PaulL

tempted

Really enjoyed my first run out today, cheers 

I'll admit it was me.
I often use Greg's name when I get stopped by the polis so it automatically comes out on other occasions
 
Good man Greg

Good man, Greg! :-)
 
http://www.paisleyvelo.co.uk/forum/7-general-cycling-chat/13901-faith-in-humanity-restored

Billy has always been grumpy.
 
You should pop down & try a TT sometime. It's just like riding in a bunch but without wheels to suck.

Richard class act. Mcginty looking good for this season. As for statler & Waldorf u 2 need to get back on the bevvy cos this diet malarkey is making u both grumpy

Great day. Although think i have a bit of sunburn now, first of the year.
 
Thanks for the tow along the west ferry!

So it will be Sheila's Diner next year then!
18 main bunch and 4 'social' riders.

Great idea Graham, and yes Shiela's diner was top notch

I've been thinking about hosting an easy taster bike ride on a Wednesday evening for a couple of weeks.
 
These proposed rides would be specifically aimed at adults who are new to the club or indeed non members who are new to cycling and want to give it a bash but are perhaps reluctant to try it. I guess you could view them as a mid week beginners/30 Milers rides.
 
The aim would be to allow new members and complete novices build their confidence on a bike and in being part of a bunch, as well as have an opportunity to ask questions or seek general advice about cycling and Johnstone Wheelers. And more importantly just get out on a bike and ride. This would not be a coaching session. The pace would be relaxed and social nor would routes be particularly hilly. Any bike will do so long as it's 'road worthy', a helmet would be compulsory and you don't need to be overly fit either.
 
Routes will be based in and around the cycle track and some of the more quieter roads. Start and finish point would be Miller Street. A start time to be confirmed.
 
At this point I'm trying to guage the level of interest in such rides. So if you are interested or know of someone who might be interested post up or drop me an email via the wheelers contacts list.
 
Cheers
 
Mark
 
 

Chapeau! Chung, I am amazed you went back... 3 in a row? hardcore

Hi All,
 
Some of you might know that I had planned on doing the Paris-Roubaix Challenge again this year, since I "enjoyed" it so much last year & thought I must go back to put myself through this again. So, I thought I would write a wee report on my trip with my friend Stevie from the Velo.
 
The travelling schedule was bikes on cars with everyone travelling to Hull on Thursday for a over night ferry crossing arriving Friday morning in Zeebrugga.
This time, without the police chasing us, we had time to spare before our journey to Lille, a short drive to Oudenaarde to visit the "Flanders Museum" & have lunch/beer under the gaze of Merckx & Martens etc.
We even manage to get the bikes out & cycled 3 of the iconic climbs of the Tour of Flanders - Oude Kwaremont, Paterberg & the Koppenberg. It was a fantastic wee detour!
 
Driving through even a small part of Belgium, I could not help but enjoy/admire this beautiful country. All the houses seems to be well designed & looked after, the roads are clean & the people are so relaxed & friendly. It'll be a place that I would love to go back to with my family for sure!
 
Now, its a well known fact that movie sequels are always s**ter than the original one. Well, in my Paris Roubaix Part 2, it was definitely the case in terms of the weather
 
The extremely early coach trip to the start village of Busigny was never very pleasant, but to be met by weather of rain & strong wind just about made me want to jump back onto the coach again (especially as I decided NOT to pack a rain jacket, I comforted myself by seeing a LOT of riders making the same mistake)
We arrived fairly early which meant it was very busy, so we held back a bit before starting so that the roads won't be busy especially going into the Pave sectour, it's bad enough when it was dry but the wet stones was going to be a different ball game altogether. Having ridden it last year, I kind of knew what was coming (the others had the previous day experience of the Flander climbs too) but on the wet .............. it'll be "tricky"!
 
On the run in to the first Pave sectour, there was a lot of puncture compare to last years both on/off the road and this would be the trend through out the day. (I had a total blow out on my tubs too, but thankfully I got it fixed & resumed my ride)
 
The wet Pave is like riding on "lumpy ice" (not that I've done it before), it's just a very, very un-pleasent & a SCARY experience for me, I was slipping & sliding every where, traction was poor - definitely a new one for me. It kind of brings back some of the awful feeling I had from last year. But I manage to stay calm/focus and just took things as it comes & stay positive. There was quite a few folks crashing onto the verge of the sectors & face planting the fields & ditches, bloody awful!
 
This was a long ride, and no doubt you'll go through mixed emotions & you have good/bad times. For me, I just had to stay positive & get on with it. But those thousands of horrible stones will do it's very best to smash your wheels/bike & your body/sanity.
All around me, I saw cyclist loosing the plot as emotionally/physically, they were pushed/forced over the edge. Some were standing on the side looking lost & destroyed, but at the same time you have normal residents going about their business - it was a very surreal image indeed!
I saw on one section of the Pave - a cyclist in front of me crashed into the verge & got up, picked up his bike & flung it onto the field with disgust before kicking this fallen bottles like he was dribbling a football - bizarre (luckily I saw the same cyclist at the finish looking a lot "normal") It certainly drives people insane!
 
Luckily as the route went on, the weather got a bit better & dryer which mean some of the Pave sectors were dry at least but the Arenberg was a totally nightmare, it was wet & it was very very greasy, not to mention the famous huge stones & bigger gaps which makes it legendary. 100m in and an ambulance crew was tending to a guy that had fallen and broken his leg. Then a pile up just behind me with a Velo also going down, which meant we had to stop to check (which was very tricky indeed) to see if he was ok, luckily he was but getting going again was almost impossible.
 
Seeing how this stretch really was un-ridable, cyclist started to mount the pavement on the right hand side, a few followed & got through but the event stewarts saw this & immediately pulled the ropes back up to prevent more folks from doing that (they were only doing their job I suppose :-)) bloody murderers!
I have no idea how I manage to stay rubber side down, but thankfully I did & manage to finished the Arenberg unscathed!
 
After that, It all kind of gotten into a routine for me - road, eat, drink, Pave, road, eat, drink, Pave ......... so on..... and before I know it, we were almost into Roubaix, and by now it was sunny :-) Just the easy ride through the suburb traffic & into the Velodrome fro the final finish.
 
This year, for me it was less emotional but still just as enjoyable even though the weather was not favourable at all - what with the rain & strong head/cross wind, it certainly made the pave sections a lot harder & more demanding to ride on for sure!
 
Anyway, job done & collected my medal, but still a 15km ride back to Lille as we had to cycle into Roubaix on the morning.
 
So, this is my sequel ..................... one faces a dilemma .......... should I make another one - part 3 ............. :-) anyone for next year then?
 
Thanks for reading
 
Cheers
 
Chung

Hello all,
 
Chris here from Paisley, originally from Beith.
 
Last year done approx 1,000-1,500 miles on my hybrid and will soon (Tomorrow) be picking up my first road bike.
 
Interested in joining you guys but concerned I'm not fit enough - may try the next 30 miler that pops up.  Last year done the Pedal 4 Scotland 47 miler leaving from the house - total of around 58 miles and felt like I could have went on.
 
Looking forward to meeting some of you guys and hopefully becoming a member of the club.
 
Regards,
Chris.

Just picked up on this. Thank you all so much.
 
Tonight was nothing compared to my previous 6 though still heavy so, yes, I know the punishment I'll suffer tomorrow. Please take it slightly easy on me!

62 isn't that big Richie.. The perfect tailored down run before LBL 😃

Some photos from this morning.

Started out with Campell from Symington (nr Biggar) at 08:00 on Sat in high winds and rain. This was the theme for the day, although the lesser spotted sun did make an appearance in the afternoon.
Leg 1 took us Southwest over the Crawick pass to Sanquhar. I did suck wheels for most of this after I struggled on my first 206km Audax a couple of weeks ago. Campbell did take a fair share of the spells at the front.
Leg 2 headed North East to Crawford via the Mennock pass and Scotland's highest village Wanlockhead.
Fuelled by my new energy food (bagels with jam, peanut butter and banana) I was feeling good, until we turned South West into a vicious head wind for a 30km leg 3 to head over the Dalveen pass to Thornhill. This section included the last 15 miles of the Drumlanrig sportive route. For those familiar with this, I was pedalling down the descent in my small chainring at about 12mph at times! Thanks to Campbell for doing more than his fair share at the front of our two up.
Thornhill brought a welcome lunch stop before heading South East through the scenic Ae forest. The waterproofs came off in this leg 4, but the wind was relentless.
Leg 5 was a straight North from Lochmaben to Moffat and a refuel for Campbell in the chippy.
About a hundred miles in the legs at this point and the Devil's Beeftub climb out of Moffat awaiting us for the return to Symington. Climb was brutal. Long, long, long. Kept shifting to lower gears that didn't exist! Campbell spun up with his triple...cause for thought....
Despite the weather, great day on the bike and great company. Completed in around 9 hours in the saddle (I think) with about 130miles on the clock. A welcome bowl of soup with coffee and cake at the end sealed a great day.

A rather wet & windy run today, but the route & company made it a lot better & "enjoyable" than it should!
 
Got to the club room this morning with not much expectation due to the weather forecast, but still to be met by 6 fellow Wheelers in the shape of AllanM, Andrew, Boyd, Paul C, Peter & Martin. The 7 of us made our way to the bridge whereupon Tam was waiting for us.
Our bunch was swelled to 9 when Big Ronnie Chard joined us near Bowling who was out on one of his daily 150km run
 
As Paul said earlier, we split into 2 groups at Croftamie where Roninie, Martin & Myself headed to complete our intended Aberfoyle route.
Boyd choose to enjoy a cuppa at the "Pottery" in Dryman before heading home!
It was good to catch up with some of the guys on the earlier part of the run, hope everyone got home safely.
At this point, we were joined by a few Velos who were also heading to Aberfoyle, a wee cafe stop and the 3 of us made our way to Port of Montieth & the rest of the route.
 
Through to Arnprior, Top of the World & into Fintry before we climb the Crow road. The weather throughout was a constant mixture of wind, light rain, heavy rain & a bit of sleet just for good measure. I really did regret taking my muddies off, my bum was totally soaked & cold - not a great feeling at all.
Crow road was cruel today for me, thanks to Ronnie & Martin for waiting! At least Martin enjoyed his first time on the Crow, now he only has to do it from the other side
A swift decent into Lennoxtown, Strathblane, Milngarvie then the sweetens of Glasgow for our second cafe of the day .......... Sweet
The final return home was totally horrible as the strong head wind couple with a constant uphill ride up the A77 was not fun at all, well at least I was heading home!
155km (5 miles short of a hunner) by the time I got home, it felt a lot more in these weather for sure, I am goosed!
 
Anyway, again thanks for the wheels & company today, and I got to do the whole proposed route for the second time asking.
I'm glad I went out & it was very enjoyable given the circumstances!
 
Cheers
 
P.S Hope to see youse all again next Sunday
 
Chung

Thanks Iain for time keeping, Well done all who rode today. Alan McB  :twisted leer well done! 
 

Thanks Iain for time keeping, Well done all who rode today. Alan McB  :twisted leer well done! 
 

Thanks Iain for time keeping, Well done all who rode today. Alan McB  :twisted leer well done! 
 

Thanks Iain for time keeping, Well done all who rode today. Alan McB  :twisted leer well done! 
 

Tough day. My heart went from 90 to 170 in 10 mins. Worked with a Falkirk and Fullerton boy and caught George. Sat behind Falkirk boy but he lost wheel of Fullerton fella so we just worked together for rest of race. Great camaraderie and crossed line together just behind Colin who to be hfair was on his own for a long stretch in to headwind .
Not too despondent as I have to take credit for keeping George interested in racing and it's nearly April.
Well done alex
Away to lick my wounds

Well done Alex-a great first race. I'm sure it's just the first of many good results to come.
 
I was off in the group after Alex & was quickly off that group due to them taking off like a rocket-within a mile we were sitting at 39mph!
 
Knew I was never going to hang on so let them get on with it. Even riding by myself I still averaged 34mph along the A77 stretch.
 
Charlie came up to me in a wee group & we were able to work away & pick up & drop various wee groups along the back of the circuit.
 
We lost Charlie at some point & caught & passed a toiling Colin.
 
2nd lap was more of the same but, frustratingly, only one guy in the group I was in would work, the others either wheel sucker or made fruitless attacks off the front before dying & reverting to wheel sucking.
 
Come the finish I was feeling ok so towed them up clunch road only to be jumped by a couple of the aforementioned wheel sucking types.
 
I know I'm rubbish but still had a good day.
 
Stats: Donnelly 1 McCusker 0
 
:) :)

Hey Chung, that was me! Looked comfortable??? Dying inside!
 
Bit of a baptism of fire. Very fast from the off, managed to stay with the front group until the completion of the first lap (think I crossed the line second) but then we had to do it all again.
 
We had a 47 second lead half way up the A77 second time round, but only three of us working. Ended up with a group of 4 or 5 young whipper snappers on our tail by the end of the A77 who sat back until the steep section towards Stewarton then made a break. I stayed with a group of 6 that tried to chase them down. Got to within 50m before the final turn onto Clunch Road.
 
Guy in front lost chain momentarily which caused a slight split but I was done. Caught and passed a couple on the final stretch, but the main (second) group crossed the line without me. I had nothing left. Came between 10th and 15th (I think 13th but not sure).
 
Lessons learned.
 
Eat something during the tailwind of the A77!
Get the right gear up the final stretch and get my lazy ass out the saddle for the final push!
 
Great day though.