Central Scotland 300 - 8th March 2019

With the previous weekends crack at the Twilight 600 postponed due to strong winds we were weather watching all week in the hope that things would calm down and it would be decent for our attempt at the Central Scotland 300; this being a loop of the Midland and Borders Spa towns of Innerleithen, Peebles, Dunblane, Bridge of Allan, Callander, Lochearnhead and Crieff.

Due to accessibility we chose to start at one of the towns on the route, Auchterarder, this being accessible by train from Aberdeen for Robbie and an easy 1 hour drive or 2.5hr cycle from home for me.  A spanner was thrown in the works of our planning when the Sunday trains were all cancelled north of Dundee which meant that riding on the Saturday wasn't a suitable option for Robbie.

The forecast wasn't looking much different from when we did the Snow Roads, a stiff but manageable breeze with the odd strong gust, a bit of rain around but nothing much to worry about.

I drove out to the station early to try to get a snooze in before Robbie arrived, although I don't tend to suffer much from the Dozzies it's always worth getting a snooze or two in for a night start.  The biggest problem with snoozing is I never know if I've managed it or not and in no time my alarm was going off telling me to get my bike out the car and ready for Robbie's arrival.  I had decided to test out the "new" bike for this ride it having already had a short test and fix ride on the Monday vacated by Twilight recovery.

The location of the station at Auchterarder at the foot of the Glen of the Chaples (Gleann na h-Eaglaise) meant we needed to ride up to town thanks to a lack of facilities, and then to ride back past the station. We controlled at 2012 and set off up through Gleneagles village to cross the A9 on the over-bridge rather than the flat shared use crossing we had used to get up to town.  The strong westerly wind hit us briefly as we started to climb the Glen but we were soon in the shelter of the hillside.  The sensory deprivation of the dark only allowing us to see that we were indeed moving and our perceived effort telling us that we were climbing.  Some light drizzle started to fall and the odd loss of shelter showed us the strength of the gusts.  Effort perception changed, the outline of the hills at the edge of the glen stopped dropping and started rising back into the sky as we crossed the watershed and entered Glen Devon, wet brake discs squealed as we cut our speed to match the capacity of the bubbles of light.  Plunging through Glen Devon village the drizzle increased in strength and Robbie stopped to put on a rain jacket under a street light at the Yetts o' Muckhart. I invented a fictional bus shelter in my mind and rolled on looking for it in order to put mine on without the wind interfering with the actions.

A lone bus stop pole passed without shelter and I kept rolling at a gentle pace, checking the sky which was now showing stars rather than clouds in front of us, waiting for Robbie to catch up without stopping.  The drizzle had ceased by the time we rolled down past Powmill Milk Bar and turned onto our second climb of the night, Knockhill rising gently, sheltered by surrounding hills we didn't really feel the wind, and then once out the shelter it was imperceptibly pushing us up. Over the top the long descent down through Dunfermline to Rosyth began, in Dunfermline a drunk local thought she'd tell us she could ride a bike as we whizzed past.  The road system in Dunfermline isn't exactly the nicest for cycling on but we were soon feeling the gusts on the new roads at the foot of the new Forth Bridge.

As we rode up the access track to the West Footway of the old bridge Robbie thought he could see the way ahead barred, however I reminded him about the bus shelter in the middle and as we passed that we could see the barrier sitting in its open position.  As soon as we were out of the shelter of the rock-face the full strength of the wind howling down the Forth Valley was evident, bikes cranked over to the west to counter the constant wind, bars being tweeked to avoid smashing into the barriers on the gusts, it was truly a horrific experience, particularly with the low barriers of the Forth Bridge not aiding confidence, the towers of the new bridge seemed to alter the constant wind as did some of the features of the old bridge such as the concrete parapets when crossing the approach viaducts piers, the workmen's cabins and even the suspension cable to our east altering the way the wind affected us; on reaching the other side we resorted to McDonalds to recover out nerves.

South Queensferry McDonalds

We stopped awhile at McDonalds in South Queensferry, our pace was decent enough at 20kmh and a chance for Robbie to snatch a snooze was part of the strategy, 30 minutes later we left and set off through South Queensferry, Dalmeny and into Edinburgh on the Ferry Road.  The provided route for this Perm goes through Central Edinburgh which I'd decided wouldn't be a great idea around Midnight on a Friday with pubs starting to kick out so we took the marginally longer Cycling Ring Route that skirts round Edinburgh with such Highlights as Sighthill and Wester Hailes countered by Collington and Fairmilehead; somewhere out here Robbie swears he saw a Knife in the road; I missed it, or perhaps I didn't, as while we climbed out of Collington and past a lit bus shelter I realized I had a demoralizing flat rear tyre. My luck with puncturing next to well lit bus shelters continued, however this was nothing like the small bead of glass that had gone through in Carlisle and I found a small sliver of metal pierced through my tyre tread and puncture strips.  On trying to push it out I realized just how big a bit of metal it was and my attempts to get a grip on it with tools failed until Robbie woke from a power nap and pinched it out with his fingers.  More time was lost trying to get the rear wheel back on as one of the caps came off the hub through trying to force the wheel on the tight fit of the new frame, some slight cold setting will be required on a warm day in far off the sunny future.

Getting going again Robbie made me aware that our average speed was right down to minimum, it was clear he wasn't enjoying the ride and to be honest I wasn't either but to show it would have ended the ride there and then. When we turned towards Laswade the strength of the wind hit us again, but now it felt much stronger on land than before.  A small dip in the elevation profile proved to be a steep drop and climb that we could have avoided on another route, but we were soon climbing out of Bonnyrigg on an easier gradient that would hardly let up until the summit of the Granites for the descent into Inners.  Despite this gentle 3% gradient our average speed only sat in the high single digits, time slipping away from us slowly as we rode into the strong gusting wind; I was starting to think of how to bail out, Robbie mentioned he was struggling again, and I could see that he needed another power nap to deal with the Dozzies if we were to continue.

My preference for plugging on in silence when struggling with conditions clashes here as talking is one of the best ways of keeping a dozzy rider alert until they can stop for a snooze and tank up of caffeine.  On the Nae Bother To Us 400 I rode on the back of the group listening as best I could but not taking part in their game of 20 questions. Something I must get involved and start if required to keep a sleepy rider alert enough to ride to a rest location.

The road eased off, but there's a false summit and descent before the final one, this took place in shelter so we got some speed up and started to look forward to the plunge into town; then that final summit happened, and in terms of the overall route it is also the highest point of the ride, so we had loaded the majority of the climb at the start with our Auchterarder start. As we summited the gusting wind sent us wobbling all over the road, rather than gaining speed on the descent as normal we got slower despite the steady gradient of the descent.  Further to the low descent speed and strong winds blasting us on the descent, Robbie was really struggling with the dozzies now and it was as on the Snow Roads affecting his perception of the road.

By the time we'd reached Inners the thoughts had turned to how to get out the wind, despite this we still got proof of reaching Innerleithen at 0324; our time limit was 0401, giving an hour to ride the 10km into the wind to Peebles, it wasn't happening, Robbie was sleepy, cold and fed up, I was cold, fed up and declared it Type 3 fun.

After 112Km of the 307km route we'd both decided to accept our first DNF of our Audaxing careers, a moment you would think would be tinged with disappointment, and perhaps it would have been had a mechanical or injury caused us to pack or go OTL. But we were both just glad to be finding an escape from the wind.

Hotel Innerleithen

A limited sense of smell is sometimes a godsend

I had a quick scout around for bus shelters of which there were none in town, then went to find out if the toilets were open; we found that one of the toilets was operable and that it would open with 30p, we didn't have 30p in coins but we did have a pound coin so chose to overpay for the shelter; the toilet was surprisingly clean but unfortunately unheated. Foil blankets and warm layer adjustments were made, and Robbie was soon asleep and snoring.  I tried to snooze and I may have managed it but as I say I never know. I got uncomfortable repeatedly and moved around, my legs cramped and eventually I couldn't get any of my warmth channelled down the blanket to my feet as I'd ripped it with the movement.
I could hear the wind howling outside on occasion as strong gusts hit, the fairly sheltered location of the toilets adding to the relief that we had stopped; I wondered where we would have been?
On the bridge (was it open?)?
On the exposed road to Penicuik?
I decided I was still just glad to be out of it.

As I sat there awake, I pondered the options for when we got mobile again, how do I get back to the car, do I ride to Edinburgh on the route and take a train from Edinburgh Park? What about Gala.
When Robbie woke he made it clear he preferred the 20km with the wind behind to Gala option, I was still tempted to ride up to Edinburgh Park, but I quickly came round to the Gala option, it was only going to cost an extra tenner for the train, and we'd get there in time for a McDonald's breakfast.

A "Happy Train" failing to whisk me along to Stirling.

After the McD's breakfast we got on the train to Edinburgh, Robbie went direct to Aberdeen but I decided that since Gleneagles was going to cost the same as my local station, I may as well go and get the car now.  Unfortuantely my first Stirling bound train failed in the station, and the second had no heating. A long wait was needed at Stirling but I eventually got to Gleneagles and went to explore the wares of Synergy cycles.