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!