Eaglesham Bike Ride - Sunday 26 April 2010

I had my first cycle on Tuesday with the 'cycling for softies group'.  It was a good mixed small bunch of cyclists and I had agreed to join some of them for a cycle on Sunday.  However I was watching the London Marathon under the misaaprehension that they might actually mention some of Scotland's best runners who were trying to get a qualifying time for the Comonwealth Games.  True, Andrew Lemoncello achieved the target and was interviewed as the first Brit home but there was no mention of the hopefuls such as Neil Renault and Jethro Lennox who narrowlly failed to achieve the qualifying time of under 2:18.

I was too late to get to the meeting place at TISO by 2pm and instead headed onto Pollokshaws Road and turned left.  I then notice Leanne Hamilton running along the road homeward bound after her work and decided to about turn and join her for a wee chat.  This meant that I was now heading south and I decided to head up towards the A77 road to Kilmarnock.  It's a gradual climb up from the city, along Ayr Road through Eastwood and Newton Mearns.  I stopped at the traffic lights beside a garage and noticed a cyclist sign indicating that Eaglesham was 4 miles.  I plumped for that route, presuming that it would be slightly down hill and and a little bit more scenic than the A77.

I was correct in that it was scenic but I was way off the mark in assuming just because it had a cyclist sign that it would be a flattish route.  As yopu can see from the pic, at some points it was a 9% uphill gradient!

Of course the good news is that what goes up must come down and the final route into the convservation village was downhill and scenic.  On another day I may be tempted to go into the village itself and maybe have a drink and something to eat in one of it's fine taverns.  However today I opted to turn left and head back towards Glasgow via Waterfoot.  I noticed on my left  hand side a field with a couple of black horses and unusual black sheep.  Have you any idea the number of different types of sheep you can get?  Well over one hundered different breeds!  I don't know which type these two were but they looked unusual to me.

I was now heading downhill and as I passed a speed sign in Waterfoot a smiling electronic face thanked me for travelling at 21 mph.  It was almost all downhill back into Glasgow along Cathcart and Homelea Road, passed the new Victoria Infirmary and onto Victoria Road, a quick stop to pick up my sunday paper and then home just befor the rain started.

Route

Distance: 26.3

Moving time: 1:21

Elevation gain: 166m

Calories: 944