Weekend

 A mainly bike weekend! 

Back to the vintage bike collection to pay for last week's purchases, I thought....Pirate found a "few" more bits..and a couple of pairs of wheels..... I need to sell a lot more bike bits!! He has been asked to concentrate on what he has and rein it in a bit Please!!!

On the other hand it does give him a purpose and focus in these times.

We returned to near Irvine, to a country park ..being a holiday weekend the place was heaving! We managed to find a place to park away from the crowds and went for a ride on the paths, looking for the way northwards...wrong choice made and we got a bit muddy...and headed back to the coast and a ride back up to Ardrossan..where there happens to be a good gelateria!

Back to the park, to find that it was the hq for a ten mile cycling time trial. Riders go off at minute intervals on a set course. Now there is no held start...and no gathering afterwards.

Results get posted on line. We watched a few of our friends and clubmates go , before going home...and returning to watch some of the next morning's twenty-five mile trial.

Over to park at Irvine Harbour, and after coffee..with cake of course...another ride, this time aiming to follow National Cycle Route 7 to Kilbirnie.

Disaster after only three miles..a steep short link path with a water and mud covered bend... obviously been like that for a while as the algae on the path led to my wheels sliding away and I hit the deck and slid myself! 

A while to sit on a wall. Then proceed, a little bumped and scraped but otherwise ok.

The route is a mix of purpose built cycle path, small roads and cycle path on old railways.

Apparently the best route which follows the old goods line was blocked by a local farmer..and he didn't then and still doesn't own the old trackbed. After Kilwinning and a section on the old goods line, the route follows lanes and small roads. A nice ride, which unfortunately came to a halt at the bottom of the hill before Kilbirnie. Here it appears that much of a small bridge was washed away in one of the recent storms.

When the sign said no through road for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians..they meant it!

No choice but to retrace our wheeltracks, but even without reaching Kilbirnie we did nearly 25 miles.