I forgot to report last week due to both knackeredness and busyness.
Having ridden nothing longer than 130km since my last Diy in January, I hit the road at the ungodly hour of 0430ish and took advantage of it being stupid AM to ride through the clinging mists of the A92 to Parbroath before the usual pisshead abuse in Newburgh around 1.5 hours later, I couldn't be arsed shouting back "Wiggins is a prick" but kept on into the lightening morn.
The smell of freshly baked goods lured me into Auchterarder Co-Op where I found precisely 0 baked goods for sale, and settled for sweet treats from the fridge.
Retracing my wheel tracks down to the Hunter Street junction I spied the bakery I should have visited but pressed on; just after Kinky Bridge I eschewed my usual climb up through Fowlis for Glen Almond and stayed on the road to Crieff instead turning off onto the Heilanman Loan, the old drove road to Larbert, but I was taking the return routing.
With the early start he A85 was pretty quite for the short blat down to Gilmerton to pick up the climb over to the Sma Glen, the light was just right to get the best of this sandwich between the Highlands and Lowlands and having only taken lesser routes for the last year and a half a good distraction from the drag to come.
Progress on the Amulree hotel seems to have stalled, and I wasn't bothering with Griffin so the descent to Dunkeld through Strathbraan was in order (this saved a climb of Schiehallion and got me more distance) for what could now feasibly be called Lunch 1.
With the path through the hotel grounds now tarred this proves to be a much quicker bash onto Ballinluig/Logierait than the track beside the A9 and also gives you the Logierait Bridge to cross to, recommended. Dunfallandy however isn't any flatter, but the opposite side route by Tenandry is even hillier and I was looking for my flattest option.
Pitlochry wasn't too bad but the car parks at Garry Bridge were hoaching, I also got a good queue behind me on the last wee sharp git climb to Queens View and lunch 2 was in sight, my phone GPS having not stayed active to tell mither to put the kettle on meant my lunch also wasn't quite as quick as I hoped but I was holding good speed with 140km done. Longest ride since I buggered my leg and I was feeling good.
Next leg was a lap of Loch Rannoch, the hill at Dunalistair is a git heading west, and a total git heading east but they are the only lumps to worry about here. I stopped at the cafe in Rannoch and soon realized there had been dairy in Lunch 1 and things were about to briefly not-fun, thankfully the toilets were available for use.
Cake and coke polished off and that bloody hill past Dunalistair, I almost think climbing and descending the trinafour triangle might be less painful (and give extra distance); once over that it's just a short gentle climb back to the caravan for Tea 1; something definitely devoid of dairy but epic stomach rumbles going on (and for the rest of the week).
220km done, still feeling good!
Retraced the same route up back to Dunkeld but then struck out for Bankfoot, not ridden this road in a long time nor into Perth via Almondbank and the inch; the flood defence works have made the track round onto the Inch much tidier but it seems to go on forever before dumping you in town where a bunch of pissed teenagers were having a party.
Over the tay and onto the Dundee road, to pick up the cycle track into Walnut Grove and then on the really crap shared use pavement beside the A90; I only go this way when I can't be bothered with Kinoull, and I couldn't be bothered with Kinoull.
The Carse is dull in the dark, but fast, the lights of Dundee were welcome, even more so the bridge lift, amazingly managed to time my crossing of the bridge with another Audax Dundee (mostly Fifers) rider polishing off his 600 but we passed like ships in the night (not the Andrea Doria and Stockholm).
Home with 320km done for Tea 2 by half 10 but the food I had needed more than a few minutes cooking.
Flatness was as you can see a theme here, and I again had looked for the flattest route available, though the problem with Fife is, it isn't flat and the bits that are, aren't very big.
Heading East from home through Newport and round through Tayport to St Mikes and Guardbridge to pick up the cycle path to St Andrews, it was still early enough for there to be traffic otherwise I'd have taken the road.
Town was deserted for midnight on a Saturday with the students under curfew.
Given my quest for flatness it may have made sense to bounce back the way I came for Cupar but even that's not flat so I climbed Strathkinness Low Road instead, somewhere out here in the deserted Strath as the lights of Blembocraigs or Strathkinness village glinted out of the darkness my back wheel whacked something hole shaped and I found myself pedalling down the hill into Pitscottie.
There was an invisible mist present so I thought I might have a shorting wire on the generator so just battered on and after some braking effort later on it seemed to free off and I hardly felt the resistance on the climb to Craigrothie nor for that matter did I need to pedal down to Springfield.
The Howe of Fife is flat enough to qualify as flat, and by now the Cupar to New Inn road was deserted; tyres skizing on the damp tarmac, the distance allowed me to avoid the climb to New Inn so I cut off at Kingskettle for Ladybank where I partook in a bus shelter rest next the station. I barely remember the 0230 gyration of Melville Lodges, nor the road until the lights of Parbroath emerged once again from the darkness, there's another bus shelter, I may as well rest.
22 hours into the ride and 15km to go, Luthrie, the long lumpy straight with Rathillet perched onto of it's lump in the distance, I hardly noticed that lump despite it sucking 14kmh off my speed, I knew it was the last, the long descent to Kilmany and then the last few lumps beside the Motray before turning over Newton and into the village.
403km in 22:40 and only 3300m of climbing; not bad after so long.
My next task is to use as much of Strathmore as possible to get a flat 600 in before the end of October.
Ive not cycled the Col du Gauldry for many years (alas the Kingdom of Fife 200km event is no more) but the reward thereafter was the views along the Firth of Tay - glorious.
They are cracking views.
I've submitted a route that uses it for a Perm and have another in mind; also slowly getting round to turning it into a calendar event but trying to buy a house and a certain virus have been getting in the way.