Ecosse Super Randonneur 2018!

Not only did I complete an AUK Super Randoneur Series by doing 200, 300, 400 and 600 Km Brevets this season, because I have one of each distance starting in Scotland that qualifies me for an Audax Ecosse SR too.

You can see my results for the season at:

www.aukweb.net/results/archive/2018/listride/?Rider=18013

With no more Randoneuring planned until October which is the start of the 2019 season I've also got Brevet 500 and Brevet 1000; I also think I've got Brevet 2000 (Pending Borders of Fife) and am a 150km (or 200) short of Brevet 3000; those two are determined over multiple seasons so will hopefully have them claimed early next season... or I could go and bash out a 200 DIY this weekend, hm!

Blackpool - Glasgow - Blackpool - 600Km - 21st August 2018

With a 600km ride already in the bag I didn't need to be waiting at Leuchars station, with my bike, a new Carradice bag with a change of kit and some tools, spares and food in it. But I was.

I didn't need to enter Blackpool - Glasgow - Blackpool, but I did.

So to start this post, the questions of Why was I and why did I need addressed.

The Borderlands Explorer 600, showed me that I can ride 600km in 40 hours, in fact it told me I could ride 650km in 40 hours while adding 2 hours showering and changing on top of an hours rest.

What it didn't show me was that I could do 600km starting at 10pm at night, ride through the first night, ride through the day, ride into the following night and make it back within 40 hours, without the luxury of returning to a car or bag drop twice.  This I felt was necessary in order to be sure I could aim higher.

Leuchars Station

So there I am at Leuchars station, a bright orange Carbon framed bike with an Old Skool Carradice bag sprung off the saddle, some say it doesn't really work as a look. I call bollocks, it looks great!

One piece of advice I received was that I should do as little as possible the day of an evening start; this to me says take the train, so I did, two days after a storm hit the North West of England and the South and Central belt of Scotland; the railway was still recovering from the Chaos.

Arriving at Edinburgh I discovered the train I was booked on was cancelled which necessitated a trip to the travel centre to get the next train to Preston with bike space; thankfully this was the very next train and only a 37 minute delay and hello Delay-Repay form!  Placing my bike in the trailer of the Pendolino I took a seat, then got shifted, and shifted again, maybe I should have asked for a seat booking at the same time! Two other cyclists then walked through and spotting my cap mentioned that they too were going to Preston; they were however touring not Randoneuring so we headed in different directions at Preston station when we rolled in 14 minutes late; I must admit I was hoping for another 8 minutes of delay to get a bit more cash back.

Rolling out of Blackpool North station I was immediately hit by a very strong gust of wind, then another and then... you get the point, I had a rather comedic ride up through the back streets and then out onto the prom where the wind wasn't so bad due to there being nothing to channel it, but this also resulted in me deciding to ditch my original idea of grabbing a fish supper and eating in on the sea front before having a snooze in a shelter.  Instead I made my way into Bispham village centre where I found a chip shop and bus stop to eat the fish supper in before heading down to the start location; with 3 hours until the start and people already sleeping in cars and vans in the car park I found a spot that was sheltered from the wind dug out my bivvy bag and was at some point later woken by the fact I was shivering with the cold; considering this is the exact same problem I had at Claonaig you'd think I'd have thought to throw on some extra layers.

Waiting for the start

By half 7 I'd given up trying to get anymore kip and a few others had arrived including someone finishing the build of their new bike! For me a 600km seems a challenge enough without it being the maiden ride of a new single speed bike. It looked amazing though and if you can do it then go for it! 


Within time organizer Andy arrived and started carting crates of food into the scout hut, and eventually opened up to let us in where we congregated round tables provided with cake, Irn Bru and breakfast cereals.

Waiting for 10pm

The start time of 10pm was approaching and the start field of 60 riders assembled in the car park waiting ready to go in true Audax fashion, that is sort of not wanting to be first through the gates!

Although the wind had abated significantly we set off with a stiff wind behind us out into the Fylde and a fantastic pace was being set by a small group that I hung onto for a while, eventually another group caught up and started to pass, realizing I could hang onto them I dug in and grabbed the tow.

Blasting through the Fylde

Before I knew it I found myself on the front, Audax group riding doesn't always follow the standard etiquette of everyone taking a turn and it's a case of either plug on, slow down and force someone else on the front or flick your elbow furiously and hope someone gets the message; I just plugged on at a comfortable pace.

The first 27km of this ride was pancake flat followed by a few short sharp digs followed by slightly higher altitude flats; I discovered on these digs that for once I was one of the better riders on these and stayed on or with the front until we reached the 65km mark at Levens which I reached with an average speed of 30kmh!

This included blasting through towns such as Lancaster and Carnforth, negotiating roundabouts and traffic light junctions too.  From Levens the road starts to climb through Kendal and as we hit the foot of Shap Fell proper, with a decent average of 29.5kmh still on the clock our group splintered; those other riders were either sandbaging on the short sharp digs or were genuinely better at holding speed on a long drag climb than me; I give them the benefit of the doubt as I was really beasting the digs.

I managed to stay with a couple of riders for a fair bit of Shap, this being the first time I'd been up Shap Fell in any mode of transport I had no idea what to look out for; I was warned that it has a couple of false summits and that the power lines are the landmark; we reached a set of power lines crossing the road and discovered that they indicated a false summit as the red lights in the distance told us, we got a decent respite on a significant dip in the road before another climb and then the real set of powerlines crossing the road; my average speed now sitting at 26.

We plunged into the darkness, in our bubbles of dynamo powered light, always better to have someone beside you for a bit more light, but a tad more dangerous if you miss a hazard. We flew through Shap and I spotted a decent looking bus shelter, and then I was on my own suddenly, more experienced road night riders turned into red lights in the distance as I crapped out a bit at the high speeds being obtained; rolling into Lowther village on my own having never been far from anyone else.

Lowther Village Hall

Andy was sitting stamping cards, while riders bustled in and out of the toilets and the kitchen with food; I filled my bottles, made myself a bowl of corn flakes, ate yet more cakes and made the first strategic error; I tried to get a snooze in.  I know well enough that I can only sleep when I'm tired, especially when I've been exercising and although it was 0315 I really wasn't tired, what should have been a 20 minute control bounce for me turned into a needless 45 minute pause.

Realizing my error I picked myself up before it was too late and set off into the night; I picked up some other riders for the blast through Penrith where I spotted the B&B we stayed at the two times I "navigated" for Bob in LaLa the Series 1 Landrover, that we'd just been to the village near where the old Lowther safari park was and the old Lion enclosure where LaLa's door lock failed mid rotation of a cone resulting in an already shitting it me being even more terrified; LaLa is an absolute beast of a machine, Rover V8, Edelbrock carbs, and very happy to lift wheels, particularly on large cone slaloms on old Airfields, I also spotted the access road to that location where as we stopped astride the finish, and I said to bob that we had a wheel up on every cone turn, one of the other navigators was standing doing the you're nuts gesture with finger wibbling the lower lip. Question is this Audax lark just another facet of that madness?

Another climb this time up to High Heskett before the drop into Carlisle, at one of the junctions on the way in a rider on my inside spotted glass on the road, too late to do anything about. I rolled down the hill at my normal pace spotted that the bus lanes were also available for cycling use and as I reached the bottom of the hill I felt that bouncy feeling of a soft rear tyre.
As luck would have it I rolled to a halt directly under a street light and right next to a Bus Shelter; RESULT!

It's 5am, I'm in a well lit bus shelter, there's loads of other riders flying past asking if I'm ok; I'm not actually ok, but then none of us are, it takes a wee while to dig out a tube, my pump and tyre levers. I note that the rear tyre is looking rather worn which probably didn't help but it's not bad enough to swap the 28mm 4Season for the spare 25mm GP4000SII that I packed as a spare.
That was 30 minutes lost to the mildly confused faff, eating sweets and telling people I was ok; oh and being tired it took a bit of extra effort to pump up the tyre once it was all fitted.

Gretna Services

Carrying onto Gretna Services I was on my own, I knew the road out of Carlisle past Todhills from LeJog and knew it was basically flat and that it would be the last flat for a long time; my mood started to drop.
Many of the riders I'd been with on that main blast and who had passed me as I fixed the puncture were there, it was late enough into the morning to get a breakfast roll from Harry Ramsden's; the irony of eating a breakfast marketed as English just as we entered Scotland wasn't lost on me.
Once again I spent too long trying to get some sleep and failing

Bus stop views - Some of the "Leapfroggers"

It must have rained at some point while I was in Gretna services as I exited to damp roads, though maybe that was just the normal morning dampness that I always forget happens when it's colder; my mood was low, my mind was working out what to do if I snapped and had to pack, or got another puncture and couldn't be bothered anymore. I stopped in a bus shelter in Johnstonebridge to eat Meerkats and take some pictures as I got leapfrogged again.





It's a horrible slog from Gretna up to Abington, the old A74's surface on the main climb of Beattock has been significantly eroded leaving the embedded aggregate exposed enough to make riding it "not fun"; there are however some surprisingly good points; one of those normally useless gutter cycle lanes has been pained into what used to be the gutter; but gutters don't have as much aggregate, so the road is much smoother where that's clear; also some sections have retained half of the other carriageway as the cycle lane, and this is often still reasonably smooth and good going if not for the debris and mulch that's covering it in places. I battled the "you don't need this" demon that was in my head, there's no where to bail anyway so I'd have had to keep going to the next place with a station anyway.

Noodle Bar for lunch

On arrival at Abington those that leapfrogged me at Johnstonebridge were there, some just settling down with meals others taking a nap; I dithered around Smiths before launching myself at the noodle bar, holding back slightly on what I was ordering before realizing what I was doing and adding the spring rolls. 

It was here I got confused by time; I thought I had rolled in a 1315 with only 45minutes in hand; but no I had read the elapsed time; it was 1115 and I had a whopping 2hrs 45m in hand on arrival; phew! Time for yet another 45min break.



From here it was a bit more up and then a long descent down to Lesmahagow, where I diverted from the route sheet's advice after looking at a shorter route to Strathaven, turned out it was lumpier, wigglier and slower; at Strathaven I again diverted from the route sheet which sent us into East Kilbride; normally avoiding Scotland's New Towns is a good idea; mazes of roundabouts, identikit housing schemes and general loss of will to live; see also my "Lost in Runcorn" episode...

When mapping out the route I'd spotted a box, I could either take one option of the two sides and avoid Auldhouse village, or roll through Auldhouse village, having decided that going through a village is usually slower than not I mapped the not option; where on the day I discovered a tree down across the road; no warning signs or anything.  I started trying to carry the bike through a large gap but decided to retreat and go through Auldhouse, which proved to be pleasant enough, but a bit of time lost. Meanwhile those that had taken the EK route reported good rolling roads and cycle paths and good natured patient behaviour from other road users; oh well, noted for next time.

Descending into Newton Mearns I noted that it was a much smoother hill than on the way up to Strathaven so should be more pleasant on the return; rolled into Newton Mearns and then Jenny Lind where a big bombhole section presented itself; I crawled out of that while noting to take the Ayr Road route back to Newton Mearns from Darnley.

At the Darnley McDonalds I ordered at one of the totems and promptly discovered that every one of them was clean out of reciept roll, so ended up taking 3 staff out of serving in order to get a copy of the receipt, someone else with the same problem then just moseyed up and asked for a copy of my receipt!

300km done in 17hrs 40m, so that's 2hrs 20mins in hand, not bad considering how poor a ride I'd had over from Lesmahagow; so I took yet another 45mins.

The climb back to Strathaven was indeed much gentler and then I took the direct plunge down to Kirkmuirhill and onto the B7078 and it's occasionally better surfaced cycle path; at one Roundabout I came round on the cycle path to discover two riders stopped speaking to another who was packing; his bottom bracket had ceased to be of service meaning there was no chance of contining any further than the next railway station at Lockerbie.

I didn't take any pictures between climbing to Beattock Summit and climbing to Beattock Summit! The first in the forenoon sunlight and the second with the moon rising in the sky. 

Back at Abington and tea time for most

Back in Abington 21hrs 50min on the clock and 380km on the road; on a morning start this is the time to sleep, but I didn't, I still wasn't tired it's only 7pm!

The leapfroggers were settling down to food, I couldn't face more proper food so soon after a McDonalds so I settled for cake and fizzy juice while they had burgers; I did consider the flaw of this as I watched their burgers being devoured but didn't change my mind.  I also decided it was time for the kit swap, that mental boost of new chamois cream, less damp base layers and fresh socks.  I also, knowing that it would get cold soon put the bib tights back on rather than switch to the warmers I was carrying and also put on a thin jersey under the warm jersey I'd been wearing all ride.

22hrs 40mins on the clock and I'm off again; just under 2hrs in hand and it's down hill almost all the way to Gretna, on the way back down I again picked the smoothest route I could see, though at the speed of descent the rough surface was hardly felt, I rolled past Johnstonebridge deciding not to make use of their comfy benches for a sleep and to carry on to Gretna, by Lockerbie I was questioning this decision; I stopped for a good 20 minutes, it was only meant to be a pee stop but I was questioning what I was doing again; I remounted the bike and got going again, and stopped for a pee again, and again; the problem with using liquid drinks as your energy source is that you end up drinking more than you need to and the resulting pee stops are a pain; the daft thing of course was I had a supply of gels in my pocket for exactly this point in the ride but didn't use any.  I started to get very tired at Ecclefechan and had it been warm the bivvy bag would have been out and I'd be in the grass for a snooze.

How to sleep in service stations - 1

I rolled into Gretna knowing I had to sleep and would sleep; into the shop to make the control with 26hrs 20m on the clock; twenty past midnight and the control closes at 0330; I've built up a good cushion despite the stops on the descent.

Only the Smith is open, so I buy some sweets and Red Bull because I'm going to need that much caffeine, the shop assistant helps me make sure I get the size of can that gets me two for one, a couple of riders have their heads down in the Harry Ramsden's seating area, I pick a comfy looking seat next to a wall, set my alarm for an hour away and fall asleep.

I wake before the alarm, there are more riders now, one has put some chairs together to make a bed and I can just see his feet, the leapfroggers are here too, not asleep yet but eating and talking.  27:35 on the clock, that's erm, what is it?
I'm still tired but I'm not going to get back to sleep and wake up at a suitable time so I have to crack on. I consume one of the cans of Red Bull to give me a kickstart.

How to sleep in service stations - 2

It is of course just after half 1 in the morning now, back at a two hour window.
I carry on into the night alone, down through Gretna and into Carlisle, I'm pretty tired, maybe another hour would have been sensible?
The climb back up to High Hesket is challenging, I a red light ahead, am I catching someone? Or is it one of those Hallucinations everyone talks about, to my side I'm aware of something that seems to be a rider, but I know from riding MTBs in the dark that the edge of your bubble of light can take on the appearance of a rider when you're tired, or is that my hallucination?

More pee stops, eventually I see that the red light is from a transmitter, a brief respite from the climbing as the short descent into Penrith arrives and then it's back out into the darkness, Eamont bridge shows me red lights but changes just in time, past the White House again but I'm not thinking of LaLa now.  Lowther, the dozzies hit, I know there's a bus stop somewhere, I spot the phone box AED and a rubbish bus shelter; I sit on the thin bench, decide it's too uncomfortable and try the AED phone box; the AED box is on the side of the phone box so there's only a small space between the door of the AED box and the wall of the phone box; how anyone is meant to get that out in a hurry I don't know! I try wedging myself between the two, I'm not going to sleep here, so I crack open another can of Red Bull then carry on I've wasted 15 minutes.

I finally spot the bus shelter in Shap Village, a council worker is servicing the toilets, across the road and we exchange pleasantries, he mentions how cold it is; I've recorded -1C here but -2C on the descent to Gretna.  I set an alarm for 10 minutes and lie down in the bus shelter.

I wake up with seconds to go on the timer, and I feel much better, the trick of a short snooze and caffeine doing the trick.  32hrs on the clock, it's 6am, light and the effect it has on the body will be here soon, so I remount and carry on up Shap Fell; I decide I need something to keep my spirits up so I look around me, it's getting lighter and I can see the rolling hills around me and I think of the Snow Roads.  I scrabble around in my head for the words to Byron's "Dark Lochnagar" and recite the lines I can remember, correcting order, uncorrecting, recorrecting, "England thy beauties are tame and domestic", somehow it doesn't fit with what I'm doing right now, "In you let the minions of luxury rove" erm ok, oh it's sunrise!

I stop at the summit and take a picture of a distinctly rubbish sunrise; and then get caught out by the weight of my bag as I turn the bike to get back onto the road, thankfully catching it before being sprawled on the deck.  I drop down towards Kendal, but stop for yet another pee before I get there.

Alone I ride through Kendal, I'm now getting hungry, which is not ideal.  On the road out of Kendal I find AUK services and have a chuckle at the name link to the UK governing body of Audax rides.  Face stuffed with standard petrol station fare I carry on, I'm now rolling on the flats at the edge of the lakes, it's easy going and I can just pump along with a fairly low cadence and surprisingly low heart rate.  I pass Levens and Heaves and remember going to the Kirby Lonsdale Motor Club's annual prize giving when my brother won something. We stayed at a hotel in Heaves, a big old building with huge rooms that I found anxiously spooky; I didn't sleep well that night!

It feels like Carnforth and the Truckstop will never come, but eventually it does, with a truck behind me I swing my arm out, and turn in, we have the choice of using either the café or the petrol station; there's no doubt about it for me, Fried breakfast roll number 2! 34:50 that's 0850; still got 2hrs in hand.

I polish off my Sausage and Egg roll and start to get confused about why the cleaners are talking about all the rooms being vacated. A truck driver is getting impatient at the barrier as I buy a bottle of water to top up my drinks for the final 50km; I set off with an hour and twenty five minutes left, I haven't seen any other riders come through the café but the Leapfroggers are at the petrol station, I swing up to say hi.

On the flat I'm able to hold a decent speed again, but manage to get lost in Lancaster after missing a junction, I sort it out and catch up with two other riders; Dave and Graham, Dave's riding well, Graham's flagging a bit with the pace I'm putting out, but we stick together, the traffic is horrible.
Unlike the 30kmh+ speeds I was holding on the Fylde on the way out I'm only holding around 20kmh now, eventually we cross the Wyre and then turn into the Blackpool technology park and out of the traffic.

There had been a change to the route at the last minute as the Scout hut was available for the finish as well, so I had to dig into my memory as to where it was, thankfully it's only 1 road over from the original finish and we rolled into the car park with Andy standing at the gates waiting for us.  As we congratulated each other the first thing he asked us was if we were finishers!  Confirming that we were, we then found out that there had been a number of packers and that there were still more riders out than had come back.

I had stopped my GPS on 37 hours 46 minutes; just over two hours in hand; I was now pretty happy that I'd managed to maintain a 2 hour window, and if it wasn't for the over staying at controls and the puncture I could have had a bit more in hand.

I sorted myself out into normal clothes, tucked into my 3rd breakfast of the day, drank some more Irn Bru and then planted myself on the airbed in the darkest looking part of the hall.

When I woke up there was a number of other riders back including the Leapfroggers who I'd been at every control with, it was also just before the 40hrs time limit.  A wild west themed children's birthday party was starting to arrive in the car park as I loaded my bag onto the bike for the spin up to hotel.

I checked in, planned to have a shower, sleep and then wake up around 6, and go and get tea and see the illuminations. I cancelled my alarm when it went off and went back to sleep. I woke up at 1am feeling rather hungry...  A quick check of what was near by revealed a 24hr petrol station and nothing else so for the 2nd night in a row I tucked into a late night feast of petrol station junk food.

Petrol Station Junk Food - Not what I planned for a post ride Tea!

Borders of Fife - 200Km - 15 September 2018

Looking at the route for the Borders of Fife I was wondering what I was doing; the half way mark was planted exactly at the top of the road.

I set off early, got lost in Burntisland and eventually found the Dalgety Bay Scout Hut where David and Steve had set up the Arivee, I'd eaten breakfast before setting off so grabbed a muffin from the various food options and got sociable.

Riders congregating for the start

Setting off from the hut much to Steve's disappointment we blasted down a dirt track short cutting out onto the road east; so rather than getting photos of us leaving on the road, he's got pictures of us riding alongside a graveyard.

A stiff wind and relatively flat road meant a good pace was on order but I just couldn't keep up with the main pack on some of the ramps and I ended up in "the hole" that space that exists between the big sociable group and everyone else.

Riders congregating for the start

Cycling through some of the less salubrious sights of Fife before reaching the East Neuk at the edge of Leven; the shortest route to Crail from here is the inland route so we missed out the delights of Elie, St Monance and the Ainsters as I rolled into Crail I spotted Richard another local rider heading back out that way, this wasn't the routesheet route so took a mental note to check out his route afterwards; it turned out he couldn't be bothered with riding through St Andrews, so took the route via Peat Inn, one that I had considered until I realized the coast road was going to be quiet.

Descending into StAndrews

With two shops to choose from at Crail I rolled into the Premier while most others were at the Co-Op; my plan was to bounce the controls at Crail and Tayport and spend more time on lunch at a café near Abernethy that I didn't know existed!

At Leuchars I chose to take the Tentsmuir road rather than ride up to St Mikes; this was partly because I wanted a pee stop but also because I'd decided that if I was going to effectively ride from Dalgety Bay to home and back again, I was going to ride some of the more interesting roads in the area.

Handy kerb in Tayport

Popping out onto the Tayport road I got to the junction as Chris and Alex rolled past, at the start I had thought Chris was maybe going to get changed in the toilets but there he was still wearing Jeans and T-Shirt and flying along! A different type of cycling stealth?

Into Tayport and I had to decide where to stop, as it as going to be a short stop I decided a co-op and then hummed and hawed over which one until I rode past the top of Maitland street, so Castle Street it was.  There's a large differential here between pavement height and road height which provided an excellent seat to sit and scoff a light initial lunch on.
I then opted for the dig up castle road back onto the main road and I was soon passing other riders who had chosen the cycle track. Now came the challenge, roll into newport and start the longest climb of the day the 10km from the foot of Newport High Street up to Muir Dens, oh and riding past the house. I chose to distract myself with an attempt at a touristy photo of the rail bridge.

Tourist in my own village

At Hazelton Walls I again diverted from the route sheet and took a spin along the Creich road; I don't normally ride here and had forgotten about the Castle and the poor surfacing, then up and over the Norman's law to rejoin the coast road and the head wind. At the Abernethy rail bridge I saw the large billboard sign for the garden centre and realize this was the location of the Jamesfield Café that I hadn't known existed.

Tay Rail Bridge from Peace Hill

I was soon joined by a rabble from the Borderlands that I had last seen at Tayport and we sat down, they for a light 3rd lunch and I for my main course.  After this I set off slightly ahead of them on the basis that I knew they were faster than me on the climbs and that that'd catch me somewhere on the climb, ideally between Beinn Inn and the Viaduct. How right I was! As the hotel came in sight they were in touching distance and I dug in and stayed with them to Glenfarg Village where I'd chosen another diversion; the route sheet sent you down to the Arlary junction, while I chose the route up to Drumcreivie and then down to the quieter junction on the edge of Milnathort, as I climbed I saw them on the descent below and knew I wouldn't see them again until the next control.

Down at the Milnathort junction there was no sign of them and I got out onto the A91 without delay, another long climb up to the Yetts o' Muckhart now, despite being the main road to Stirling it's a very quiet road thanks to the Motorways and A9 providing an easier route for anyone not living in Kinross area. Much to my surprise they caught me around Carnbo, a surprising occurance as the earlier start to the descent should have made up for time lost at the junction. The vicious climb from devon bridge up to the Yetts as usual sapped all my speed and energy; and then it started raining.

Clackmannan

At Dollar it was time for another control and I chose to just grab some sweets as there was another shop control at Clackmannan, others were either tucking into sandwiches or providing last orders of the day in the café. 

A nasty wee dig at Dolarbeag and then the A977 sprint from Forestmill to the Clackmannan road; I'd never been to Clackmannan before, I rolled upto the Co-Op and discovered they had a choice of Cheese, Cheese or Cheese; disaster!  I picked the wrap that looked like it would have the least amount of dairy in it, in the form of Chicken Ceaser Bacon and sat in the bus shelter to eat it; Robbie, Chris and Alex arrived fresh from the Dollar café.

They set off first and I did a quick bit of tourism then cracked on, the route back to Dunfermline was on the old railway line which provided a nice gentle gradient down into the chaos that is Dunfermline's roads, I passed them as Robbie stopped to fix an issue and they caught up shortly afterwards; Robbie stayed with me from then on while Chris and Alex cracked on ahead.

Rolling through Dunfermline we missed a turn before flying down hill through Pittencreif park and then on hospital hill spotted Tim Hortons, Robbie stopped to take a picture though we didn't go in.  It was then a case of rolling into Dalgety Bay and the scout hut where Dave and Steve were waiting to collect Brevet cards and dish out tea in the form of baked tatties and beans awesome!

It was a nice wee ride on mostly familiar roads, it was also one where the strava flyby showed a lot of variations particularly from locals and semi-locals; Richard who had gone to Tayport via Peat Inn had also decided he couldn't be bothered with Dunfermline and had chosen to drop down to the Forth Coast road from Clackmannan; one I think I might do next time!

DIY - Back Fae Arran - 200Km - 3rd September 2018

After the Ride to Arran, ON the friday in glorious weather I took a Trundle round the West coast visiting the Pirnmill shop for a rest, Lagg Velo Cafe for lunch, Whiting bay for Ice Cream and then Arran Active in Brodick because I'd forgotten to to up my small tube of electrolyte tablets.

On Saturday it clagged in and I went explore the woods around Eas Mohr, where I just about saw the waterfall through the mist; Arran's ferry aligned bus time table meant that was all I could do before returning to the accommodation near Brodick.

On Sunday it was again clagged over but after some umming and awing I got on the ferry with some of my club mates to visit the Holy Isle off Lamlash.

Monday rolls in and the weather on Arran is fantastic; I could have stayed a bit later and climbed Goatfell, traversed the Stacach and descended to Corrie by North Goatfell (a hike I've been wanting to do for a long time) before riding home overnight, but that would have been far too sensible...

Caledonian Isles at Ardrossan

Looking at the ferry timetable I decided to get the Caledonian Isle's sailing in the morning, while Pete would be carrying my hiking kit on the following ferry this was the older Isle of Arran, I didn't fancy wandering around the older ferry in my cycling shoes, the Caley isles was a challenge enough!

Leaving behind a clagg free island the Ayrshire coast of the mainland looked clear and I settled down to a CalMac breakfast to set me up for the ride ahead, in no time the master threaded her through the hole in the wall and swung round to the linkspan and it was time to get off,

Tarbolton Bachelors club

After a short pause to make sure everything was ready for the journey I set off from Ardrossan harbour bound for Tarbolton as a first control, pretty quickly I lost my track and ended up in the caravan park between Saltcoats and Stevenson; eventually finding an escape route onto the NCN coastal route in the form of a railway bridge out of the caravan park I was soon cutting my way rather indirectly across the Ayrshires.
After some time dodging through parks on hardpack gravel paths, the country roads were reached and I was finally managed to start making some decent progress. I reached my first control village and stopped for a photograph of Burn's Bachelor club in Tarbolton; this also signalled the last of the travel in the wrong direction that I had included only for the purposes of getting the distance of the ride up to Randonee standard.

Bill Shankly Memorial at Glenbuck

From here the climb up over the Southern Uplands of Scotland started with the first lump taking me up to Mauchline where the Burns Memorial tower is sited, a sharp descent down to Sorn was then followed by a sustained climb
I stopped for a first lunch at the petrol station in Muirkirk and then continued on to the abandoned mining village of Glenbuck, once home of the Glenbuck Cherrypickers football team that produced amongst others the Shankly brothers who led Liverpool and Dundee into European competition.

As I descended into Douglas could see heavy clouds ahead, I felt I hadn't consumed quite enough at Muirkirk and stopped at the petrol station in Douglas where I spotted the DERV pump also had a Parafin nozzle! Not something you see very often now.  I spoke to one of the mechanics from the garage about where I was riding to; "Dundee, you're brave", "Nah, Daft's more like it", "Well you said it!"

Burns Memorial at Mauchline

From Douglas I rolled under the motorway and then down into Clydesdale. "A70 closed at Carnwath follow diversion" was splattered onto a yellow sign where I crossed the Clyde at Hyndford Bridge; this may be a problem I thought, but I'm not riding all the way to Biggar and with my next control not until Kelty I realized worst case I could get myself into West Lothian and figure something out.  Rolling through Carstairs I considered my previous declaration of myself as daft and deciding not to section myself, carried on.

At Carnwrath I discovered that it really meant "Closed at Carnwrath" as the high street was closed for resurfacing; I'd taken a gamble on the closure likely being in the countryside where I could have field edged round but this was ideal as of course access to shops was maintained for pedestrians;  I wheeled my bike along the pavement and remounted at the top of the closure.


By this point I was hating my route choice, Ayrshire and Lanarkshire proving to be pretty boring; when I checked out the former public toilets one of the locals said I'd be able to use the pub toilets, but I didn't want to get comfy anywhere particularly so close to a railway line.

Who thought this route up? 

It's rubbish, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and then Livvy, boring!

Climbing on over the dull Lanarkshire landscape I had so far continued to keep the wet weather just ahead of me, I finally reached the summit of the route as I crossed the railway at Woolfords, this also started the long descent down into the Forth Valley, through Livingston.

A quick descent from a sign at some water works formally belonging to the West Lothian Water Comissioners, presented on the wall in a very 1960s style and then over the March into East Lothian.





A lap of an industrial estate on the edge of  Livvy was carried out due to the cycle track short cut being long overdue some gardening. Mid Calder was considerably pleasanter than I expected and I rolled out of town and into the rain.

I stopped at the bottom of the hill and dug my rain jacket out of my bag while scoffing my Happy Food Jelly Babies.  Over the Union canal and into Newbridge where I stopped to watch the planes for a bit before a bit of rough stuff along the old railway to Kirkliston and then the Forth Road Bridge.

At the FRB I discovered that today it would be the west walkway that was in use, so I had to carry the bike down into the underpass and back up; had the closure been signed somewhere more useful I could have ridden onto the west side of the bridge from the Echline junction, oh well.

Jim Baxter Memorial at Hill of Beath

Now not only am I in the rain, I'm back in Fife!  Climbing through Inverkeithing I consider a food stop but it's too early to go nuts in a takeaway so I stop in Crossgates for more juice and sweets, the drag up to Hill of Beath took me past the second football related memorial of the day, with the Jim Baxter statute outside Hawthorn's ground signifying that I was almost at the Fife summit of the ride. 
Through Kelty and the long descent to Kinross and Milnathort where I went to see what Giaccopazzi had for eating, no hot food left but I picked a Bakewell tart which I stuffed in my back pocket and a can of coke which I decanted into my seat tube water bottle knowing that the downtube bottle would be enough to get me home.

By now the rain was off and the climb to Glenfarg via Dumcreivie is rather enjoyable, not particularly straining and giving a fantastic view of Fife's most visible landmark, Mam Fife, the West Lomond. I stopped to eat my cake and drink my coke, at Duncreivie the descent to Aberargie begins through Glenfarg Village and then the gorge of the same name.

The Tay from Blackearnside

I hit the Tay Cost road in high spirits at last, and Newburgh seemed to arrive in no time at all and it was still just daylight, it wouldn't be long until my lights would be in use.

Newburgh of course signifies the start of the climb to the Col between Green Hill and Tay Mount, all the way back up to the same height as the summit at the top of Cowdenbeath!

The Tay at Wormit

220m of climb and 60m of descent just to tease you in 11km; I know this road so well that I forget about some of those dips! But that last dig to Hazleton cross roads from Fliskmillan is the real mental point, once at Hazelton it's true there's
a bit more climbing but it's less than 10km home

.

It was now dark and I was reminded that I'd set my dynamo light a tad too high, lighting up the overhanging trees ahead of me as well as the road, despite this I was rather happy with the light provided on the descent into Wormit, and of course home at last!

As much as I hated the early stages of the ride I kept with it and accepted there would be something enjoyable out there, even though it was really only the last 50km home from Milnathort.




That of course is also Septembers 200 done, 7 months of BR(M) rides.
For October I have the Brant and Slape 200 from Windermere and then I plan to ECE the Dick McT's Century Classic 160km; to do this I need to submit a 50km extension and then rather than ride at the Populare time table, ride it at Randoneur pace.
Of course I could have entered the Etal-U-Can 200Km ride again, but I wasn't thinking of RRTY at the time!

DIY - To Arran - 200Km - 29th August 2018

Less than a week after the Rothes Reccie and I'm off on another 200Km DIY; not because I need the 200 for my attempt at a RRTY but because well I wanted to.

I'd organized a trip to Arran for the Dundee Mountain Club and with the weekend expanded to 6 days I decided I would ride home on the Monday to get my September 200; that of course meant getting the bike to Arran, which either trying to get it on the train or I could ride it...

Yes ride it, sounds a good idea, it's only 200Km, right need to allow about 12 hours, ferries stop at 8pm at Ardrossan at 7pm at Claonaig; hold on, I could ride to Claonaig through the night, what a great idea the A85 and A82 will be deserted!

Wednesday, "early" start at work, tea at 1500, out the door at 1600, home 1625, bike and clothes sitting ready, 1645 and I'm on the road, bikepacking bag loaded up with stuff for a 1 night stay in Lochranza hostel and a wealth of sweets, gells and a sweet chilli chicken sandwich in my back pockets.

Sun getting low in Strathfillan

I take the regular route out towards Auchterarder then up to Crieff Co-Op, a second tea of duck wrap, cake and fizz and then on the back road to the Audax Mecca that is Comrie; the chippy sadly was shut by the time I got there so no chance of a Mars Bar fritter for second pudding.

This was my first proper ride with my new SON dynamo and EdeluxII light. Darkness fell on the road along Loch Earn and I didn't need to use my MTB light, through St Fillans and into Lochearnhead; the occasional vehicle came up behind, dipped their lights as they worked out what I was and then put full beam on giving me extra visibility as they passed before turning into a red blob in the distance.

On the roll into Crieff

Up Glen Ogle, alone except for a police van who'd pulled someone over at the summit, Glen Dochart, a gentle climb my light showing the way into Crianlarich; quiet, the lights at the Inverardran Ochils MC club hut one of the nicest and cheapest available showing someone's in, wonder who?

2300hrs, the A85 and A82 roads join for the blast along to Tyndrum but only two passers; the VMS advises of a closure of the A82's climb up the Black Mount after Bridge of Orchy, a detour via Connel Ferry; damn there'll be more traffic on my roll down to Dalmally.


I meant to stop and eat the sandwich in Tyndrum but was rolling so well that I carried on to the parking area at the top of the steep descent into Dalmally; a midnight feast!

Dalmally the landmark silver police car in it's usual spot highlighted by my light; the shortest route runs over Monument Hill, I've been there with a load of SAABs, it was the scene of the first Special Stage in rallying, won by SAAB driver Erik Carlsson; a man I met once, With his dry Swedish sense of humour he asked my Dad why he was wearing a skirt then asked me why I wasn't wearing one.

On the Inverary road, I'd plotted a route cutting along Loch Awe to Kilmartin via Ford; I've ridden that road before and it was nice, or at least my selective memory said so; had I set the next control at Lochgilphead rather than Kilmartin I'd probably have taken the road to Inverary and then along Loch Fyne since it was so quiet; one car passes me before the junction.

The Ford road is narrow, passing through hamlets, I pass a pub with a Ceilidh still in full swing it's not even 3am yet. With small aggregate piled in the middle of the road I crap out and use the MTB light to help me pick it out, although the road runs along the shore there are a handful of small lumps to climb one particularly sharp and then I'm at the junction in Ford.

Meerkats!

Kilmartin, 0300 I stop, the toilets are open so I use them, then sit in a bus shelter and dig into my pockets for the spoils of war; a bag of jelly Meerkats snuck out the honesty box shop at work under the nose of Fi were my Kilmartin treat. I enjoy every one of them, take a photo and plot to send her a picture of them when I'm back at work. Juvenile I know.

A small kick onto the descent out of town and I'm past the Audax 200Km mark, I could have set this as the end of the Randonee, but I didn't so this is officially going to be 48km over distance.

Tarbert (Loch Fyne)

From here it's downhill to Lochgilphead, the village dark and silent; along the coast and a few climbs and a few more cars, in the silence the tyre/road noise travels for miles giving plenty of advance warning, I roll into Tarbert (Loch Fyne) and stop for a rest, plenty of time in hand it's 12 hours since I set off now and I have another 5 hours to complete it in.

The climb out of Tarbert that I'm convinced is steep turns out to be a non-event and I'm rolling on, Kennacraig the likely target of any traffic that passes me at this time of day glows on the shore, Finlaggan resting in her berth waiting to transport weekenders to the Whisky isle.

Arran from Claoniag on arrival

I turn off for Claoniag, and the hard climb comes, I can see light in the sky to the East, 100m of climb from sea level at Tarbert just to lose it all in the descent to Claonaig.

I roll into Claonaig less than 13 hours after setting off from home; the toilet is open and I can't find the light switch, my headtorch comes in handy!

The bus shelter proves cold and breezy, my bivvy and extra layers not quite enough but I still manage to sleep until Catriona arrives with the first load of vehicles for the day.

Catriona approaching Claonaig

At Lochranza I park the bike and go for a seat in the heated waiting room as a group of moustachioed cyclists swagger onto the ferry, Fiver Ferriers no doubt but they look like they should be riding Ordinaries, not modern Safeties.

I sleep, I eat at the sandwich shop, I sleep some more, I got to the distillery for lunch then climb the Bouglie, I descend and then return to the warmth of the waiting room, I sleep some more then head to the hostel. I walk to the pub and eat a 3 course meal, then I return and I sleep until some other cyclists arrive in the room, chat to them for a bit and then go back to sleep waking in time for breakfast.

Overnight riding comes with the knowledge that at some point you're going to catch up on the sleep; Thursday may sound like a write off but after a 200 I wasn't going anywhere fast anyway. I had considered doing a lap of the island but I needed to do that on Friday to get to Brodick so a lazy rest day was welcome.

Rothes Reccie - 200Km - 25th August 2018

The Rothes Reccie was on my AUK Website Calendar under the heading  "The rides you're thinking about doing."

I hadn't entered this ride as it was the Saturday after the 600km ride, and wasn't sure what sort of state I would be in. Robbie messaged me during the week after asking if I was thinking about it and that seed soon sprouted into an entry.

Steve Holds his chin and ponders the question of
"Audax - Long Distance Cycling"
Credit to David F, for that caption

Setting off from my parents caravan on Loch Tummel I arrived in Newtonmore about 30 mins earlier than I expected, the only other traffic I encountered were some sheep on the Erochty road; this gave time for a small fry up breakfast once the Dundee fan behind the counter had the range up and running; he was setting off for the match in Perth later on; I didn't mention my support of the other senior team in Dundee.
Robbie emerged from his hire van and joined for a healthier and lighter breakfast than mine as others arrived; this was also the first time I'd seen members of Law Wheelers on an Audax other than Davey who I'd encountered at the Templehall in Morebattle on the Etal-U-Can back at the start of the season

As we set off up to Grantown on Spey it became clear who was bossing the speed of the group; Law Wheelers! And we blasted through Newtonmore, Kingussie, Kincraig and Aviemore and arrived in Grantown only 2 minutes after the control opening time!  Given that this was a 30kmh maximum that was pretty decent; considering also that 2 minutes included the time it took me to get to the self-serve checkout and realize that I'd left my money on the bike, that's no bad!


Harley Davidsons were everywhere for "Thunder in the Glens" which to me gave a nice soundtrack to the ride when our routes crossed.

Me!

Robbie and I had decided to ride together, both not exactly fresh from the 600Km and Robbie had forgotten his GPS for navigation purposes, the quiet road from Grantown to Rothes and having finally dropped Law Wheelers who had taken longer in Grantown allowed us to enjoy the scenery and mess around with the camera, so thanks to Robbie I can present a photo of me on the bike that isn't a selfie!

Robbie

The café at Rothes was small but nice and a scan of the menu presented lots of Cheese, not as bad as at Etal though; I finally settled on Coronation Chicken, I have no idea why cheese is bad but mayo sauce doesn't cause a problem.  Rolling on for Dufftown and a return to the scene of the baking hell of the snow roads; we discussed how awful that section of road felt that day, I've only ridden it that once but it's on home territory for Robbie and he says it's always a drudge.

This was proven as we trudged up the hill mingling with but not drafting (that's not allowed) riders doing Tour of the North, a two day sportive; that was taking them from somewhere Aberdeen way to somewhere Inverness way; exactly why they were then heading south from Dufftown we couldn't figure out until seeing their Strava Flyby's revealed their route north westwards.

Considering they were fast lightweight sportive riders and we were long distance juggernauts you'd think we would have been well dropped on the climb out of Dufftown but this wasn't the case and as we dodged and slalomed through the sportive riders who demonstrated some pretty shoddy road craft at times I snapped a picture which I title "Spot the difference, Sportive vs Audax"

Spot the difference, Audax Vs Sportive

Andy U and Robbie, Fat road tyres, Carradice bags, mudguards, lights; Fast Tourers, scything through a pack of race numbered, light weights on skinny race like machines.

After what seemed forever we rolled into the Old Fire Station in Tomintoul, my bike faffing suddenly hurried by spots of rain; no sooner were we inside than the heavens opened; unfortunately I didn't know about the pancakes so I took a Rocky Road and sat out the shower.

Old Fire Station Café, Tomintoul

Once the rain had stopped we set off from Tomintoul towards the Bridge of Brown; I know this from the Tour of the Highlands so advised Robbie to caw canny on the descent and make sure a short gear was selected on the bridge as the ramp up starts immediately; and what a ramp it is, eventually our speed was so low Robbies stand light had run out and the LEDs of his rear light were flicking with the low speed; we hauled ourselves up to the summit and took the turn down to Nethy Bridge.

Law Wheelers, with Davey S at the back.

It's basically downhill from here bit just a few rises to take the speed off you; an enjoyable roll back through to Nethy Bridge and then down the old road to Kincraig, then Kingussie  just in time for the 2nd String Derby match crowd poured out of the Dell and we got a bit of traffic to Newtonmore.

We rolled into the Newtonmore Grill on 9hrs 35mins well under the elusive 10hr for a calendar 200 I'd hoped to get on the "Nae Work For Us Today 200" earlier in the year. A cracking day out and decent distance less than a week after a 600km.

Late Season Borderlands Explorer - 600Km - 18th August

Six Hundred Kay, that's erm... a long way isn't it?

This was to be my first ever attempt at a ride that I knew would take over 25hrs so only had hints and tips to go on for structure. The ride itself was made up of one 300km leg followed by two 150km rides, I thought of various plans.

Plan A: Take the motorhome down, park up in a car park in Gala, keep going back to it for a change and snooze. Problem: still not found a welder, so that's out!

Plan B: Camp at the Melrose campsite, ride into Gala and then to the tent in Melrose, ride out the Abbotsford road as all legs start with a ride to Selkirk; yeah that'll work, only adds 17Km

Problem: The Abbotsford road was shut in the Selkirk direction due to bridge works between Gala and Melrose where you could head to Gala but not to Melrose.

Plan C: I'm already at the Melrose campsite and I've forgotten that Selkirk has a campsite, I'll ride to Melrose from Gala by the Boleside road and then take the A7 to Selkirk each time, yeah that'll work not a clue how much distance it'll add.

Decent sized crowd at the start

For a late summer 600 there was a decent crowd assembled at the Gala McDonald's; some were on their first 600, some their first 600 of the year, others had entered others and either DNS'ed or DNF'ed for various reasons.

Although it was dry as we waited to start the forecast for the following 40 hours was looking interesting to say the least!
Reasonably dry until 7pm and then rain starting light and ending up absolutely horrific with a weather front passing directly over the Scottish Borders dumping 15+mm of rain an hour on us; nice!!!

Similing as we bomb along at the start
but it's not raining properly yet!

Although the route sheet sent us over the hill from the town cross a bunch of us again took advantage of the early morning start and quiet A7 to take the fastest route to Selkirk; some went through Gala town centre, but I and others went along Scott street and joined them where the two roads meet; we were fair battering along and I was briefly dropped on the sharp climb in Selkirk that took us up onto the Ettrick Valley road, we were by now sitting at an average of around 26kmh despite the climb when I happened to mention that the maximum speed was 25Kmh and we were hurtling along so we'd surely arrive early and end up standing outside the café waiting for the headmaster to let us in!

Shortly a couple of spots of rain appeared on my sun glasses and then multiplied rapidly, hm this wasn't forecast; we came to a halt in a layby and rain jackets of varying levels of garishness appeared out of back pockets and Carradice bags; this handily dropped out average below the magic 25kmh mark and we hurtled down to the Old School Café in Eskdalemuir arriving just after opening time; As usual with such an early stop I wasn't hungry and scanned the produce for something I could shove in my pocket; eventually spotting packaged Belgian Waffles; receipt obtained I told the others I had been riding with I would crack on and went out into the rain, the ride to Langholm finally worked up an appetite and I scoffed the waffle while obtaining a balance statement at the ATM.

Philip and Dick on the Tandem leaving Eskdalemuir

From here it was a fairly simple ride along the A7 in heavy drizzle to Longtown just over the border, a couple of bad passes pissed me off a tad and I was wishing I wasn't on my own, just before Longtown proper the route spurred back into Scotland for a control at the Post Office in Springfield where I spied the last hot pie of the day in the heated display!
I exited the shop with my receipt and as I consumed the pie the guys I'd left at Eskdalemuir started to arrive, pie done I went to set off and realized I needed to top my bottles up so a needless return to the shop was required; doh.



Back over the border to Longtown and then the long climb to Alston via Brampton; it wasn't raining here and I was amused by some of the place names along here and the "Local Shop" sign in Milton there was also a Slaggyford! There was also some fantastic "Audax Hotels" also known as Bus Stops to their average user; nice big wooden constructions that had it been night would have provided a nice sheltered spot for a rest. With this road starting off heading east as well as up hill the push from the wind was welcome, and the hedges provided some shelter when the road finally turned southwards.  Other riders were by now starting on their return leg to Gala, the tandem team of Philip and Dick making good progress having seen them leave Eskdalemuir as I arrived.

Climbing into Alston my chain making a racket having lost it's oil to the rain, a decent sized congregation of cyclists were in the surprisingly well provisioned Spar at the garage; I went in and grabbed lunch; thankfully Robert who was also staying at the campsite thought to purchase some 3 in 1 oil from the more petrol stationey shelves and offered me some.
I hung around a bit longer here than normal, generally faffing and most of the riders that arrived after me set off before me; I eventually got round to cracking on just after the Derby Mercury riders bounced the control; and nearly kept them in sight as I started on the descent back to Longtown into the wind, unfortunately my memory of the junctions on the way into Alston went awry but thankfully I realized my error pretty quickly and didn't find myself demanding Cake and the Finest Wines known to mankind in a Penrith tea room (or a Milton Keynes Chemists). 

Milton Level Crossing

I was now well behind the Mercury riders and out on my own, a few stragglers were still on their way to Alston with a decent amount of time in hand; I eventually caught the Mercurials as they waited at the level crossing in Milton, the descent into Brampton continued after a short wait, and the Rams stopped at the Spar, or at least appeared to, I cracked on through the town and was back out in the countryside wondering why I didn't recognise things I was passing; I soon found myself at a busy junction on the Carlisle road; correcting this error I returned to Brampton and climbed the correct road out of town; no leg to Gretna this time so straight onto the A7 at Longtown and on to Langholm

In Langholm I needed to control, knowing that the next control was our second visit to Eskdalemuir Café I chose a can of juice and sweets from the shop rather than an ATM receipt as a pick me up; as I sat in the bog standard bus shelter across from the shop Robbie, Robert, Martyn and Hugo arrived; we spoke for a few minutes and they bounced the control and we set off for Eskdalemuir together.

Eskdalemuir Old School Café

As we arrived at Eskdalemuir daylight was dropping and we knew we'd be on lights soon; Robert was fed up of the rain and mentioned his backup plan of going to see family in Lanarkshire, Martyn clearly wasn't up for it at all, Robbie looked knackered and Hugo was talking about having a nice hot shower at his hotel in Clovenfords before setting off again.

I scoffed my tea of minced steak pie, chips, peas and apple crumble with lots of custard and told the others I was going to crack on as I had a campsite to visit.

Samye ling Budhist Temple at Eskdalemuir

The real reason for cracking on I must admit was that I didn't want to get too comfortable in the café and with some of them clearly ready to "pack" I didn't want to be with them when one of them did.  I was pretty determined to get this under my belt, get the SR for the year and get the 600 pre-qualifier for PBP as I had decided that if I can cope with a 600 then 1200 is surely doable too!

Into the falling night I rode on my own, a familiar territory from riding through the woods, I could never hang onto any group nor hang back for anyone during MTB races, even though I did often find myself there or thereabouts with other riders the discrepancy between descending, climbing and technical riding being enough to keep me riding alone. 

Rolling into Gala just before 11pm my original plan to stop at the 24hr Asda went out the window and I rode on to McDonalds for more food; Adrian and Neil were there and I spoke to them, Neil was carrying on but Adrian after packing on the New Border Raid 600 due to injury with the finish in sniffing distance was again packing, he just didn't have the will to do this 600 in the rain.
I looked at the weather forecast on the McDonalds tablet and to my delight discovered why the rain had arrived early and abated; that epic dump of rain and wind in the forecast had travelled down the North Channel and was now giving the people of Manchester a sleepless night!

I then took the Boleside road down to Melrose; in the car I had a bag of kit waiting to be changed into; this kit was set up with the gels and sweets for the next 160km to Johnstonebridge; I had also placed in the bag two drinks bottles ready mixed and two bags of sweets from the honesty box shop at work; after scoffing the sweets I set a target of setting off at midnight if not before; grabbed my wash kit and change of kit and went and had a warm shower.  Feeling fresh and ready for a new ride, I returned to the car, placed my bags for the next leg in the centre, refilled the drinks bottles for that, locked up, and putting the bike under the rope barrier rode along the side of the football pitch and back onto the road.  Now in perfect darkness I rode a quiet A7 to Selkirk and onto the St Mary's loch road.

It felt awful in the dark, the rough surface, the low speed and a lack of perception of where I was in the hedge bound road had me suffering. It looked flat in my personal light bubble but certainly didn't feel it, and the gentle 2% gradient was well hidden. I carried on knowing there was no shelter on this road and eventually got to the mental waypoint of the Glen Cafe at St Mary's loch; from here the road ramps up to 4% for a short period before the summit, the second mental waypoint, I crossed from the Yarrow Valley into Moffatdaleand it was raining again.

Down in the dale below I could see the lights of a group of riders, their white bubbles of light much larger than my own climbing the pass and in what seemed like no time they were passing me, cheery hellos accompanied their rain scattered globes of light on my night time glasses.  As the road levelled out in the foot of the valley I spied the Derby Mercury riders again this time they were hiding under a tree for a rest, I told them of my plan to take the main road out of Moffat rather than the Wamphrey road as although it was longer and meant more time on the despised B7076 I reckoned it would be faster.

They disappeared at some point, presumably down the short route, rolling through Moffat and onto the old A74 for a mind numbing ride to the Johnstonebridge services; rolling in there was a good selection of soaked bikes and soaked riders littering the walls and seating; I dived into the toilets shook some of the water off me, took off my soaking gloves and hat and returned for a McDonalds.

As I dripped at the counter Philip and Dick arrived, how did that happen?!
It turned out they had spent over an hour on the Wamphrey road walking their tandem after a punctured tyre and no head torch to help them fix it, eventually another rider arrived who provided them with light to fix the fairy's naughty deed.

I spoke to Philip as I ate and when Dick went to obtain food Philip said he was going to pack when they got back to Gala, he wasn't enjoying the ride and didn't know why he thought he would as he's never enjoyed 600s. Only he still had to break this decision to Dick!

After eating, I placed my old Nokia on the table with a 2hr countdown and lay down, I found the air con's currents to be a tad chilly and so wrapped myself in my space blanket;
I woke up before the alarm, people were still arriving but few were leaving, the rain had eased and light was in the sky; Robbie and Hugo were there but Robert and Martyn were not.  I handed my space blanket on for anyone to use for a bit more insulation, put my hat and gloves under the hand dryer to get heat the water in them up, my alarm was beeping and Dick and Philip were on their way out the door, looking outside I spotted the rain was off.

Time to go, 0700 at Moffat and up the tail, other riders with very little time left to get to Johnstonebridge were on their way in; over the summit and the long descent, needing to watch my heart rate in case I let it drop too far and allow sleep to come, but this wasn't a problem.  Flying past St Mary's loch I looked for evidence of the Ultra Marathon a former colleague was running but I didn't see any (their control was at the pub on the other side of the loch) and there was Trepid Explorer at the café, packed with her bike in the back of a Berlingo.

Riding into Gala I spotted Dick preparing to head off on his own bike, Philip having kept his resolution to pack; I arrived at McDonalds with time to spare before the daytime menu started so it was a Sausage and Egg McMuffin with Cheese for "breakfast". With Cheese, oh dear, I have issues with cheese.

My next mistake was to follow the cycle route from Gala to Tweedbank, a confusing ramble through industrial units and over bridges, eventually I got to the campsite where Robert had already lifted his tent, I spoke briefly to the other camping rider who had also packed before repeating the previous night's kit swap process; unfortunately I made a major mistake this time, the forecast for now was dry and I didn't pack my rain jacket into the new jersey, I also didn't put my arm or leg warmers into my pockets but hey the forecast and reality was warm so that was fine.

I set off again and riding up to the A7 junction spied a cycle path dropping down to the river; had I known I could have got there quicker from Melrose itself I'd have done that but I didn't, into Selkirk and I missed the turn for the sharp dig into the village centre, a minor diversion and the same amount of vertical gain to the petrol station where I controlled and took the road towards St Boswells which I turned off for Lilliesleaf and the route into Wooler via Nisbet, Morebattle and Yetholms that I now know so well, I even remembered about the corner cut to Eckford this time!

Aiden slowed briefly for a chat

Just after Morebattle Aiden caught up with me on his trike, he told me about the Selkirk campsite, how it may not be the place for your expensive kit to be used but the Shower rooms were well heated and he'd slept there instead of his tent!  He had arrived at Eskdalemuir as I was leaving and I hadn't spotted his trike at Johnstonebridge, but then I wasn't looking for it there. 

He also talked about alternative routes back from Wooler, the SBR guys had at one point mentioned a flat route to Kelso via Cornhill on Tweed, but reckoned that would be busy on a Sunday and made me aware of other routes to Kelso.

I was just about to ask how you steer a trike as we left Town Yetholm when he demonstrated on the twisty descent on the Kirk Yetholm road! Not long after he said goodbye and went back to his pace and disappeared into the distance.

Up to this point it had been quite warm in the wind and no rain had presented itself but this started to change, as I rolled into Wooler I was very much aware of the chillness of the wind; I'd forgotten that a large part of keeping warm on a bike is about your metabolic state and in the early stages of a long ride you can produce a decent amount of heat as your heart is willing to pump faster; this isn't necessarily the most efficient way to ride of course, but when you get to 1600hrs the following day and your heart rate is peaking at 120bpm even though you put a bit of an effort in, the cold is a problem!

19:37 +1d; Cold, Wet, Exhausted; what more did I expect?

I stood under the entrance heater at the Wooler Co-Op briefly before heading in to find "tea" and stand in the queue; other riders arrived and went straight to the pubs and cafe's for a warm sit down; I stood out in the cold and shivered as I ate; climbing back on the bike I realized the error of my ways; on the way in my knees felt fine, now they were screaming, I was just going to have to Jens Voigt the F' Up.

The Kirknewton route to Nisbet is lumpy, I know it well and with the story of a flatter route via Kelso I looked for the signs that I'd spotted on the way out, but they didn't seem to come, was I suffering from the Hallucinations other Randoneurs talk about? Eventually a Kelso sign appeared and I turned off and followed the signs, I now found myself going up a sustained climb and started to curse Aiden; before long it turned into the enjoyable bomb down and through Kelso; the Selkirk road was found and a gentle climb ramped up what felt like significantly, but no where near the 7% of the climb from Nisbet; this took me up to the Petrol station as well where I grabbed a chocolate bar for the receipt and as I stood there starting to get cold Steve who had been staying at the campsite in his motorhome arrived;

I rode into Gala with Steve we chatted and he noticed I was cold and struggling a tad, he was clearly holding back and eventually had to climb considerably faster than I was on the road up to the Gala town cross, he wanted to go to Weatherspoons and this sounded fantastic to me at this point in time, but then I thought, nah wait I'll get a receipt at McDonalds with the chocolate milkshake I promised myself at some point during the night and then head back to the tent sort myself out and find tea somewhere else.

A duff plan of course; I rolled into McDonalds at quarter to nine with 2hrs 15m in hand and ordered a chocolate milkshake for a reciept and got speaking to another rider there; it was abnormally warm for a McDonalds who usually set their Air Con on the chilly side to discourage loitering; eventually I ordered a BBQ Chicken legend with large fries and large cup of tea.

The rider I was speaking to was waiting for the half 9 train so he soon dashed off but it wasn't long before Robbie and Hugo arrived; I sat and spoke to them a bit longer and a few other arrivals.
Eventually I set off for the campsite, stupidly once again taking the cycle track route rather than Boleside and finally stopped my Wahoo and Lezyne at 2215 after 40hrs and 50mins and 650km on the clock. (Having set off at 0555 the previous morning)

The extra 50km wasn't exactly welcome, and had I had a prolonged unexpected stop anywhere I would have risked going OTL; however thankfully the whole ride went pretty much to the pace I had expected; another point to keep in mind for my next 600 though!

I sorted my kit out, put the bike in the boot of the car and had a shower; I then sat in the car and tried to transfer the ride from my Wahoo over Bluetooth to my phone, something I should have known just wasn't going to happen; despite the music blaring I soon dozed off and eventually woke at quarter past midnight and decamped into my tent, where after a brief period of indigestion I went back to sleep.

Surprisingly I woke up at 0700 the next day, spoke to Steve who was sorting his bike out on my way for another shower, quite comfortably loaded the car and set off for Ikea where a plate of meatballs  chips and a cake were devoured; The struggle to load a flat pack chest of drawers into Dad's car then began!