THE New Year has already seen a lot of activity from Fullarton Wheelers as some additional ‘holiday’ rides have added to the usual busy winter programme.

On New Year’s Day a hardy band of nine wheelers braced the icy temperatures and roads for a shorter club run. With a slightly later start time than normal the group kept to main roads to avoid the ice. They set out from the Gailes on a long loop around the north of Irvine before switching back through Dreghorn and Drybridge and continuing towards Dundonald. After much debate the group decided that this was not a day for the hill and took the flat road to Troon.

Here they took to the beach to see fellow wheeler, Dave Walker, swap his lycra for swimming shorts as he took a New Year’s Day dip in the sea. This was enough to drive the cyclists to a café for a late brunch after which they headed their different ways home – most covered a comfortable, but cold, 25 to 30 miles

The following day climbing was in order as a group of half a dozen Wheelers headed south to take on the Ayrshire alps.

Starting from Irvine the group headed through Prestwick to Ayr before taking the rolling road to Maybole. From here they set out to Wallacetown before taking on the 1.4 mile climb with an average gradient of over seven per cent that took them back towards the sea. After taking some refreshments they headed back on the Pennyglen road to Ayr and returning to Irvine. Most riders had covered over 60 miles and climbed over 2,700 feet by the end of the day.

On Saturday FWCC put a strong team into the Scottish Cycling “Super Saturday” Track Racing Event at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.

Cheered on by a big contingent of Club members who had headed up after the usual Largs run, the team of Sean Barron, Steve Donaldson, Darren Kean, Derek Skinner, Stevie Watters and the Club;s star youth rider Zoe Watters competed in different races, including a Course des Primes, a Scratch Race, a Points Race, a Keirin and, the always popular, Elimination Race.

The Fullarton riders put in strong performance across all their races but it was the points races that seemed to bring out the best in them. In his category, Skinner got pulses racing and the crowd cheering as he animated the race by going for a long solo break and successfully holding on to claim five points for the sprint, eventually taking fourth place in the race.

But it was Darren Kean who took the biggest honour for the Club after winning the points race in his class. Once again the yellow colours of FWCC were flying round the track.

On Sunday a fantastic turnout of 22 Wheelers set out from Irvine Cross on the usual Sunday run. At the request of one of the club’s youth members climbing was again on the menu. This week the ride headed north going quickly through Kilwinning, the three Towns and West Kilbride before making the right turn and Fairlie and climbing the moor road. The severity of the early gradient and low cloud meant that the riders were soon spread out and a succession of red rear lights is all that could be seen making their way up the hill. A broken chain for one of the riders meant that the group split there.

But both groups made their way down to Dalry, before cutting across to Torranyard and the usual stop in the Rendezvous Café in Kilmaurs.

Here the two groups re-joined each other for some much-wanted warm drinks and food. After the stop the riders headed home with most having completed between 40 and 50 miles.