It’s all Steve’s fault.

Lets get that out of the way first. Reading his blog, he planted the seed of an idea (and a great idea….) – a Solstice Ride, leaving in darkness, returning in darkness and squeezing every single drop of riding time from the shortest day. I already had the day off to get in a ride before the festive onslaught, so it all fell into place fairly easily. Same with the route – head east via the usual haunts, loop round at Kirkcaldy, rest/food stop at my folks, back via the coastal path then various options depending on conditions, weather, fatigue. All pretty simple on paper but then these things always are….

After exiting the house at 8:21am in darkness, the first couple of hours were fine as I set out via the back of town trail and the 11 Minuter. The usual issues with woodfall (how can a man made trail with staff on site still have woodfall 2 weeks after a storm and almost every local natural trail be free of woodfall?) and people on foot ignoring the safety signs and walking up/down MTB specific trails but otherwise fine. Eastwards via the ROW network and Sunnyside Plantation. Hitting Kirkcaldy and Middleden, things changed. Things were a mess. Mud, clay, everything started to pack with anything loose. Supposedly armoured lines were anything but and I came off or came to a complete stop more than once. It didn’t make sense that I’d traversed a series of natural trails and only had issues with the man made stuff, but that’s another discussion….

A rest stop then westwards. Snaking through town, a brief encounter with the worst the towns drivers could throw at me then nipping through the old urban trails and onto the coast. The headwind was a bitch but the slimy trail, completely lacking in traction, was worse. The first half of the trail to Kinghorn was a mess and took an age but I got there in the end. A quick blast on the road then onwards to Aberdour and another stop plus food. Well, if the source of food had actually been open…. Time was getting on now and I was getting tired thanks to the wind and sections of tractionless slime. I really needed food now so decided to take a detour in Dalgety Bay and hit a shop, accidentally missing out Letham hill in the process. From there, I decided to head inland as the wind was getting silly and go north via Fordell. Again, unridable slime. Again, walking things I would normally ride easily….

Things were getting beyond a joke now, it was well after 2pm so I decided to head towards home and hit the doorstep loop and see where I ended up. It was nice to ride something where I had traction at last but I was burst. Reaching the end of the lower half of the A92, I noted that the car lights were on, the streetlamps starting to come on and that I was having issues pedaling, so the decision to bail was made. Well, after I had done one final section….

The final section was done and I was done in. 3:30pm, but it wasn’t exactly dark. It was getting that way though so I’m counting it as a valid Solstice Ride. Seven or so hours out, in crappy conditions. I suppose that’s okay.

Now, what should I do for the summer solstice?

Yes, sorry. Busy.

Riding a bit, but not enough. Definitely doing ‘stuff’ next year that needs training but not quite sure what yet. There’s a big internal debate going on at the moment about what to do. Suggestions are welcome.

“Training” has been hobbled by kit issues, motivation eroded by darkness, solitude, sabotage…….maybe “training” should wait until January…….there’s room for opinions in the comments.

Waiting on the new bike arriving, but that said, probably not riding it until winter is gone. Still….NEW BIKE.

Of course, I have the one after that (and one after that) picked out….

(Luckily they’re just framesets and come under a one-in, one out policy but still…. )

A window opened and the race was on. It was a Saturday, but late in the day for me. Real Life ™ meant no morning ride before breakfast but now it was on.

A quick change, a quick thank-you to the bike gods for giving me the prescience to have charged my lights up the night before and, after a brief pause to pick up something important, I was off. The pace was fast – a time limit has that effect and I wanted to be up the hill before dark and back down most of it too. Some of the descent down Benarty is sketchy enough in broad daylight but in low light or darkness, the potential for Very Bad Things is big.

So, a quick hammer round the 11-Minuter then through the back of the town and up to the start. Recently though, the GreenFleeces have put in a new set of paths between the edge of town and the trailhead, so I came off the road early and took the higher line and, after a steep wee climb, was spat out at the normal trailhead. Perhaps a path not entirely meant for us but this is Scotchland and we have rights here.

From there, it was up the usual steep fire road ascent (past some worrying looking felling work….) to the Fort viewpoint, across the contours then the hike-a-bike up to the treeline trail. The fading light made for some interesting lighting as I ascended.

Up the hike then back on the bike for the singletrack. Past a slightly confused walker/photographer type then over the fence onto the top trail.

Riding up the steepish climb from here, the light improved a bit, the top of the hill allowing the last rays of today’s sun to catch me and in no time I hit the first peak.

No time to waste though so I kept on and crossed the undulations towards the trig point and my final destination and the only planned pause of the ride. The thing I had picked up earlier was now needed and I carefully removed it from the backing and placed it in a carefully selected spot. I quiet moment was had and a pic taken for posterity. I like to think he would have liked the view….

Time was short, so it was around and back down the way I came, via the stairway descent (now with added sanitisation at the top thanks to “improvements” courtesy of those in Green) and Harron Hill. So, a fantastic ride and I like to think that I rode in a way that Chris would have appreciated. “We Were Gods…….”

Yes, I’ve been busy and lacking anything useful to say…..or maybe not wanting to talk about some things.

There will hopefully be stuff to talk about soon and in advance of that, a taster of something coming my way later this year, from the manufacturers website.