It’s that time of the year again – weather warnings, leaves falling, and the nights drawing in. But that shouldn’t mean an end to bike rides – indeed, now’s the time to celebrate autumn with two of our favourite rides of the year!
On Wednesday 25th October we’re joining forces with the Wild Goose Festival for our Wild Goose Chase ride, an exploration of the wildlife that makes its winter home along the Nith Estuary with experts from the WWT and Nith Life. We’ll head down to WWT Caerlaverock with stops along the way to check out the birds and other creatures and learn more about what makes this region such a special haven for geese and other wildfowl. The ride starts at 10am from Dock Park (note, not our usual starting place by the Rowing Club). Bring your own binoculars and lunch if you want to stay down at the reserve – light refreshments will be provided. It’s free but booking is essential.
Then on Sunday 29th October we celebrate the clocks going back in our traditional fashion by embracing the darkness! Starting at 3:30pm on the Greensands (by the rowing club) we’ll be heading out into the dusk for a circuit up Speddoch – and coming back fully after dark. Lights (and gloves) are essential! There’s a long descent down towards the Cluden valley that will test your lighting set up, so this is your chance to head into winter confident that you will be able to ride however dark it gets. This is probably one of our harder rides, with a fair bit of climbing, but it’s usually brilliant fun – and on a clear night you can often see the Milky Way.
Summer riding is always fun – but riding through the winter is even better, in our opinion. The weather and the dark might bring challenges but we can’t hibernate for half the year so why not embrace the joys of this time of year? We’ll see you there!
Cycling Dumfries 
Sounds fun