The Snow Roads - 300Km - 30 June 2018

So I'm cutting it a bit fine with a BR for June, he last day of the month isn't ideal; In my head I knew if I did this the 4th BR(M) then I'd be able to carry it on with the rest of the year I had planned to get well on the way for an RRTY by the time winter arrived, which should be enough to get me through it (baring utterly atrocious conditions)

I stayed at my brothers in Kirrie the night before to save the half hour journey in the morning, a minor boon, though I did find myself on a lengthy walk to see the Kirrie penguins and paying for everyone's tea!

The forecast was for a decent 17C in Kirrie, a roasting 25c in Banchory and Braemar and a Scorching 30c at Dufftown; so I kitted up appropriately, by which I mean I left my warmers at home and put on my usual summer kit of short sleeved top, shorts, a merino mix baselayer and a Casquet for under my helmet.

It was similar conditions for the Tour of the Highlands the previous month and I'd picked up from the organizer of that who spends winter in Australia (i.e. Summer) and a South African colleague, a few tips on how to cope in the heat; get wet.

Starting off with a fast downhill blast from Kirrie to Clattering Brig I snapped a few pictures of the people around me the bottom one is of Dale and Dean (the nutter who rode to Port Navigation and Back on a fixie)

At Clattering Brig a surprising number of riders stopped while others disappeared off into the distance, and I spent part of the climb speaking to another ride who had happened upon us!

In Banchory it was getting hot already and I tagged on from there with David Fawcett for a bit before he "lost me" as he put it when we met up again at the finish (I stopped for a pee)!

I was in unchartered terriority now, but due to the forecast heat I'd scoped out shops along the way and despite being an info control I rolled into Rhynie where there had been what looked like a shop; I was rather short of water at this point and unaware of a potable spring on the Cabrach, so joined in the scoffing of ice cream and purchasing of 2L bottles of water; the shop keeper was constantly shuttling 2l bottles out of her store to keep the shelf stocked!

Over the Cabrach which I had never ridden before and into Dufftown where it took me a few seconds to realize why there was a lot of riders on the opposite side of the road from the Co-Op! Another 2L bottle of water purchased along with something more substantive than ice cream to eat; at this point i disposed of the spare water over my head giving the casque under my helmet a good soaking and me a sharp relief!

It's only a relatively short distance from Dufftown to Tomintoul but it felt like forever in the heat (and as I discovered on the Rothes Reccie, on a temperate day where rain showers aren't far away either) I rolled into Tomintoul, 500m off route to get more ice cream and water; at this point I realized I was doing rather better time wise than expected, setting off with another couple of riders who had also popped into Tomintoul I made the mistake of saying that we were doing the "easy side" of the Lecht; while this is strictly true it's still a 20% ramp and thanks to a bad overtake by another road user on the approach my head snapped and I walked it when an air cooled VW Van started struggling behind me.

I didn't expect to be anywhere near Goodbrand and Ross at Corgaff before closing time; and I didn't expect the café at the Lecht Ski Centre to be open due to some competition going on that day, so I could have got away with out my Tomintoul stop but I'm glad I took it; stopping at Goodbrand and Ross for cake at 1630 just because I'd made it there when it was open gave me a rest before the infamous BH hills; these are the hills either side of the Gairnsheil bridge, I'd ridden them in the other direction before so knew to expect them!

Being spat out onto the A83 at Crathes is a bit rude of the Gairnshiel road, and it leaves you with a gentle climb up to Braemar that generally goes unnoticed.

Rolling into Braemar where Dave Crampton and co were serving up beans on toast I had a look around me at the other riders, everyone looked frazzled; I scoffed the beans on toast and took my time about cracking on; I knew things were about to get much cooler as the sea air has a cooling effect on the other side and the light was dropping; as I prepared to set off one of the stronger riders I'm used to seeing bash on in front and never be seen again staggered into the control looking rather unwell what I didn't know at this point was that he'd been resting before the Lecht and at Gairnshiel when I went past both (he passed me when I was in Goodbrand and Ross); unfortunately i found out at the finish that the heat exhaustion had got him and that was the end of the ride for him and a few others.

I really struggled up to the Cairnwell pass on the old road; I could swear I saw others climbing better on the new road on the other side, I didn't see there was a lot of riders resting at the summit as I just rolled over and got hit by the temperature drop I was expecting; brrrrrr...

The roll into Kirrie via Glen Isla is always odd; you either feel like you're flying along including up the bumps or you feel absolutely terrible; on this ride it was the latter.

My Strava stats actually show this last section as one of the faster non-plungey sections of the ride, but it didn't feel like it at the time. I rolled into the finish 16hrs and 25m after setting off; not bad for a hilly 300 in that heat with the extra stops.