Pedal for Scotland 2009

[goo_mason]

Great day out and sorry to have ruined the day for MaroonCat

So nice to meet you guys and don't know how the split happened so quickly , but felt really good and just kept going until Winchburgh where my wife, m-in-law, s-in-law and the kids were waiting to cheer me on. Stopped at Kirkliston for a refreshment and then onto Victoria Park arriving at 1353hrs, 3hrs 38mins i think.

The food stops looked horrendously busy, well marshalled event and a great reception in Edinburgh.

Hope to meet you guys again and enjoy your company a little bit more.

B)

Yeah, good to meet you too. I think we had a similar rolling time to you, but we had a very quick stop at Avonbridge, then lunch at Linlithgow. No other food stops for us, as we knew they'd just be too busy and the pub in Leith was calling us from afar.

Look forward to meeting you again on the next ride (if Marooncat hasn't sued you rotten for demolishing her bike on th M8!)

 

[Ariadne]

Sounds like I should have stopped at Avonbridge instead of Linlithgow! Oh wel...

 

[marooncat]

Look forward to meeting you again on the next ride (if Marooncat hasn't sued you rotten for demolishing her bike on th M8!)

I am trying to be positive and think of this as an opportunity to get a new bike

Must admit that I was jealous about 10am when I was sitting having a coffee in the garden in the sun thinking of you all. Not helped by discovering that my sister, who lives about 3 miles from Glasgow Green, does still have her bike, as I was sure she had given it away when she moved there. Ok it might not have been a great machine but it would hopefully have got me from one end of the route to the other.

 

[goo_mason]

I am trying to be positive and think of this as an opportunity to get a new bike

Must admit that I was jealous about 10am when I was sitting having a coffee in the garden in the sun thinking of you all. Not helped by discovering that my sister, who lives about 3 miles from Glasgow Green, does still have her bike, as I was sure she had given it away when she moved there. Ok it might not have been a great machine but it would hopefully have got me from one end of the route to the other.

Next CC Central Scotland ride then?

 

[Mr Pig]

It was good to meet you guys and he weather was ideal but the next time I've got a pain, ache, etc I'm staying in the house! ;0) My left leg is gubbed. It seemed to ease off early in the day and despite twinges the run up to Linlithgow was cool. I know that road well and it's got a lovely flow to it.

As soon as we left the ridiculously long stop at Linlithgow though I knew I was in trouble. My knee had seized up, was really sore and was having a knock-on effect on the rest of my leg. The whole twenty-miles to Edinburgh was really slow and painful and my knee's still bad now. I can feel it pop sometimes when I move it.

Big thanks to Colin/Coco (did I get the name right)for hanging back to keep me company, cheers dude :0)

I don't know that I would want to do that ride again. It's just become too darn busy. It was a sea of pobs everywhere, you virtually never got a clear road in front of you, and the stops were chaotic. Half-an-hour in a queue to get a cupasoup and a roll then another half-an-hour in a queue to get out again! Mental. Can you imagine what it would be like if they had even more people next year?

We should arrange our own rides, just sort out some cool routes for CC members. On nice quiet roads ;0)

 

[MrRidley]

Yeah it was a great day out, just recovered from removing my top, it was stuck to the cuts on my body Mrs bhoyjim is full of sympathy, so much so that i've not to go out on a bike again, and i've not to sleep in the bed tonight as i will get blood on the sheets.

 

[ACS]

I have to admit I was a disappointed with the overall organisation. Arrived at Vic Park just after 7am, waited in line with hundreds of others and I got my bike on the truck (12) at about 8 ish. One poor bloke from TNT trying to manage people, bikes, trucks and buses, felt sorry for him. No wonder it took an hour to get moving.

Arrived in Glw and went to the place where they were unloading the bikes from trucks 7 and 8 so another wait (yawn). This could have been avoided if the buses and trucks travel together too easy?

No one from PfS at the bike set down place to provide information of directions to the start. This was left to the TNT unloading staff which they were very happy about it. (Not!) To complicate matters further Glasgow Green hosted proms in the park last night so a large section of the green was fenced off. Eventually got to the CC group who had kindly waited for myself and Mr and Mrs HJ and off we set at around 10.

Lots of riders, some doing really stupid things, RLJ's, riding around traffic islands into the path of oncoming traffic, pulling out into path of other riders without looking first (no one can be faster than me syndrome), that said the majority paid heed to the RTA, where courteous and took their own and others safety seriously. The inconsiderate minority proved to be a danger to the majority. I saw three incidents each resulting in at least one injured rider all avoidable.

By agreement we missed out the first feed station and stopped the second. Chaos! We all wanted to eat but the queue was almost the full length of the field, so we took on water and shared what little we had amongst us and joined the masses heading eastwards.

I lost contact with the main group having got caught at 2 or 3 sets of traffic lights in succession. The third feed station (Linlithgow) was manic as well, so I took a chance and headed for number 4.

Approaching the last feed station it was evident by the number of riders milling around and sitting on the grass verge that stopping would be pointless so I carried on towards the finish.

The finish was busy as expected but the lack of management and control was obvious. Lots of people hanging around, riders dropping their bikes, collapsing on the grass or just sitting around close to the finish area waiting for others to finish. This clogged up the finish area making it difficult (would not go as far as dangerous) for later finishers to progress away to the park area itself.

Will I be doing it next year? The jury is out at present?

 

[Mr Pig]

Oh, and Magnatom has a story to tell about the guy who gobbed on him.

Ha ha ha :0) I was looking for the CC chaps at Glasgow Green when I saw a guy in a CC top cursing and blinding about being spat on. I said "right, you must be Magnatom?" ;0)

I am trying to be positive and think of this as an opportunity to get a new bike

Yeah, look on the bright side. Also, it didn't cause a motorway pileup! This might sound wrong but I wish I'd seen it! Must've been spectacular, bike hitting the motorway at 70mph...

 

[viniga]

Glad to hear that almost all of you had a great day - hope you get a fantastic new bike marooncat!

I left with the first group and raced one other guy to the finish, I know, I know it's not a race... he 'won' and so I was second man through with 2h35m on the clock. We both got lost in the cycle lanes leading to Victoria park as the signing suddenly took a nose dive which cost me about 3m. Hope they sorted it out later on as we did report the problem. Great weather, perfect conditions and generally speaking very well organised.

Might meet up with some more of you on the next social ride. Especially if Scoosh is buying

Viniga

 

[marooncat]

Yeah, look on the bright side. Also, it didn't cause a motorway pileup! This might sound wrong but I wish I'd seen it! Must've been spectacular, bike hitting the motorway at 70mph...

Having had a good look at all the scratches and bashes on it (whilst trying to explain to bf why it could not be mended ) it must have done a fair bit of rolling around the road. The saddle is worn down where it must have scrapped on the road and there are bashes and scrapes on almost all of it. Assume Honestman will have seen it in his rear view mirror!! One thing that I am impressed about, my pump stayed attached to it, however I have not checked it actually still works though.

I did think there was going to be a pile up as one car was flying towards it and had to swerve into the hard shoulder to avoid it!!

 

[marooncat]

Next CC Central Scotland ride then?

Depends when and where

 

[goo_mason]

Glad to hear that almost all of you had a great day - hope you get a fantastic new bike marooncat!

I left with the first group and raced one other guy to the finish, I know, I know it's not a race... he 'won' and so I was second man through with 2h35m on the clock. We both got lost in the cycle lanes leading to Victoria park as the signing suddenly took a nose dive which cost me about 3m. Hope they sorted it out later on as we did report the problem. Great weather, perfect conditions and generally speaking very well organised.

Might meet up with some more of you on the next social ride. Especially if Scoosh is buying

Viniga

Because we didn't get started until 10.20 due to the previously mentioned hold-ups, we had probably about 6000 people blocking the roads ahead of us!

Yes, the whole thing was far from perfect, but I enjoyed myself and there's no getting away from that. Stupid & dangerous moves / poor organisation aside, I still had an enjoyable day - overall I'd say the behaviour of the other cyclists on the road wasn't as bad as it was last year.

The event is to get people into cycling, and since the numbers grow every year then there's a good chance that more people might just carry on afterwards. Once they do, their behaviour on the roads might well change for the better. And the more cyclists that there are on the roads, the better for all of us.

At no stage apart from that stupid & dangerous coned-off road lane did I ever feel REALLY blocked in by wobbly & unpredictable cyclists; a little patience, a healthy dose of caution and a wee spurt of speed and you could make significant headway.

 

[pickup1980]

had a great day apart from losing my dhb sunglasses at the first food stop

 

[viniga]

At no stage apart from that stupid & dangerous coned-off road lane did I ever feel REALLY blocked in by wobbly & unpredictable cyclists; a little patience, a healthy dose of caution and a wee spurt of speed and you could make significant headway.

The cones were still being put down as we passed . If you are local, heading out with the first group eliminates most of the problems with inexperienced riders. But hey, they have to learn somehow!

Hopefully a few will keep cycling, I did...

Viniga

 

[Theseus]

After meeting with the rest of the CC crew as they were rolling to the start line, my 10yo, Simon & I let them go. Our progress was slow. By the time we got to the first stop the crowd was gone, the queues non existant and the empty water bottles and banana skins flowing out of the bins.

By Coatdyke my girl was suffering, so we called for Mum to come and collect us. We agreed to continue as well as we could. Somewhere between Plains and Caldercruix we were passed by the broom wagon and so we abandoned at the turning to Caldercruix. A short wait later and rescue arrived to take us home.

There were 2 bikes my daughter could have used. Her old one has working gears, but is a bit too small for her, her new (old) one is fine for size, but she only has one gear as the shifters are more than I can manage, let alone a child. We opted for the gears, so the ride was uncomfortable for her. I still think we got further than if we had used the other bike.