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.