Alston and Back - 13 April 2019

Something wasn't right, my bike was flying along the A7 nicely at this quiet hour, I was out on my own having been the only one to respond sharply to Lucy's statement advising us we could go, my feet were turning the pedals nicely but my stomach was starting to complain about something.
Was it the huge bowl of Shreddies I'd scoffed at half 4, or the huge Smash burger I'd had for tea the night before? It's irrelevant really.

A couple of riders caught up with me and I had a small dig to try and hang on and I discovered Robbie was just behind, we whizzed towards the first ramp of the day at Selkirk where I knew I'd start going backwards. I dropped the gears and started to climb at my normal slow pace, riders flew past as they always do, I'm used to this.

Cold

The sharp climbing finally comes to an end not too far out of Selkirk just after the SBR riders pass me on the climb, I pass them on the descent thanks to the function of gravity that is also partly related to my lack of speed on the climbs but they reel me in on the flat not long after and I don't hang on as the road climbs through Ettrickbridge.
I've chosen to ride the steel bike with guards today with my only usable rear wheel fitted a fact I'm slightly unnerved by, the Hunt still to come back from replacement and the Mavic, well they asked for a picture of the serial number mid-week and I've heard nothing since.

Moustache freezing cold conditions

My stomachs complaining again if it's bad well there's trees out here in the Ettrick Valley, the road undulates along either side and across the middle but it's not tough to climb.  The chill in the air is giving me something to distract from the discomfort with, my left hand exposed most to the cold wind from the south is very cold, I've picked the wrong gloves for the chill opting for mits over my DeFeet Duras, fine when the temperature is just above zero, it must be under.  Douglas catches up and chats for a bit, exclaiming that it must be -4 because that's when his Moustache freezes, and it's frozen.

Climbing to the summit

The odd rider flies past without talking, having got up to their cruising speed faster enough than mine. I'm just waiting for the Ettrick marshes before the summit and thinking of the conditions last time I rode up here on the "Long Dark Teatime", my hand hurts but the road is dry and the view is crisp. Riding through Ettrick where the 500m ford had risen between the first rider passing though and I at the rear I turned over the river on the bridge and followed the Tima into the forest.  The signs denoting the march appear above be at last, sadly this is no long fast descent, potholes in some places looking like chasms to hell opening need to be dodged, broken cattle grids to pick a line over, it could be so much faster a descent but it isn't.  The road levels out and on occasion climbs, I know where I am and I know it's not far now, the Tibetan Centre appears to my left, it's a couple of Ks to the old school now.




I roll the bike onto a stand and make a beeline for the WC, I exit very much relieved and quite shocked at my fingers being white but the palm red, I usually don't get here able to eat but I decide I can.  After breakfast 2 I set off again, I'm convinced the wind's picked up while I was in there but at least there's some heat in the sun now, exactly how long was I in there for?

It's not far to the next control at Langholm, with a few more testing hills to conquer but I'm soon rolling through Bentpath and then into town.  No need to eat anything from the shop here so I grab a receipt from the ATM and crack on for Gretna.  I'm not a fan of this next section some long drawn out climbs that slow you down and a reasonable amount of cross border traffic. I see a sign for Glenzierburn and remember that this is a great example of the English and Scots spellings of the same name, it distracts me from the traffic at least. It's also where one of the few sections of the Scotland/England border is denoted not by a river but by a dyke build for the purpose.

I start reciting the first few verses of the Battle of Otterburn in my ear worm, we're on the wrong side of the island but it doesn't matter it's something to keep me going on this relatively boring bit of the A7 as a wait for the junction to Gretna to appear, I remember the wrong junction but it's not signed as Gretna so I know its not the one, as Longtown appears just up a slight rise the junction arrives.

The Gretna Dog Leg

We've got this little dogleg to get the distance up and it's the first time I get a chance since Eskdalemuir to judge how I'm going, I pass the SBR group and Douglas, no sign of Robbie so I know there's a fast group on the front that have already set off for Alston.  The plan was to eat a pastry or something here, but I forget and grab sweets and juice, I'm not really feeling like I want food anyway.
Control bounced and I'm back at the junction, there's many riders still on their way into Gretna, the next waypoint is Brampton and it's signed all the way.

SBR Riders on the descent from Brampton

As I approached Brampton I remember my navigational error last year on the 600 so I load up the map not that it helps much as the fault was on the return.  It's a long straight drag into the South Easterly wind but I'm hardly noticing, maybe it's the clicking from my Bottom Bracket distracting me from it?

On the climb out of Brampton I was looking forward to Hallbankgate where the road sign proudly proclaims "Local Shop", I had decided to investigate and have lunch here.  I roll down the drive way and wander through the shop grabbing some sweets and a drink, when I got to the counter I realized how tired I was, and forgot about lunch.  The small sitting area was a perfect rest, my right foot had started hurting for no reason on the climb out of Brampton so getting weight off it was necessary.  Just the long climb to Alston now, at Midgeholm we leave Cumbria and enter Northumberland, picking up the South Tyne, the road runs alongside an old railway line with the bridges still in tact, and in the section from Slaggyford to Alston there is a narrow gauge railway on the trackbed.  A slight distraction from the line, as I climb I spot a large group seconds too late to get a picture, Robbie's on the front, this can only be the lead riders there's been no one else.

As I climb the odd rider appears on their return journey, it's a long climb and a fast descent so the closeness of the other riders is deceptive to position but there's a lot of riders.  Carolyn and Leighn catch up with me, and then stop to fix a puncture, I pass a rider I had seen on the way into Gretna on the climb, not long out of Slaggyford the steep corner appears, the ramp appearing to reach for the sky in front as you approach on a tangent, I take the curve and see it's not as bad as it looks as I struggle up, but that's it it's downhill gently now to the bridge below Alston and a gentle dig up to the petrol station where Dave's group who were at Gretna when I got there were still eating.

I grabbed a ridiculous stash of food from the shop and planted myself on the bags of wood in the bunker to eat and let my right foot calm down, a chicken sandwich, hot sausage roll, can of coke and two chocolate eclaires, surely enough to get me back to Eskdale.  The other riders roll in for their control.

No one rides 50x11...

I persuade myself that it's time to go, I give the bike a kick out of the garage and in no time am saying good afternoon to a couple of gentlemen passing the time of day on the seats at the war memorial, seconds later I'm telling them I went the wrong way, that's twice I've done that.  After the gentle climb to the summit I'm picking my way between potholes at high speed, laughing within myself at people who proclaim that 1x is great and no one rides in the 50x11... The potholes are stopping me pushing up to spin out speed.






I take a mental note of who I'm passing now, Edwin is not far out of Alston, Cory is just out of Slaggyford and a woman in Cycology gear that I don't recognise who is definitely a Randonneur (who else would have only a Carradice Barley for luggage?) is entering Slaggyford, it's Half 3 in the afternoon, they've got time but it's going to be a late return for them.

Suddenly I'm flying towards the Brampton bypass, I get across cleanly and then back up to speed into town where a tourist bus gets in my way.  Last time I missed the turn and was nearly back on the bypass but I find it fine this time, I'm back in the 50x11 and on the flat run to Longtown, definitely not 1x territory.  I'm feeling good again and my foot isn't hurting either.

Longtown, onto the A7, junction on the left for Glingerbank, past the border house, Scotland, Glenzierburn, as I said great example of the difference between Scots and English for the same name, the "Z" is actually a Ȝ, when the printing press came to Scotland they didn't come with the letter Yough and with Z being quite rare in Scots,the typesetters didn't bother to get the symbol cast, the legacy of which is a hodgepodge of mispronunciations of places such as Edzell, Menzies, Lenzie, Cadzow and Dalziel, some have become the norm others still get you a WTF stare.

Back at Eskdalemuir

Two big lumps to Langholm and I'm there, cash machine again, I faff with my wallet and Leighn and another rider roll in. After getting his receipt he asks me about hub generators forgetting to take his card, an inconvenience.  Roll on out of Langholm and it's mostly up, the odd undulation  giving a bonus descent, back through pretty village of Bentpath, one big lump to tea.  Carolyn and Leighn pass, I tell Leighn about his card as they do, he checks. Bugger he did.
They're faster than me, I know this so don't try and hang on but just before Eskdalemuir I see them fixing another puncture, another 500m...



I roll into the hub again, Dave's group are in and eating as are plenty of others, Leighn and Carolyn roll in not long after me.
We're all eating tea, Pasta Bolognese and cake for me, others have the Cheese Quiche. I take another toilet stop, the lights go out twice while I'm in there which makes things interesting, next time I'll have my head torch!

Still daylight past the summit

I return to an empty café and the staff have assumed I'd left my lid and bottles so have put them to the side briefly confusing me, how long was I in there! It looks like it was 20 minutes.  Another rider rolls in as I leave it's till daylight and the climb is a bit lumpy but nothing too steep, I make it to the top in daylight, it's mostly downhill now but with a few small climbs to spoil things. As light fell I became aware that my front light was pointing too low but I never got round to digging the Torx keys out until I couldn't ride the road at a decent speed. I stopped to dig the head torch and keys out, as I got the light where I wanted I looked back up the valley, there were no lights behind me.

I passed the Tushielaw and Crosskeys pubs, the transmitters on the hills round Selkirk crept closer in the darkness, I decided for once to use Lucy's suggestion to ride over to the Yarrow for the return to avoid the steep hill on the road into Selkirk, it felt weird turning back to the West but the run into Selkirk was all the nicer, over the bridge turning past the old sign of Galashiels, at the edge of the Industrial estate I judged the traffic on the A7 and decided to use the cycle path route, the kerb at the end of the old bridge nearly caught me out again, once through the bollards I just want to turn left like on a normal junction rather than carry on to the kerb line and then turn, I fixed it in time to not have a large shudder as I turned.  I'd hoped for another half 10 finish if not earlier but that possibility was gone.

I saw a red light shining up the hill ahead of me and it was getting closer, I caught and passed another rider who has been there or thereabouts with me all day, but riding to a different pattern, he told me he was knackered and I could hear it in his voice.  When we arrived at the finish I wasn't speaking much sense, tiredness hit quickly but I got some food in me. Robbie had been waiting a long time, I had suggested he take the key to the accommodation up in Lauder but he didn't want to do the climb!

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?

Moffat Toffee and Up on the Route Extension - 30th and 31st March 2019

I'm convinced doing two 200 rides in a weekend is harder than riding a 400.
There's something about the stopping, resting, driving somewhere else and getting up early the next morning that just makes it feel harder; just to add to that extra hardness there was an hour less in bed thanks to the cows somehow knowing what time of day it is by the clock and wanting milked earlier so they can have more fun chewing the cud and saying moo in daylight later in the day or something like that.

Moffat Toffee

I'd ridden this route in 2018 but had largely forgotten it with all the other rides I've ridden from Galashiels, I remembered the muir road above Annandale and the terrible surfaces including a junction where all I could make out was gravel and that there was a fair bit of climbing.
So I was ready to ca canny not just because of the road surfaces and climbing but also because it was the first of a 200km double header.

I wasn't quite ready for the start!

A hearty cooked breakfast sorted us out and we walked up to Focus Centre where I'd bagged a parking space the previous night.  Start time came slightly quicker than I was expecting and I had only just locked the car when the start time came.  I tried to ride with Robbie who was trying to keep up with Russell and Aiden was spinning along rapidly too.  We reached the town cross and Aiden shot off along to take the A7 route to Selkirk rather than climb over the hill, I kept trying to hang on to Robbie and Russel but a late gear shift and my legs blocking up with the shock of such a hard start had me going backwards through the field before the gradient eased off.  I got into a rhythm with some other riders and we swapped places as the road profile suited our riding, me going backwards on the climbs before bombing past people on the descents as usual. I was also riding in the vicinity of a tandem, who looked like would match pace with me there or there abouts.

Riding with the tandem

The first info control I made a mess of, I knew exactly which junction Lucy uses at Roberton but for some reason gave the answer for the next junction a few meters up the road; I could tell you the answers to the other 2 questions she's used there but that's not in the spirit of this game.  I passed the tandem again on the climb over to Tushielaw and then they got me on the descent, we repeated that on the climb to country march  but just as they were about to catch me on the descent into Eskdalemuir I heard the stoker say something short and sharp to the captain and their presence disappeared and I never saw them again all ride.

Corrie Common

The big breakfast meant I only really wanted to bounce the café at Eskdalemuir but the one thing they don't really provide is a quick bounce, I didn't need to eat so grabbed a cake and can of coke to sit and eat before continuing on to Langholm where I took a sandwich from the shop fridge and ate in a bus stop with a smashed window; all the glitz and glamour of Audax!
Some riders I knew bounced the control faster than me arriving after but leaving before but I knew I had plenty time so nae rush.  The next section over the muir was going to be interesting with my memory of the surfaces however it quickly proved that the council surface fairies had sorted many of the bad sections and the gravelly corner proved to have been cleaned though not resurfaced so all was good. I stopped to take in the view at Corrie Common and decided to get a couple of pictures of riders on the move as they crested the summit.

Descent from Corrie

At a junction not far out of Moffat I wasn't paying enough attention and I hit a bit of gravel at low speed, thankfully I caught the bike before the point of no return; in Moffat the sun was shining, and there was a gaggle of riders outside the Rumbletum Café where I decided to control; though riders were spread out around the town.  I got speaking to a rider sitting in the sun as I ate my cake who turned out to be living local to me and a name I regularly see on Strava "Clockwork Hamster", we discussed our Strava names and then the road ahead; I declared the ride out to the Grey Mare's Tail to be "Annoying" before setting off.

Looking up Moffatdale

The road bumps along the floor of Moffatdale as it rises to the waterfall where the pass over to the Yarrow Valley ramps up in a gentle but consistent rise to a house that can be seen on the approach.  Clockwork Hamster caught me on the descent just after St Mary's loch and we decided to ride together to the finish however typically for me late in the ride I was bursting for a pee on the last climb before Galashiels so I stopped to ease the discomfort and he finished just ahead of me as the sunset on a grand day out.

Almost beat the Sunset

11 hours isn't bad, same time as last year, less time stopped and marginally slower on the road though shows the difference by training structure; last year I had ridden lots of small rides by now; this year I've ridden very few short fast rides but long rides on all but 2 weekends of the year. I really need to start getting out at night and upping the pace to get some speed back into me.

Moffat Toffee last year was also my first Audax on the Orange Focus, since then I've ridden almost 11000km on it, the Synapse has 13000km on it and is 5 years old!

Up on the Roof Extension

Ponteland is closer to Gala than Gala is to home, so the double header that was presented in the event calendar wasn't too tricky to consider or for that matter hit the enter button on, however not long after setting off from Gala on our way south the mist was down and the drive over Carter Bar turned into a careful crawl.  This resulted in a later than hoped arrival at the hotel to go with the clock change, but I still got some sleep even if I did have to get up at what should be 5am to get to the start on time. 

Riders of the 200 and 160km rides set off together

We arrived at the start, bleary eyed with the lack of sleep, limbs aching from the efforts the previous day.  Bikes reassembled and pushed down to the hall to see who was around, Russell had made it down with a later than anticipated departure from Selkirk due to hanging on until control closing time at Gala along with Neil, Aiden was also on for the double header on the Trike.
Juice and some biscuits were all there was for breakfast but I'd had a Belvita breakfast biscuit already so I could hang on until we passed what passes for civilisation in a Sunday morning in England.

By the time I had grabbed my bike and made way to the start the vast majority of riders were lined up ready to go and thanks to not paying attention to the height of the kerb I was soon passed by any other stragglers. Robbie hung back for me and we caught and passed a few slower riders in the first few miles and also caught up with Russell and Neil who we spoke to for a bit before a slight rise put the distance between us. They were of course taking it easy. Aiden on the other hand had saved himself on the Borders ride to go a bit faster on this one and was off in the distance.

It's bleak up on the Roof of England

Due to the misreading of the info sheet that meant we hadn't been prepared to eat breakfast before the start so we took an early first stop at Corbridge where a Co-Op provided a breakfast croissant and juice, of the few riders that were behind us before this there were none now, or so we thought.  From here the road started to rise more aggressively and the average speed was ticking down but not too worryingly.

Just after the first info control two other riders caught us and chatted briefly, they had started 30 mins late. We were now confirmed as Lantern Rouge. The road continued upwards to the Derwent Reservoir where another info control was had to bring us round to a checkpoint in a car park where a table with provisions of Jelly Babies (of which I had a "few") and Flapjacks which I stashed a couple of in my jersey pockets.  We got some gen about the road ahead from the organizer, which confirmed it was mostly up and that we'd need to watch the surfaces and corners on the descents.
A mention of one of the info controls "What colour are the caravans" saw me successfully guess the colour (caravans only really come in 2 colours...) and it was suggested we should give the shade too, challenge accepted!

Climb out of Edmundbyers

I started seeing town names I recognised which must be from navigating on the Durham Dales in a Gold (Diarrhoea Brown) SAAB 96 many years ago.  Edmundbyres heralded the start of the first big climb 4km with an average grade of 6% leading us to the top of a plunge into Stanhope so steep that sand trap escape lanes are provided at the side of the road, a large group of C2C riders were climbing the hill out of Stanhope in a variety of paces and manners. 

The brief respite of the descent was soon replaced with a long drag up Weardale, which we traversed on a quite country lane with the remains of Quarrying evident at the side and over the road.  We passed the caravans and we discussed the colour shades, I thought Snot, Robbie thought Pistachio, so we decided to write each others.

Remnants of slate quarrying in Weardale include this Conveyor

The road started to ramp up at Wearhead as we climbed over the hill to enter Allendale, I stopped at Cowsgill to get a picture looking back down Weardale before continuing the long climb, on which I could see Robbie's bright pink Rapha jersey a long way off, though he said my Orange Mukyz kit wasn't as obvious looking back.  I caught up with him when he stopped at the summit on the county march of Durham and Northumberland. I rolled past and let Robbie catch up before letting the speed build up, and in no time we were in Allenhead where the café had opened out of season for us.
I worked out we had 30 mins in hand so we kept the stop brief, there was a few other riders in and we sat with some but we realized pretty quickly they were on the 160km ride with a more relaxed minimum speed of 12kmh.

Cowsgill

We were soon off again with 10 minutes to spare over closing time but we needn't have worried about that as after a small flat section out of Allenhead it was an hour long plunge for 25km down to Haydon Bridge where a quick Co-Op stop allowed the 160km'ers to catch us.

Haydon Bridge

The route returned to being fairly easy going for the next 50km back into Ponteland, Robbie got a bit ahead of me and beat me to the control by around 5 minutes; I ended up queuing for a stamp with riders who had finished and had to correct the controller as he thought I'd finished! 

A 20 minute stop was enough for a refuel and we set off for the last 40km, an out and back via Morpeth to the Co-Op in Pegswood, the outbound leg was a gentle climb with the odd ramp thrown in and we saw that we wern't that far behind the other riders with Aiden the first to pass us followed by Russel and Neil, we then had a few VC167 riders before the inbound and outbound legs diverged though there was one rider who decided to repeat the outbound to avoid the climb out of Morpeth, and then a large group of VC167 riders were leaving Pegswood as we arrived, we controlled at the co-op where I nearly forgot to get a receipt and then cracked back on, taking the route through Morpeth where a reminder of how poor driving can be was had on the descent with an impatient taxi driver.  Turning back onto the lanes though we were on our own for the return past Kikley.

A quick stop at the Ponteland control before the extension leg.

On the last small stretch into Ponteland I thought I'd see what I had left in me after 2 days which wasn't much but I was able to add 10kmh to my speed on the marginally downhill roll into town.
We to the hall just on 8pm, a 12 hour 200km ride the day after an 11 hour. Both with similar cumulative climb but different profiles, the first stretching it out over the day with the second loading it at the front and letting us catch speed up at the end.
We sat and are beans on toast and spoke to the organizer for a while afterwards, Robbie was staying in town for an early train so he was asking about how to get to the city centre, with the recommendation of getting to the airport for the metro, as I was staying next to one of the stations we decided to put his bike in the car to save the apparently horrible ride to the airport.

A 12hr 200km Audax isn't bad, 1hr 30m in hand as it was under ACP rules (15kmh) so to be last back was a bit odd, but that was with an 11hr 200km the day before so it's not bad!

Monster Munch 200Km - 16 March 2019

 I'd spent a while humming and hawing about which ride to enter this weekend, the Scottish Borders Randonee from Selkirk or the Monster Munch from Duffus near Elgin.  I've hardly visited the North East of Scotland except for a trip to the Kart track at Boyndie my trips to the North East limited to being south of the A96.  That and the Organizer of the SBR confirming that it was the "snow" route was being run again, last years adjustment to deal with snow on the more remote roads saw the decision made.

In the days before the event the forecast was bad, strong winds in the days leading up to it before calming down to allow a load of precipitation of the white kind to fall, heavily over the borders which resulted in the SBR being cancelled, but there was the possibility it'd nudge far enough north to affect us.



I had Annual Leave left to take and I considered making my way up with a series of stops the preceding three nights however with work to do on the motorhome I ended up staying at home in the run up and drove up on the Friday afternoon, a sunny, dry but windy and chilly day via the Cairnwell and Lecht before stopping to have a look at the old bridge at Craigellachie.  Arriving in Elgin just down the road from Duffus I went on a quick sightseeing drive to Burghead and then along the coast to Lossiemouth before returning to Elgin to peer over the railings at the Cathedral ruins and check in.

Robbie arrived late on having been Bustituted due to a broken down train, every forecast we looked at showed something different, but the consensus was that we were going to get soaked.

The Start

I drove down to the start while Robbie rode down, Mark the organizer had provided pancakes and laid out nearly 50 cards for the 200km and a good few for the 100km ride due to set off an hour after us, as 8am approached there was considerably less than 50 riders waiting to set off, the weather was dry and not too windy. No sooner had we set off than the drizzle started, almost imperceptibly at first but building.

The Start

The first couple of riders on the road were going a bit slow for my liking at the start and I shot off ahead of them, but by the first turn I had a small train behind me as well as the wind, this didn't last though as inevitably as the route carried on I drifted slowly backwards before losing all contract, passing the first info control I decided to memorize rather than stop as there was a check point not too far up the road.

Dava Muir in the snow

On reaching the checkpoint most of the group ahead of me were just setting off and a few others caught up with me as I got ready to set off, I fixed a wiring issue with my lights before cracking on up to the muir.  It was a fairly gentle climb up but as we climbed the drizzle turned to hail and then to snow, the sides of the roads changed from Green and Brown to White and Brown the expanse of the muir hidden by the encompassing whiteness of the snowfall.  I must admit I've never been up here and I wished to see it on a nice day feeling fed up already of the conditions and contemplated riding down to Aviemore to get the train back rather than continue. The rocks with names like Creag na h-Iolair (Rock of the Eagles) jutting out of the whiteness, the road started to descend but patches of snow and not being sure if there had been a chance to freeze since falling tempered the pace as much as steamed up glasses and cold hands did.  In Carrbridge "The Kitchen" was the location of the control and I got out of the now heavy snow for a quick break, other riders sat round a roaring log burner but I knew foul as my mood was that to sit by the fire would be terminal for the ride, I procrastinated briefly and then took a lump of Rocky Road to go and got back out on the bike, eating as I rode up towards Slochd. 
 

The Road to Slochd

 At the junction the Yellow road to Slochd village was white, cycle and car tyre tracks cut into the otherwise pristine whiteness, I chose to try and ride in the tracks cut by a 4 wheeler, skittering around, not considering what the other cycle tracks were telling me.  Under the A9 and past the old hostel that still claims to be a bike shop the gentle climb to 400m continued to another junction, here the cycle track heads up through gates onto the old A9, with only a single line of tyre marks I knew the group had taken the road, but on my own that wasn't an option I was considering, presumably the sole other rider to take the track thought the same.

The Track up Slochd

Slightly surprisingly I soon found that cutting fresh tracks was easier than following existing tracks and other than the odd bump I could see the outline of the track well enough to avoid plunging off the side.  It perhaps also helped that I've been over here twice before and knew that the road surface having not been touched by heavy traffic since the late 1970s is although littered with stones rather decent.  Finally I passed the railway summit where a new surface is in place as the old road is partly swallowed by the current, up a bit more and I was on the track alongside the A9, sections having been caught by the gritter and so quite clear.

I stopped for my second ever snowy picture at Slochd Summit, though this time with a Road bike rather than MTB.
It was cold, I was cold, I was wet, but it was down hill from here, the Findhorn road was clear so some decent pace was achievable, unfortunately I hadn't uploaded the "alternative" route option that avoid the second Muir of the day which had been found to be impassable during a route check on the Friday. I kept dropping, increasingly worried I was getting a bit close to Inverness.  I had in my head the statement "Turn under the A9 at Moy", but Moy village passed and I was miles from being beside the A9 I kept descending, what if I found myself at Culloden where this road enters Inverness? What if, oh wait! Moy Junction on the A9 is at Daviot, of course.  I rolled up to a flat junction on the A9, slightly confused again, peering south up the hill I saw the sign for Fort Augustus that I was expecting... The road was quiet and it looked about a 500m sprint up hill to get into the turn lane, I went for it, 2 cars passed before I got there but all was good.

Once there I saw the perfectly metalled farm track running under the dual carriageway oh well.  The snow had stopped for now, but was soon on again, I rolled on and eventually rejoined the route on my Wahoo, now with the comfort of having the line to follow to the next info control, the surprisingly large number of roads out here forcing us a bit further west before descending to Dores. Again I chose to memorize and then started day dreaming dreaming of the food stuff it related to.  Again I found myself at a pretty spot that would look great if only for it not snowing, I considered taking a photo at Loch Duntelchaig but I decided against it. I then started day dreaming about a roaring log fire at the Dores Inn. But when I arrived the bar had only a halogen lamp to get some heat into my soggy kit. I was told a group of us had just set off not long before I arrived, and while there two other riders appeared.  I didn't get the food I'd been dreaming of but the Chicken and Bacon sandwich was excellent.  I steeled myself and headed back out into the rain.

From here the ride became a bit of a trudge once into Inverness, and I managed to catch the Culloden Visitor centre just before it shut for the day, the bonus here being that it's almost all down hill.  The North Easterly was now blowing sleet into my face and as I wrapped up against it by lifting my NotBuff over my mouth a steamed up my glasses, a bit of a fight ensued to try and clean the glasses enough  but eventually I won jsut in time for speed to build along the last long flat section back to Duffus.

On arrival at the finish I found out there was another 5 riders still out there, with Robbie, Richard and another couple of riders still hanging around in various states of showered and defrosted.  The soup was great, the left over pancakes and spread of sweet treats even better. I had a shower and deforested myself and then moved the car out the now muddy field, thankfully I hadn't taken the M+S marked tyres off for the mild weather we'd been having so plenty of grip was available in the mud, but unfortunately others needed some assistance to extract their vehicles.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2218300942

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.

Changing Plans and my first RRTY validated - 02 March 2019

The plan for the start of March was to ride one of the old classic Scottish events that's now available in the form of a Permanent, the Daylight 600 though in this guise it's known as the Twilight 600.

This route starts at South Queensferry and heads north through Fife and Clackmannanshire before climbing Glen Devon to Strathearn and then crossing into the Highlands at the Sma'Glen before heading West for Acharcle where Moidart, Sunart and Ardnamuchan meet. The return route is to cary on North into Morar at Lochairlot before taking the Road from the Isles to Fort William, heading south to Oban and then returning via Callander to South Queensferry, a cracking ride in good weather but ideally timed for the quiet season or at least to hit the busy roads with no alternatives at night.

While the weather forecasters were talking up a wind storm with gust speeds of up to 70kmh, I was looking at the gust speeds forecast for Mull and Ardnamurchan which were forecast to be over 100kmh and with a lot of Rain/Snow also forecast to hit, we decided that it wasn't going to be this time.  The Sunday night hotel was cancelable but I'd booked a saver for the Saturday and Robbie had advanced fare train tickets to Inverkeithing.

With reference to the forecast wind speeds and direction we determined that rejigging plans to do the Central Scotland 300 instead wasn't an option either, but with a strong southerly and Aberdeen being quite easy to design a 200km route to from Edinburgh we set out a plan to ride north to Perth before following the east coast route to Aberdeen.

Crossing the Forth

I met Robbie at Inverkeithing and we rode over to South Queensferry to make use of the friday night room booking; a McDonalds breakfast set us up for the day and record times were set on the way up and over Hill of Beath to Kelty and onto Milnathort and Glenfarg, with our average speed sitting at the highest we've seen for a while by Perth we were fairly happy with our progress and I was starting to wonder how long I'd have to wait for my 2130 train home.

Preparing to climb Kinnoul

The Carse of Gowrie redeemed itself for being so horrible on the way to East Lothian and we were soon rolling along the cycle paths through Dundee, we stopped at the Bridgeview Station roll carriage for lunch before carrying on along the Esplanade and then we took the new open access route through the Docks to the Grassy Beach in Broughty Ferry this is much better than the old enclosed permissive access route and saves on the climb up to the Broughty Ferry road.

Along the waterfront

The Ferry was busy and we lost a bit of pace along here but once out onto Barry Buddon things got much quieter, Easthaven to Arbroath is a compacted earth/lightly gravelled section rather than sealed surface but it was fine on 28mm tyres and we were soon taking in the sights of Arbroath with Pleasureland and Gayfield park greeting us, the town improves as you pop through the edge of the Harbour where creel boats of varying sizes still operate from before riding along Arbroath's waterfront Esplanade with the grant concrete pillars welcoming you to a big desolate stretch of road before a climb up a gap in the cliffs takes you onto a quiet road out to Lunan bay and then into Montrose where I hadn't cleaned up the GPX that was submitted for the mandatory route and we found ourselves riding back up hill in order to carry down stairs, just incase it was beyond the threshold.

Robbie discovers the wonders of Arbroath

Traffic got busy again as we left Montrose on the A92 and the going got lumpy, the wind was picking up and some spots of rain fell and I feared a soaking. However it didn't come to anything as we carried on up the coast, the Stonehaven Cycle Club catching us on the descent into Inverbervie, some members taking a tow off us briefly, claiming to be knackered (fairly sure they hadn't ridden 180km at this point!)

Crossing the railway south of Montrose

We stopped at Greggs in Stonehaven for some food for once with no time pressure, the rain threatening again so we set off quickly for the Netherly climb which looks horiffic from the town but turned out to be not bad, I'm sure it will be horiffic when I ride it without a strong wind giving a helping hand. At the top we stopped to add rain jackets as the threat seemed to be getting stronger, but by the time we'd descended to Maryculter and started cycling along the Dee into Aberdeen the threat had gone. Once over the finish line at Union Street we set off to the university grounds to visit the BeCYCle workshop where Robbie volunteers, there was cake and an odd fusion of Dance music and Bavarian Oompah playing.

It finally rained while we were there, and there was still 3 hours to spend before my train home.
While checking my e-mail I discovered I'd recieved confirmation of my first RRTY being validated. This is a challenge to ride a 200km or longer at BR time schedules each month of the year; often started accidentally I realized during the summer that I had started on in March and carried it through with Calendar events, ECE'ed BPs, DIYs and Perms.


My first RRTY series was as follows

Mar-18	200 - Scottish Borders Randonneur
Apr-18	200 - Moffat Toffee
May-18	DIY - 200 - Aberfoyle and Back
Jun-18	300 - Snow Roads
Jul-18	DIY 200 - Highland Perthshire
Aug-18	200 - No Work for us today
Sep-18	DIY 200 - Back fae Arran
Oct-18	200 - Brant and Slape
Nov-18	200 - Long Dark (Wet) Tea Time
Dec-18	Perm 400 - Kingdom Come
Jan-19	DIY 200 - MULL
Feb-19	Perm 200  - A Ride Around Ben Klibreck