UK and Europe · Public discussion

My first Audax - at last

David Martin · 2005-06-12T20:09:03+00:00

Saturday was the start of the Wellbank festival of cycling and to kick it off was the Amulree Amble, 213 km of meanderings through the beautiful countryside of Fife and Perthshire. I gave that one a miss as it was a bit far and took on 'Owre the Howe', 113 km in Fife. The day started early, leaving the house to ride the 15km to the start. Approaching Wellbank I noted the long ascent and predicted pain and grief on the final part of the ride. I rolled into the hall car park and saw a speed machine. 'You must be Phil', and it was PhilO (who hangs about here now and then). Brevet card collected and we set off in convoy as the route to the Tay Bridge had been modified due to roadworks. My first exercise in routefinding came a bit sooner than intended. 'We'll go left into the docks road' said Alan. 'Oh, that left' I noticed as everyone else peeled off leaving me on the main road. What the heck, on to the Bridge, over and wait 5 minutes for them to get through and over. And on to Tayport. I found myself riding off the front due to some others wanting to scout out the cycle path. And straight past the info control. We joined up again at the junction (apart from Phil) only to be passed on a downhill by Phil on the recumbent with some bloke on an MTB,knobbly tyres, baggy shorts and a T-shirt hard on his tail.. Off the main road and a nice lumpy ride through the narrow roads. All good humour and banter until I dropped a geo bar, stopped to pick it up and ended up chasing to the cafe a few miles up the road. Phil and I set off down one of those lovely narrow lanes where you can just see over the hedgerows to take in the views over countryside, if you are not on a recumbent when you get to see grass, grass and not quite the top of the grass ;-) Auchtermuchty, and then a great descent into Newburgh with stunning views over the Tay Estuary, home to 10% of the reed pruduction in UK. The road out of Newburgh is very nice, but does rise to Gauldry. My legs had decided they weren't going to go up as fast as the others so they disappeared into the distance. A fast descent to Wormit and then traffic jams on the Tay bridge, threading my way past the end of a marching band with pipes and drums as they proceeded across the bridge. And then a slow weary climb up through Dundee and out to Wellbank. I was only a few minutes behind the others at the end, finishing at just before 2. A shade under 6 hours on the route, 1500m of ascent and followed by a cup of tea and blether. I creapt home the flattest route possible with my legs protesting. They still are, but it was a great day. Good to meet Phil and the others and looking forward to a 200 in a few months time. Pictures from the day are at http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk/~dmamartin/wellbank/ Unedited and uncorrected, and most taken 'on the fly' with a camera that seems to be misbehaving. Phil is the one on the recumbent. ...d

Started by David Martin · 12 June 2005 · Last activity 15 June 2005 · 6 posts · 464 views

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01 / Original postMy first Audax - at lastDavid Martin · 12 Jun 2005 02 / This pagePosts 1–6Page 1 of 1 · chronological order 03 / Latest replyPost #6Jon Senior · 15 Jun 2005

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Original section: UK and Europe
Published: 12 June 2005
Last activity: 15 June 2005
Original author: David Martin
Posts: 6
Discussion status: Public discussion
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Original post
David Martin
Archived post

12 June 2005, 20:09 UTC #1

Saturday was the start of the Wellbank festival of cycling and to kick
it off was the Amulree Amble, 213 km of meanderings through the
beautiful countryside of Fife and Perthshire. I gave that one a miss as
it was a bit far and took on 'Owre the Howe', 113 km in Fife.
The day started early, leaving the house to ride the 15km to the start.
Approaching Wellbank I noted the long ascent and predicted pain and
grief on the final part of the ride.
I rolled into the hall car park and saw a speed machine. 'You must be
Phil', and it was PhilO (who hangs about here now and then).
Brevet card collected and we set off in convoy as the route to the Tay
Bridge had been modified due to roadworks. My first exercise in
routefinding came a bit sooner than intended. 'We'll go left into the
docks road' said Alan. 'Oh, that left' I noticed as everyone else
peeled off leaving me on the main road. What the heck, on to the
Bridge, over and wait 5 minutes for them to get through and over.
And on to Tayport. I found myself riding off the front due to some
others wanting to scout out the cycle path. And straight past the info
control. We joined up again at the junction (apart from Phil) only to
be passed on a downhill by Phil on the recumbent with some bloke on an
MTB,knobbly tyres, baggy shorts and a T-shirt hard on his tail..
Off the main road and a nice lumpy ride through the narrow roads. All
good humour and banter until I dropped a geo bar, stopped to pick it up
and ended up chasing to the cafe a few miles up the road.
Phil and I set off down one of those lovely narrow lanes where you can
just see over the hedgerows to take in the views over countryside, if
you are not on a recumbent when you get to see grass, grass and not
quite the top of the grass ;-)
Auchtermuchty, and then a great descent into Newburgh with stunning
views over the Tay Estuary, home to 10% of the reed pruduction in UK.
The road out of Newburgh is very nice, but does rise to Gauldry. My
legs had decided they weren't going to go up as fast as the others so
they disappeared into the distance. A fast descent to Wormit and then
traffic jams on the Tay bridge, threading my way past the end of a
marching band with pipes and drums as they proceeded across the bridge.
And then a slow weary climb up through Dundee and out to Wellbank. I
was only a few minutes behind the others at the end, finishing at just
before 2. A shade under 6 hours on the route, 1500m of ascent and
followed by a cup of tea and blether.
I creapt home the flattest route possible with my legs protesting. They
still are, but it was a great day. Good to meet Phil and the others and
looking forward to a 200 in a few months time.
Pictures from the day are at
http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk/~dmamartin/wellbank/ Unedited and
uncorrected, and most taken 'on the fly' with a camera that seems to be
misbehaving. Phil is the one on the recumbent.
...d

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B.G. Finlay
Archived post

13 June 2005, 09:16 UTC #2

David Martin ([email hidden]) wrote:
: Saturday was the start of the Wellbank festival of cycling and to kick
: it off was the Amulree Amble, 213 km of meanderings through the
: beautiful countryside of Fife and Perthshire. I gave that one a miss as
: it was a bit far and took on 'Owre the Howe', 113 km in Fife.
My pal had to work on saturday and my last road ride was similar to the
'Owre the Howe' route so I gave it a miss. Cycled to Braemar instead.
Blair.

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PhilO
Archived post

13 June 2005, 13:26 UTC #3

David Martin said:
Pictures from the day are at
http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk/~dmamartin/wellbank/ Unedited and
uncorrected, and most taken 'on the fly' with a camera that seems to be
misbehaving. Phil is the one on the recumbent.
..d
David, thanks for the photos - I never get to see myself so I was
surprised to see how extremely low I am. I have found a new
disadvantage to being that low - some of those guys we were with need
to invest in some new cycling shorts. A few pairs were getting a little
transparent. Well, I had to look at something when I couldn't see over
the hedges.
Very scenic route - although that long slow climb on the way back was
very deceptive. I thought I was at the top at 200' then at 300' but it
was almost 600' before we got there.
The Netherly 201km Cabrach Circuit does look good (27th August)
although Calbrach is 400m high. Oh well, it'll be fun coming down.
Good to meet you
PhilO

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David Martin
Archived post

13 June 2005, 13:59 UTC #4

PhilO said:
David Martin said:
Pictures from the day are at
http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk/~dmamartin/wellbank/ Unedited and
uncorrected, and most taken 'on the fly' with a camera that seems to be
misbehaving. Phil is the one on the recumbent.
..d
David, thanks for the photos - I never get to see myself so I was
surprised to see how extremely low I am. I have found a new
disadvantage to being that low - some of those guys we were with need
to invest in some new cycling shorts. A few pairs were getting a little
transparent. Well, I had to look at something when I couldn't see over
the hedges.
So that's why you were riding on the front most of the time..
When you passed us at balmullo, did you notice teh guy on the MTB
frantically hanging on to your tail.?
Quoted message said:
Very scenic route - although that long slow climb on the way back was
very deceptive. I thought I was at the top at 200' then at 300' but it
was almost 600' before we got there.
Which long slow climb? up to Wellbank? That wasn't as bad as I feared.
I worked out why my legs got so tired (apart from sprinting past to get
teh pics heading out of Newburgh.. It is because they all climb hills
fractionally faster than is comfortable for me (being overweight and
underfit) so I pushed to keep up. Had they been a bit faster I'd have
let them go on the hills and been in a bit better state when I got
back.
There were some nice descents though. The Newburgh road was very nice.
Might head out there one evening with a better camera and a sunset over
the Tay estuary.
Quoted message said:
The Netherly 201km Cabrach Circuit does look good (27th August)
although Calbrach is 400m high. Oh well, it'll be fun coming down.
I'll have to add a few more miles in my legs first..
...d

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David Martin
Archived post

13 June 2005, 13:59 UTC #5

PhilO said:
David Martin said:
Pictures from the day are at
http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk/~dmamartin/wellbank/ Unedited and
uncorrected, and most taken 'on the fly' with a camera that seems to be
misbehaving. Phil is the one on the recumbent.
..d
David, thanks for the photos - I never get to see myself so I was
surprised to see how extremely low I am. I have found a new
disadvantage to being that low - some of those guys we were with need
to invest in some new cycling shorts. A few pairs were getting a little
transparent. Well, I had to look at something when I couldn't see over
the hedges.
So that's why you were riding on the front most of the time..
When you passed us at balmullo, did you notice teh guy on the MTB
frantically hanging on to your tail.?
Quoted message said:
Very scenic route - although that long slow climb on the way back was
very deceptive. I thought I was at the top at 200' then at 300' but it
was almost 600' before we got there.
Which long slow climb? up to Wellbank? That wasn't as bad as I feared.
I worked out why my legs got so tired (apart from sprinting past to get
teh pics heading out of Newburgh.. It is because they all climb hills
fractionally faster than is comfortable for me (being overweight and
underfit) so I pushed to keep up. Had they been a bit faster I'd have
let them go on the hills and been in a bit better state when I got
back.
There were some nice descents though. The Newburgh road was very nice.
Might head out there one evening with a better camera and a sunset over
the Tay estuary.
Quoted message said:
The Netherly 201km Cabrach Circuit does look good (27th August)
although Calbrach is 400m high. Oh well, it'll be fun coming down.
I'll have to add a few more miles in my legs first..
...d

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Jon Senior
Archived post

15 June 2005, 23:21 UTC #6

David Martin said:
Have to do another EIHPV meet..
It's on the cards. When I manage to get a few days of genuinely free
time, I'll start looking at dates. The 2nd EIFHPV would definately be a
good thing.
Jon

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