Fantastic though weird ride tonight.
It is clear and cold so the stars are out and the roads are icing over.
This much was apparent as I came down the hill past the hospital at
35mph and realised that 1. the road had not been salted and 2. the road
looked wet and could well be black ice. Judicious use of fear and I made
it round the roundabout.
I had decided to check out some new roads (ones I'd not ridden before)
in a quick loop. The first part was old hat, out past the Scottish Crop,
and up the deceptive climb to Longforgan (birthplace of Andrew Marr, BBC
political pundit), and under the A90. Life started to get interesting. I
was intending to head towards Carmichaels then divert off to Knapp, and
back under the A90, but in the glow of the lights missed the turn. A
quick retreat and I was back to where the corner cutting white road took
off. This was white for a reason, and very lumpy. Not all the lumps were
road as some went "crunch, squidge" as I rode over them. It was on this
narrow, fast downhill that my light decided it was going to randomly
switch off. Hmm.. must fix the battery connector at some point.
Much icy lumps and bumps later I get to Knapp, and it is a mostly
downhill roll to the A90. The stars are out, but with a tame glowworm
providing illumination, I don't have much time for stargazing.
Sufficient to see Orion striding mightily, Taurus, Sirius, and looking
back up the hill, the dragon and the big and little bear. Stunningly
clear away from the lights of the city.
Twiddle back past the prison and stop to see if I can make out the
comet. Just, or at least i could persuade myself that I could see it
with the naked eye.
And noting that my front light was pointing a bit closer to the tyre
than I would like.. the Space Grip is a bit wobbly.
Into Invergowrie. There is something about wearing new kit that means
silly things will happen. I'd npped into the LBS at lunchtime for a pair
of brake blocks and they had 10% off Altura, so I came out with a pair
of Winter Cruisers. Very nice and toasty they are too. So I come to the
Stop sign in Invergowrie and there is no traffic. So being a law abiding
cyclist I decide on the spur of the moment to track stand for a fraction
of a second at stop and then go. It all goes horribly wrong. Needless to
say I end up on my back with the bike upside down in the air above me, a
total inversion of position. Once I realised that todays story was
through the pear shaped window (for playschool or tikkabilla fans) I
made sure the handlebars hit first then rolled. With a crunching sound
from the back pocket as I went onto my back.
Fortunately there was nobody watching.
Rather than slog up the hill past the hospital I decided to try the
Dundee Green Circular route to go around the steepest bits of the hill.
Much to be had in the way of icy puddles and tyre sucking clay/gravel
path. And home. A little faster and a little further than Monday. A few
more like that and I'll start to feel quite fit.
...d