked on the map. Bugger! The address was Buxton, but it was actually 15miles away. So, being after 8pm it was the usual search for somewhere and of course the inevitable abuse from Pete & Mike for marking up the map incorrectly. 106miles for the day, which given the busy roads early in the day and the hills later on, was not too bad. Legs were a bit sore, but knee was now fine. By this time we had figured that I had made a mistake somewhere in calculating the distances on the first day, because we were doing the mileage we had planned, but were consistently 30 miles further down the road than planned! Oops, probably should have put a bit more effort into the planning! WORCESTER TO BUXTON – 106 MILES & 6,400FT OF CLIMBING Day 5 – Wednesday 21 May 2008 Another cool start, but again a lovely sunny day. The wind was generally out of the east today, so there was not much of a headwind for a change. Very hilly out over the High Peaks from Buxton, but I loved this section (in fact, as anyone who has ever ridden with me will know, I generally love hill climbing all the time). Had to buy another map in Stalybridge, as the 1:550,000 road map I had was not detailed enough to get past the edge of Oldham/Manchester. Even with this map it was very slow going through traffic lights etc... Once past Rochdale we were back in the countryside for a while and even had a bit of a tailwind for a few miles. Again things slowed down as we came through the edge of Burnley. North of Burnley we came through Settle and headed up Ribblesdale, which was beautiful. Although it was long, the climbing was not too tough as the gradient was fairly shallow. The view at Ribbleshead Viaduct was amazing, but as we were getting cold and tired, we didn’t hang around for long. Just before the climb up Ribblesdale Mike had a bit of hunger knock and unbeknown to Pete or I at the time, he ate 1500 – 2000 calories in about 20mins, as we cycled along! Most of the calories were dextrose tablets, snickers and several packets of fruit pastels. It did keep him going for the last 15miles, but he didn’t finish the day with a burst of energy as he had done in the previous two days. We got into Hawes in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales and headed for the Youth Hostel only to find it was full. B&B again! Followed by pub grub and the Champion’s League final (only because it was on, not because we actually care about football). 100.5 miles for the day over some fairly hilly terrain and through very busy towns. Good progress and psychologically great as I could turn over the map to see the Scottish border not too far away. BUXTON TO HAWES – 100.5 MILES & 9,400FT OF CLIMBING Day 6 – Thursday 22 May 2008 Yet another cool start, but the sun was out and we even had a slight tailwind for a good part of the day. This was probably the most scenic day of the trip. Leaving the Dales was amazing and skirting to the west of the Pennines in Cumbria was beautiful, although it did mean that we had a fair bit of climbing to do. Much like Cornwall, Cumbria was a series of never ending short sharp ups and downs. We had to do a 7 mile stretch of the notorious A66, which was as predicted very busy, but with a strong tailwind we were sitting at 35mph on some of the flat sections! By mid afternoon we crossed the border into Scotland. 555 miles up the length of Englandshire in 5days. Over the border we followed the quiet, but fairly uninteresting old A74 and pushed on for Beattock. Once again we had problems finding accommodation and had to go slightly off route and into Moffat for a B&B. 111 miles for the day at an average of nearly 17mph. Not bad given hills earlier in the day. Quite sun burned on the back of our legs by the end of the day. HAWES TO MOFFAT – 111 MILES & 6,600FT OF CLIMBING Day 7 – Friday 23 May 2008 Overcast day with a bit of a headwind, especially past Glasgow area. As a bit of a laugh, we were chatting about the fact that we had been in Scotland for half a day and had not seen any bad roads, any neds or any bad drivers. Perhaps we spoke too soon, because before long we had a hatrick! We (well Pete really) had had our closest “near miss†of the trip on the old A74 just before Lesmahagow. Mr “Transit White-Van-Man†pulled out right in front of the three of us and Pete very nearly hit the side of the van. Much shouting and use of non-highway code hand signals prevailed, but the guy just shrugged his shoulders and drove off. Amazing he didn’t see us given the road was straight and completely empty except three guys wearing bright yellow cycling tops. The road surfacing deteriorated rapidly as we hit the central belt, just in time to coincide with lots of traffic. The route up through Hamilton, Bothwell, Gartcosh etc was fairly dull and busy. The third of our “Scottish treats†was passing a group of neds in Larkhall, where they lined up at the side of the road waiting for us to pass. Much to our surprise clapped and cheered us on! Our reward after the Glasgow area was meeting my wife and Pete’s wife and kids at Kilsyth for a late lunch. It was great to see them, but a bit strange to just jump on the bikes and leave them again after only an hour. Once we passed Bridge of Allan, we were back onto country roads most of the way through Crieff and onto Bankfoot. It did mean that once again, we were into some hills, but the ride down Glen Almond was worth it, as it was beautiful. After a puncture stop only 6-7miles from the end, we struggled into the Bankfoot Inn, where my Dad had reserved us some rooms. My Dad was up fishing in the area with friends, so we met them for dinner and then sat up chatting to them well past our bedtime. It was a great night, but only wish we had not just done a big day on the bike and had a few more big days to go. Hard work, but happy with 128miles for the day. MOFFAT TO BANKFOOT – 128 MILES & 8,800FT OF CLIMBING Day 8 – Saturday 24 May 2008 Another sunny day, but yet again a headwind, especially from Dalwhinnie to Carrbridge. We had a fairly late start after our late evening with old fishermen! There was a small section of A9 to contend with at the beginning and end of the day, but apart from that we were on fairly quiet roads/tracks most of the day. The run up to Pitlochry was undulating in places, but quiet and scenic. We stopped in Pitlochry to get a couple of inner tubes after some punctures in the previous days and also for lunch. Great pannini (or is that pannino?) and buns at Victoria’s café! Mike also left his gloves and continued for the rest of the ride without! (It would be rude not to mention that the only “wobbly†of the trip was thrown around this time – all smiles by the end of the day though, even if it was through gritted teeth.). The sustrans route from Bruar takes you up parts of the old A9 and on purpose built tracks along the side of the A9. While it is very quiet, it did mean that we had nearly 10miles of track/road that was close to a mountain bike trail. Not great on 23C tyres. Although Pete and Mike said it wasn’t too bad on their 28Cs! At Dalwhinnie the turn towards the north east was greeted with a stiff headwind, so it became a bit of a drag up to Aviemore, where we stopped for some more grub. On a sunny bank holiday Saturday you would have thought that cafes etc would be open past 5pm, but as we rolled into town at 5.05, all were closed, so we had to go to an Australian Restaurant for some grub. Welcome to the Highlands! After Carrbridge I felt great, which was probably due to the Aussie meal, and led most of the way up over Slochd summit and on to Inverness. We met my Mum at Moy as she was on her way back down from Invergordon and had very kindly stopped to book us a B&B in Inverness. The last bit of excitement for the day was coming down the A9 dual carriageway at 40mph ++ when my bike went into a fairly violent shake. Pete shot off and Mike gave me a lot of space as he thought I might come off. I managed to stay on and found out the headset was a wee bit loose (again). Also probably not helped by carrying all the gear fairly high up on the bike. 109 miles for the day. Hard work over the rough track past Drummochter and into a headwind. BANFOOT TO INVERNESS – 109 MILES & 8,400FT OF CLIMBING Day 9 – Sunday 25 May 2008 Sunny day, but strong and cold north to north easterly wind, i.e. – another day of headwind all the way. Early start, well on the bike just after 8.30, which, given Pete’s inability to be rushed in the mornings is not too bad! Most of the riding was on the A9, although we did have a small bit of sustrans to start and a bit of B roads through Alness and Invergordon. I had a bit of an embarrassing moment when I accidentally turned back south when we came out of the Morrisons café at Invergordon! D’oh! No excuses really, as I had the map all of the trip! Only thing I can think of to blame is that the other two had the last of the carrot cake and I got a disappointing piece of apple tart! The A9 up past Tain, Dornoch etc was a bit dull cycling, only livened up by having an Audi R8 pull away from a roundabout next to us at what must have been full throttle. What a lovely noise! (We had been on the road a while!) A quick lunchtime café stop at Golspie for a toastie and a huge piece of carrot cake was a welcome break from the wind, but there was still nearly 70miles to go. The ride from Helmsdale to Wick had a few big hills and was unbelievably exposed to the wind. On the 13% drop into Berrisdale Mike had the same high speed wobbles on the bike that I had the day before. Only difference being that he got the shakes on a bend and very nearly hit the crash barriers on the far side of the road! Very lucky there was nothing coming the other way up the road. Apparently a bit frightening!! A very welcome sight was Mike Forrest appearing in his van about 20miles form Wick, although the euphoria was short lived as he only stopped for 5mins then drove on up to meet us a Wick. At least we weren’t going to have to ride back home! We were all completely knackered coming into Wick, but a sausage supper each and the thought of only 17 miles more spurred us on. The last 17miles went very slowly (probably not helped by the chippy) and even the slightest of rises felt like Haute Category alpine passes. Our spirits were finally lifted as we came over the crest of a hill about two miles from the end to see the sun lighting up the southern Orkneys. I had held off for 959miles, but I could not resist a sprint for the 30mph limit signs coming into the town of John O’Groats, which I won comfortably, probably because the other two didn’t even try (mountain bikers!!). Pete did point out though that the signs were actually 40mph limit signs and therefore the sprint was invalid. Yeah right! We arrived at JoG 5 mins later to find that the famous sign had been taken down for the night and would not be back up until the morning. Bugger! Still, there was one fixed to the wall of the slipway, so after a few photos, it was off to the B&B for a couple of beers. Job done!! 125 miles for the day and we were finished. This was probably one of the hardest days I’ve done on a bike even if we hadn’t had done the 800+ miles in our legs already. I can honestly say that a lot of the last day was not that enjoyable. We were in the saddle pedalling for 8.5hours and even if you were not at the front you still hardly got any respite from the wind. On a normal 125 mile ride you can freewheel down hills and flats, but I think we had to pedal almost every inch of the day. INVERNESS TO JOHN O’GROATS – 125 MILES & 8,100FT OF CLIMBING TOTAL MILEAGE FOR 8.5 DAYS – 959.5 MILES & 71,000FT OF CLIMBING (OR 2.4 EVEREST/13.4 MILES STRAIGHT UP). Done it! But not sure If I would do it again. Firstly because its now done and also because there were too many sections of road that were not enjoyable to ride, despite us taking a much more scenic route than the “standard†route. Would happily do the same time touring around the Peaks, Dales, Pennines, Dartmoor, Perthshire etc but Oldham, Burnley, Bristol, Glasgow, A30, A66 etc are not exactly your ideal places to ride. Also, when I consider the whole Lands End to John O’Groats, I cannot stop thinking why. LE is not the most southerly point of mainland UK, nor is JoG the most northerly. I have heard, although haven’t checked, that the same person/company owns LE & JoG and has just publicised it for the last 30 - 40 years or so, and therefore it has just become the thing to do. Surely to claim the end to end you should really do from Lizard Point to Dunnet Head. Maybe next time? Despite it being hard going, it was a great ride and we did have a good laugh almost all of the time, not least at the amount of bodily gases we all produced while eating 6000 + calories a day! (Ah, the simple things) From a personal view point, I started the ride as friends of Mike & Pete and can honestly say now that I consider them great friends. In terms of the gear, there are a few things I would do slightly differently, but generally all worked well. Despite a couple of hard climbs, I didn’t really regret having only a double chainring and would tour again with the same. Much to our relief, the saddles were great, which given that Mike & Pete only got theirs about two weeks before leaving was amazing. They didn’t stop the general ache from sitting on a concentrated area for many hours a day, but none of us had any saddle sores. Also probably helped by extensive use of Assos Chamois cream or “ass cream†as it was not so politely dubbed! Loads of photos here (although the first shot is the end??): - http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/72045749 Summary Mileage – Ramsay, Pete & Mike - LEJoG May 2008 Day 1 (half) Lands End to St Austell - 56miles & 6,000ft climbing Day 2 St Austell to Tiverton Services - 98.5miles & 12,100ft climbing Day 3 Tiverton to Services Worcester - 125.5miles & 5,200ft climbing Day 4 Worcester to Buxton - 106miles & 6,400ft climbing Day 5 Buxton to Hawes - 100.5miles & 9,400ft climbing Day 6 Hawes to Moffat - 111miles & 6,600ft climbing Day 7 Moffat to Bankfoot - 128miles & 8,800ft climbing Day 8 Bankfoot to Inverness - 109miles & 8,400ft climbing Day 9 Inverness to John O’Groats - 125miles & 8,100ft climbing TOTAL Lands End to John O’Groats - 959.5miles & 71,000ft climbing

Sorry guys, not going to make it. Still not well. Have a good one. Ramsay

Happy New Year all. Should be there on Sat at 9am, but am currently laid up with stomach bug! Hope to see you there. Ramsay

Jim, Sounds good. Will I meet you just where the road up towards Bowfield leaves the main road (opposite the wee shop). Cheers, Ramsay

I'm going to be leaving from Beith at 8:15 - 8:30 (as soon as it is light) and head out for a few hours. Thinking of a tour of the back roads of Renfrewshire, taking in a hill or two, but as always, I'm open to suggestions. Would be great to have some company. If you are going to join me, then post before 4pm today, as I may not be near a computer after that. Merry Christmas to all! Ramsay

Jim, with reference to your post above: Anyone who previously thought that this run might be too quick for them should think again. AYE RIGHT! What Paul and Alan very kindly left out (above), was that after Largs I was doing absolutely everything I could just to hang on to the rest of them. I think the pace was generally being set by Jim, but I was usually too far away to see! It is the first time I have been properly (and repeatedly) dropped on a ride for a good while! Would love to come out with excuses, but I don't have any. I just got my ass kicked! Guess it really is time to get more miles in!! The winter lay off is officially over! Cheers Ramsay P.S. - Next time round the coast, or similar, I must come up to Lochwinnoch for this second cafe stop you are all managing (assuming I haven't already eaten my handlebars just trying to hang on!). P.P.S. - Almost certainly out on Friday (boxing day) morning for an early run. Will post during the week.

Jim, with reference to your post above: Anyone who previously thought that this run might be too quick for them should think again. AYE RIGHT! What Paul and Alan very kindly left out (above), was that after Largs I was doing absolutely everything I could just to hang on to the rest of them. I think the pace was generally being set by Jim, but I was usually too far away to see! It is the first time I have been properly (and repeatedly) dropped on a ride for a good while! Would love to come out with excuses, but I don't have any. I just got my ass kicked! Guess it really is time to get more miles in!! The winter lay off is officially over! Cheers Ramsay P.S. - Next time round the coast, or similar, I must come up to Lochwinnoch for this second cafe stop you are all managing (assuming I haven't already eaten my handlebars just trying to hang on!). P.P.S. - Almost certainly out on Friday (boxing day) morning for an early run. Will post during the week.

Anyone have plans for a run on Saturday? I'm up for a few hours of pedalling. Darryl/Jim/Alan/Paul etc - Are you guys meeting at 9, then doing an hour before meeting up with the bogs bunch at 10? Let me know if there are any plans. If not, then I'll head out myself at about 8-8.30 and might even manage to get a few hills in! Ramsay

Bit of a long shot, but if anyone hears of the following bike for sale anywhere, can you let me know, as I know who owns it!! It was recently stolen in Edinburgh. It's a blue and silver full-suspension Koga-Miyata (Dutch manufacturer) mountain bike. It did have slick tyres on it when it was nicked. I would say that it is very rare in the UK, so probably easy to spot if it is for sale somewhere. Cheers Ramsay

Working on my kitchen with the Father-in-law, so can't make it Saturday. But, will be out for a decent run on Sunday if anyone is about. Ramsay

Paul, See you there at 8:35/40. Ramsay

All sounds good. General forecast isn't too bad, although it could be a bit fresh. Nothing a good curry won't put right again. Paul, do you fancy meeting at the cross at Lochwinnoch for the run to the club house? 08:30? Cheers Ramsay

Paul, Sounds good. It's the only weekend day I'm available between now and mid December, so timing is great! Cheers Ramsay

Jim, Frank, Mike and Myself left Dennis at the club house, after he had unfortunately forgotten his shoes (although, maybe he just saw the dark clouds around)! He was probably thankfull as we were being battered by a heavy hail shower by the end of Miller Street! We made it as far as the climb up through Howwood towards Bowfield, when Frank punctured. I'll spare the details, but lets just say that after taking the tyre off four times (original puncture, two broken valves and a split tube!) Frank was very nearly heading home, but thankfully decided to stay out. Anyway, 45mins after leaving the club house we finally made it past Bowfield and headed into Ayrshire for a short tour of the backroads, which offered a bit of shelter from the strong wind. After a few roads I didn't know, we arrived at Barmill and did the APR circuit backwards. The decision was then to head down towards the cycle track and generally start heading back towards the Johnstone with the wind. Having hardly done anything on the bike for a month or so, I decided to leave the guys at Longbar and headed for home. Good short day out, with good company. Ramsay

Curry sounds good. Either night (28th or 29th) is fine for me. Cheers Ramsay

I have an old set of Camapag Shamals which are 8sp. Does anyone know if I can convert from 8speed to 10 speed? Is it as simple as just getting a new free hub? Or does it change the dish in the wheel? Should I just get a complete new hub and essentially build the wheel back up with the old rim? (Does mean I probably wont have the flat spokes!) Not keen to just write off the wheel, so any advice on the above would be welcome. If it can be converted, does anyone have the right bits I can buy? Cheers, Ramsay

Here's a link to the photo of the Holdsworth http://www.flickr.com/photos/31347922@N03/2937257399/

Guy in work is selling his old road bike. I do have a photos, but I'm not computer minded enough to get them on here! Frame and forks are black with bold white "Holdsworth" logo:- For Sale Fantastically stable and swift machine, successfully completed numerous UK triathlons and even the Rob Roy Challenge! Rare and highly sought after 1989 Black 22†Holdsworth Professional in excellent condition. Reynolds double-butted 531 Competition frameset Original Shimano 105 groupset (except pedals) Shimao 105 Bio-Pace 52/42T chainset Replacement Shimano HG70 12-23T rear cassette Holdsworth Sakae Custom stem & handlebars SR Laprade road aluminium seatpost Grey Charge Spoon saddle with Cro-mo rails – brand new QR Shimano 105 hubs on Wolber GTX rims Vredestein Fortezza tri-comp 700x23C tyres in yellow – brand new Cateye TL – LD250 front and TL – LD260 rear lightset Cateye Micro CC-6000 cyclocomputer with speed/cadence functions – manual supplied For further details please contact Jerry on 07769 933616

Thanks guys. Have got a few more photos on the link below. Lots of people missing I'm afraid (especially the Jets), as they were going so fast it was blurred! A few of the photos are slightly blurred anyway, which I think is the camera setting and not the photographer (my lovely wife!!). http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/72303655 Alan - Not quite sure whether to be more offended ( ) at the suggestion of me paying off the timekeepers, or my likeness to a known drugs cheat!! I can assure you that I didn't bribe the timekeepers and the only performance enhancing products I used were four Weetabix and two poached eggs on toast (breakfast). Thanks again to Kenny, Kenny and Martin for timekeeping and holding/pushing off. Cheers Ramsay

Glad I didn't set a course record last night on the hill climb, as there would have been no one else there to witness it!! Was on my own for what I think is the last open air mid-week confined event of the year. Anyway, as it happens, the course record was safe by about 30 seconds (which is actually quite a lot!). Hope to see a few more on Sunday morning. Ramsay

Kenny, 1 pair of bib shorts and 1 pair of 3/4 roubaix tights please, both size 6. Thanks, Ramsay

Change of tactics required for next time on the hill climb, after discovering that I cannot maintain a standing sprint the whole way to the top! Nearly stopped due to pure lactic build up before the final corner and was seeing stars by the finish!! Won't be out next week, but hopefully see more people in two weeks. Jim - Thanks for timing/holding/pushing off. Cheers Ramsay