Fair-weather riding is a luxury reserved for Sunday afternoons and wide boulevards. Those who ride in foul weather – be it cold, wet, or inordinately hot – are members of a special club of riders who, on the morning of a big ride, pull back the curtain to check the weather and, upon seeing rain falling from the skies, allow a wry smile to spread across their face. This is a rider who loves the work.
For those who are not familiar with 'the rules' it is a list of 95 simple rules established by the "Keepers of the Cog' - Velominati to ensure basic cycling etiquette is upheld. Rule number 9 applied to our group of four who turned out for the first official Architects in Lycra training ride on Saturday.
An eager Michael Jarvis and a slightly 'tired' Mark Kilkenny joined myself and Neal Whittaker for a 100km ride through Ayrshire. Our route took us South out of Glasgow towards Newton Mearns and onto Kilmaurs, and rather unfortunately in the opposite direction of a hefty prevailing wind.
From Kilmaurs we headed north to Stewarton and west to Beith. The Canny Man in Lugton provided a much needed coffee stop and some respite from the Scottish elements which we had been battling now for close to three hours. The subject of Architecture was deliberately avoided as we enjoyed the comfortable surroundings of the Canny Man, instead stories of previous cycling adventures were exchanged (Michael J was slightly concerned to hear that both Neal and Mark have previously cycled across the USA). The roads back to Glasgow via Stewarton were very enjoyable, largely because it was downhill and the 20mph wind we were all cursing when heading south was now pushing us along nicely.
A good first training ride as a group but the distance covered and conditions we endured made the difficulty of the challenge we are about to undertake very real. It is great to see more donations being made and at the time of writing we have raised £960.00 for the Architects Benevolent Society. It would be great to break through the £1000 mark before our next group ride this weekend.
Michael Dougall
GIA President
- Donations can be made at www.justgiving.com/RIAStoRIBA
- RIAS to RIBA is being supported by Gerflor (www.gerflor.co.uk) and MYB Textiles (www.mybtextiles.com)
- All 95 Rules can be found at www.velominati.com/the-rules/
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| Neal, Mark and Michael J |
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