James

A letter from Arran
Sitting in cafe at Brodick Ferry terminal waiting for the real cyclists to return.
Arran is looking beautiful. Snow capped hills and sunshine.
As for SA I had a mare. Gave up ghost on pirnmill road and did remaining 26 miles solo. Was broken man when got n to Brodick. Left calf and lower back aching so Billy taking a time out on gym.
On plus side waved bye to other guys as they headed for Ross Hill. I sauntered up the String road went to viewpoint took a couple of pics then fell asleep with sun pouring all over me. What a boast.
God bless my bike for the di2 gave in as I hit Brodick. Think it was coming out in sympathy.
Big thanks to Al for helping me up climbs and to guys for trying to keep me in bunch
happy birthday to Capt Paul McDonald. You got a fracker
Ps did I mention that I saw Andy Gumley on Ardossan Quay as our boat was pulling out. Early entry for Hamoc me thinks

After a hectic week thought I'd make a foray into the Bunch to let you all know how I got on. Some excellent reports previously, good to see that, although there was a lot of grumbling, everyone seems to have taken a bit of time to reflect and really enjoyed the whole thing. I loved it!
 
A really bad start to my Flanders experience. I was due to fly from Bristol to Brussles (the one recently in the news); however, found out on Wed night that the flight was cancelled. After handing in my resignation on our Facebook chat, the response I got meant i couldn't back out now. Within 20 mins I had been offered multiple modes of transport; however, the house I'm living in through the week in Bournemouth doesn't have internet as yet (does have a beach though) so I couldn't book anything. After a day of work on Thursday drove back home to Bristol, arriving about 9pm, unpacked everything, and booked a ferry at 10pm approx, leaving from dover the next morning at 8am! All that was left to do was re-pack all my stuff and wash my hands thoroughly - bike still hasn't been washed since before London! Got to bed at 11:30pm and set the alarm for 3:30 to avoid rush hour on the M25.
 
Woke up tired but had enough adrenaline/fear to keep me going. Made it to Dover in 2hrs 45 - taking half an hour off google's estimate, the roads were quiet to say the least!Tried to get some shut eye, but hadn't had any breakfast so got a couple of pain au chocolates on the ferry and watch the stunning white cliffs disappear out of sight before dozing off. SatNav played a blinder and got to the hotel without making a wrong turn, in plemty of time as well - I think i arrived around 1:30pm, in stark contrast to the mad rush of Liege. Bike built after lunch time stroll into Kushtyville (or whatever it was called) then drove into pick up all the start packs - again Mr organised, no problems at all. Arriving back to greet Iain and brother in law not soon after! After getting a few drinks in and optimistically booking a dinner table for 8:30 alex, richie and paul arrived. Mad rush to build bikes and get dinner - only 15 mins late in the end. After an hour and a half wait to get food I had resigned myself to the fact that I, again, was getting no sleep. Waiting for food left plenty of time for beer - always a silver lining!
 
Slept like a brick but the 4:15am alarm was an earth shatterer! After failing to stomach some cold left over pizza, went down stairs to find that the hotel owner had locked the door to where our bikes were stored - this caused much panic amongst the senior members - I saw it as a perfect excuse to do the medium route and go back to bed. Trust a couple of Scots and an Irish man to pull off some breaking and entering with consummate ease. Got some kip on the bus to Bruges!
 
Boring start - we were restricted to cycle paths - nothing of interest apart from Alex attempting to create some excitement. Just played it cool when alex, paul and Jon went up the road. Long way to go yet. 
 
At the second food stop, 87km into the event I had already completed my second longest ride of the year. Worrying, but I was feeling good. It was between food stops 2 and 3 that Richie began to loose the faith, but some gentle steering from Iain and myself got him through! Feeling great after feed stop three I decided to have a go. After Richie went up the road with Chung et al, I thought it rude not to try and stick with the big boys and tested my legs against alex and paul with surprising success. I was indeed "BACK IN THE GAME"! had to walk up the koppenberg but I thought that just added to the experience! great to have a break and take it all in. Even managed to "chase" back onto Alex and Paul! 
 
Final 30km was a bridge too far. Bonked half way up a non-de-script, unclassified hill. stopped to chin two Mars bars I had saved for such an occasion then rounded a corner to have all my prayers answered! The boys waiting for me at a red bull station surrounded by beatiful women. RESULT! I even offered to stay and let the boys ride on without me. They, however, saw through my plan. Back on the bike!
 
With just the Paterburg remaining I was joined by a crazy Belgian fan - he'd obviously seen my Strava profile. After some encouragement in gobbledygook and a nervous laugh from myself he got the picture and gave me some cliches any football manager would be proud of before pointing out to me, as if I was blind: "The steepest part is just here" before leaving me. Out the saddle and peddling squares I could just make out the blue and yellow hue of the some delighted looking and enthusiastically shouting wheelers. "DO NOT UNCLIP. DO NOT UNCLIP". made it!
 
An easy saunter into town and a choreographed roll  over the line was all that was between us and the real reason for going to Belgium. Even opted for some themed beer, Kwaremont - at a measly 6.6% it wasn't a patch on the real thing! 
 
Safe journey home, added to my already impressive tan on the ferry home - it was 22 degrees!
 
Had a great time. Wouldn't change the madness of the whole thing - travel arrangements, cobbles, stupidly steep hills -  they all made it great. Hope to see a few more of you out in Roubaix next year. The Hell of the North is calling! And cheers to everyone there - great team spirit shown all round!
 
Until next year.
 
Ian

Yeah good night, i did feel a bit guilty wheel sucking all the way up the Clune then coming around after the roundabout near the top for the points. But the feeling of guilt quickly passed, that is the first time i've ever made it to the top first!
 
 
Here are the results from week 1,  are there any corrections? 

Myself James and Mark did the first angry wasp run of season. Full route done. James clearly on epo as he flying up hills. Mark & I did well to hang in. Great night.

Despite the fact that almost everyone had a fantastic day on the bike on Saturday, we should not forget that life is so un-predicable!
 
 
http://www.sport.be/rondevanvlaanderen/2016/en/nieuws/article.html?Article_ID=761684
 
    It's tragic that a fellow human being lost his life on the day on one of the climb, it is very sad indeed.
 
My only slight comfort in this sad incident is that he was doing what he loved & that his son was by his side! R.I.P
 
Chung

After Flanders I thought I'd check out some of the climbs of La Sufrida. How does this sound?
 
El Boyar 13.86km long, average gradient 6.5%, max gradient 25.4%.
 
Oh dear...

Sorry - couldn't type and drink beer at the same time!
 
My view of Tour of Flanders...
 
Started out badly with the added security at the airport but finally got to the hotel with Richie and Paul around 8pm to be greeted by Ian Porteous, Iain Carvill and his brother in law John and some lovely Belgian beer.
 
Early start the next day for a very well organised coach transfer to Brugge which dropped us off around 5 miles from the start. I love the European sportive starts, No mad rush, just go whenever you feel like it. We set off in our group of six and were herded on cycle paths for the first 25 miles or so. A bit of a split but we'd agreed to regroup at every food stop (as we were all in the same van back to the hotel at the end). Cycle track pretty monotonous, although I had a close call with scaffolding when my finger caught some orange plastic scaffold covering and ripped several meters of it off (and caused Paul to see his life flash before his eyes as my front wheel twisted sideways.) Many wasted miles of cycle track later we regrouped at the food stop and bumped into Chung's group who had set of earlier.
 
With food stops every 25 miles we limited any spilt to around 5 minutes tops.
 
For the next section Paul and I broke away and jumped from group to group until we hit the first section of pave. Paul was powering up the middle of the road. I was trying to find shelter from the shocking bumps and vibration and jumped onto the smooth pavement and immediately got stuck behind a really slow group, but with no way to get back off the pavement onto the road at this point I watched Paul smash it up the road and disappear. After the cobbles I worked with three guys from University College London and we led a large group at 23-25mph to try and catch back on with Paul. Great fun on the flat and caught Paul just as we hit the next food stop.
 
After this one things started to get a bit more interesting. 2 climbs and 3 stretches of pave (total 2.4km). Pace ramped up a bit and the first of the famous climbs. Wolvenberg (700m av 7.9% max 17.3%) giving an intro of what was to come. Nothing for it on these but to keep powering on and never relaxing as the cobbles sap every bit of energy and forward momentum you have. Then Molenberg (500m 7% av 14.2% max). Every climb was well signposted letting you mentally count down the metres until the summit.
 
Another food stop. Richie was struggling a bit at this point and jumped in with Chung's group (think this was more mental struggling than anything as he survived to the end no problem and was in fine spirits at the line!)
 
Next up another 4.2kmn of cobbles. By this time my rear wheel bearings had decided to loosed off a bit so my wheel had a fair bit of play, but nothing too bad. Water bottles kept trying to escape too, so half focus on them half on road. I hate cobbles. Any relief is sought on these sections, be it grass, mud, drainage gulley, a 2m wide driveway. Anything. Just for a moments relief from the constant pounding.
 
Four more climbs in this section Leberg (800m 4.2% av 13.8% max), Berendries (890m 7.2% av 12% max), Valkenberg (1100m 8.2% av 13% max) and Eikenberg (1200m 6.2%av 10% max). Same old slog. These hills are short and sharp, so the suffering doesn't last too long.
 
Another foodstop and regroup. The next section has the famous Koppenberg on it. No idea what to expect!
 
2.3km pave then the climbing...
 
I wouldn't generally class cyclists as an inconsiderate bunch but the behaviour on the Koppenberg was disgraceful. Almost everyone was walking up the climb, and some four abreast, effectively blocking the path for anyone that really wanted to give this climb a go.
 
At 500m (felt much longer) 9.4%av and peak of 22% this is a real grind. Its amazing how a very loud guttural Scottish accent can clear a path... I only shoulder barged through one group of walking Italians and managed to carry on grinding, wheelspin, then grip. Out the saddle, more wheelspin, back down and grip. Really tough climb on the cobbles but I made it to the top. During the climb I only saw one or two others actually pedal all the way to the top (the road blocks put paid to most peoples efforts). The crowd was right behind us all the way which was great encouragement.
 
After that I thought nothing can be as tough and the rest should be in the bag. Aye right...
 
4 more climbs before the next food stop - Steenbeekdries (500m 5.3% av 6.7% max), Taaienberg (700m 6.1% av 16% max), Kaperij (1000m 5.5% av 9% max) and Kanarieberg (1100m 7.7% av 14% max). Think it was the last of these I was climbing with Porto when the muscles above both my knees started to cramp and pop. Loads of drink and salty snacks at the next stop helped to recover.
 
Some great descending around this time to with Paul, Ian and I hammering downs some really smooth tarmac at 35-40mph. Absolutely brilliant!
 
Final foodstop, we agreed to regroup at the top of Patterberg and cross the line together. So off we went again. Only four climbs to go.
 
Kruisberg (1400m 4%av 9% max), Karnemelkbeekstraat (900m 4.9% av 10% max), Oude Kwaremont (2200m 4% av 11.6% max) all in the bag. Only the Paterberg to go (400m 12.9% av 20.3% max). After 130 miles this was the final sting in the tail. I had taken it easy on the second last climb to leave a bit for this one. It starts out steep and just gets steeper. Another crowd favourite and loads of walkers on this one, but at least they stuck to the side. Over the top and parked up to get some photos of the rest of JWCC climbing the hill.
 
After this an easy 10m back to the finish. We just sat in around 15-16mph all the way and made a nice space so we could spread out for a JWCC finish together.
 
Passed Chung in a bar and meant to return, but the finish collection point was about 5 miles past the finish line so we decided to head back to the hotel for some of Belgium's finest.
 
Mentally and physically draining. Really tough day in the saddle and one I won't be doing again. Too much cycle track and I hate cobbles! Why did I agree to do Paris Roubaix next year???!!! Mountain bike for me for that one I think!
 
Overall a great ride, superbly organised and some smashing camaraderie amongst the guys. Just need more blue, yellow and gold next year!

Great run today. Enjoyed the café stop, but the chocolate cake was just one thing to far. Felt later on. Legs now gubbed, but probably not as gubbed as the flanders!!!

Fantastic day out with the main bunch, I do hope that I did not hold you up too much.  I think I got the best by driving down to the ferry and only cycling the best bits, the 'Director's Cut', the main vision without any added on stuff.  Got home to a Sunday roast being cooked, can you get better?

Fantastic day and big kudos to Gerard also, plugged away and never gave up. Fantastic effort for your 1st major club run. Hardest climb of the day had to be the Clune, absolutely shattered by then. 110 on the clock 1st ton of the year. Well done to the boys that managed 145 in Belgium. Some effort

Well that was a blast. Every time you hit the Loch Tarzan and C11 you just don't remember how hard they are.
Anyway a great DAy out, freezing wet and grim to begin with, then just wet and grim, then dry and not quite so grim.
Utterly goosed but rejuvenated after watching another sensational Ronde.

Got my timing wrong and was still in bed at 0841 but managed to get to 0930 ferry for wet and dry tour of Argyll.
 
The diretissima is hard due west from Dunoon, loch, climb, descend, repeat.
 
Great turn out with gradual whittling until only five of us were left for return up the Clune.
 
Argyll is magnificent with world class views and hard cycling. Big chapeau for Jim on his first big club ride who managed to bravely cycle himself to the end of the Cowal across some really big lumps,

The real Tour of Flanders plan...
 

Good day and good to see a decent bunch out. Well done to Eric for sticking in and completing the run

Good race today Iain was right about the juniors . Unfortunately my group lost a number of riders early who dropped off leaving a smaller group to do the work so we couldn't catch the first group. The pace slowed a bit more on the 2nd lap I made some attempts on the front to try and raise it a bit. The group further imploded on the second time up the dams and was not working anymore so the catch was made with about 5 k to go: the final uphill sprint was as Jan had predicted but I managed to hold on and finished mid bunch. Good day for first race of the season and perfect trIaining for DA

Chapeau Colin. In the later race I started in group 1 with Alan in group 2, there were 3 groups total. There were 2 mins between groups. Group 1 worked well for the first lap and into second lap with some bodies shed along the way. Early in the second lap we were caught by combo of 2nd and 3rd group who were pretty well flying. Anyway rode with them for about 6 or 7 miles to DAms climb at which point I got that horrible getting pumped out the back sensation. Teamed up with another dropee and rode to finish in our own wee 2 up.
 
I'll let Alan post up his own report but chatting to him afterwards I think he experienced that a singular moment of poor placing or indecision with the elites means you lose 20m and you just don't get it back unless your name is Fabian !
 
As Colin very importantly points out, it's more hard yards in the bag for DA.
 

Gutted. Not much to say, When elites caught us I tried to go with them up the clunch Rd, a gap opened and was never able to close it, pedalled alone about 10/20 meters off the back of them until they hit the fast roundabout roads and that was that Another level these guy's.

Lovely day for it until about the 60 mile mark where my legs imploded and any rise in the road felt like a mountain.
Unfortunately we still had the Crow Road to do!
Time was marching on so had to bail at Clydebank and get a taxi to Alex's so I could get home on time!!
Cheers for waiting and the wheels chaps

Hi there,
Attached for all new, existing and potential members is a welcome to Johnstone Wheelers Cycling Club pack including some background information on the club, Frequently Asked Questions and answers, details on how to ride in a bunch and some information on the history of the club.
This has been put together by your fellow members for you and many thanks to all involved in compiling.
 
Happy reading and happy cycling.
Sans
 
JWCC Welcome Pack 03- Final.pdf

Great day out. Thanks to Graham and Jann for the organisation. Paul, hope you managed to get your pump valve fixed!!

That hurt

Fun day out, thanks again to all the helpers for letting us ride. Double punture somewhere along the coast(was hoping to get to the bottom of the clune). Thanks to James for helping me out with a tube, tow and not laughing when my pump got stuck on my valve 😂

Hope to make it now I have a baby sitter

Hope to make it now I have a baby sitter