Monday rides

Twelve of us showed up at the GH on Monday afternoon. After some debate about the route, Finzean Farm Shop was the chosen destination, although there were to be differing ways of getting there. Messrs Williamson, Hunter, Sharp, Stewart and Dring chose the slightly more conventional AA box route, whilst Elder, Simpson, Taylor, Perry, Wright, Dickens and Leslie went via Shooting Greens and Monument hill, with the latter two opting out at one stage to add an offroad loop.

When our group of 5 got near Bogendriep, we spotted 4 "roadies" heading in the opposite direction back to Banchory. Messrs Reilly, Low, Meaden and Larkin had been outed, leaving them no option but to come clean - as Mike reports below:

"In response to a spur of the moment email on Sunday evening 4 intrepid deviants, risked the wrath of main body of Freewheelers by donning Lycra and heading out on their road bikes. The route was quickly agreed and the Rebels set off on their first climb over the Slug, following this we turned of and headed for Swanley on a lovely quiet road and then down to Auchenblae.

Disappointingly the Post Office cafe was closed so we headed to the Clattering Brig where at least one Freewheelers tradition was maintained when we ordered our scones and coffee.

Taking the Cairn from the rear is always difficult but Chris made it look easy as he took little over 22 mins to get to the top. We all managed PRs and were pleased to record times just over 23 mins. The descent was fast and a maximum speed of 70km/h was achieved, we might have got away with this treasonal ride but we were sniffed out by the real Freewheelers as we returned to Strachan.

Not sure that this will make it to the blog but thought I'd report it anyway ;)"

Well it did make it to the blog - but not the database, the rules for which are that rides must be advertised and open to all. Nonetheless, here's their photo and route:

When our team of 5 got to the AA box, there was a telphone engineer working on the lines, prompting Ian to engage him in a long conversation, primarily complaining about the poor broadband service he was receiving at home! There was no way the engineer was then going to take our team photo so Scott had to improvise with a selfie:

Elsewhere, Drew supplied the match report and photos from the Shooting Greens crew:

"Route was through the arch and up to Shooting Greens, then down by the farm track to road and along to Finzean Farm Shop then back by road (John and Iain opting for Mill of Cammie route)

Distance? Height? Lots! 

Bob had a puncture on about half way up forest road to shooting greens so we were late arriving for coffee.. got there just as the first group were leaving - there was no sign of a birthday cake!

photos are all of the repairs to Bob's bike .. most of the group's  members assisted with the pumping, especially John who got right behind Bob to get the final bit of pressure in. 


Interestingly the lady in the FFS said that it wasn't bad going to have had only the one puncture in the group ( ...perhaps they are throwing tacks down on the surrounding roads to get increased numbers of cyclists in ?)"

Strava's stats summary for last week shows the usual suspects:

Last Week's Leaders

	Distance	Longest Ride	Climbing
	John Larkin 281.5 km	John Larkin 134.5 km	John Larkin 3,047 m
	Michael Reilly 277.9 km	Michael Reilly 100.1 km	Michael Reilly 2,298 m
	John Meaden 206.1 km	Chris Low 66.3 km	John Meaden 1,815 m

This week's leader board has 7 entries so far from the FW's:

This Week's Leaderboard

• 
 
• 5/7
  Your Rank
 
• 35.0 km
  Total Distance

Rank	Athlete	Distance	Rides	Longest	Avg. Speed	Elev. Gain
1	Michael Reilly	180.6 km	2	110.0 km	22.7 km/h	1,811 m
2	Chris Low	80.4 km	1	80.4 km	22.2 km/h	986 m
3	John Meaden	73.9 km	1	73.9 km	19.7 km/h	997 m
4	John Larkin	65.3 km	1	65.3 km	21.4 km/h	1,054 m
5	Ian Stewart	35.0 km	2	35.0 km	14.0 km/h	244 m
6	John Perry	32.9 km	1	32.9 km	17.8 km/h	323 m
7	Jeff Dickens	31.2 km	1	31.2 km	15.5 km/h	317 m

Note the starling difference in average speeds - some of it due to the use of road bikes of course, but there's definitely a gulf in class.