A & B teams

Biggest ever turnout this morning - 9 of us in all:

Dick Taylor, Dan Corbett, Ian Stewart, John Perry, Jeff Dickens, Robin Brodie, Scott Hunter, Ian Sharp (in shorts!) and Keith Gray

I had planned to have another gentle workout and invited Dan and Keith - both slightly reluctant Freewheelers - to join me along the Deeside Way to Drum. Thus begat the B team. The A team headed in the other direction and did a loop round Blackhall and Finzean - or Ballogie Hills as John P called it. Perhaps the route map clarifies it:

The team photo, courtesy of Dick:

Jeff supplied the match report and the following "action" photos:

"And so here's the A Team report from Jeff. 

Now, the route choice here is important, because it underpins the great injustice that subsequently transpired.

As the B Team set off with the refrain "Ian - can you please tell us what to do, or we'll be 10 minutes deciding"

ringing in their ears, minds were turned to the problem. Wind. Don't want that in our faces, do we?

Someone suggested Finzean for coffee, as north of the river had been done the previous week. The route through Strachan to Finzean though had that wind problem. That means Blackhall, as Dick reminded us that the riverside route tried on a previous outing worked well at wind shelter. OK - but that does mean you have to go over a hill, and either another hill or that long stretch into the wind to get there. So I suggested we stay as low as possible through Blackhall to pop out on the road below Shooting Greens, thence down to Ballogie, and then we have to go either over by the Finzean monument, or we could go through the Finzean estate, but that entails an additional climb back up to coffee. So, Hobson's choice really - Finzean monument it is!

What justice, then, in the later debate about should it be a Yellow or Red card for me? Scapegoating, I call it!

But enough!  It was a fine day for a ride, apart from that wind, which our route choice did a good job of avoiding for the most part. The hack through Blackhall was mostly sheltered, interrupted only for an impromptu lesson in plate tectonics, a debate about micro-climate effects on tree lines, and the latest news on human fossil discoveries. Perhaps this intellectual thread might attract more to our fold... or not....

The joy of the quick run down the hill was tempered as we turned left onto the cut-across to Ballogie, right into the teeth of the rising wind. Surprisingly hard work this bit (and thus began the mutterings in the ranks...).  We discovered that the Ballogie internet cafe seems to have lost its coffee machine, but paused for the petrol pump photo anyway.

And so we progress to the slog up to the Finzean summit. As I arrived first, with JP close behind, I decided a few action shots might be in order. I asked next arrival Dick to go back and finish again, which he obligingly did, then snapped the remainder of the stretched out peloton as they arrived.  From there, a satisfying and quick run down to coffee, though the cross wind on the cross-valley section was somewhat disturbing.

Post coffee, the run back to Strachan (for me) and Banchory (for everyone else) was a joy with the wind at our backs. A fine day out, methinks!

I did a quick manual profile check on my mapping app and covered 31.2 km, with 576m of ascent/descent (which does include the final slog up to my house).

Photos

1: Dick summiting

2: Dick and John recovering breath

3: Ian finishing "the sting in the tail" and Robin discovering it.

4: Robin head down finishing as Scott begins the last bit."

John P's Strava stats - https://www.strava.com/activities/263286673 - show the distance covered was 36 kms and it took them just over 2 hours of riding, climbing 435 metres. Scott's Garmin device, however, shows:

Distance 21.91 miles

Ave speed 8.09 mph

Max speed 33.38 mph

Calories 1385

Ascent 1709.3 ft

Descent 1692.9 ft

Bit of a discrepancy there between the elevation figures - can anyone explain that?

Coincidentally, the B team covered exactly the same distance, but took an hour longer to do it (after an accidental detour), and the climbing involved was a modest 200 metres (https://www.strava.com/activities/263302841).

The B team stopped at the Drum for coffee, posing in front of the pond, just after a large heron took off:

The weather kept on improving all morning - it was really spring-like - although there was a stiff wind coming from the west on the way back for the B team. The A team had the good sense to head west on the way out and have the wind at their back on the return loop.

Is this the start of 2-tier Freewheelers?