This coming Saturday: our first Extra of the summer

I'm pleased to announce that the first of this year's Extra rides will take place this coming Saturday (27th). For this ride, Alan has resurrected a route that we have only done once before, back in 2018. It promises to be a very pleasant run through a mixture of open countryside and quiet woodland.

Please keep in mind that our Extra rides are longer and faster than our usual 20-mile outings. They have an earlier start and a later finish, although we still aim for the same friendly atmosphere. You won't need to be super fit to join these rides, but if you haven't cycled for a while, or if you feel that you are below your normal fitness, you may prefer to give this one a miss, and to stick with our usual "second Saturday" runs instead.

Route

For this week's ride, we'll start by heading west to Kirkliston (where there will be a toilet break) and then to Winchburgh before turning north towards Abercorn and the coast. The return leg will take us through the Hopetoun Deer Park and South Queensferry.

The total distance will be about 32 miles. There will be more than a few moderate hills, especially in the morning, but nothing too onerous. There will be two rough stretches where we might have to dismount, but these will be quite short. The rest of the route will mainly follow paths and roads with reasonably good surfaces. But there will also be about a mile and a half on a main road that might be busy with traffic.

Lunch stop

For our lunch break, we'll stop at the New Hopetoun Garden Centre. This has a self-service café which offers a range of sandwiches, soup and other snacks, plus home-made cakes. It also has a terrace with picnic tables.

Time and place

Note that this ride will start at our alternative meeting place at Craigleith, not at Middle Meadow Walk. The meeting point is at the junction of the Roseburn, Blackhall and Telford Paths, next to the Craigleith Retail Park. If you need directions, see this page.

Note also that we will set out 15 minutes earlier than usual, at 10:15. I can't say for sure what time the ride will finish, but I think it's unlikely that we'll be back at Craigleith much before 16:00.

What if the weather's bad?

The ride will go ahead whatever the weather. Light rain or a chilly breeze won't put us off. But if conditions are particularly bad, we might opt for a shorter route, perhaps with a longer café stop, but with the same meeting time and place as above.

Finally, please remember to bring a spare inner tube if at all possible, plus whatever tools might be needed (if any) to remove your wheel in the event of a puncture.

Whether or not we see you on Saturday, our next standard ride will be on 10 June. I'll post more details of that event nearer the time.