Celtic Park

Opted for a Morrison's breakie rather than the over-priced hotel one and it sufficed. Onwards to the complex travel arrangements. Since there was no parking available at the velodrome it was a case of city centre or chance your arm that there'd be something nearby. Memories of the area around Celtic Park, for that was where the venue was, were not good. Wasteland would be a good take. City centre parking it was. Apparently a Low Emission Zone had just taken effect. Add to that, that there were numerous road closures for the road cycling and it could be fun. Thankfully, Google did it's job, for once and we were treated at the car park with a massive mural of The Big Yin. Wandered up to the fan zone & realised why the roads were closed as the road cyclists zipped around the city centre loop training for the road race on Sunday. Spent some time trying to spot Wout & Pog. No joy and there were definitely some that weren't competing - definite excess baggage. The fan zone itself was a mix of corporate sponsors, dodgy Scottish pie stalls, and Gaelic (not garlic) music. Got to see Mathieu Van De Pole's cycling shoes - does it get any better than that? Had some lunch - opted against the deep fried mars bar - went for some pretty decent fast food Chinese. Had a wander along the Clyde, again spotting various competitors cycling back to their hotels. Back to the car to sort out & then hopped a train out to velodrome. Stressing about being late - a 5 min train journey & ridiculously early. Had a little wander around Celtic Park and returned to find a massive queue. Gates opened at 4.30 & things moved pretty quickly. Had to tip away all the water in our bottles & were assured there were plenty of options inside for refilling. Unsurprisingly there were not. Eventually filled up and settled down in our specs, right on the finish line in the back straight. Very happy. Not so keen on the heat - apparently somewhere between 28° & 30° The queues for food & drink didn't persuade so just enjoyed the cycling. And there was plenty to enjoy. Particularly liked the pursuits & the tandem racing was epic. The speed they went at was impressive as was the rumbling sound when the peleton flashed by. There were a number of British winners. The final sprint team race of the night, though was super close and exciting - the Dutch team pulling it out of the bag in what must have been the last 100 metres. Great fun. Escaped via the fire exit and an easy train back to the city. Getting to the hotel, not so easy. In my wisdom, Google is set up to avoid toll roads. The easy route to the hotel is over the Forth Road Bridge - a toll road. Ended up on a convoluted route of obscure Scottish motorways to the free Kincardine Bridge.Read more