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!