Any hopes of a record turnout for the first 20 Milers ride of 2015 seemed to have been dashed by the previous night's strong winds and heavy rain. The forecast for more strong winds and the possibility of snow was not appealing. After an unpromising start, we managed to muster a total of 20, including several new faces
Before we had reached the canal at Leamington Bridge, the group had been buffeted by several strong gusts of wind, one of which blew a rider clean off her bike, fortunately without injury. The weather settled down for a while. Having crossed the tram tracks at Haymarket without incident, we stopped to regroup. At this point the sky went very dark and we were battered by a heavy shower of stinging sleet as we made our way towards the Roseburn Path and on to Silverknowes.
By the time we reached Silverknowes Esplanade the sun was shining down from a cloudless blue sky. This had all the makings of a typical Edinburgh four seasons in one day type of day, except it never got warm. The group had gradually become more and more spread out.
There were now two groups. We had already decided to abandon plans to go along the Western Harbour Breakwater near Newhaven Harbour as it was very exposed and we didn't fancy getting blown into the Forth. The first group stuck quite rigidly to the agreed route. But they were forced to take a diversion due to a path closure. This led them across a wet and slippery wooden boardwalk which resulted in a faller; fortunately without injury. The second group were somewhat lax in sticking to the agreed route and managed to arrive at the lunch stop in Leith first. We split between two venues for lunch.
Suitably warmed and fed, the two groups became one again as we headed back towards town via Portobello, the Magdalenes and the Innocent Railway. The skies became very grey and we finished the ride through sleety snow. Our only respite from it being our ride through the Innocent Tunnel.
Thanks to Mike for leading us on an interesting first ride of 2015; one which could so easily have fallen victim to the weather. Although the weather was far from ideal, it was considerably better than the forecast had suggested.