EricL

Thanks for posting folks, I've got a route for tomorrow now:
 
Bridge 9.30am - Hardgate - Milngarvie - Mugdock - Strathblane (picking up Ritchie's mate) - LennoxTown - CROW - Fintry - Top of the World - Arnprior - Port of Montieth - Aberfoyle (café option) - Gartmore - PipeTrack - Dryman (café option) - Cycle route 7 - Bonhill - Dumbarton - Bridge - Home :-)
 
See you all tomorrow then
 
Cheers
 
Chung

Hi All,
 
Bit of a late post but hopefully someone would like to join in for a wee jaunt over the bridge & do one my favourite bump - yes, that's right the Crow Road is calling.
 
Exact route not 100% set & depends on numbers, but will include the mighty Crow at some point, no less than 60 miles run I guess :-)
 
9.30am South side of the bridge if folks are interested, please post up of intention if it tickles your fancy 
 
Cheers
 
Chung

Yes, I will be out for a run on Sunday.

I'll be working hard enough!!
It was going against Davies run where he won't be dawdling so I'm safer here!
 
 
Hopefully!!
 
Can you park in the garden centre?

Yes please....after a 3 week break!

2 please.

My stag do this weekend so may be posted missing for the next couple of weeks....

What a great trip, lots of laughs! I can only apologies to Billy and Iain as I did get the timings wrong, They were going strong and would have smashed the last bit I am sure. To be honest I had stopped after told we couldn't continue and was eyeing the bar and picking my spot in the sun when Charlie powered of out of El Gastor for the final leg, I only chased him down to tell him the lads had gone to the bar and we should head back as there was a good chance the signs, feed stations and support would not be open and it was pointless continuing as we could get lost, run out of food or just melt. He quickly reminded me that that I was a wuss and should go back as there was no chance in hell he wasnt finishing, I sheeplessly sat on his wheel for a few minutes and then decided to continue rather feel Charlies wraith again hahaha, Chapeau to Charlie he is one determined and stubborn chap. I was glad I stuck with him to the end even though I bonked so bad I started to speak Spanish to riders going by me, luckily an Italian rider gave me a sticky strawberry power bar which was by far the tastiest thing I have ever consumed, later I thank him, but I was so great-full I think he thought I was proposing to him... lesson learnt  
 
James, Alex, Paul, Mark, Alan and Paul(LA) looked so strong it was impressive. Iain Coutie again so strong but I think he just likes my company! But a big Thanks to Charlie and Billy who paced me up the first two climbs and without their help I probably be still out there.
 
Top trip, hopefully next one Ian McGinty and Darryl are fully recovered

Yet another excellent Jwcc adventure. on the Thursday myself Billy Iain Couttie Paul Leavy Paul McMillan & Mark oneil had a smashing ride through the Sierra Nieves national park. We ended up in the village of El Burro & had a smashing lunch. 61 km and 1181 m of climbing so a good test for Saturday.
On Friday Billy Paul & I decided that on basis we were going to find the race tough any way we should suffer together and a pact was set. Great decision as one of the hardest things about these events is the long time you are actually out there & in our case a bit longer than others. Billy & Paul are devoted to power meter and we cruised up the first climb to the dulcet tones of 220 watts Billy 240 Billy 280 Billy ease back. Down a tad. I joined in with 150 bmp 160 ease back. This tactic was employed all the way to the 133 km station. During this spell Couttie toyed with us. He started at rear joined us for a while got fed up with our metronome chat tootled ahead and then waited for us at top of climbs just to see our grimacing faces. We also had the pleasure of the company of Mark & Paul McMillan for a while but both these mountain goats soon left us to our own pain. However one of the biggest pleasures of this race for me was that after the first the longest and the hardest climb I was able a few kilometres later to join Paul McD Alex James and big Al at the front. This only came about as lead car restricted to a speed of 25 Kms so we were able to catch up on one of the very fast down sections. Their look of incredulity was a picture.Once we hit the next hill they were off and not to be seen till end.
Couttie got fed up with his own company and having waited for us at top of Montecurto joined us in to El Gastro. Now entering El Gastro is were it got a bit tough. I blame Paul Leavy cos he was our time man. Well to be more accurate was the only person to bother himself with the rules.We had slipped off the back of the protected peloton but Paul assured us that the sweeper van was hours behind us and all was well. However the marshals at El Gastro had other ideas and told us we could not continue. Paul was demanding to see Oscar the organiser Couttie turned off his garmin and Billy had the look of what the "f" is going on. Unfortunately and to our shame there was a language barrier and we wasted a lot of energy and time trying to explain that we were continuing. At that point a group of Spanish riders came through and said they were continuing so Paul & I carried on with them and then we both pushed on together. We were a bit low at this point as we had all being going well. We were not caught by other riders but did catch up with groups ahead and stayed ahead of the dreaded sweeper car. Like Couttie it was toying with us but we triumphed for as when we entered a military barracks about 20 km from end(which was part of the route for some reason I still do not understand )we were not court marshalled but met Oscar who told us he would wait for us at end and that we had completed the full race. With that good news Paul proceeded to bonk on the next hill but was saved by a kind Italian rider who gave him a gel( defo contained epo as within 5 mins he was flying)
With 1 km to go the dreaded sweeper car came up behind us. I would not let it pass and blocked the road. Paul was shouting that I would be disqualified but I didn't care as I was finishing before that car & we did. Paul & I got our finishing rock which fittingly was local granite used for headstones
Chapeau to all jwcc riders. Great job. Special thanks to Paul & Billy
For the record Strava says:-
203.3 km 09:38:07
A very friendly event with some magnificent vistas and hot.

Paul provided a good insight to the pain that we suffered (well done Paul).
 
LasufriDA is aptly named as there was certainly suffering out there on the roads in Spain to be had!!
 
Paul, Alan, Alex and I arrived on the Thursday after delays in getting there due to the French air strike. How in considerate can some people be when the JWCC are on tour!!. First lesson learned when I stripped down and re-built my bike with DI2, do not unplug the battery from the seat. (I followed the bike box video, which didn't have DI2). On Thursday after re-building my bike I had a problem with the connection, which was intermittent. After talking to Billy it doesn't plug in straight and you need a tool for this. Out on the Thursday test run at the end I got stuck in gear, in the big ring. Just hope I can get this fixed before Saturday on these hills!!
 
The boys had found a good bike shop in Ronda run by an ex Tour De France pro (Jesus) so on the Friday morning we cycled in to Ronda and Jesus came to the rescue and fixed it, best 10 euros spent and back in business. Charlie even put his bike in to get his chain cleaned. Don't think the bike maintenance classed helped him!!!
 
On the Friday Alan, Alex, Paul McD and I had a great cycle over to El Buro, I think that was the name and had lunch and enjoyed some climbing on the way back. The climb on the way back was about 12km long so it let us know what we were letting ourselves in for. It didn't really as it wasn't  as steep as the follow day was about to become.   After the cycle we chilled at the pool then went over to El Gastor and registered for the race.
 
The race organiser had organised a special trophy for JWCC for the largest ever club entry. Paul McD has this and was going to put it in the club rooms
 
On the day of the race it was an early start down for breakfast at 6.00 so we could leave at 6.20 to get to El Gastor, do a warm ready for the suffering ahead.
 
It was very cold at this time and I was still in fear /apprehensive of what was lying ahead of me. El Gastor is a beautiful Spanish village with narrow roads and white washed buildings. We got a group photo before the start and all lined up waiting pain and suffering to begin.
 
After we rolled off dropping down before the climb I was very cold. Could almost feel myself shake I was that cold. the race neutralised and bunched up, Alan, Paul, Alex and I sat together going into the 1st climb. My tactic was to pace the 1st climb, with 3 food stops and keep my heart rate under 140 on this climb. I let Alan and Paul get ahead on the first climb and got on tow with a local who knew the distance to the top. At the top Paul and Alan weren't far in front and after a great decent down the neutralising started again. We all bunched back up as a JWCC group before slowly stretching out.
 
Into the start of the 2nd climb I made a break and opened up a gap from Alan, Paul and Alex but we all regrouped at the 1st food stop 45miles in. Into the first timed climb Alan and I got away and I pushed this climb a bit harder still keeping my heart rate under 150. There was a Spaniard who was riding on my wheel with Alan who come to the front to do a turn. I thought he was wanting to race me so picked up the pace. Alan shouting to me to say he was only wanting to do a turn at the front, but we dropped him shortly after this. Alan and I got thought the top together and enjoyed a great decent before neutralised again. Then on to the next food stop at 74miles at the foot of Montecorto. Alan, Alex, Paul and stopped and I probably ate too much as shortly after the climb up Montecorto I went through I bad patch between 74 miles and 86miles.
 
At the end of the 133km loop Alan and I left El Gastor together but I still wasn't feeling good and dropped off, where Paul and a small group caught me so I got a tow and felt better after that. Shortly after that Paul was struggling so I towed Paul up the next climb and down to my last food stop at 92miles. Couldn't eat anything but re-filled the bottles and water over my head I felt better. Paul and I set off but Paul was still struggling and I pushed on. I seemed to get a 2nd wind and was climbing strongly again picking up riders along the way but still on my own.
 
Interesting on the how your mind works when your Garmin goes from decimal points before 100 miles to no decimal points and your still telling your self not far only 24miles of suffering left , just less than a marathon!! However, the course was (203km) and not 200km on my entry. What a bummer as it took 26.5 miles to get to the finish. As I came in to the finish I was greeted by Billy and Ian with a beer. . That was great guys, thanks.
 
What more can I say apart from the race being aptly named. This was fantastic, with stunning scenery, great roads, great climbs, good weather and good craic on my JWCC tour.
 
Overall time was 8hr 32min riding and 8hrs 55mins including stops. I will post some photos later

A link to the some photos
 
https://goo.gl/photos/iJTpqWA46DkxTnob6

Cheers

I make that around 58 miles and just over 4000 feet of climbing. Tough day out, but enjoyable, even the uphill bits. Brisbane Glen was just glorious, and worth doing in both directions, just for the views.
Ritchie, you could have met us at the Clune, as we got a bit delayed with a puncture on the old Greenock Road, although you would have missed out on the spectacular climb out of Langbank.

I was late getting out the house then into a headwind so I missed you guys by 3 minutes!
Luckily Carol, Dave and Boyd were still there so I joined them on their run.

Cheers for a good hilly run today Alan, finished with a refreshing beer stop in Amaretto

Everyone home safe. Great day in the sun. Beer being consumed. I am sure reports will follow soon. Missed Darryl and Iain... 5000 metres hurts, but tan lines are wirth it 😂😂

Hi Andy,
 
What is your intended route? & what time you thinking of starting/where?
 
I might tag along :-)
 
Cheers
 
Chung

Good day out. A little bit cool at the start, but it soon warmed up. Ran 65:13, over 3 minutes faster than last year. Cramped up at 14 and 17 miles, which probably cost me the sub 65, but otherwise much happier with that.

Great route choice Chung and the weather set us up for a cracking day. Pleased for Andrew that his cassette/hub hung in well enough to see him through, hopefully easily fixed!  Chapeau to Emma for backing up a day of racing down south with good mileage today and Matti for his display of effortless hill climbing, well done both.

Fabulous sunny day of cycling with beautiful country side scenery, it cannot get any better than that :-)
 
A compact bunch of 5 met at the bridge this morning - Andrew Dunn, Emma, Eric, Young Marty (Jets) & myself set off to do the route, but missing out the "extra option" as Emma was meant to be in recovery mode after her road race yesterday down in Yorkshire, for her University race team.
 
The weather was a tad nippy in the morning but as the day went on the sun decided to play ball & made a much welcome appearance. It got much warmer by the time we got to Aberfoyle & we were basking in summer sunshine, so a necessary wee coffee stop was had sitting outside on the Main street cafe. It was also at this point that Andrew discovered he had a "wobbly" freehub as it was making horrible grinding noise. Thankfully it stayed intact & at least he made it back to the bridge & hopefully home without too much bother
 
Over the Lake of Montieth & climbing into Fintry for a final assault up the Crow, it was perfect as unusually there was no head wind to speak of & lack of traffic made the climbing just a bit more enjoyable .......... just!
A brilliant descend down into Lennoxtown for our lunch stop proper of the day, then making our way back to the bridge.
 
Well done to Emma for staying the course & digging in to complete her what it must be a 140km (80miles) recovery ride ......... ouch!
Now you can go out on a proper recovery ride tomorrow
 
Thanks for the company & wheels guys & gal ..................... THREE sunny Sundays in a role ....... it's better than winning the lottery
 
150km & 4,800 vertical feet by the time I got home ................ brilliant!
 
Cheers
​Chung

Great run today, managed to get home without a mechanical too. I got 92 miles on the clock as I got Eric up the road.

Eric, Andrew & whoever,
 
Let's make it 9.00am start at the Bridge then :-)
 
Please note that I won't be at the clubroom now, going straight to the bridge for rendezvous!
 
Cheers
 
Chung

Hired a bike and covered 190 miles in 3 days. Not too hot (25 C).
Not a big island so have just about been on every road there is!!

Thanks Guys, and thank you Andy for organising the card and flowers. I have to say that everyone was brilliant at keeping me comfortable while the ambulance arrived.
 
As for progress, as Paul reports I had surgery yesterday and things seem to have gone ok, as far as we know at this early stage. They have rebuilt me with titanium, but it's only the 3Al alloy , not the expensive stuff my bike is made from. NHS eh...always cutting corners.
 
They have had me out of bed to day and walking with a zimmer. Didn't feel too bad. Apparently it's 6 weeks or so of partial weight bearing exercise, which may include some light turbo spinning. After that, who knows? But, hopefully I'll see y'all on the road soon. My goal is to be on the bike for August.
 
Cheers
 
Darryl

Following Darryls crash on Saturday the people living in the local cottage were incredibly supportive and generous in helping Daryll, providing a quilt, support for his back etc etc. They offered many of us to tea or coffee also. As a note of thanks and update from the club I've sent a card and some flowers to Muriel.
 
Andy