Mike Hally

final training ride plus a dog on a motorbike!

Thursday 20th Aug Last main training ride, did the southern loop today, through Fintry and over the Crow Road - not as daunting as I'd been led to expect.  Best moment of the ride though was seeing a dog as pillion passenger on an oncoming motorbike, wearing goggles and soft helmet, apparently just sitting on the top box! Share

Latest training rides including the northern loop

Friday 14th Aug Slowly increasing my mileage, with local loops of just 16 miles, followed by the climb up Lomond Hill from Falkland, a loop totalling 26 miles each time.  Today i rode the whole northern loop of the sportive, a total of 54 miles including Dukes Pass, on a lovely day, with just a bit of a breeze.  Felt good, so looking forward to doing the same for the southern loop next week, followed of course by the full ride on the 30th - 100 miles will be quite a challenge, probably 9 hours or more in total, but looking forward to it! Share

First steps in preparation

Thursday 6th Aug In the last few days I have done similated rides on the Wahoo trainer, of the two major climbs on the 100-mile route, i.e. the Crow Road and Duke's Pass.  Both felt good, though the Crow Road's sustained sections of 10%-plus, even 15% in places, are certainly testing.  Also had my new road shoes, a present from my partner (who is also an avid cyclist), painstakingly set up by our bike-fitter.  Next up, my favourite local climb, out of Falkland to the top of Lomond Hill ... Share