The purpose of our new club is twofold — to meet together in this form of exercise, at various levels, and to invite our friends to join us for events.
Our first Event was the Inaugural Ride on 18th August. This was an evening ride of about 25 miles, from Insch to Kennethmont, Keig, Auchleven and back to Insch. The ride was for those who could manage 11+ miles per hour and were happy to climb hills.
Six members wanted to take part but three were unable to, and we ended up with Graeme, Philip and Philip’s son-in-law, Pete.
The weather was kind, though with somewhat of a headwind at times. The first section, to Clatt via Kennethmont went easily, bowling along at between 12 and 16 mph. Then we faced the cruncher! Suie Hill starts just beyond Clatt and rises 500ft in 1 mile. The gradient varies between 10% and 20%!
Pete and Graeme set off well, though Pete found the pace rather hot as the climb steepened. Philip followed at a gentleman’s pace, having taken a ‘power gel’ at the foot of the climb. His time was just 15 minutes. Graeme won the points for the King of the Mountains classification.
From there we swooped down towards the Don Valley and turned left to Keig, left again, over the second major hill to Auchleven/Premnay, and so back to Insch.
With the three of us going up the hill together, Philip tactically (sneakily?) asked, about 100 metres from the top, whether the top was at the next bend. Graeme gullibly replied ‘Yes’, and Philip immediately accelerated and sprinted, to gain the second summit points, equalling Graeme as ‘King of the Mountains’! However, Graeme gets the bottle of wine for the prize, as is right. We want no sneaky guys in the Club!
Statistics: 24.61 miles in 1 hr 55 mins, average speed 12.8, maximum speed 37.1 mph. Total feet of ascent, 1850.
The next event is likely to be a Family Ride, or a short Coffee and Cake Ride, where we go in sedate fashion to an appropriate caff, and return.
Philip is also working on another real tester, just for those who are stupid enough to like hilly routes!
