August 2011

1st: No more of that!

No more early morning commuting

depart	arrive	how	map
Servants' Quarters 07:35	Haymarket station 07:40	bike	Lenzie station to the Borg
Haymarket station 07:49	Lenzie station 08:25	train
Lenzie station 08:30	the office (aka the Borg) 08:50	bike
or
Servants' Quarters 07:35	Haymarket station 07:40	bike	Bishopbriggs station to the Borg
Haymarket station 07:49	Lenzie station 08:25	train
Lenzie station 08:30	Bishopbriggs station 08:35	train
Bishopbriggs station 08:35	the Borg 08:50	bike
or
Servants' Quarters 07:30	Haymarket station 07:45	walk
Haymarket station 07:49	Lenzie station 08:25	train
Lenzie station 08:30	Bishopbriggs station 08:35	train
Bishopbriggs station 08:35	bus-stop 08:40	walk
bus-stop 08:50 if you're lucky	Westerhill Road 08:55	bus
Westerhill road 08:50 if you're lucky	the Borg 09:00	walk

No more evening commuting

depart	arrive	how	map
the Borg 17:30	Croy station 18:30	bike	the Borg to Croy
Croy station 18:42	Haymarket station 19:25	train
Haymarket station 19:25	Servants' Quarters 19:35	bike
or
the Borg 17:30	Bishopbriggs station 17:50	bike	the Borg to Bishopbriggs station
Bishopbriggs station 17:53	Croy station 18:10	train
Croy station 18:12	Haymarket station 18:55	train
Haymarket station 18:55	Servants Quarters 19:05	bike
or
the Borg 17:20	Bishopbriggs station 17:50	walk
Bishopbriggs station 17:53	Croy station 18:10	train
Croy station 18:12	Haymarket station 18:55	train
Haymarket station 18:55	Servants' Quarters 19:15	crawl

1st: Servicing Vilior

Vilior's rear wheel had developed square balls so I thought I might as well give him a full service. I recalled most of what I needed to do but had forgotten most of the pratfalls. I don't think I'd ever cleaned out the bottom bracket – brown rusty gunk emerged. Thank goodness that Vilior has captive ball races.

6th: Loch Katrine

Jane and Ian organised a fab day cycling around Glasgow's water supply. We met at Loch Katrine just as the heavens opened but were soon on a boat enjoying patchy commentary, our company and the picnic Ian and Jane had brought. The boat deposited us and our bikes at Stronachlachar, leaving us 14 miles to cycle back to the pier. There is excellent tarmac but some fearsome slope-and-bend combinations.

Ian and Jane are jealous of
Elly's poncho

stack o' helmets

getting ready

info-board

Nikki's glow-in-
the-rain ankles

Jane

Ian

Janet being coy

info-board

Macgregor clan graveyard

the gang

I think this is where
water starts its journey
to Glasgow.

info-board

No, you may not do
anything because there
are golf buggies beyond
this point!

attempt to photograph
loch while cycling – not
particularly successful

attempt to photograph
road while cycling - a bit
more successful

Janet had chain problems
but Elly fixed them

info-board

looking back along the loch

islands in the loch

mountains beyond the loch

They're getting away!

They're getting away
blurrily!

mountains beyond the loch

catching up

I was dropping back again.

getting near the end
of the loch

trying to keep up
(movie)

moving along

monument to waterworks

replenishing the loch

nearly back at the pier

blurry boats

final info-board

11th: Obviousness

On the way to Worcester

16th: On the way back to Edinburgh

17th: An attempt to cycle to Glasgow

The wind was against me and I only got as far as Airdrie.

21st: Udderbelly

23rd: loading Vilior

Edinburgh Cycle Co-op were selling bike repair stands at half price.

27rd: Ian and Susan's birthday

27rd: At Taynuilt to watch Sannox play Oban

When Elly and I visited Arran earlier this year, we watched Sannox CC beat Doon Valley. Elly found that watching cricket wasn't so horrible after all. We then saw in the local paper that if Sannox won their next match – against Oban – the would win the Argull league. So we plotted to go and support and invited some friends to go with us. After a month of waiting to find out whether the match would be on, due to consistent foul weather, we got the nod from Sannox's fixtures secretary and so left Edinburgh horribly early for a four-hour train trip to Taynuilt. (Oban's ground is about 9 miles outside of the town.)

Several hours of scenic train travel later, we arrived at Taynuilt. The ground was only 3 minute's walk from the station – Taynuilt isn't big – just next to the golf course. We were settling down to watch when we were asked whether any of us could play because Sannox were one short. Ian volunteered, much to my relief. I've not held a bat since I was 13 and was useless then. Also, wearing glasses doesn't make for safe fielding!

Oban batted first. Here's my notes on their score and falls of wicket:

over	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
highlights	?	?	?	W 1 1 1 1	4	2	4	4 6 4	M	6 1 1	1 1 4	6 1	W 1 1	M	NB 6	2 1 1 1	4 1 1	1 NB	4 6 1	1 1 6
runs at end of over	1	8	5	4	27	29	23	47	47	55	61	68	70	70	77	82	88	90	101	109
over	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
highlights	1 1 6 2	2 4	4 LBW	M	1	4 1 1	1 4	1	1 4 C 1 1	2 1 2	4* 1 2	6 1 C	4 4 4 2	W LBW bye 2	1 1 2 2	2 4 1	1 2 1 C	B B	–	–
runs at end of over	119	125	129	129	130	136	141	142	149	154	161	168	182	185	191	198	202	202	–	–

? = highlights not recorded
* = opening batsman's 50

NB = no ball
M = maiden over

W = wicket fall: not recorded how
C = wicket fall: caught
B = wicket fall: bowled
LBW = wicket fall: leg before wicket

Fall of wicket	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
	22	68	129	147	168	182	182	202	202	202

During the above, there were two appeals for LBW in the 7th over, a near-catch on the boundary in the 10th over, a chance for caught and bowled in the 19th over and a shout of 'Is there a crane available?' when one of the Sannox close fielders slipped over.

This left Sannox with a lot to do, on a ground with a short boundary and a very slow and slippery outfield. Oban had two very fast but wild bowlers: inaccurate but rather intimidatory! Here's Sannox's reply, including the required run-rate.

over	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
highlights	1 1 1	1 2 1	1 4 1 C	LBW 2 NB 4 1 1 1	B	4 4	4 4 1	1 1 4	M	1 1	M	1 2	4 1	1 6 1 4	1 1 1 1	4 4 4	1 1 4	wide 1 1	wide 1	1 4
runs at end of over	3	7	13	23	23	31	40	46	46	48	48	51	56	68	72	84	90	93	95	100
runs required at end of over	200	196	190	180	180	172	163	157	157	155	155	152	147	135	131	119	113	110	108	103
run-rate required at end of over	5·13	5·16	5·14	5·00	5·14	5·06	4·94	4·91	5·06	5·17	5·34	5·43	5·44	5·19	5·24	4·96	4·91	5·00	5·14	5·15
over	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
highlights	C 1	1 2 C	B*	?	4 C	4 1	2	3 2	B 1 1 1	1	B	C	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
runs at end of over	101	104	104	109	113	118	120	125	128	129	129	129	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
runs required at end of over	102	99	99	94	90	85	83	78	75	74	74	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
run-rate required at end of over	5·37	5·50	5·82	5·88	6·00	6·07	6·38	6·50	6·82	7·40	8·22	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

? = highlights not recorded
* = Ian

M = maiden over

C = wicket fall: caught
B = wicket fall: bowled
LBW = wicket fall: leg before wicket

Fall of wicket	1	2	3	4	5	*6	7	8	9	10
	13	13	23	100	104	*104	113	125	129	129

So Sannox were beaten by 74 runs within 32 overs. Here's the photos I took that day.