So my AUK record starts for real with:
Etal-U-Can - 200Km - 14 Oct 2017
This was a fairly gentle loop of both sides of the border and a start to my Border Reiving for the season. This was also the first Audax I did "on my own" as Dave was busy doing something else, possibly becoming aware of the monster he'd unleased I think he used the excuse of washing his hair to dodge!
This also meant I started to become more significantly aware of the others riding who weren't on exotic machines or absolutely bonkers... (did I mention the fixie rider on the Port Nav who'd ridden up from Darlington and was riding home afterwards)
I found myself riding at the same pace as others and spent a fair bit of the ride with Neil who was up from Evesham; who after seeing me bomb down a hill and fail to tell the difference between field entrance straight on and road at 90 Left decided I should continue to go ahead on descents, he said it was because I was clearly faster downhill but I suspect it was more because he didn't want me to take him out; note to self, better lights needed.
Home in Time for Tea Time - 100Km - 4 Nov 2017
With the 200Km option being called "The Long Dark Teatime of an Audax Soul" and my previous darkness mishap, I didn't fancy riding properly in the dark (says someone who's spent a lot of time MTBing in the Dark), or a repeat of the 4am start it would have needed to get down in time for the start.
A simple out and back ride from Gala to the Café at the old school in Eskdalemuir, I think I got back in daylight and plenty of time!
DIY - 150Km - 9 Dec 2017
Yes a DIY in December, I made the route up to meet the requirements of an AUK Populaire, rode it, submitted the GPX track and it was ok so goes on my record; it was cold, very cold, I had to change route from the shortest to allow for Glen Orchy and the back roads to Oban being frozen over, but thankfully Scotlands Trunk roads are both well gritted and rather quiet on a Saturday in deepest winter.
I was in Bridge of Orchy for my Hiking club's Christmas party and since I've done all I can be bothered with in winter in the area decided to DIY instead, it was dark and cold when I set off and getting dark when I returned; the ungritted roads were frozen as was the Ganavan to Ballachulish cycle track, I enjoyed it; good practice for what's to come in future.
Tour of East Lothian - 100Km - 18 Feb 2018
This sign lies; later in the year I got the chance to see the uphill sign at the top of the hill
The DIY was pretty much my last ride of 2017 for various reasons, and then January was mostly a write off; so I cracked out my "winter" bike and entered the TOEL, 100km should be easy aye?
How wrong could I be, starting in the chill outside Musselburgh townhall we headed straight for the hills, more specifically Red Stane Rig, a 17% leg burner that had me wishing I'd put some training in; as things got steeper and my front wheel started getting lighter a rider in front of me lifted his front wheel long enough to go off balance and hit the deck without injury; my front wheel followed in sympathy and I unclipped and stepped off to walk for a bit. Some pour soul from Musselburgh Road Cycling Club had the miss fortune to draw this as their control and spent a few hours freezing up on the muir.
A careful descent back to sea level dodging between icy sections and a nice flat return along the coast into Musselburgh brought the average speed back up though.
DIY 100Km - 10 March 2018
Because I really needed the motivation, it rained, it was horrible!
Two DIY DNS'
I had two rides planned around now, one a 150Km to Comrie and back the night before I believed the weather forecast and expected a nice sugar coating of snow, I spent the day snowed in.
The other was a 400Km audax, train it up to Thurso and ride home; unfortuantely I spent that weekend shivering in bed, a waste of 35 quid of train tickets; though I was starting to learn a bit more about how to create DIY routes and submit them; or in other words I had a nightmare.
Scottish Borders Randonee - 200Km - 24 March 2018
The Moffat sheep was not up for stamping my Brevet so I went shopping instead
This was the weekend before the planned 400Km, TBH I had a really horrible start to the ride, wondering what I was doing which possibly indicated I was starting to get unwell.
Russell had had to adjust the route due to snow blockages though so I didn't have to haul myself up the wall of Talla, instead I had to drag myself up the Stow Hillclimb oh and I had the 25t cassette on the Synapse not the 30t, not my best decision ever!
What I didn't know at the time is this would be the start of a run of at least 1 >200Km ride per month for a prolonged period!
Following the ride I took the motorhome to Newcastleton to meet up with Alex for a blast round the Newcastleton 7 Stanes centre after using the Wahoo on the road bike, the Garmin was clearly in the huff and deleted all my riding for the day, it's been banished to the junk shelf ever since.
Moffat Toffee 200Km and Broughton and Back 100Km - 14th and 15th April 2018
Feeling better again thankfully this double header got the show back on the road,
The 200 was a loop from Gala to Langholm with a few diversions before taking the Wamphrey "road" to Moffat followed by an enjoyable climb and descent over the Grey Mare's tail.
The Wamphrey road was a note to self to accept the B7076 route if there's no controls on it next time it was called for!
The Wamphrey road was a note to self to accept the B7076 route if there's no controls on it next time it was called for!
The 100Km route was a more relaxed affair, a lower minimum speed meant I could lounge at the turn café for a bit, although a faster rider appeared to have dropped a doorstep sized wedge of a sandwich at one of the junctions but never owned up to losing it! A perfect recovery ride.
Merse and Moors - 300Km - 28th April 2018
My night time avoidance had to end, there was no way this ride could be done without darkness by me at least; a 6am start from Musselburgh railway station saw one entrant DNS in the car park as their rim exploded good timing as the ride started with a fast flat section followed my a big climb and descent to Innerleithen.
At the Co-Op in Innerleithen I had a quick refuel, it wasn't far into the ride but the basic breakfast I had forced in at the Travel Lodge wasn't quite enough; I rue failing to take a photograph of Dick McT and Philip Jurczyk sitting like Oor Wullie's on Co-Op shopping baskets though.
From Inners we lumped on through the borders before starting the major drag up to Carters Bar and the border before descending to Elson for lunch at the Impromptu Cyclists Café, a rather curious spot!
Further south for a bit and then a couple of navigational mistakes as I miss-read a sign nearly had me heading for Newcastle before getting it back under control and heading north again for Coldstream; unfortunately my navigational error meant that the riders I'd previously dropped were well ahead of me so I was out on my own from now to the end; I promised myself a treat at Duns the last control before the finish but ended up at the Co-Op where other riders were setting off for the finish rather than the chip shop, unfortunately I found I was struggling to eat the pasta pot and sweets I'd purchased so spent longer over them than needed; a lesson for a future ride; you can shove a sandwich or wrap in your pocket and eat it later.
There were two routes suggested to get over to the East Lothian coast from Duns, either direct up and over the Redstane Rig or round the side and then up; I opted for the directly up route, and spent a good while climbing before stopping to change my front light batteries; somewhere up on the moor I passed a bonfire with campers round it; I resisted the temptation to stop and chat and get some heat and found myself looking at a sign that said there was a 17% climb ahead, of course I was at the top of the Red Stan Rig again, in the dark with the lights of East Lothian, Fife and right up to the Mearns visible; I didn't have enough light for a descent descent speed so hung onto the brakes for the plung to the coast; after riding through pub kicking out time at Tranent and into Musselburgh I only had 1hr 45m left of the 20hr limit, possibly the closest I've been to full value.
A tough 300 but early in a season with a poor winter.
Forfar to Pitlochry and back - 150Km - 12th May 2018
Relatively speaking a nice easy ride on paper; the forecast said there was to be a head wind both directions; great!
I certainly didn't notice it as I clung onto the back of the "Pensioners Bus" as it flew out of Forfar and on to wards Coupar Angus and Dunkeld mostly on roads I knew; unfortuantely at a sharp kick just before Glaims, the bus revealed itself to be a better Grimpeur than I and disappeared into the distance!
One of the rules that is unique to AUK is that your routing is up to you, most other Randoneuring bodies apply Mandatory routes by default; this meant that rather than take the bumpy route by Moulinearn, I could refresh my memory of the Logierait route to Pitlochry which I would be riding in the Etapé Caledonia the following weekend.
I decided I had time for a leisurely lunch at Escape Route and by chance bumped into Roy and Ben Cunningham from the Mukyz who had been out riding their MTBs; once lunch was done another rider on the Audax had just had some work done on his bike at Escape Route and we set off up the Moulin Muir together, hanging back to speak to a heavily laden tourer.
The descent to Kirkmichael is one of my favourites so I bombed down that and hang about to let Andy catch up for the run into Forfar; he didn't quite believe that he'd had a head wind all day when I told him!
DIY - 200Km - 14th May 2018
As if doing a 150Km on the Saturday wasn't enough I'd put in to do a 200 DIY on the Monday, all part of my building up the long distances over a single Weekendish plan in preparation for the Tour of the Highlands Sportive which I was riding again two weekends later.
I took a straight out and back easy route to Aberfoyle where I scoffed cake; this is a route I'm getting to know quite well although I had to divert via Aberuthven as Taggart was on the case at Auchterarder following the Annalise Johnstone murder investigation on the Dunning to Auchterarder road; what slightly unnerves me now is I considered stopping at the Maggie Wall monument but decided to take a photo and carry on; it's since been revealed that despite it not being taped off that day, this was the murder scene.
I stopped at a shop in Dunblane before carrying on along to Doune and the Laich of Menteith; despite Laich meaning "not high" rather than the miss translation to Lake that is often used for the body of water, the road lumps along; after the cake I set off back and riding through a set of temporary traffic lights I spotted the occupants of the vehicles stopped at the other end getting out and looking at their rather crumpled cars; I didn't see the crash so battering on back to Dunblane and then into Auchterarder where I decided I needed to top up on food, I spotted a heavy loaded tourer's bike and hung around to chat for a bit; they were on their 2nd last day of their tour, my bike set up for a long day ride looking rather light in comparisson.
This ride got me a 200km ride in for June, so that was March, April and May, 3 months of 200+ km rides, not bad going considering the start to my season.
Breadalbane - 160km - 16th June 2018
I had considered ECEing this but didn't, it would have got me a 200 for June early enough to cope if there was a problem on my only calendar event planned for the month, and I was starting to realize that if I got 4 months in that I was only 2 months from being halfway through an RRTY; anyway I digress!
Although I sub-titled this ride as "The Wetter the Better" in homage to a kids TV show that involved kids dunking their teachers or parents into swimming pools, it could also be described as "The day I messed everything up but go away with it!"
I had a nightmare, I set off from home late and ended up scrabbling round Comrie Croft trying to find a Yellow PopUp tent... which was a miss-hearing of "Yellow Pop-Top Van" I then went to the toilet; and missed the start (but I had my Brevet so that's fine);
Setting off 30 minutes later than the start time along the A85 heading through Comrie and onto the South Loch Earn Road in the pissing rain wasn't ideal, climbing Glen Ogle in the rain was also a bit meh, then along to Ben Lawers where it really started raining; the descent into Glen Lyon should be amazing but I was on the Synapse with rim brakes, in the wet and the road is strewn with various sizes of loose aggregate (that's for the gravel pedants out there).
At the Glen Lyon Post Office and tea room I forgot it was a post office and asked for a reciept instead of their stamp, thankfully it had enough info for validation.
I then cracked on in the rain for Aberfeldy where rather than go to the Co-Op and their reliable reciepts I went to the premier where I got a reciept saying I was in Test Shop, London. Thankfully their ATM did free balance reciepts.
The route then had an info control on the Glen Quaich road, a tough climb out of Kenmore and then a tough descent in the wet to the Sma' Glen. I walked up and I think I even walked down at one point.
Thankfully by the crossing of the A85 at New Fowlis I was in a tolerable mood and the sun was out, so I didn't take the bail out route and went down to the Muthill info control where I discovered some of my right shoe cleat bolts were either loose or somewhere on the road; balancing myself against a pillar I was able to release the spring in my pedals and put the cleats back on with 2 bolts on each side. Further on the road I came across another rider who was having a nightmare with a puncture which unfortunately resulted in her scratching; every time the tube got to a decent inflation pressure it would just as quickly fail leaving her with no tubes and a knackered pump; at this point i discovered my CO2 canister had been used; I don't remember using it either, and then that my pump was equally useless; 7km from the finish and an hour to go; I'd probably have walked it.
Now over halfway through the season, the rides really ramped up and I'm going to give most of them a post of their own rather than a wrap up post.
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