All Alone In The Wilds

With the Easter long weekend approaching I decided to plan a lengthy and more challenging cycle. So full of enthusiasm I phoned Duff. Surely everyone gets time off at Easter. But there was to be bad news as the manic work schedule wouldn't allow it. This was not a good start. Trying not to let the loss of my good buddy get to me I decided I'm a respectable 30 years old man. I have my own house and car. Not to mention outdoor gardening broom. 

Things quickly fell into place as I found out both my sisters families would be in Tighnabruaich at the family holiday home. It was around 60 miles away and manageable. So I planned my route and decided to leave on Good Friday.

In the text and pictures below you can follow me on what was a journey full of fun and enjoyment.

As I awoke at 7.15 with a planned departure of 8 I  took my first pick. I can look much worse at 7.15.

So "take lots of pictures for the blog" I thought. "chart the whole journey. It'll make great reading" I thought. This would be the making of me!

Quick as a flash I was on my bike. This was my first opportunity to take a picture for the blog. Please see my first pictures below.

 This was going badly. Turned out things weren't as easy without my friend Duff. Heroically I showed my steely resolve and set off. It was raining but there was little wind and conditions were good.  I enjoy the freedom and peacefulness of cycling for miles and I was looking forward to the trip.

My first stop was Bridge of Weir. Below is my noble steed on what must surely be the Bridge of Weir.

 After a 5 minute stop, a mars bar and a sip of my water I set off. As I got to Kilmacolm I came across these warriors. They are excellent. I didn't want to stop as an old man with a beard was stopped. So, I took this pic on the hoof. There was a white warrior on the other side. Pip from work said it is the creation of some artist. I liked it.

 Rolling on I saw the peaks of the Port Glasgow castles (see below).

Port Glasgow seems to be known for its street artistry. Andy seems to be the YP number 1. I think FTP stands for friend to the people. What a nice place.

The pic below I think was after I passed the port glasgow/Greenock border. These derelict  houses didn't look so healthy and I wondered what I was cycling into.

  I was cycling into this great view!

Why people don't want to stay here is beyond me. The view is terrific. As I cycled on I must have seen at least 12 mattresses and 3 hoovers. This was basically free household goods for anyone who wants to come and pick them up. Unfortunately, I then missed a turning. I ended up on a street. Immediately I realised I should've seen a sign. As I turned round I noticed I was on the top street of Greenock. The houses didn't look so smiley. I looked at the street name it said Mackie Street but had been graffited with some genius wit. A little concerned I decided not to take a picture and head back to the path. I regretted this decision for.. In fact I still regret not taking a picture so I have recreated the scene below

There is no need for the y but it still made me laugh.

I felt the van above was worth a picture. If ever you need an egg in Greenock you should go to this bloke for the slogan alone. 

 I new the cycle track linked up with the ferry to Dunoon. I had taken the ferry many times as a youngster when I was going on holiday. However, the ferry I new was a big car ferry and this was just a passenger ferry. It definitely said Dunoon. That was good enough for me and I hopped on.

Rammed to capacity

I had travelled about 33 mainly flat miles. I new the next 26 mile section was to be more challenging. I cycled up hill for over ten miles and stopped at Loch Tarsan. See below

My video footage isn't super. I sound like a big slow ned.

 It was still raining and I saw no point in stopping. I did, however, have to stop twice on the steepest hill. My Dad said it's called ballachabuch or something like that. Anyway, great news was to follow as I reached the view point. I new this wasn't far from Tighnabruaich. I also new it was mainly down hill.

 I arrived at 1.45. The afternoon was super. We went out on the gnu with Ricky and the kids and later I went to the pub with my sisters.

As I left to go home the weather wasn't at its best. the scene below is the same as the viewpoint above. I think I was in a cloud.

I tried to take a picture of Ballachabuch to show its incredible gradient. This picture just doesn't do it justice.

Again I stopped at Loch Tarsan as I new it was mainly down hill from here on in. I checked my texts to see my Mum had text to say ferries were one per hour. It was 10.10am. I felt the 10.50 ferry was worth a try. It was roughly 11 miles away. I had a sporting chance. If I could keep the speedo above 16mph I could make it. I set off with jet heels. The wind was at my back and I flew down the hills.

Careering along the front towards Dunoon I was on target. I could see the boat. As I arrived I looked to go down the jetty only for a man to shout "you've missed it, next ones in an hour". I checked my watch and it was 10.49. I had misjudged my mileage and had done 13.5 since I stopped. Oh well, it was Sunday and I wasn't in a hurry. I videoed the ferry sailing off and decided to cycle two miles back to the car ferry. I should just've got it in the first place. 

 The music on the handlebar radio in the video was the Sunday morning sidewalk by Johnny Cash. It was pure coincidence that it was Sunday morning and I was on the sidewalk.

Below is the car ferry. The men were pleasant and friendly and asked where I had been. One man told me he used to go to Tighnabruaich in his mini and could only make it up balachabuch in reverse. We laughed and I decided this was a nicer ferry to be on anyway.

I continued at good speeds on the way home although the wind in my face slowed me down. All in this was a great trip and I realised again how much extra freedom I had since retiring from football in January. Hopefully these pages will be filled with Duff in the next update and the uberchallenge will continue with a full compliment and twice the fun.

Going loco in Kilmarnock and flying with the goose

So the Uberchallenge train is still well and truly on the tracks with John O'Groats the destination and the weekly run average being doubled thanks to British summer time (well for this week at least). Last Tuesday I met Duff after work in an effort to squeeze in a cycle before the sun went down. Below is a picture from our turning point on the back road from Dalry to Kilwinning. It was agreed that a Tuesday cycle would become a weekly addition to our training regime.

With the extra evening miles out the way we set about tearing up the cycle track again as we had Kilmarnock in our sites. I met Russell faster further Hamilton (remember him from previous blogs?) at the back of the Blair. See below

We then set off to get Duff. Little did we know he would be late. It turned out this was due to a last ditch portion of chicken nuggets (these were to play havoc with his stomach). Anyway, this was not time lost as myself and rusty fixed his breaks and I rigged up the future handlebar radio that gets us odd looks from passers by all over Ayrshire. Russell quickly set about testing his breaks in some style. See below and note the skid mark. In the other pic you should notice Duff's slick confident style as he powers round a corner in some style. This is a far cry from the public park cycle of October 2011.

 All was good as we set off with gusto and at high speeds. I could try and explain the video below. But words don't do our cycling euphoria justice. It's best to view it yourself

Before long we reached the end of the old Dalry to Kilmarnock railway line. You may remember this from a previous Uberblog when Duff's picture posing wasn't at it's greatest. So I decided to right this wrong. The first effort wasn't great but the second one was what I was looking for. Sixth time lucky!

 After this it was new ground as we ploughed on in search of "The Scheme". No one was sure but we thought  we may be in it. If any Uberchallenge followers would like to shed any light on this please do and we'll tick it off the Uber-to-do-list.

The Scheme?

As time went on we had turned and headed for home. There was still time for Duff to find this incredible way of upping his speed. He was like a cross between Dr Dolittle and Marti McFly on his hoverboard. He glided on for miles. Unbelievable stuff!!

With the wind beneath our wings we flew on only to find two tractors full of shreddies heading along the cycle path. See below. Unfortunately I wasn't exactly quick on the draw with the camera.

Below I have Duff walking. He likes to take any small opportunity to push his bike. In fact I pondered the Uberblog on my way home and reckoned if it wasn't for the sheer unlikeliness of Duff completing this challenge or any cycle for that matter this would just be another boring blog.

With another great 25 miles bagged we chatted, laughed and zoomed homeward. Here we are at the crossroads waving farewell. "Bye Russell" shouted Duff. "I bid you adieu my good man" replied Russell. Things were nice.

 So until next time it's farewell from them and farewell from me.

Summertime, Sunshine, Crocodiles And A Great Result

So, the clocks have gone forward and after fretting about whether my futuristic mobile telephone would reset the time or whether it would be up to me I realised that I would not be too devastated at sleeping in for what promised to be a hard slog of a cycle. It turns out I was up in time even though Ewan was early, due to the fact that both he and his future phone put his clock forward. We set off on our journey on a beautiful morning making sure that our rehydrating fuel was properly fastened to our bicycles.

We were stunned by the incredible day we had been blessed with and stopped a few times to get some lovely smug faced pictures taken to show just how delightful it was.

We powered on, mile after mile with the sun beating down on us but it just seemed to spur us on to try and surpass our previous personal best. Ewans handlebar radio kept us going and we even managed to belt out a couple of classics, much to the delight of the public who had flocked to the coast like Paisleyites to a Giro centre.

On we went, eating up the miles and despite being bumped into by an enormous bumble bee, or too use the Old English a Dumbledore, I didn't even fall off. On crossing a motorway (by bridge, safety first) I tried to coax passing motorists into honking their horns by using the age old sign to truckers to honk...

Not a peep, but did we let this dampen our spirits? NAY!!! On we went. Our next challenge was to negotiate the area that was submerged in floodwater and had previously been frozen (see previous blogs for my demise). My buns of steel recoiled in horror in memory of the dunt they took but as this is now summer they needn't have worried, not a puddle. After a while we decided to stop to fill our water bottles in what appeared to be a perfectly safe little swamp. We were deceived by the relative calmness and disaster was waiting just beneath the water.

As you can see from the previous picture I was initially taken by surprise by the crocodile that leaped out, murder blazing in its eyes, but quickly regaining my cool I managed to uppercut the croc which slinked off back into the Ayrshire undergrowth. Not the only time today an ugly green monster would be slayed by the boys in blue.

We carried on like the heroes we are and reached our destination of Prestwick beach where we enjoyed our rolls with ham AND garlic sausage, we like to mix things up and they went down a treat as every dog on the beach front eyed us with jealousy. Below is a shot of my trusty steed with the beach glimmering behind.

Heading back along the beachfront I had just enough time to get wound up by a snooty boot that was walking on the clearly designated cycle section of the vast path.

Against my better judgement I didn't run her over and settled on a snide comment as we cycled away, it made me feel a little better. We were now homeward bound but did stop off to take another few snaps showing just what a lovely day we had.

We saw more wildlife as well and despite our earlier brush with death (two including the big bumblebee) we stopped to say hello to a gaggle of ginormous horses.

The photo above of Ewan petting the Horse only came about because the horse thought it was getting fed and came over when something was put into his big feeding bath. 

This turned out to be our biggest cycle to date clocking up around an impressive 35miles and we hope you keep following us too and telling all your family and chums, I personally think you should send the blog address in an email to all your contacts, unless you are too scared?

As a bonus for all you Loyal Uberites here is a lovely little video

The Perfect Hat-trick

Hi Uberchallenge Fans,

                                   Here we are back again with the latest installment of what is sure to be the greatest story ever told.

It had been about 1 cycle in 3 weeks not championship training by any means but we are consistent.

So with our minds and bodies packed with enthusiasm and belief and our bags packed with cheap snacks from Morrisons we set off full of endeavour. Like two lions stalking a zebra we had Millport in our sights. But we have done Millport before on two occasions. This time we were breaking new barriers and going for a hat-trick of circulations.

Here is Duff below carb loading with all the goodness a Duff needs.

Below is a closer inspection 

 When I met Duff in the morning he showed me his new facial mask. "Sure to keep my face warm" he proclaimed. I was not impressed and reckoned he'd look like a football hooligan. As we set foot on Millport Duff donned the mask only for his spectacles to steam up. See below. An epic design flaw. It should surely be in the small print that this is unsuitable for 4 eyes. Maybe the small print was too small.

 Unperturbed by this we strode on with Duff laden with snacks and 3 litres of juice. Impressively we racked up 16 miles before stopping. Look at us zooming below. We were hitting a steady 11 mph even into the gailforce head on winds. But this did not take the wind out of our sales. Eh? This merely served to spur us on.

 Please also note Duff's bulging back pack.

 Next up we witnessed nature at its finest with a family of seals at the end of a jetty. Great moments like this make everything worthwhile. I decided it best to apply some commentary. I'm no Attenburgh but it was a  decent first shot

 Please note the great times on the crocodile rock below.

 First up was me then the sure footed Duff

 Two pictures of Duff below portray the real Duff and the fake happy Uberchallenger that he pretends to be in the occasional pic. Only joking the unhappy one is fake. Me and Duff have the bloody times of our lives! Classic times.

The snacks below were tasty. The wind chill was not but we smiled through with the stiff upper lip our country  needs.

 I think the pic below doesn't show the trip in its best light.

THIS VIDEO HOWEVER DOES! Bouyed by the efforts of cycling you can hear the joy in Duff's voice. I appreciate the wind blocks out some of the glory. Maybe we should get a boom or something. 

Back on terra firma we seek out our next quest.

Until next time keep on keeping on Uberchallenge followers