Fun in the hills

As I've said before Fife is not exactly flat. If you want to find some hills all you need to do is head north and you can find all sorts of short climbs over and around the ridge that runs from Wormit to Glenfarg. And some longer ones. I'm still worried about the climbing required for the lighthouse challenge so I decided to test the legs once again on this circuit.
It was a lovely morning weather-wise but the gods had the last laugh. There were easterly sea breezes around St. Andrews and south of Cupar but north-westerly ones north of Cupar. So I seemed to be pushing against headwinds for a lot of the journey. The ones in the north weren't excessive though and probably helped a little on some of the climbs so I can't complain too much.
The only incident of note today was a dog that caused me to end up on the ground. I was climbing out of Luthrie at the time and hadn't raised any speed as I started to leave the village. I saw the dog on the left, decided it was too busy in it's own wee world when it turned and came straight towards me barking. Unfortunately I didn't mange to get my feet free of my pedals and I ended up going sideways. No lasting harm done but I wasn't particularly happy. And absolutely no concern from the the dog's owner. I think I'll need to find somewhere to go and practice my cleat release.
The last major climb of the day was at Cults. I had planned to turn off the main climb and head to Chance Inn before the top but I was feeling good and decided to keep climbing until the road started to descend. After turning the bike round I rejoined my planned route and cycled home.
By this time I was facing the easterly breezes and my speeds showed it. There was no sprint for home today. I struggled all the way into St. Andrews.
From a training point of view I got round the route, but both days of the lighthouse ride will be more than double this one. That's still worrying, especially if the following issues continue.

Niggles

Worrying factors from today were some back pain for a good stretch of the way home from Chance Inn, and my right elbow showing signs of golfers elbow, which doesn't help when getting out of the saddle. They are non-compatible niggles. I suspect a visit to the physio is in order. They will be delighted.

Nutrition

I also think I need to re-think my fluid and energy intake. I've been using High5's Zero product for fluid replacement and eating homemade flapjacks and Nutrigrain bars for energy. I don't like gels and don't really rate them for endurance cycling; I can see their advantage for racing but that's not me. I think I need to try some energy drink mixture. Last week's ride to Edinburgh was definitely helped by a helping of Lucozade Sport. But I'm not sure how much I would like to rely on that. I'll let you know how the search goes.

The ride