Saturday 7th Ride reports

All 14 riders who met at the Linlithgow Sport Centre on Saturday chose the 'social' group and rode the classic route to Slammanan via Loan, Standburn, Avon Bridge and Back via Longriggend, Limerigg, Westfield, Torphichen past the Korean War memorial and then the fast descent down Preston Road to Linlithgow. The distance was about 35 miles with an average of about 13mph over a tougher route than last week's ride to the Dalmeny Estate.

The group was made up of Lesley, Matt, Graham, Dave, Andy, Tobias, Donald, Melwin, Denise, Steven (in yet another cracking retro jersey!) and Neil with Michelle (our open hill climb winner) Stewart and John (from Pedal Power) out for the first time. We enjoyed the lovely autumnal weather and rode together as group pretty consistently, stopping to regroup for mechanicals and for riders to catch up. Steve and Bill briefly swelled the group to 16 at Avon Bridge and we spotted a few other roadies out, taking in the sunshine.

Melwin said "Today’s ride was great, I really enjoyed it, but got a bit tired near the end". Michelle said "Thanks for the ride on Saturday. It was a great route and a nice social pace. It was especially good to be able to join a local club ride, rather than lug the bike on the train or car to get to a club."

Keir Sends in this report about Saturday's East calder Club run:

Six riders congregated at 8:30 at the East Calder Sports Centre, we were all surprised to see Neil there in his car to see us off, even in ill health! There were some jokes about whether he was going to follow the peleton with a boot full of spare wheels, handing out gels etc. but alas no!

The six became seven at Murieston where we picked up Calum. We tracked the back lanes towards Carnwarth on the newly resurfaced roads. The weather was superb as the cold receded, turning into a fantastic sunny, even warm day.

The group buzzed along and after Woolfords we crossed the A70 ahead of Carnwarth and rode down to Newbigging on some wonderful back roads, moving in a 'Biggarly' direction.
We turned back towards Carnwarth on the B7016 and arrived in town on the 'Rue Du Apple Pie', navigating directly to our favourite cake stop at exactly 30 miles gone.

In a flurry of caramel slices, yum-yums, latte's and hot chocolates we were gone, taking the direct route back towards Kirknewton on the Lang Wang. We dropped three of our party as they veered off at the Harburn turn, the rest of us carrying on until the Kirknewton Airfield, to complete the circuit.

50 miles, average 14mph, total climbing 870m and a time of three and a half hours PLUS cake stop. Just a superb day out for the East Calder bunch. We look forward to Neil's full recovery for next week.

All the ride details can be found on the website www.westlothianclarion.co.uk/clubruns.html