Richie Cross

Stage 1 Mountain TT
Mr Coutite  137 in GC and 8th in age group in a time of 48:52:59 . I am sure he will fill you all in with a stage one report soon 

........... & there's more!
 



 

At long last ............ it's done 

Are you any good with lawnmowers or putting up shelves?

Alpe took me over 2 hours but I had to stop for a jobby. Wish I’d stopped a bit longer....

6 hardy souls went out this morning - Charlie, Colin, Glen, Iain Ginty, James & myself set off this wet damp morning looking for the elusive sun & to do a bit of cycling :-)
Never made it as far as Aberfoyle, instead turned right at Gartmore & headed for Buchclyvie, then Balfron for the assault on the Crow (for me, 2nd time in 4 days :-0)
A very much needed cafe stop at Clachan of Campsies, then made our way to Gt. George st. in the Westend to catch some proper racing. Dr. McLean joined us at Mugdock after his morning shift, perfect timing!
Enjoyed a few laps of the pros, the wonderful folks on the street was handing out tea/coffee to the spectators, class act from the locals - warm the hands & heart on a fairly miserable day. But it did dried up in the end!
Thanks for the wheels & company again today & liking the traditional Scottish weather once again, which I guess the Pro's must enjoyed as well :-) 
Cheers
Chung

sun up 7am. Sun sets 9pm.
you planning on hitting le dancing and giving your lumber a backy home? 

You'll know this already if you're on Facebook, but just to keep everyone in the picture. 
Huge win for oor Lusia today, wholly justifying her selection to the GB Team for world championships next month. 
Reward for dedication: her's and Kenny's. Chuffed to bits for the whole family. 
 

So, how good was that?
full monty of Arrochar then over the rest and hells glen. All at a businesslike pace.
After the ferry, Couttie & I turned right and went up the cut. Iain turned left at the top to head home via the whynn while I went right, to Largs and up the Haylie.
126 miles for me.
Going along the track into Paisley, I thought I’d  overdone it and began hallucinating as I passed a young guy riding a Pinarello Dogma, complete with deep section carbons-and wing mirrors stuck where the bar plugs go. He was wearing trainers too. 
Appaled.

Greg, are you sure you want rid of the compact?
I’ve seen you trying to ride uphill....

I said it would be an epic ride and epic it was. Some smashing scenery on a cracking day 

Spectacular day out on the big. Big thanks to super domestiques Alan and John for getting me to the Aberfoyl the second time, and then Martin for getting me back to home territory. 109 miles clocked, a new distance record for me. I think I deserve a beer after that.

Yeah, went well Billy. Great turnout.
it was a humanist service so it was more like a story of Alex’s life.
It was sad but funny but happy but sad 
Had to head home after so didn’t make it to the pub after

It was a lovely service for a top guy.
I dropped off Darryl at the Houston inn along with Richie P & Wee Gary.  They seemed keen to live la vida loca in downtown Houston.
Saw Eric & Dave C heading that way so no doubt The Houston Globe will have scandalous front page headlines this morning.
Alex would have approved.
#straightouttaHouston

Yeah, went well Billy. Great turnout.
it was a humanist service so it was more like a story of Alex’s life.
It was sad but funny but happy but sad 
Had to head home after so didn’t make it to the pub after

Yeah, went well Billy. Great turnout.
it was a humanist service so it was more like a story of Alex’s life.
It was sad but funny but happy but sad 
Had to head home after so didn’t make it to the pub after

Hi all, 
just met up with Anne, and on reflection would appreciate attending with NO KIT or CYCLE/ RIDE THROUGH etc. Dress code as above, no black tie required, if you can pass this to others please would be appreciated, anyone needing a lift I can take 4 if anyone needing transport there from Houston, bridge of weir area??
cheers

Alex’s funeral will be on Friday 22nd at 10.30 at Clydebank Crematorium.  Anne just waiting  confirmation from amaretto. There will be no dress code, no black tie required.  Anne also happy with club kit, ride out or wherever anyone feels they want to do..so I’ll leave that up to you chaps 
will confirm amaretto as soon as I here and post up

Here are some photos on behalf of Alan, he had difficulty posting them. Ive emailed you a few more Glen

Our daily pit stop in Calvià Majorca last year 

Great memories of Tour of Flamders 2017

Hi All,
Was round seeing Anne, she is bearing up amazing well. The funeral is likely to be Friday morning 10:30 at clydebank crematorium (possibly Tuesday but doubtful) she will confirm exact details (times/ location) once they have confirmed on Monday then onto Amaretto (availability dependant) afterwords, she was wondering about numbers so if you could maybe give me an indication how many are likely to attend as she wasn't sure if amaretto would be big enough and I can feed back. She was saying how she likes to see the pictures of Alex that she hadn't seen before etc. I had printed of the messages and photographs from the posts as thought it would be good for her to read the stories and see the photographs to see how much he was loved within the group.
I was thinking it would be nice to put together some sort of photo book to give her and I am happy to organise if everyone ok with that. If anyone would like to email me a photograph/s and a caption about the photograph/ photographs? my email is "[email protected]" - Let me know your thoughts on this if you think is a good idea?

Flanders Tour Day 10
  Paris Roubaix Challenge 145km   On the morning of the ride at my 3.15am alarm call, I made the quickest & easiest decision during this whole trip - A. Do I get up now & ride to Roubaix to catch the 5am 1 & a half hour coach transfer to the start village? or B. Do I stay in bed for 4 more hours and do the shorter version?   With in 3 seconds of the alarm sounding, I was on the phone texting Paul & co to leave without me :-) Chapeau to them for sticking to the original plan! (I somehow forgotten about this ridiculously early start part of the trip :-/ I remember it was early but not that early???) I on the other hand opted for extra 4 hours :-) in my warm bed & start the day more leisurely as the shorter route starts & finish in Roubaix, I even had the time to get lost getting there & in the process hooked up with David from Spain who was lost too, we cycled / stumbled / chatted (in limited English) our way into the Velodrome for a more “friendly” start to the ride. But as soon as the horn went, a lot of them just went full gas down the road, I joined in for a wee bit but thought better of it & just eased back, as there was a strong head wind on the flats 50km ride before we hit the first secteur of Pave, but it was the 5 star full booner - Arenberg though! So, you’re basically thrown straight in at the deep end really. The previous times I did it, you won’t hit the trench until after 10 secteurs. So, for the folks who’s doing it the first time, they must be thinking “holy sh*t”! When we got there, we were surprise (then relieved) to see that they have closed the Pave part off & instead you were diverted onto the foot path. I looked over & the big stones were covered with black slippery wet soil. Maybe the organiser deemed unsafe to ride & made the decision that they did. A couple of Americans behind me said .....”what’s going on, I paid good money to ride this expletive deleted bit of road ..... I want a refund ....” :-) Eventually they let us back on the Pave about half way in, but it was extremely difficult & scary riding on those slippery & bumpy surface, I did not enjoy it at all   Riding the shorter route meant, I was on my own, without the rest of the full router’s company. However, over the course of this trip, I’ve gotten use to riding solo & we tend not to say much in these Sportive situation anyway, so it wasn’t too bad.  Unlike Flanders last Saturday I didn’t have the joy/entertainment of seeing young Ruairi’s heroics smashing the cobble climbs, so to preoccupy myself, I started to look at other riders numbers pinned to their backs. Like Flanders, your number also had your name on it plus your nationality too. I had brief chit-chat with guys & gals from USA, England & even a lassie from the South side of Glasgow etc :-) It was a good way to pass time on the road sections indeed!   Eventually I bumped into Paul McD at I think the second last feed stops, it took him a wee while to register it was me when I stood in front of him & he looked concerned! I said everything ok? To which he reply “not really”, Paul unfortunately had a puncture earlier & afterwards his tool bottle lid came loose & all his tools/tubes where scattered around Northern France. He was worried as he only had one tyre lever & one tube left. Luckily I had 3 levers & gave him one, so off he went as I wasn’t going to try hold his wheel since he was doing his usual DA attempt pace no doubt :-) Later I found out David & Paul Leavy had punctured too, with Paul Leavy being the more “eventful” one with his tubeless set-up & recently acquired €10 pump from “Hell” made his repair a bit more “stressful” :-) I think Paul can fill you in with that :-) I’m that respect, I was lucky indeed with no real mechanical at all!   Despite being 30km shorter, there’s still 19 secteur (compare to 29) of Pave to ride through, they came thick & fast. Before you know it, the last 5 star “Carrefour de L’Arbre” was in front of you, the positive on the day was that the temperature gradually got warmer & by then it was 21 degrees & sunny. So that kind of made up for the rattling pain to your hands, arms, feet, bum etc ....... basically everything hurts! There seems to be a lot of punctures this year & always sad to see - a few serious casualties with paramedics attending   On the side of the road, I hope everyone was fine in the end!   The final stretch before the Velodrome finish is always a bit of a mess in this event, you have hundreds of cyclist jostling for space with cars & bikes weaving through traffic into spaces. But to be fair to the local French motorists, they were very patient & understanding. I didn’t see or hear any complaints or aggressive horn, Chapeau to them too!   Later we all found each other & meet up at the Velodrome where we swop stories, a few beers, fries & lying on the grass soaking up the late afternoon sun after having survived the “Hell of the North”!   I personally think this will be my last time on Pave!   I had such a wonderful great week in Flanders & to top it off with a great enjoyable ride with my fellow Wheelers in Roubaix, what better way to end my journey for the last 10 days!   Chapeau David, Paul & Paul!   Thanks again for a great few days spent with youse, its been a real pleasure!   Cheers   Chung  

Flander Tours Day 4 & 5
Day 4
No cycling I’m afraid, not even watching the real Ronde! 
Just a day of being a tourist & nothing bike related!
Day 5
Hooked up with Phil Malcolm & co again, for a morning coffee in Ghent, then he kept me company along the way to Brugge, my next stop for the next 2 nights. A very pleasant ride indeed, with good chat & local knowledge/custom supplied by my companion for the day, thanks Phil!
 
Its my second time in Brugge but a lot busier than I remembered it, it’s jam pack with tourist (myself included of course), and with the scenery, no wonder Phil calls it the “Disneyland” of Belgium  Still, it’s a pretty town/city & it was good to be back!
I think I’ll go for another wee bike ride tomorrow :-)
Cheers