The Turra Coo - 300 - 6 April 2019

Apparently bad luck comes in threes and I'd had three instances of it before I got to the start.

1. While Giving the bike a quick test before loading the car up I was aware of a few clunks and pings and then just as I was heading to the car the chain rolled off onto the road, one side of the quick link hadn't engaged properly with the pin of the other and had separated under load and in the process twisted.  I spend a few minutes trying to remove the mangled quick link before retrieving the pliers from the garage to do the job, just as well it happened outside the house as
   I probably wouldn't have been able to separate the duff link from the chain at the roadside.
   At least it would have happened near the start.
   
2. Robbie reminded me given the start time that it would make sense for him to get a lift from the hotel to the start, so in the morning before setting off I took the bike out, took the front wheel off and as I was putting it back in noticed an "interesting" pattern around one of the spokes... Cleaning it up I realized I had a knackered rim. With my main wheel away to the builder with the same problem I swapped in my only other suitable wheel off the Genesis.
   Another potential rider ender averted.
   
3. I drove up the A90 and took Cairn-O-Mounth followed by a route winding through Torphins and Alford, but just as I got to Insch my Handbrake warning light started flickering on and off... Um... I stopped at Insch and had a look, fluid was a bit low, um...  Drove on a bit at low speed to a parking area on the A96 and checked again. No fluid... RAC time.
   I spent a few minutes in the lay-by before the tow truck from Huntly arrived with some DOT 4, but after a quick inspection he spotted what I hadn't, fluid all over the inner wheel rim, so I arrived in Elgin on the back of the two truck needing either a replacement calliper or flexi-hose just after closing time ideal.

So that's all three yeah? Hope so!

Ah'v nae idea far this wis

We arrived down at the start just after 5am and got tucked into the breakfast that Mark the organizer had put on for riders.  Despite the long life Croissant I had already scoffed before setting off, I had a couple of bowls of All Bran for the road.  6am arrived and no one seemed particularly ready to set off, Robbie took the initiative and I grabbed his virtual bungee chord to see how long I could hang on for; as usual it was the first rise that got me and those behind my in the bungee chain let go and flew past to catch Robbies.

The Wahoo lost the route on the way into Elgin as I'd loaded a route on that took the more circuitous NCN route and I didn't have the backlight enabled so I was having to follow my nose, I picked up the NCN past the Abbey but then missed the turn along the river and ended up on the A96 through town and then took the first road north that looked like it would take me onto the route to get back to the coast.

Cullen, no control so no Haddie Soup

I rejoined between a couple of groups near the back and carried on towards Banff, passing through Buckie and Cullen taking in the coastal scenery, there was a multitude of route options and while I stuck with the published route I could see groups riding down on the coast road and up on the hill road either side of the old railway route I was on, but we eventually all merged onto the coast road for the roll into Banff where I went to the TSB ATM to discover it tells you the street address but nothing else before moving onto the Cashzone machine outside a shop that had the required information.

The route turned inland and it was the start of a long broken up climb that ultimately culminated at Slochd but first we had to stop at Turriff where the titular cow became collateral in an argument over the introduction of National Insurance between state and farmers. 

Substitute Turra Coos

I'd never been to Turriff before, and we only scratched the surface with a pop into Tesco however I remember the Christmas TV adverts on Grampian TV for shopping in Turriff which, just like the radio adverts for the Brechin castle centre pronounced the town names as badly as Gordon Ramsay does, the local advertising was in the form of static cards either end of the networked adverts for old style MilkyWay bars; sadly I haven't found a you tube video that shows the advert in all its static epicness so you'll just have to imagine it, a white card with a red robin in one corner, a picture of some shops and words along the line of "Come to Turriff for your Christmas shopping" with a voice over saying the same thing, it would probably be followed by one for Aberdeen's premier scrap metal merchant "Panda Rosa" also spoken in a suspiciously non-Doric voice. Living in North Fife we got such exotic advertising as Dundee didn't get it's own advertising stream until nearer the STV take over.  Back then I could watch the other ITV channel only by going to my Gran's in Cupar where the telly picked up Scottish TV which was of course a Weegie channel.
However ah dinna ken why mah Gran wanted tae watch Scottish TV as be'in fae Fettery she spiks Mearns Doric anyhoo.

I decided to eat first lunch here and raided Tesco for something tastyish, as I left the shop a rider wearing a CTC Grampian top appeared pushing a shopping trolley, automatically assuming he was riding the Coo I suggested he wasn't going to need that size of trolley.
As I ate my sandwich a big group of riders arrived and one of them knew the shopper so I quickly realized my mistake.  He was of course actually out on his weekly shop and had a fully panniered up bike sitting waiting to take the shopping home.

Sadly the route didn't pass the Coo so I made do with a quick shot of a field full of Coos and set about on the climb to Huntly which was relatively uneventful, however rolling into town I was thrown a bit by the one way system and the road closures for the market, but rolled past the 4th or 5th Highland Football League ground of the day, what's odd about the HFL is that most clubs although north of the Highland Boundary Fault line (and a few north of the great glen fault) are based in the North East the least Highlandy bit of the Highlands! 
I eventually found a route into the town centre, the cash machine was out of order so risked RS McColls for a receipt as I couldn't find a Co-Op, then while rolling out of town I discovered there was a big Tesco that most had controlled at. Looking at Google maps it appears there is also a big ASDA but no Co-Op.

It was only now that I discovered from Simon that Dufftown is not a control on this ride; I had convinced myself that it was (because it always is!) so my Plan to eat there went out the window unless I really needed to eat something.
I was going well on the climb and rewarded with a decent descent into Dufftown while seeing signs for the Cabrach that thankfully I didn't need to cross today, a fair few other riders did stop at the Café here to eat and I wasn't far off catching Robbie who was riding in a small group and making good progress.
The climb through town was the usual struggle but thanks to the easterly I was again going well in Glen Rinnes and unlike during February's bash at the Snow Roads my average speed was climbing all the way until I stopped at the Old Fire Station in Tomintoul where Mark was waiting to plant the proof of passage on my Brevet before I tucked into a late lunch of decent proportions.

Above the snow line between Dufftown and Tomintoul

The menu was sadly limited and the Beans on Toast I'd been dreaming of was substituted with a Bacon and Egg Roll, Pancake with Syrup and a Bakewell tart which I reckoned would see me over Slochd and down into Nairn.  It was now time for the climb I was dreading, Bridge of Brown, it's not long, and it's not excessively steep but it punctuates an otherwise long descent to Nethy Bridge and would be a test for the tired legs.  The descent to the bridge is tricky as it winds its way down with some gravel littered corners that demand some care, before ramping you up sharply after crossing the bridge, first time I rode this I failed to realize what was going on and was forced to mash up the first ramp it in a ridiculous gear before it eased off enough for me to change gear, today I was set in the little ring and well up the cassette before the bridge ready for the ramp and rode up it comfortably.

The start of the Bridge of Brown Dip, you can see the road climbing ahead

Optimistically I declared to myself that there was no more climbing until the start of the Slochd climb at Aviemore, really I know this to be wrong, there's plenty of bumps on the roads down to and through the Nethy Forest and Nethy bridge to Coylumbridge is actually marginally uphill, but as it's a long "easy" section it gave a good chance to rest, possibly a bit too much as my slow time down to Aviemore shows.  I stopped at the new M&S Petrol Station in Aviemore rather run the gauntlet in Tesco which I was fairly sure would by now have every till on and a queue of gadgies waiting to put their trolley full of six packs though for the nights bevvying wherever that may be.

Slochd, not so snowy today

The road north out of Aviemore was busy even after the north junction with the A9 and I was glad to get onto the Carrbridge road, through the village and then onto the old A9 to Slochd village. Ahead of me I could see the blinking rear light of a rider wearing hi-vis but I didn't recognise the kit from earlier.  Eventually I saw him stop and wait for me and suggested we ride together up Slochd which I was happy to do having spent most of the day out on my own,  it turned out he had set off from Forres at Midday to ride over Dava with the hope of finding a hostel in Grantown but had discovered there's not such cheap accommodation there so had worked out he could ride back to Nairn, I spoke to him as we climbed and discovered he was based at the Findhorn trust doing training for long hikes in Spain later this year amongst other things, we crossed Slochd and descended to Nairn together where he went to figure out how to get back to base and I went to find a Co-Op for proof of purchase.

It was now starting to get dark and the wind was building up making the flat road hard work out of the shelter of the trees for a solo rider, the road network also seems to work against you here. A maze of roads that wind between hamlets and bounce you close to the A96 and back towards the coast before you reach the Findhorn where the options are an off-road section to avoid the A96 or go for it on the bust road, though at this time of night it did look temptingly quiet.
From Nairn back to Duffus it was a flat 38km that I rode at only 19kmh sucking my hope of being home before 10pm and I rolled in just before 2230 for a bowl or two of cottage pie and trifle.

Despite me nearly catching Robbies group at Dufftown and getting close again at Aviemore they were home a full 2 hours ahead of me having picked up significant time on the sections where working together really helps and my lower climbing speed; this is all something that concerns me ahead of riding the Easter Arrow in a couple of weekends time; however the light nights and better weather will hopefully let me get out after work for some active recovery and a harder ride but it could be too little to late?