Conquering the Col De Carnock

The Fit One rocked up to the house at the back of six tonight. Changed and ready to roll out on an extended Saline loop.

It was the best day of the year with the car temperature peaking at 27deg - it was cooler at 6pm but still just fantastic. You can imagine why the europeans from warmer climbs enjoy biking so much because tonight was a joy. If the bigman had been with us even he might have donned short sleeves and no gillet! But then again maybe not....

We set off and climbed up to Saline, the easterly wind blew us down to Forest Mill. It was magic - a warm breeze and we were flying. We turned up to Clackmannan chatting away, ignoring the speed and enjoying good craic. We were surprised that we were moving as fast as we were giving we weren't really trying.

When we turned into the wind it didn't seem so bad so we kept the speed on all the way back to Cairneyhill via a new loop along the coast that The Fit One knew. I'd not been that way before but it was really scenic and a nice alternative to the main road.

Through Cairneyhill we turned to face the Col. The Fit One nervously flicked at his gears. He cycles with a 54 big ring on the front - a serious big ring. The guy in Hardies bike shop told us recently that you would need to be travelling at over 40mph to need more than a 50 big ring. So you can imagine the speed the Fit One can generate when on the his big ring flat out.

Anyway, back to the gears. His front derailleur has been jamming and he's not been able to change down to the small front climbing ring. The col was getting closer. The Fit One looked over and said 'I'll just have to do it on the big ring' - I knew that if he did this feat he would become a local legend but kept my mouth shut....

The col was approaching, the big ring was straining and The Fit One was flying.

At the bottom of the hill you can look up and see the white house at the top of the hill - it seems a long way - with this in site I heard a crunch and a yee ha from behind - the Fit One had changed gears.

We turned over the cycle path and crossed the bridge, took the final turn and started the climb. A pretend 4 wheel drive appeared behind - you know they call them Freelanders - for people that think they want a four wheel drive but end up with a big car. The car squeezed past the Fit One and then drove up behind me. I had decided to rip up the hill and was kicking the bike from side to side taking up a fair amount of road. Next thing I knew there was a blast of the horn and the guys pushed past forcing me into the grass verge - I was really hacked off - if he'd waited it would have cost him all of 30 seconds but he couldn't wait. At one point I thought I might get hit by the car but fortunately he missed.

Anyway The Fit One managed to share a word of encouragement with him and he had his window open so hopefully he understood a concise and clear message about his driving skills.....

We reached the top and glided back down to Carnock. It had been a fab ride 45km in 1:30 - a good average speed with a few decent climbs in excellent conditions with good company.

Hopefully out again tomorrow......