Sports Centres and riding routes in/near Glasgow - need help

meanredspider

My son is in Glasgow Royal next week for a big (10-hour) op to remove a tumour. I'm going to be in there and Yorkhill for the two weeks that he's recovering.

I'm planning on taking my bike as a means of staying fit but also to pass the time during his op but I need some help as I don't know that area at all.

Firstly, is there a municiple sports centre or gym somewhere that I can get changed but, more importantly, showered when I get back? The location is more related to part 2 of my question

Where's a good ride or route? I'm thinking 40 miles or so maybe more - ideally somewhere out of town. The bike will be in the car in any case.

I'd really appreciate your help on this

Thx

Richard

glasgowbhoy

Sorry to hear about your son. I hope that all goes well and a speedy recovery.

Near Yorkhill you could use the Kelvin Hall sports centre to get changed and have a shower. The Sick Kids will also have changing/showers for parents who have come from a distance away and who are staying over.

At the Royal they may also have some provision but in terms of local sports centres you are a bit far away. The closest would be the swimming pool along at Whitehill in Dennistoun.

In terms of cycle routes from the west end near yorkhill the ride out to Loch Lomond and back would be about 40 miles. From the Royal you could head up past Bishopbriggs and out towards the campsies for some hills.

Drop me a PM as I may be about and could meet you after work one night next week and go for a spin. It's light now till 6pm. Could duck out early and get a couple of hours in before dark o'clock.

John

glasgowbhoy

if you are driving. I would suggest driving to Lennoxtown then doing the Crow Road, Balfron, Kippen and back over the crow road to Lennoxtown it's my main weekend training route. From my house it's 50 hilly miles, from Lennoxtown it's 40.

Will be doing this on Sat morning if you are down.

meanredspider

Thanks - appreciate the thoughts too.

Yorkhill is less of a problem because I know the hospital far too well already (4 months of regular visits for tests, chemo etc). It's the Royal I don't know - I think the ward we are on is far less set-up for parents etc. My plan is to drive to a sports centre anyway so it's location doesn't really matter - the closer to the bike route the better. A ride out to Loch Lomond sounds good - I'll take a look.

Not down until Monday but I'll give you a shout for an evening ride once I have a better idea of how everything shapes up. I have no idea how Charlie's going to feel after his op and what care and attention I'm going to need to give him.

-spider-

Glasgowbhoy wrote:

if you are driving. I would suggest driving to Lennoxtown then doing the Crow Road, Balfron, Kippen and back over the crow road to Lennoxtown it's my main weekend training route. From my house it's 50 hilly miles, from Lennoxtown it's 40.

Will be doing this on Sat morning if you are down.

Great route

I used to stay in Campsie Glen (the local customer for Big Al's bike shop) and did that route many times. Another option for more hills is to do the Crow then up by Carron Valley and back over the Tak' me doon road. Great stuff.

For both routes Bishopbriggs SC would give facilities and for the one via Balfron you could use Milngavie (Allander Sports Centre).


.
PS what is it with Spiders on the Black Isle - I'm near Culbokie

meanredspider

-spider- wrote:

Glasgowbhoy wrote:

if you are driving. I would suggest driving to Lennoxtown then doing the Crow Road, Balfron, Kippen and back over the crow road to Lennoxtown it's my main weekend training route. From my house it's 50 hilly miles, from Lennoxtown it's 40.

Will be doing this on Sat morning if you are down.

Great route

I used to stay in Campsie Glen (the local customer for Big Al's bike shop) and did that route many times. Another option for more hills is to do the Crow then up by Carron Valley and back over the Tak' me doon road. Great stuff.

For both routes Bishopbriggs SC would give facilities and for the one via Balfron you could use Milngavie (Allander Sports Centre).

Cool - will look those up.


.

-spider- wrote:

PS what is it with Spiders on the Black Isle - I'm near Culbokie

It must be Culbokie then because that's where I am too - Carn Mor (the A9 end of Culbokie)

beverick

Hi there. Firstly, I hope all's well with your son.

In general, Glasgow seems fairly flat especially if you follow the Clyde. We also found the traffic fairly tollerant of cycling when compared with west yorkshire when we were up there in September.

we found the following of use:

http://www.cycle-route.com/routes/Glasg ... es-15.html
http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residents/ ... d/Cycling/
and, especially:
http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/ ... dition.pdf

If you have time, and I'd assuming you're taking a car, drive out to Hamilton or Larkhall (10 miles or so from the centre) and then cycle the B7078 (off the A72).

It's about 25 miles to Abington services. The road is wide, quiet (even on weekdays) and reasonably well maintained. The scenery makes it well worth while and on a still day you can keep up a steady 15-17 mph no problem on a road bike.

That said, the best part of the route is from Abington to Moffat but you might not have enough time to drive out to Abington. Hope this helps.

Bob

meanredspider

Thanks Bob.

meanredspider

Had a great ride today, thanks. Just did Lennoxtown to Kippen and back but that was perfect. The Crow Rd is a good climb with good views from the top. The roads around Fintry are shocking though! All my fillings have fallen out - was glad I was on my Variado rather than my Cayo with its carbon wheels.

Will return again in a day or two

Son's op seems to have gone well - hoping to get to see him soon.

meanredspider

Had a great ride today, thanks. Just did Lennoxtown to Kippen and back but that was perfect. The Crow Rd is a good climb with good views from the top. The roads around Fintry are shocking though! All my fillings have fallen out - was glad I was on my Variado rather than my Cayo with its carbon wheels.

Will return again in a day or two

Son's op seems to have gone well - hoping to get to see him soon.

BlueScot

I hope all goes well with your son at the Royal.

I was about to warn you about the Fintry road surfaces (or lack of surface). The Fintry to Killearn road is really bad, as is the road up to the Carron reservoir. However, there are some nice runs in the area, depending on how far you want to go. The road out of Fintry to Kippen is quite good. From Lennoxtown you could even head to Strathblane and up to Drymen and beyond. Loch Katrine, Aberfoyle and the Dukes pass are really nice. Another option would be to drive out to, say, Newton Mearns and head down the A77 to Fenwick or Stewarton, back via the Windy Yett Road. Or you could do a loop via the Eaglesham moor road.
I have loads of routes stored on Bikeroutetoaster, lots of them starting in Lennoxtown. I could PM you the links if you wanted them.

glasgowbhoy

I'm off on Friday afternoon if you want to do a route out that way again?

Crapaud

BlueScot wrote:

I hope all goes well with your son at the Royal.

I was about to warn you about the Fintry road surfaces (or lack of surface). The Fintry to Killearn road is really bad, as is the road up to the Carron reservoir. However, there are some nice runs in the area, depending on how far you want to go. The road out of Fintry to Kippen is quite good. From Lennoxtown you could even head to Strathblane and up to Drymen and beyond. Loch Katrine, Aberfoyle and the Dukes pass are really nice. Another option would be to drive out to, say, Newton Mearns and head down the A77 to Fenwick or Stewarton, back via the Windy Yett Road. Or you could do a loop via the Eaglesham moor road.
I have loads of routes stored on Bikeroutetoaster, lots of them starting in Lennoxtown. I could PM you the links if you wanted them.

:idea: Or post them for us all to see? Curious minds would like to have a gander.

BlueScot

Or post them for us all to see? Curious minds would like to have a gander.

Oh dear, I didn't mean to imply that I've a great store of interesting routes They aren't that exciting, but handy for parking at Lennoxtown, Strathblane, Drymen or even Newton Mearns. I have a few others from my home in the west end to both north and south of the city, but the long list below is more than enough for just now!! Apologies for my lack of imagination or variety, and the repetition of the Crow Road!
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=103077
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=103089
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=106093
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=206088
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=151869
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=107616
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=185717
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=107608
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=152607
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=110396
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=156648

-spider-

meanredspider wrote:

Had a great ride today, thanks. Just did Lennoxtown to Kippen and back but that was perfect. The Crow Rd is a good climb with good views from the top. The roads around Fintry are shocking though! All my fillings have fallen out - was glad I was on my Variado rather than my Cayo with its carbon wheels.

Will return again in a day or two

Son's op seems to have gone well - hoping to get to see him soon.

Fintry is a lovely village but it will help when they get round to putting tarmac on the roads. If you hae more time at Fintry, you can either turn right and go along the side of the Carron Valley Reservoir and back over the hill road to Kilsyth or head towards Balfron and come back via Strathblane. The latter is quieter, the former more hills.

Great to hear the boy is doing well - We're all thinking of him.

-spider-

meanredspider wrote:

Thanks - appreciate the thoughts too.

Yorkhill is less of a problem because I know the hospital far too well already (4 months of regular visits for tests, chemo etc). It's the Royal I don't know - I think the ward we are on is far less set-up for parents etc. My plan is to drive to a sports centre anyway so it's location doesn't really matter - the closer to the bike route the better. A ride out to Loch Lomond sounds good - I'll take a look.

Not down until Monday but I'll give you a shout for an evening ride once I have a better idea of how everything shapes up. I have no idea how Charlie's going to feel after his op and what care and attention I'm going to need to give him.

My wife was in the Royal last year. The clinical care was excellent, the administration pretty awful. However, I'd take the clinical care everytime! Parking round the Royal is very poor. I'm sure Charlie will make a speedy recovery.

-spider-

BlueScot wrote:

Or post them for us all to see? Curious minds would like to have a gander.

Oh dear, I didn't mean to imply that I've a great store of interesting routes They aren't that exciting, but handy for parking at Lennoxtown, Strathblane, Drymen or even Newton Mearns. I have a few others from my home in the west end to both north and south of the city, but the long list below is more than enough for just now!! Apologies for my lack of imagination or variety, and the repetition of the Crow Road!
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=103077
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=103089
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=106093
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=206088
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=151869
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=107616
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=185717
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=107608
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=152607
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=110396
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=156648

Some nice routes there. Been on most of them at some point. Makes me want to back down in the area.

meanredspider

Glasgowbhoy wrote:

I'm off on Friday afternoon if you want to do a route out that way again?

Thanks. I really have no idea what I'm going to be doing though. If I do get out on Friday, it'll be a last- minute thing. I do appreciate the route though - it was exactly what I needed yesterday.

Thanks too, all, for the positive thoughts. Charlie seems to be doing well given the scale of the surgery.

Crapaud

-spider- wrote:

BlueScot wrote:

Or post them for us all to see? Curious minds would like to have a gander.

Oh dear, I didn't mean to imply that I've a great store of interesting routes They aren't that exciting, but handy for parking at Lennoxtown, Strathblane, Drymen or even Newton Mearns. I have a few others from my home in the west end to both north and south of the city, but the long list below is more than enough for just now!! Apologies for my lack of imagination or variety, and the repetition of the Crow Road!
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=103077
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=103089
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=106093
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=206088
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=151869
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=107616
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=185717
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=107608
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=152607
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=110396
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=156648

Some nice routes there. Been on most of them at some point. Makes me want to back down in the area.

+1

I might use a few over the summer. I couldn't find any elevation data though. Am I just being stupid or is there none?

BlueScot

Crapaud wrote:

I might use a few over the summer. I couldn't find any elevation data though. Am I just being stupid or is there none?

Should be available via the Summary tab at the top of the window.