Latest News : He’s lost it, he’s finally lost it
- Date
- 2010-09-15 21:20:16
- Description
- He’s lost it, he’s finally lost it – was the yells of the day Possibly this was true, or Colin G has a sadistic streak in him that nobody knew about, whatever the case this was a run an’ a half. The Scottish rock climbing fraternity have the famous ‘Etive Slabs’ whilst us cyclists have the ‘Talla Wall’ – even the mention of such sends shivers through the calves of many a tough roadie. As the purple clad gang clustered within the sleepy hamlet of Crawford, many started to off-load their bikes from the car, whilst Colin G brought out his crampons, ropes and climbing irons – this should have been an early indication as to what he had planned. The run started well, with the bunch heading out and into the dark depth of South Lanarkshire before touching Dumfriesshire and then on to the Border country. Bang on cue, Colin G’s weak-bladder required the first refreshment stop – this is turning into a common theme. The group turned and headed up the first climb of the day, the Devil’s Beef Tub, sticking together most of the way up. There defiantly was a lack of breakaways on the day; could it be due to the absence of Colin M? Once we gained height on the Tub, Andy turned form cyclist to ‘tour guide’ and the club run began to resemble an Urquhart Tour (not because of the blue-rinse brigade, although Mandy’s perm did have a blue tinge to it). “Did you know that a Covenanter jumped down the Tub to escape death, and that there is a van on its roof at the bottom” – however, I’m not sure if the two were related. Our resident Tour Guide then pointed out the source of the Tweed – a muddy field! It wasn’t long before we turned and headed on to the single-track road heading towards the ever-anticipated ‘Talla Wall’. By this point, legs were beginning to quiver and some in the group were getting itchy on the saddle – a sure sign that more chamois cream should have been applied. As we approached the now dreaded ‘Talla Wall’ Colin G’s absence from the front was noted – was this due to the potential lynching he was going to get? In front was the road (or wall) heading up, up and up! Looking at the road clinging on to the hillside it appeared to be laughing at us taunting and teasing like a schoolyard bully. Inevitably, the group split with Gary heading off up the climb showing no fear over the unknown. Colin G gave chase, with a pace, resembling a slug climbing up a wall, whilst the rest unpacked their climbing boots and started to walk. Alan Mc thought he was going to make it until he looked up and saw Colin G swaggering about on the road ahead, suffering from altitude sickness, but still on his bike to the end like Tommy Simpson. Mandy made no comment at the top as to the toughness of the climb – silence was a clear indication as to her thoughts. At the top, the flock were gathered-up for the road down to the café stop at St Mary’s Loch, with the commencement of the Urquhart Tour again. The group headed back towards Crawford through Moffat and up the climb towards the Beattock Summit. On the long drag the group split forming a distinct pattern at the front with Alan C and Gary leading up the climb. It wasn’t until the final 10 miles that the pace picked up, with the ‘Talla Wall’ now a distant memory, what is Colin G plotting next…!
Other News
Page 3 of 4, showing 20 records out of 69 total, starting on record 41, ending on 60| Id | Date | Title | Description | Actions |
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| 39 | Wed, Sep 15th 2010, 21:20 | He’s lost it, he’s finally lost it | He’s lost it, he’s finally lost it – was the yells of the day Possibly this was true, or Colin G has a sadistic streak in him that nobody knew about, whatever the case this was a run an’ a half. The Scottish rock climbing fraternity have the famous ‘Etive Slabs’ whilst us cyclists have the ‘Talla Wall’ – even the mention of such sends shivers through the calves of many a tough roadie. As the purple clad gang clustered within the sleepy hamlet of Crawford, many started to off-load their bikes from the car, whilst Colin G brought out his crampons, ropes and climbing irons – this should have been an early indication as to what he had planned. The run started well, with the bunch heading out and into the dark depth of South Lanarkshire before touching Dumfriesshire and then on to the Border country. Bang on cue, Colin G’s weak-bladder required the first refreshment stop – this is turning into a common theme. The group turned and headed up the first climb of the day, the Devil’s Beef Tub, sticking together most of the way up. There defiantly was a lack of breakaways on the day; could it be due to the absence of Colin M? Once we gained height on the Tub, Andy turned form cyclist to ‘tour guide’ and the club run began to resemble an Urquhart Tour (not because of the blue-rinse brigade, although Mandy’s perm did have a blue tinge to it). “Did you know that a Covenanter jumped down the Tub to escape death, and that there is a van on its roof at the bottom” – however, I’m not sure if the two were related. Our resident Tour Guide then pointed out the source of the Tweed – a muddy field! It wasn’t long before we turned and headed on to the single-track road heading towards the ever-anticipated ‘Talla Wall’. By this point, legs were beginning to quiver and some in the group were getting itchy on the saddle – a sure sign that more chamois cream should have been applied. As we approached the now dreaded ‘Talla Wall’ Colin G’s absence from the front was noted – was this due to the potential lynching he was going to get? In front was the road (or wall) heading up, up and up! Looking at the road clinging on to the hillside it appeared to be laughing at us taunting and teasing like a schoolyard bully. Inevitably, the group split with Gary heading off up the climb showing no fear over the unknown. Colin G gave chase, with a pace, resembling a slug climbing up a wall, whilst the rest unpacked their climbing boots and started to walk. Alan Mc thought he was going to make it until he looked up and saw Colin G swaggering about on the road ahead, suffering from altitude sickness, but still on his bike to the end like Tommy Simpson. Mandy made no comment at the top as to the toughness of the climb – silence was a clear indication as to her thoughts. At the top, the flock were gathered-up for the road down to the café stop at St Mary’s Loch, with the commencement of the Urquhart Tour again. The group headed back towards Crawford through Moffat and up the climb towards the Beattock Summit. On the long drag the group split forming a distinct pattern at the front with Alan C and Gary leading up the climb. It wasn’t until the final 10 miles that the pace picked up, with the ‘Talla Wall’ now a distant memory, what is Colin G plotting next…! | View Edit |
| 40 | Tue, Oct 5th 2010, 20:42 | Hill climb | The club's freewheel and hill climb competition is Sunday 10th October. We will meet at Auldhouse cross at 12PM, so plenty of time before hand to get a practice in :-) | View Edit |
| 42 | Mon, Oct 11th 2010, 20:00 | HILL CLIMB CHAMPION 2010 |
Congratulations to Colin Meikle in beating the other Colin, Gillespie by a mere 2 seconds to take the hill climb trophy. Was it the new bike that did it Colin???? Colin Gillespie can be consoled with his victory in the freewheel competition View the results Here |
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| 51 | Thu, Jan 6th 2011, 21:19 | January Events | Just a reminder that the first Club run of the year will be on Sunday 16th January. Usual meeting place at calderglen at 9.30Am. The January Winter 10 on the A77 has been postponed, it may be rescheduled so keep keep an eye on the forum for up to date details. The turbo sessions should also resume on Wednesday nights, if the weather is bad check the forum before setting off | View Edit |
| 58 | Sun, Apr 24th 2011, 22:21 | Kinross sportive | Report of the Kinross Sportive on the Blog page | View Edit |
| 35 | Mon, Aug 30th 2010, 20:22 | Meeting |
Just a quick run through of the meeting held on Thursday 26th August 1. Hill climb moved to 10th October 2. Glenmarnock 10 on 19th September, club riders welcome to support their event seeing they support ours. 3. Proposed ride and lunch to celbrate 75 years, full details to folllow. 4. Web pages that need to be filled ie club history etc to be completed
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| 55 | Sat, Feb 5th 2011, 21:21 | New News Page | I've changed the format of the news page to use a blog format. this will make it easy for others to add their new, race reports or anything club related. You can see the new blog by clicking on the news tab | View Edit |
| 76 | Tue, Jan 31st 2012, 22:57 | New training sessions | For those of you following the weekly training workouts from the comfort of your home/garage, Mandy has sent a new block of sessions which can be viewed on the news page. Enjoy! | View Edit |
| 77 | Tue, Jan 31st 2012, 22:57 | New training sessions | For those of you following the weekly training workouts from the comfort of your home/garage, Mandy has sent a new block of sessions which can be viewed on the news page. Enjoy! | View Edit |
| 5 | Tue, Feb 16th 2010, 22:02 | New Users To Website | Please check the user list to see if you have a profile, If so please edit it and complete the form. If you are not a club member feel free to register for full forum access | View Edit |
| 52 | Wed, Jan 12th 2011, 20:39 | Presentation Lunch |
The Club's annual presentation Lunch is on Sunday 6th February. The venue is the same as last year, the Eglinton Arms Hotel In Eaglesham. The cost for a 2 course lunch and coffee is £15.50 per person. David Turner has tickets for the event which will be available at the Wednesday training nights or contact him via the club's e mail. |
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| 78 | Sat, Feb 4th 2012, 19:53 | Presentation Lunch | It's that time of year again to honour all the hard graft done last year by club riders. The annual lunch is on Sunday 4th March at the Eglinton Arms in Eaglesham. The cost for the 2 course lunch with tea and coffee is £16 per person, the same as last year. This year will be an all ticket affair. Tickets will be available on a Wednesday evening or if you like send me a cheque at 2 Livingstone Crescent, Murray, East Kilbride G75 0ER and I will post them out to you. Alternatively send an e mail through the club website. I look forward to hearing from you all. David Turner Secretary. | View Edit |
| 44 | Thu, Oct 14th 2010, 21:45 | Read all about the latest Club run |
Hail, rain and sunshine, just a typical day in the Trossachs
A handful of the ‘Wet purple clad gang’ made it out on this month’s club run. We set off from the glorious setting of Stirling, the majestic Stirling Castle and Wallace Monument providing the perfect backdrop with the water-drenched skies looming above. Read the full story Here |
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| 25 | Thu, Jun 3rd 2010, 09:51 | Regular Friday night run | We plan to start up a regular Friday night run. The meeting point will be on the Strathaven Road at the top of the hill past the Auldhouse junction (i.e at the junction for the back road to Chapelton it's about 1 mile before Chapelton). First run will be on the 4 th June | View Edit |
| 27 | Thu, Jul 29th 2010, 17:22 | Return to the Normal Tues Course |
The Red Road has been repaired, it's not perfect but it should allow the Tuesday night TT to return to it's "normal" route, i.e. along to the Strathaven road. For anyone new or anyone who may be consufed the route can be found here, just zoom out to see the course |
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| 36 | Wed, Sep 1st 2010, 22:26 | Roabie Robertson 10 |
Just to show that St. Christies kept the best till last, there were some great times by club memebers who rode this event. The 10 took place down at Westferry and a perfect evening saw some very happy riders at the finish. Andy Wilson was the first club rider back with an almighty 25.25, yes that's right I said 25.25. Mike Devlin also did a 26.49 not bad considering he's 70 next year. Last but not least was Colin Meikle with a fantastic 24.27. Well done to all riders, that just leaves you all to participate in the Freuchie 50 to decide the club champion. |
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| 71 | Mon, Oct 31st 2011, 19:50 | Roller racing and training programs |
Visit the News Page to see Mandy's training program, so even if you can't make it on a Wednesday night you can follow a long at home, so there is no excuse! You can also read about the roller racing project which should make an appearance soon ! |
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| 29 | Wed, Aug 4th 2010, 13:23 | St Chris and the 3 Ferries A Fairy Tale |
 Why the frog I hear you, say… read on.
The purple clad of the St Chris were out in force round the roads of Argyll at the weekend, participating in the Club’s Sunday run round the 3-ferries. Ten bleary-eyed individuals arrived at the Car Park on the Clyde Coast early and eager to start the day’s adventure. In classic T de F style the first crash of the day occurred early on, in the Car Park. Simon went down hard, seconds after getting out of his car – let’s put it down to sheer exhaustion with the long drive and early start!
The bunch set off up the road to the first ferry, creating a ‘purple haze’ in their wake. Such was the early pace set we got the 9 am ferry over to Dunoon – then the fun began.
The bunch were together setting a good pace up Loch Eck, with only a slight drizzle in their face – I think it was actually the sweat from Colin G’s brow as he tried to hold in the first of his frequent toilet stops (old age catching up). It was not long before the lone-attacks started with Colin M doing his usual breakaways. This was the start of what was to become a game of cat and mouse, with the rest of us acting as the mouse – teasing Colin to chase, an especially interesting game played by Jim.
Just after Strachur, the bunch split, with Dave and Robert heading down Glendaruel to catch the earlier ferry over to Bute – all this so they could get first choice of the extremely large cakes on offer at the café stop (their cunning plan worked).
The bunch split again on the road to Otter Ferry, with the fast pace set by Colin M, whilst weak bladder-boy Colin G’s stops were becoming even more frequent. Eventually, the bunch regrouped just as we started to head back inland over the first and only major climb of the day – up and over the 1,000 feet climb of the Cruach na Tarbh (locally known as road to the frog).
The climb started in the usual manor, Colin M and Simon setting the initial pace, with Mandy and Andy bring up the rear. Andy did the gentlemanly thing, and eventually dropped Mandy as she continued over the climb and into her own fairy tale… In most such tales, the princess kisses the frog, but not our quiet, clean-mouthed Mandy. As a frog lay sunning itself by the side of the road, Mandy hit the poor thing with the ‘Boak’ – yep you heard right.
The bunch was together again, on the way to Colintraive, Jim was now in his element playing cat and mouse again. However, the game was brought to an abrupt end with Colin G heading off with a mile to go.
With the bunch heading over to the café in Bute, the lure of cakes was just too much for some, and the field was split again, chasing down those trying to get some early training for the club’s downhill event.
After the lunch stop, the bunch split with six heading round the Island on a 20 mile run to the ferry and the rest heading back to Rothesay, bow-legged and full bellied. The headwind picked-up on the road from Kingarth to Rothesay and the six were split in to groups of two ‘the sprinter and his lead-out man’. The last sprint of the day came between Andy, Jim, and three wee kids on their BMX’s. Jim feeling brave took them on just as we pulled round Bogany Point; it looked closer than Cav at the finish line. Jim using his head like any good lead-out man (Renshaw came to my mind, but plastic came to theirs) was determined to win. Unfortunately, there was no photo finish… but Jim’s up in court on Friday!
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| 31 | Thu, Aug 5th 2010, 13:30 | St Chris and the 3 Ferries A Fairy Tale | Read all about the latest Club Run Here View There are also a few pictures in the Gallery Gallery You'll notice that Vince is missing in the Club Run picture, if you want to see what he was up to look in Vince's Gallery | View Edit |
| 69 | Mon, Sep 26th 2011, 13:07 | Track Event | The club is trying to organise an introductory track event at Medowbank. Mandy has very kindly ofereed to organise this, currently Mandy needs some feedback on who would be interested in attending. See the forum for more details and let Mandy know if you'd be interested, it sounds like a great day out! | View Edit |