First cycle of Winter

Date: 12th February 2012
Length of route: 11.9 miles/19.2km
Route: Old Aberdeen-Bridge of Don-Danestone-Woodside-Kittybrewster-Aberdeen-Old Aberdeen
Difficulty level: Easy

I've just returned from my first proper cycling trip of the Winter, and my first since I got my new bike up here in Aberdeen. I haven't written, or ridden for a while, so I'm a bit out of it, so the main purpose of today's ride was just to get back into it, and was decided pretty much on the spur of the moment as something to do on a spare Sunday. Anyhow, I ended up really enjoying it.

Started off by leaving my flat in Old Aberdeen and heading North down Don Street past Seaton Park and heading across the river and West towards Danestone, where I stopped off at a rather large Tesco, that happened to be a great hidden wonder. Inside was not only a supermarket, but a travel agents and a health food/nutritionists store selling everything the travelling cyclist could possibly want - protein flapjacks, bars, energy drinks, soya drinks, you name it. After buying a few supplies in here, I carried on south, back over the river and headed back down into Central Aberdeen.

This was easily the best part of the journey, and one I hadn't intended to spend as much time on as I did, but the long straight downhill stretches made for wonderful riding, and apart from a few traffic lights towards the centre, I had a solid 25 minutes of riding without any real stopping or slowing down. With it being Sunday, the roads were not overly busy and I could ride at my leisure. On some of these roads, I discovered that my bike, although hardly one of the most expensive models (it was £325 from Rutland Cycles, whom I highly recommend), can corner really quite well, however the corners in Aberdeen are certainly far from the most trying, I was very comfortable with the way my bike handled them.

After heading out of Central Aberdeen once again, I decided to make a circular tour and took the coastal road back North and then West back to my flat. As today was a very warm day (for the time of year and for Aberdeen!), and there was only a light breeze, cycling along the coastal road was also a real pleasure, with the sea on my right and no major obstacles to constant, consistent cycling. The only issue was the roads are pretty much ready for resurfacing in this area, so I had to simply avoid the cracks occasionally.

All in all, today was a very successful ride, which left me feeling refreshed but not too exhausted, and was purely about getting back into cycling and cycling for cycling's sake - purely for the enjoyment. As such, there are no photos this time, but as I hope to get back into it once again (if the weather keeps up), then I shall hopefully get out a bit further next time and have something decent to show for it.


For full route information:
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/68834014