GrahamF

It's looking promising for this run, I'll be at Miller St. for 08:00 to cycle down to the ferry.

Graham and I are heading for the Riverbank Cafe in Sorn (see photo and route attached).
If anybody else interested we are meeting on the blue track bridge at Kilbarchan 9:00.
Milage as indicated on the map.
Post if coming.

A nice run in gorgeous weather (again) to Killearn.  Found another cafe to add to the list - Town and Country.
75 miles for me which is longest this year!

Graham, I have checked the route we took in September last year and I know the route over the bridge. After that we pass through Gartness, cross over the A81 and come into Killearn from the north. On the map it actually looks a little shorter than taking the main road South and then turning left.

Made it round Darryl. Bit of a wait at Portavadie as we just missed the ferry due to riding too slowly after we met you lot! Nice 2 up along loch Fyne to Ardrishaig ( 20th overall I think ) where we turned along the Crinan canal path. Avoided most of the main Oban rd before turning off for Ford and the east side of Loch Awe. Beautiful riding through the trees with some great views of Ben  Cruachan before heading back up and over to Inveraray. As time was pushing on we decided to ride back on the main road instead of heading down by Strachur and  loch Eck  for the ferry. Unfortunately this meant back over the Rest ! Another tough 20 odd mile 2 up got us to Arrochar with Richard pulling well up the “false flat”  with great views of Ben Ime ( apparently).  As we were now pretty tired we decided to ride down Lomond side on the track/ old road which was as a relief as we had to slow down !  I needed a bit of a break at Balloch and persuaded Richard to go to MacDonalds where  I wolfed down a meal deal before polishing off most of Richards cos he is an athlete and struggled to get his down. On through Bonhill , the track and Dumbarton rd for home. I had no Garmin with me and my phone went flat somewhere outside Inveraray. Richard had 203 miles when we went our seperate ways. I would however point out that I rode over and back from Shawlands as well ( sorry Rich ). Left the house at 0530, back at 2215 - I reckon over 330km for me - new PR ( but if it’s not on Strava!)  Great day out and thanks  to Richard who rode very strongly all day ( I thought he was a trackie )
 

Doubt if I'll be out - got a couple of little visitors overnight. Hope the day goes well.

I will see you on the island, I am driving down for the TT.  I could also offer a lift back from Largs for anyone.

Jan
The past couple of years there has been a leisurely club run around Arran during the summer and we stop for lunch.  I would like to do it again this year as it is a great route and it would lovely if you could be there.

I'll come along and help.

I'll come along and help.

Hurray ............. I'm back home now in Glasgow! 
I had the most wonderful time on/off the bike in this mini tour of Flanders of mine for the last 11 days & thank you to all the well wishes & interest in my rambling :-)
To finish off, I thought I would share some numbers & thoughts on this trip!
11 Days
6 different hotels
6 different cities
3 countries
710km
2 Cyclo/Sportive
No Punctures - how lucky is that!
No mechanical ............ not lucky, just due to my meticulous maintenance & planning obviously :-)
I am so glad I did this as I have been thinking /talking about it for the last few years, it was as good, if not better than everything I had imagine before, Belgium (Flanders specifically) is a country I really like, not only just for cycling, but I love the landscape, architecture, culture & most importantly the people. I would most definitely go back again & explore other parts!
At first, I was a bit apprehensive doing this trip solo, but in the end I really enjoyed the solitude of being on my own at times. But then, I suppose I was lucky that I had great company also with the Mulholland family in the beginning & joining in with the Pave-ers at the end, which meant I had lots of familiar face through out. Not to mention, Phil Malcolm in the middle :-) of the trip, so I thank all of them for that!
Before I left Lille, Paul was talking about doing the "Amstel Gold" Sportive (the day before the Pro race) it sounds great & it's usually on the weekend after Roubaix, so that's got me thinking ............
Until next time, thanks for reading & I'll see youse all out on the road very soon!
Cheers
Chung

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  

Flanders Tour Day 8
A day of sightseeing in Ieper, the famous area of WW1 battlefields, the Flander Fields Museum is well worth a visit & the daily 8pm “The Last Post Ceremony” at Menin Gate is a major event everyday!
Luckily the weather was dry but still quite cold, making my walk exploring the town that much more enjoyable!
Day 9
This was to be my last day in Flanders, time to cross the boarder over to France, into Lille for my final stop & doing the Paris Roubaix again for the 3rd time :-)
My host Edouard kindly plotted me a route base on using the National “Fietsroute” (cycle route), based on junction points with allocated number. You basically follow the point numbers & it’s as easy as that, like joining the dots.
The picture shows the top number which is the designated point, and the bottom 3 points to the direction of the next one ....... easy?!
Crossed the bridge on the photo which boarders the 2 country, no frills, no hassle ....... easy!
France is slightly different to Belgium in my experience, the French roads & landscape is just a bit more busier, things a little bit more closer but I still feels safe to cycle nonetheless!
Lille is one busy place, but weather is good & hopefully tomorrow will continue. Cycled over to Roubaix to collect the number packs & who was standing outside the Velodrome when I came back, non other than the legendary  “Lion of Flanders” Johan Museeuw on his bike! He didn’t look all that chuffed, I don’t blame him, he was surrounded by a clan of Italians taking selfies :-)
I hope this is a good sign for me for tomorrow :-)
I’m now waiting for the other 3 Pave-ers (DavidB, Paul Leavy & McDonald) to arrive from Brussels.
Wish us luck for tomorrow ........ :-)

Flanders Tour Day 7
Brugge to Ieper
Today I travelled to my last stop - Ieper, before heading over to France on Friday. Rather than just going South West directly from Brugge, I thought I would make a detour up to the coast & back down to add some extra km & variety onto this part of my journey.
I rode through farming communities, small town, canals, coastal single carriage ways, inland dual carriage ways, coast town promenades, along side trams, dock ports etc, but one thing was constant - the friggen WIND, mostly head or cross wind too, only managed a wee tail in the beginning  However, I never felt I was in any danger - cyclist (or all kind) is respected here, I lost count of the amount of times motor vehicles stopped to let me cross roads/junctions, even on busy roads. It got to a point where I actually felt embarrassed for holding them back :-/
Sorry for going on about this, but I just think personally it’s a very important factor of my reason wanting to come ride here!
Why can us Brit’s be like that
Anyway, my detour up to the coast took me to a very nice wee town call Da Haan, it reminds me a bit of Largs, with mostly kids, families & elderlies :-)
Eventually got  to Ieper a bit wet & muddy after getting caught in a wee rain storm. Luckily the owners of the guesthouse I’m staying in are cyclist too, Edouard & Stephanie got the buckets & sponge out to help me clean my bike, how good is that!
Edouard also informed me that the room I’m staying in had been stayed in last year by none other than ANDREA TAFI ....... did you miss that, I’ll say it again ....... ANDREA (Lombardia, Tour of Flanders & Paris Roubaix winner) TAFI :-)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Tafi_(cyclist)
(Un)fortunately the bed’s not made of Pave & the bed sheets are not the garish Mapei colours, but hopefully the magic would rub off on me, as I need all the help I can get on Saturday :-)
A few images of the coastal beach & Ieper at night :-)
Cheers
 

Chung doing his best to drop Ruairi Mulhooligan on the kapelmuur. Looking forward v pro. 

Flanders Tour Day 6
I couldn’t resist a wee pedal this morning as the sun was out & Holland was only around the corner, I’ve never set foot on the Netherlands before so it was a good opportunity to do so!
The route from Brugge to Sluis via Damme has got to be the most beautiful cycle path I’ve ever laid my rubber on! It is pan flat with long, uninterrupted  view & the state of the surface is perfect in most places!
The tail wind on the way out was god sent & who doesn’t like it, even the cross/head wind on the way back in wasn’t too bad either, the view & comfort of no cars also helped!
Back in my B&B now enjoying a cappuccino, then get change & head out to put my tourist cap back on again :-)
Glad I went out this morning ........
Cheers

Flander Tours - Day 3
Ronde Van Vlaanderen Cyclo 173km
OK ....... where do I begin with the above question :-)
Good start to the day, Martin picked me up on time from my hotel in Nazareth (which was a good 15km away from Oudenaarde) ...... and things got interesting after that :-)
Got to the start without too much issue, getting ready & then some kind bloke pointed out to us that Martins car had a flat rear tyre, oh dear a puncture already & we haven’t even started riding :-) still, at least it wasn’t our bikes ......
Busy start understandably as Oudenaarde was the start for 3 of the km category, Antwerp being the other one for the longest ride, but all finishing in Oudenaarde.
We - Martin, Lewis, Danny, Ruairi & myself set off with our plan of staying together. I would like to point out at this point that Mul’s youngest Ruairi is only THIRTEEN years old & I was told up until yesterday, his longest ride was only 50-ish miles :-0 He was determine to break the ton today, crikey, you couldn’t have picked a harder one to do it ....... huge Chapeau!
30km in first “incident”, Danny’s knee injury flared up & was really struggling with severe pain & so Martin decided the best way to distract him was to do a somersault off his bike on one of the cobble section :-0
Luckily he got back up & was ok, but unfortunately Martin’s lovely restored Colnago came out worse, the rear drop out was crack & un-ridable. So, he rode the remaining course with Danny’s bike which was a bit too small for him, had a seized seat post & dodgy bottom bracket, while Danny headed back gingerly to the car on his Dad’s broken bike.
At this point, we were thinking of shortening the ride & go for the shorter route, but later when we got to the junction point, we had to decide!
Ruairi was determined to get his 173km & not swing denied the Kapelmuur, so we stuck to the original goal!
One berg after another & regular feed stops gone without much incident thankfully.
This year, the organiser have cleverly printed the participants name on the number, which had to be displayed on the front of everyone’s bike, that meant the cheering crowds on the climbs knew who to shout for.
Young Ruairi got the biggest cheers on the day & rightly so! It was brilliant to watch him dancing pass big tall guys with “badass” tattoos on their guns going up those bergs, it was certainly one of the highlights of my day!
Chapeau again young man!
Just before the Kwaremont, disaster struck again, it was Ruairi this time, he hit the deck when a big 7ft German guy took him down on a straight flat stretch road!
Thankfully he just dusted himself down & got back up after Martin checked that everything was fine & got back on the bike to tackle the final 2 climbs.
These Mulholland’s are made of granite :-)
But the other guy didn’t look so good, no real injury though, just really shell shocked & probably low on sugar level. Size doesn’t matter!
Finally, it was great to see the finish line in what have been the most memorable day in Belgium for me so far!
Big Thank you to the Mulholland’s for letting me tag along & witness this their epic family tradition & for the lifts to & from the hotel!
I absolutely enjoyed myself immensely today & it was a brilliant ride!
Massive Chapeau to them ...... oh, we even had a “local” Wheeler at the finish to buy us all beer - Phil Malcolm who now resides on Ghent came by to say hello & bought Martin & me a Flanders gift too, thanks big man!
Thats all for now & thanks for listening :-)
Cheers
Chung

Galeb, a cable tie will be put on the big chainring, like Billy says, and you are free to use the entire block. It's not like we're competing for places in Team Scotland, and if you are, we're grateful that you choose to ride with the joansin.

I'm not fit enough to take part in this, but happy to come along and join in the fun by helping out in whatever way may be required on the day.

Once again, it's the start of the Confined Event TT series. This is the first trophy of the season up for grabs to the fastest rider on the day.
2 laps of a hilly route with some challenging turns and a terrific descent. An excellent introduction to time trialling for beginners, as well as a decent warm up for the more experienced.
There will be a short ride down to Castle Semple after the run for tea and scones, those with pointy hats riding at the front
As normal, there will be a £3 entry fee, payable on the day, the proceeds going towards the costs of the awards at the end of the season.
The course:
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/651582320
Please note that the start point has been moved to the duck pond where parking is better and traffic is slower. This should make the start a little safer for everyone.
Meet at the start at 09:45 ready for first rider off at 10:00.
I will drive the route on Friday night to ensure that it is clear of snow and ice.
I do not intend to defend my title on this race as I have not yet fully recovered from fatal manflu, so I will be there to hold or timekeep. 1 more volunteer is required for officiating.
I will post the Risk Assessment on Friday.
I will bring some cable ties.
 
and finally, it is Mothers Day, so don't forget to take your mum some flowers after the race.

My near fatal manflu has returned, so I won't be out to ride. The soup and home baking are still on though, so if I can get a key, I can open the clubhouse for 08:45

I don't record turbo rides on Strava . They're not real miles.

Sounds like a good trip Chung, I have other commitments at that time so can only look forward to your tour report.
I endorse Alan's suggestion of a bar bag, great for navigation, snacks, camera and the like.  I use a Carradice one, it's not perfect but it's not the most expensive on the market and it's done the job for about 3,000 miles of touring.  For panniers I stand by our Ortliebs easy to mount and dismount fro the bike, never let any water in, and after years of sometimes hard use still look like new, though if your going lightweight you might get away with bikepacking gear.  for a loaded bike I'd be tempted to go up to 28mm tyres if you've got a frame that will take them. 
I suggest booking up accommodation before you go, we told them we would be travelling by bike and found all our European accommodations were happy to store the bike securely indoors.
A few photos of bikes loaded for touring to get you in the mood, note it's the same luggage on various bikes....

Sounds like a good trip Chung, I have other commitments at that time so can only look forward to your tour report.
I endorse Alan's suggestion of a bar bag, great for navigation, snacks, camera and the like.  I use a Carradice one, it's not perfect but it's not the most expensive on the market and it's done the job for about 3,000 miles of touring.  For panniers I stand by our Ortliebs easy to mount and dismount fro the bike, never let any water in, and after years of sometimes hard use still look like new, though if your going lightweight you might get away with bikepacking gear.  for a loaded bike I'd be tempted to go up to 28mm tyres if you've got a frame that will take them. 
I suggest booking up accommodation before you go, we told them we would be travelling by bike and found all our European accommodations were happy to store the bike securely indoors.
A few photos of bikes loaded for touring to get you in the mood, note it's the same luggage on various bikes....

I put my hand up to this one.