Two rides for December

We've got two rides planned for the coming month:

14th December : Normal monthly ride

Our next ride will be this coming Saturday (14th December). Andrew Marchant will be leading us on a trip round the bike paths in the north and west of the city, with a lunch stop in the Cramond area. It looks like a very pleasant route, with a few moderate hills but no other difficulties. The total distance will be 18 - 20 miles.

We'll meet at our usual gathering place at the top of Middle Meadow Walk in time for a 10.30 departure. We'll try to finish before dusk, but it might well be dark by the time you get home, so be sure to bring lights.

25th December : Short morning ride

For the third year running, we will be having a short ride on Christmas morning, finishing by 1 pm at the latest. This was a very popular event last year, with 21 riders turning up. I'll post more details of this ride nearer the time.

Tenth Anniversary T-shirts now available

Next year, 2014, is Edinburgh 20-Milers' 10th anniversary. To help mark the event, we have produced an attractive T-shirt with a specially-designed logo. If you have been on one our recent rides, you might already have seen one or two people wearing them. You're sure to see more in the months ahead.

The shirts are available for order now. Here are the details:

• Colour: Red
• Material: 100% pre-shrunk cotton
• Sizes: Small (36"), medium (40"), large (44"), extra large (48"), really extra large (52")
• Weight: 206 grams (based on large size)

The anniversary logo is embroidered onto the shirt, over the left breast.

These are really nice shirts, and excellent value at only £7 each.

You can order your shirt from either Ken, Logan or Mike on any of our rides. Alternatively, send a cheque or postal order to Ken Roxburgh, 30 Alemoor Crescent, Edinburgh EH7 6UJ. (Don't forget to mention your size.) As we have to pay for the shirts up front, we must ask you to let us have your payment at the time you place your order.

Please allow 2 - 3 weeks for delivery.

Our thanks go to everyone who has been involved with producing the shirts, including Ken, who has been liaising with the suppliers, Glenn, who produced the artwork, and the person (who asked not to be named here) who created the original design.

Note added 28/1/14: The same design is now also available as a sweatshirt, at £14. This is a polyester and cotton shirt, with long sleeves.

Where to take on food and drink on a bike ride

Over the years - both on our "official" rides and on ad hoc runs by members of our group - we have stopped at a vast number of eating places to take on food and refreshment. So for the benefit of anyone planning a ride of their own, we have now compiled a list of the pubs, cafés and other eateries where we have found the staff friendly and the food of an acceptable standard. The list should not be taken as an endorsement - after all, standards change over time - but these establishments have all served us well in the past, and we would be happy to visit them again in the future. (We've also taken care to exclude the minority of places where cyclists are clearly unwelcome.)

To view the list, click here.

Our thanks to Logan, who did most of the work of compiling and checking the list. Feel free to use the comment box to add your own suggestions or to flag any changes.

Chilly November ride around Edinburgh

More than 30 people came on today's ride - encouraged by the early sunshine and not daunted by the chill in the air. We set off to Leith in completely the opposite direction (such is the way of 20milers!) and made our way up through quiet roads and parks to Colinton, where we joined the Water of Leith for a long downhill ride to Roseburn, where we met the Rugby traffic starting to build. Around this time it started to rain (against all forecasts - most unsettling!) and this persisted most of the way to Leith (we joined the North Edinburgh Path Network at Roseburn) - we got to lunch very cold and very wet, but joyous at the realisation we'd gone all the way across the city with only about 100m of the trip on a road.

We locked up our bikes all over the newly renovated street (wider pavements, traffic calmed road) and enjoyed a warm and tasty lunch at Rock Salt. They coped with the arrival of about 30 wet and cold and muddy cyclists very efficiently!

After lunch we made our way through Leith Links, up the Lochend Path (joining up with pedestrians heading to the Hibs match this afternoon) and then out to Figgate Park and ultimately up the Innocent Railway Path and back to our starting point.


View Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh EH3 1AW in a larger map

Next ride is Saturday 14th December. Bring lights!

Leader: David
Map: Jim
Report: Livia

Forthcoming ride: November

Our next ride will be this coming Saturday (9th November). We'll be starting from our usual meeting spot at the top of Middle Meadow Walk, at 10.30. I hope you'll be able to join us.

One of the aims of our rides is to introduce you to useful cycling routes that you might not already know about. This month's run is no exception. Our leader, David Gilchrist, has mapped out a fascinating route around the city. Although we'll never be far from the city centre, I guarantee that there will be at least a few sections of the itinerary that will be new to you (this was certainly the case for those of us who accompanied David on his recce.)

The total distance will be 24 miles. There'll be a certain amount of climbing near the start, but definitely no killer hills this time. For the most part, we'll avoid main roads. In fact, quite a lot of the route will be on paths, but note that some of these might be rough and possibly muddy in parts. There will also be a couple of short flights of steps where we will have to dismount.

We'll have a café stop at lunchtime, or you can bring food for a picnic if you prefer. Note that the lunch stop will be a little later than usual, so adjust your appetites accordingly.

Lighting up

Now that the clocks have gone back, we encourage everyone to bring lights on all our rides - and to make sure they are in working order, with plenty of juice in the batteries. Although this week's ride is planned to end before dark, it's always possible that we'll be delayed, so make sure you have both front and rear lights with you - especially if you live some distance from the end point.

A few more points ...

Those of you who also enjoy EasyCycle's rides might like to know that the group now has its own website, courtesy of Alan Stalker.

On my own site, there's a new article, by David Wray, giving some useful tips for bike maintenance. This is aimed especially at the non-mechanically minded cyclist (of which I am one).

That's all for now. Keep warm, and happy cycling.

October's ride to East Lothian

After the nice weather last weekend, today's ride was in more autumnal weather - colder, mostly grey (although with tantalising patches of sun on distant hills) and the occasional spot of drizzle. This didn't stop 27 people turning up for the ride though.

We set off and headed through Holyrood Park (I had a brief mechanical emergency when the cable on my front brake slipped through the bolt and became effectively useless - thanks to Handy Alan and Andrew who helped me get it back in working order) and then Willowbrae and down through Mountcastle (crossing over the A1 - always a challenge with a big group) and then onto Fishwives Causeway and into Portobello. We went gently along the length of the Promenade - it's only recently that the "no cycling" signs have come down (even though it had long been agreed by the council that they were wrong) and "cycling OK" signs have gone up. There was a Doctor Bike van doing good business half the way along.

We then carried along the main route into Musselburgh, turning off at the harbour and then along the water front to the River Esk. On the far side of the river we continued on past the cadets' hut and found the large concrete arrow - apparently used in the war to line up bombers on training runs on targets in the Forth. Someone pointed out that the Germans weren't silly enough to place large blue arrows pointing towards the targets in the war... We also met a friendly dog who brought us a ball and invited us to throw it for them. Repeatedly.

Bombing target

A very short distance further on we made a slight detour to look at the ash lagoons (spoil from Cockenzie Power Station, now drying out and has vegetation starting to grow, so looks less of a moonscape than it used to). Back down the hill and turn left, we continued on a rough track along the side of Musselburgh racecourse, testing the skills of the people with skinny tyres.

Beside Musselburgh Racecourse

Near Prestonpans

In Prestonpans we turned right and started to climb (after a short break at the Award Winning Loos), passing under the railway line and over the A1. Most of us then took a rough-ish track East, parallel to the road, while some went up the hill and along the A199 into Tranent the "smooth" way. At the site of the battle of Prestonpans (there was an information board), we turned up the hill and into Tranent where we regrouped before the final climb up to Fa'side hill and a lovely (if rather murky) view of Edinburgh, the Pentlands, the Forth and Fife.

View from Fa'side hill

We then enjoyed a swift descent (caution and group size and occasional stretches of gravel tempered the speed slightly) down the hill to our lunch break at the Premier Inn near Whitecraig.

After lunch (which was very efficiently delivered), and a group photo we went down Cowpits Road and onto the River Esk path down to Musselburgh, where we retraced our route slightly along the coast, before taking the Brunstane Burn path (newly surfaced with tarmac for most of the route) and then joining Route 1 home.

In total it was about 27 miles - a bit longer than our normal distance, and it showed (we were back quite late, at about 5pm, even though we were spared any waits for punctures this time).

Fa'side hill from Musselburgh Racecourse

Leader: Glenn
Report: Livia


View 20milers to East Lothian Oct-13 in a larger map

20-Milers Extra to Linlithgow

Today's run was the last of our Extra rides for the summer. Under Julia's capable leadership, 17 of us headed west to Linlithgow - our first visit to that town as a group.

We started from Craigleith, following the familiar route to Cramond Brig, and then on to the Carlowrie Road and the railway path into Kirkliston. Continuing westward, the B9080 was busy with traffic, but we only had to put up with it for a mile or so. After branching off onto the lane towards Niddrie Castle, we stayed on quiet roads for the rest of the morning.

This was a delightful stretch of route: a little hilly, it's true, but with excellent views towards the Firth of Forth and beyond. At Wester Ochiltree, we turned north, and enjoyed a fast freewheel down to the main road at Champfleurie (see photo).

Linlithgow turned out to be an ideal lunch destination. Half a dozen of us commandeered a picnic table outside the palace, enjoying a superb view over the loch. The rest of the group headed for various cafés nearby.

For the return leg, we headed up to the canal basin, then took the towpath for a while, returning to the road at the Park Bistro. By now, the sun had come out. In fact, it was a surprisingly warm afternoon: 17C at one point - not bad for October.

At Philpstoun, most of the group turned north east, taking a scenic loop through the Hopetoun Estate and South Queensferry. But a few of us decided we wanted a quicker route home, so I led a break-away contingent at a fast-ish pace, making a bee-line towards Edinburgh via Winchburgh and Kirkliston.

In theory, my group should have got home quite a bit earlier than the main party. I don't know what went wrong. Either we weren't pedalling as fast as I thought, or the "slow" party was in fact moving at a very fast clip. But, to my embarrassment, the two groups converged just north of Cramond Brig. Ah, well ...

Apart from a puncture just before the end of the ride (the second one of the day), the rest of the run was uneventful. We got back to town at by about 4.30 pm, after cycling 35 miles or so on a very pleasant day. All in all, it was another successful outing.

Leader: Julia
Report and photo: Mike