i can do either day. i'm also going to be riding GT/Inners on friday 2nd if anyone is around.

ah, i know that shortcut up high riggs, that'd be a good option 🙂

cynical, i've never really had an issues with traffic, but friday night rush hour, 2 females on bikes and a white van man who wanted to get from the inside lane to the outside and then back again, acting like we were invisible put a different perspective on things. it wasn't just the one white van, there was another one nearer grassmarket that nearly pushed me into roadworks trying to get past. i don't mind so much when its light, but concerned on dark winter nights.

liking the gilmour place option so will give that a try for a few weeks as its not usually as bad as lower down. i'm just a bit concerned for when it gets darker and want to be comfortable with a route by then.

i have no issues with riding assertively, but its tricky when its you vs a delivery van who is in the wrong lane all the way round and forces his way into the right lane!

i might try the king stables option.

and yes druidh, i know its only a short distance but we tried riding side by side and then a bit more aggressively to see if it made a difference and it didn't. that stretch of road isn't good as people change lanes/in wrong lane etc etc. i was just interested to see if anyone could recommend a route that i hadn't thought of that might be better – had wondered about going up the road that takes you round the back of the castle, cutting onto george 4th bridge and down Victoria St – but that doesn't fix the Semple St/Lothian road bit

ha, doubt a SS will slow you down much Lee! 😀

looking forward to this, although i'm back on my hoss these days and anything rougher than the pentlands leaves me beaten up due to rubbish forks!

i'd love to do this, only problem is i'm in edinburgh and its a long long way to travel 🙁

count me in, have a car for that weekend, although i'm hoping to run one of the days so would be good to know in advance which day we're planning to ride.

i've not ridden gypsy glen before, what's it like?

iirc (i grew up there – lucky me!) there's only one bike shop in helensburgh, not sure of the name/if it hires out though.

there's a nice route from arrochar, will try to find the route for you

i did a 60km ride on Saturday. it was brilliant, got burnt, ran out of water, almost dry trails 🙂

sunday i was quite tired so took a gentle pootle to recover.

pics of the lakes looking great, not been there nearly enough this year.

Aracer, I do agree with what you are saying, I'm just not sure I want to do it as I guess I'd feel I was going backwards when I feel I'm getting better… It took around 2 years of road riding to get my av hr much lower, including 20hours ish a week at the start of the reason, and I don't know how that timescale would relate to running (mainly running is shorter and more intensive so likely to have a higher hr, whereas riding is longer/endurance with lower hr but if I race a shorter distance, my hr will be the same as a steady run) I think its hr that might be the issue – was thinking about this during my run at lunch going up a very long hill. I know I'm progressing and the fact my hr is the same now when I'm faster, but there's only around 20 beats to my max if I decide to push it going up hill. For what its worth, at 180odd, I feel pretty comfortable and can hold a normal conversation. I do worry a bit though that this is too much/intensive to put my body through for an hour, but if I feel comfortable with it…

Could it be that i just need to get used to running at a higher hr than riding and when i do, i will be able to run faster? (and does this mean i will be super fit on the bike ;-D )

Suspect during winter I will do more interval/treadmill stuff due to weather so that might help. I'm also aiming for a 1/2 marathon spring time ish next year.

well done. you know where i am, could do with some helps 🙂 xx

Thanks for the replies. To answer some questions, I've been running on and off for a few years, but have been running steadily since May. I run 2-3 times a week (depends how much I'm riding) I realise this isn't enough for race training but I'm not racing, just wondering how to increase my pace, plus I'm also mtb'ing/road riding/spinning/weights.

I run between 45mins and 1hr 15mins. The most I've ran so far has been 15k, and I felt fine with that. Every now and then I do sprint/intervals, usually on the treadmill – 15kph for 2 mins, 1 min recovery x 8. I've started to do this outside too, and occassionally do hill reps.

I can stick to a plan, but I over trained (on the road bike) in April, and I still hate road riding. I learnt a lot from that, but I'm less willing to stick to a plan in case I end up down the same route. Im trying to listen to my body instead.

As for my perceptions of how I feel – I've timed hill reps and my times drop the more I do. What I've been doing so far has helped my pace (in May when I started I was running at 10kph, and with my unstructured/informal/not really knowing what I'm doing training I'm now 2-3kph faster, plus able to run at 15kph for a while)

So I guess more running would help. How often should I be doing sprints/fartlek? I can't fit in more than 3 runs a week, as I want to keep the rest for riding. So maybe something like one longer steady run, one shorter faster paced, and one interval/sprint/fartlek?

Aracer – yes, I know it’s a stupid high hr, but I can't bring it down! It drops really quickly when I stop – my max is 201 (but that's as high as I've reached running, if I did a test, it might be higher) and I'm 29. I was wondering if in time it would decrease – when I started road riding, my hr was pretty high (av 170s, but is now usually 150-160). However, although my resting hr is low, it doesn't take much for it to shoot up, so we're probably talking walking pace to get it to something reasonable which isn't really what I want.

Hels – dgoab AT hotmail DOT com – thanks and sorry for the hijack 🙂

i've a serious dentist phobia and am going this afternoon for a check up – am petrified i will need a filling.

i've had lots of teeth out when I was younger – 12 in total, including all 4 wisdom teeth (too small a jaw for the number of teeth). The noise is the worst, and after getting 1 wisdom tooth out, i asked to be knocked out for the remaining 3 as i nearly passed out/was sick etc. My phobia is a result of a very bad experience getting my wisdom teeth out, and one I can't see me getting over.

*goes back to worrying about my apppointment this afternoon*

nope. entered last year but pulled out as i wasn't feeling well and needed to get better for my sportive the weekend after it. my team went though – we'd planned to train it over, but decided against it – although iirc, scotrail will let on more bikes on the day. my other half did it last year, he said it was very very busy/slow going, which is putting my off doing it.

The eating little and often seems to work – I'm only looking to lose a couple of kilos and have found this works quite well and most of the time it stops me reaching for the vending machine at 4pm. It also helps balance blood sugar. A good book to read is Anita Bean's food for fitness and she has another one on nutrition for exercise – both cover loosing weight, food, exercise etc. I've been doing a bit of reading and protein seems to be the way forward – keeps you full for longer, as well as helping with recovery so you can train harder.

Running makes me really hungry and not sure I notice a change in weight – my hr is higher than on a ride, but as I only run for an hour, I burn less calories than on a ride (given I usually ride for 3-4 hours)

Cut back on meat and eat more veggies/beans/pulses. Opt for tomato based sauces instead of creamy ones. Be careful of giving up chocolate/sweets and eating nuts/dried fruit instead – yes they are healthier for you, but can contain similar amounts of calories if you don't watch portion control. Lots of exercise and no booze.

I don't follow the fat burning / hr thing as I can't seem to stay in the hr zone needed to burn fat – and surely the more calories burnt during exercise the better, rather than forcing yourself to take it easy.

Mixing up training as well works well – I'm currently doing a mixture of running, mtb'ing, road riding, weights and spinning classes. I have days when I run and then ride, instead of just run or ride. I certainly feel more toned / slimer /clothes looser, even though the scales aren't showing much difference.

(Hels, if you check back on this thread, can you PM me – would like to ask you something but don't appear to have your email address…)

think i'm going to run tomorrow, and sunday ride at GT/Innerleithen. Sailing might be more appropriate after all the rain we've had though…

i've started to wear arm warmers and gilet most of the time i'm out riding now, and have thought about getting my longer shorts out too. am commuting in a base layer now (or full waterproofs, joy). what's really depressing is how dark it is at night – and i've yet to do any dry dusty night rides. bah. will be time to dig out the commuting lights soon too…don't like having to do that!

train. you'll get more than enough training riding with me ;-D

ditto what jojo says, just go and have fun, and take it easy. look forward to hearing about it/photos on fb 🙂

enjoy.

have you any other weaknesses in your leg/hip? i had a hip injury a few years back, caused by falling off my mtb onto a rock slab (ended up in hospital but that's another story!) it took 5 years to sort it out and i rode through the pain – acupuncture fixed it completely in 3 sessions. however, i found out during this time i had muscles imbalances as a result – the right leg was/is 75% stronger (though to look at my legs you can't tell) and my glutes were really weak. I've been at the gym twice a week for over a year now, trying to correct the imbalance but suspect i never will as my body is now used to it. The reason i'm asking is your comment "as the hip issue will keep making the adductor muscle over work" – can you not work on your hips to make them stronger/better?

i love blading. am amazed at the chaps i see in hyde park tackling obstacles etc at a decent speed. sadly, i'm not that good and don't do it very often so probably uncool. would love some lessons though, but going from edinburgh – london for blading lessons isn't that practical and it would look a bit stupid doing it in edinburgh.

not married but living with fiance, no kids and never will be. we both ride as much as we like/want to – me much more so than him atm. for me, its both days at the weekend, and usually gym/run/spinning/riding on Tuesdays, Weds and Thurs.

You may have helped me solve an ongoing problem, I'm so relieved to find someone with similar! My pain is at rib cage height as well. When it goes into spasm, it feels like someone is stabbing me in the back.

I was beginning to think I'd have to cut down on the cycling and do more running as my back hurts when I'm in a lent forward position (not so much on the mtb, but noticeable on my road bikes) Osteopath couldn't figure out what's causing it, but with the tightness I've been feeling recently, I was suspecting it was related to hips/pelvis/legs. I've not really noticed my abductor (yet) other than during my sports massage, but when I did notice it, I could feel it all the way into my hip. Mine is also on the left hand side, but really noticeable in my hip flexor. So that's why I decided to see a physio.

My physio appointment is on Tuesday, so I will post back up and let you know what he says – have been to him before and he's usually good, and I never get you'll have to give up running/biking from him. Stretching will take ages to work – some days I feel I can hardly stretch my hip flexors as they are so tight and it hurts when I do, but I'm carrying on. I'm going to take up a yoga class as well as carrying on with the 1-2-1 classes so I can get tailored stretches. I'm a huge fan of acupuncture for pain/tightness, and was going to ask my physio for this as I find it really works for me.

this is interesting. i've had back pain on and off for a while, and recently discovered during a sports massage that my left abductor is tight/sore. i'm going to see a physio about that/my back next week. i've been feeling really stiff/tight around hip/pelvis area along with the backpain. i had a 1-2-1 yoga class which gave me specific stretches to do for these areas which are helping. general stretching and massage is also good.

I got mine tested a few months ago and it was 4.1 (gloat ;-D) anyway, although I have no experience of this, my physio brought his level down through diet alone – using the flora active stuff etc, so it can be done. His was 6 something and is now down to 5 something.

Eat more veg, fish, cut down on meat, butter etc. Once you have let your taste buds adjust, I bet you will find fish will taste much better on its own without the cream sauce. Its got to be better to try to do it by diet rather than the statins surely?

When I started riding, I switched to spds pretty quickly and then went backwards with my riding as I was worried/thinking about unclipping. I decided to put spds on my commuter so I would get used to it. It worked, but took a bit of time with some nervous moments. Now I hate riding anything if I'm not clipped in. I also started using knee/shin pads as I couldn't corner and would fall off all the time. Have ditched the pads (although I'm still not a fan of switchbacks) IMO, best thing to increase confidence is general time on the bike, just in terms of feeling confident on the bike, knowing how it handles etc. I also took some time off the mtb, and went road riding instead – a break from mtb'ing helped put some of my fears into perspective and I came back with better balance / able to track stand for longer after road riding. I did a skills day but didn't really learn much – I was willing to try new things, and one of only a couple of woman on the course who actually tried anyhting, the rest just watched.

Is there one thing in particular that scares you, or is it just in general? If its general, not sure what to suggest, but if its specific things, then a skills day might help.

oh, and having read stumpy01's post, agree about the location – you need to start on easy/fun trails and learn the skills/build up confidence/start having fun before progressing.

i seem to be getting worse, not better 🙁 i've not been following it to the letter, but twice a week doing 4 x 15ish. normally, i could do 4 x 15. now i can do a 15, 12, 10, 12. sometimes i can manage a couple of other 10s in between general gym stuff but generally seem to be getting weaker not stronger. i suppose i should be happy in that i can do more press ups that most women i know, and most of the blokes i see in the gym, but want to feel i'm getting better, not worse, and i want to get to the 100!

i'm the same height and i ride a 15.5 Cove Hustler. The kona FS's are also nice – my kona hardtail is 16" but fits really well.

couldn't get to fit at all, never mind rub on the tyre! i shall double check tonight and let you know.

I'm pretty sure they are the ones I've got – narrow, 700cc – 35mm. But they don't fit. I'll need to double check when I go home tonight, but 99% sure it’s the same ones. I don't know why they don't fit.

have dropped the council an email, so hopefully will hear something back soon. thanks for the help 🙂

Al/Mark, do you have any suggestions for mudguards for my roadie commuter? When i bought it, they fitted mudguards, but after a few months, the rear one snapped. I bought ones from CRC but they don't fit, despite being the right size – think the mounts are in a different place. Its full length ones i'm after. Full length are a must for commuting…

oooh, must try this. i love malt loaf.

Yay 🙂

Okay. The section of cycle path is by murrayfield. I don't know the name of the section of path, so here's a description. If you come along Baird drive (just off balgreen road) and head towards Murrayfield. Cross the bridge and turn right and go under the bridge. Just past the bridge is the tree – its still standing but leaning right over the path. The rest of the path takes you to the junction at westfield road/stevenson road and it pretty built up with barbed wire sections on the top of the wall. This section is pretty over grown.

Thanks 🙂 shall i copy it to the email address as well?

cheers mark, will do. just thought it would be easier if someone had a contact. no-one in works appears to have a contact oddly enough. meantime i can practise my skillz trying to ride underneath the tree (til it completely falls down, probably on me!) that section could also do with some general tidying up – its so over grown with nettles and weeds that it makes it tricky to pass walkers/other riders without getting stung or wet!

go for it. once you have the baby you won't be able to consider such options in the future.

I want that rain poncho!!

I'm a member of Virgin. It is pricey, but if you use it enough, its okay. I currently do weights x 2 a week, spinning x 2, and run from the gym as well. In winter I use it more than that. Sadly not had much of a summer, so have kept using it pretty much the same amount. Plus there's the nice things like steam rooms and saunas as well. Its also really close to me which is handy. There's also the added bonus of being able to try other stuff like yoga and punch. Spinning is a great alternative to turbo training when the weathers bad.

Previously I was a member at edinburgh leisure.

I don't think I could give up my membership now, been going to a gym for around the last 8 years, and the benefits from being stronger from weights have only helped my riding.

A cheaper / alternative option might be to try out some of the british military fitness classes. IMO, they look really good and I've been meaning to take up their offer of a free class to try it out for ages. But downside is its outdoors – but maybe knowing you've paid and others will be there might help?

i saw it in the cinema. thought it was good, but not as good as i was expecting.

nicely done though, and the part of sweden that is filmed in comes across as such a dreary place!

hmm i could just about make it at a push – i'm at work and would have to rush home etc to get bike. i'm not sure, i'd like too, but…

so where is the meeting place? i don't know paisley that well…