Scotland : Perthshire Highland Perthshire Challenge 2014
- Thread starter Louch
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OP
OP
Louch
105% knowledge on 105
- Location
- Kingdom of Kinnard
George rr martin has the courtesy to keep his bum cleavage to himself!
How did @Fubar , @GlasgowFinn and @DelB get on in the 50?
How did @Fubar , @GlasgowFinn and @DelB get on in the 50?
Really enjoyed it, but sounds like I had it embarrassingly easy compared to the epic you guys undertook! Garmin said 2:52:51 moving time, 2:53:08 overall time and my official time was 2:55-something. Great route, great weather, but that strengthening headwind in the last 10 or so miles was bloody hard work.
Wish I'd done the 50 now
although sub 3:30 on a hilly, windy 50 is a great time. Well done!The 100 is certainly more epic in the telling than in the reality (I'm an exaggerator by nature, which is why I don't often write) but it was a pretty awesome trek. Luckily for us, I think the wind had died down by the time we got towards the tail end of it.
(Writing it has taken longer than riding it did...
)
OP
OP
Louch
105% knowledge on 105
- Location
- Kingdom of Kinnard
The 50 x2 would be a great ton. The 100 not so much. Still grimacing at the most anti cycling entry to a cycle path I have ever seen!
A Tale that's Too Long
Part Five of the WHY DID WE AGREE TO DO THIS saga.
Part Five of the WHY DID WE AGREE TO DO THIS saga.
*** E. R. Hartley ***
Written but not read.
Written but not read.
SCENE: Four cyclists stand in a layby in the middle of nowhere. A young French woman in black and white, wearing a black dress has a face streaked with tears and makeup. A child cries in the distance. The sad version of Mad World is playing. (Only one of these is true but hey shut up stop judging me, I'm indulging my creative side)
This is the real weepy and like tragic part of the story beginning. O my cycling friends and droogs.
The feed station was gone, which meant that race control would likely be gone as well.
All that slog and effort, to no avail. We tried to joke about it, "Well, at least we'll not be marked down as last!" but nevertheless, it was a bitter drop to swallow.
Negative words will continue for some time from your humble narrator, so here's a picture of kittens to cheer you up.
Somewhat fortunately for the pacing of this story, Jordan the broom wagon guy pulled up in his van, told us that the feed station had gone, but luckily he still had plenty of food in the van, which was gratefully snaffled
with thanks and a good chat to raise our spirits.Unfortunately he also confirmed our worst fears - race control was set to close at 5pm, at this point it was 4:10pm and the finish line was 25 miles away.
While I speculatively asked my esteemed comrades "Team time trial?" , there was even less enthusiasm for that than there was for sitting in a paceline with my cleftal horizon directly in their eyeline for 25 hard miles.
In any case, as we are not pro-tour athletes, an impossible effort was required and so we were resigned to defeat and being marked as the dreaded DNF.
Jordan, having broken the bad news, promised to keep us appraised and to make sure that we were OK - and to his credit he absolutely did, for which we are extremely grateful.
Nevertheless, it was a disprited bunch who readied themselves to set off (once again @Louch was foiled in his quest to have a full slice of caramel shortcake, which he reminded us as he flung the remaining bit back into the van)
(I am very aware that this is turning into a negative and-then-and-then-and-then, but bear with me, it will be over soon!
)All jokiness and camaraderie aside, I was personally gutted and I think that goes for the rest of the group, and so the gruppetto that rolled out of the layby was not full of fire and enthusiasm (or in the case of Louch, shortcake).
Fortunately the road from the layby continued downhill, which helped to lift our spirits a little, but all the aches and pains that I had been ignoring started making themselves known in a vocal manner, our heads dropped, my left shoulder decided that it had had enough, Ross's knee was giving him some bother and even the usually irrepressible @ShooglyDougie seemed a bit less enthusiastic than usual, only going out of his way to deliberately bunny-hop over every second or third pothole.
Rattray came and went without event, largely skipping past the town of Blairgowrie, and looking at the route I knew that we could shortcut the twisty section of the last 20 miles or and head straight back to the start point through Coupar Angus and Burrelton, or, to give you an indication as to my frame of mind, I calculated that I could be home in just over half an hour - and with the clock having run down and tired legs all round I was frankly eager to get the rest of it over with.
However, we continued to plod on, following the course, not least because our new esteemed directeur sportif Jordan was on the route picking up signs and watching out for us, and would get worried if we disappeared from the signed route.
After we crossed the Forfar Road, @ShooglyDougie reported an issue with his bike, namely that his rear wheel wasn't running true, and as we reached the northern fringe of the Carse hills, we stopped to regroup and check. The problem was quickly spotted by Dougie himself - his rear rim had cracked and thrown the wheel out of true. It appears that his technique of riding straight at potholes had paid unhappy dividends.
With no way of repairing it or ensuring that it was safe, the only option was to continue, and so we turned west into the wind along the foothills, and with about 11 miles to go, @Harry_Palmer79 and I really started to struggle, and the mission now was to make sure everyone survived and that we would get Ross round his first ton in one piece, but Louch and Dougie, unaware that we'd dropped off the back, disappeared off into the blue yonder.
Ross and I pootled along, determined to grind out the remaining miles, when something magical happened!
Part six to follow.....
Strathlubnaig
Guru
- Location
- Alberta
On any other day I think straight across the A9 is the norm, but didn't want to incur any wrath with the organizers ourselves, so horrid path it was.
... now. 
We rounded the corner onto the Collace road, where Jordan was parked up. 5pm had since been and gone, but he had somehow managed to arrange for race control to be kept open solely for us.
His briefing was short and to the point - you've got half an hour to get there, it's 6 miles away, GO!
In all of my years of cycling I have never before encountered what happened next; a group of cracked riders newly energised into machines designed for efficiently turning cake into forward momentum.
The Collace hill, being the last barb in the tail of the route, lay in front of us. With a fresh sense of purpose, we attacked it, gradient scarcely noticed, as Jordan raced ahead, to park up at the next junction, wave us through and applaud us as we rode on towards the finish.
What a wonderful, fantastic human being, giving his day for such a cause, and to give us a magnificent end to a tale that would have likely ended on a downer in an empty car park at any other event.
We rounded the corner onto the Collace road, where Jordan was parked up. 5pm had since been and gone, but he had somehow managed to arrange for race control to be kept open solely for us.
His briefing was short and to the point - you've got half an hour to get there, it's 6 miles away, GO!
In all of my years of cycling I have never before encountered what happened next; a group of cracked riders newly energised into machines designed for efficiently turning cake into forward momentum.
The Collace hill, being the last barb in the tail of the route, lay in front of us. With a fresh sense of purpose, we attacked it, gradient scarcely noticed, as Jordan raced ahead, to park up at the next junction, wave us through and applaud us as we rode on towards the finish.
What a wonderful, fantastic human being, giving his day for such a cause, and to give us a magnificent end to a tale that would have likely ended on a downer in an empty car park at any other event.
OP
OP
Louch
105% knowledge on 105
- Location
- Kingdom of Kinnard
Aye, and that's why I will always go back to that event. We weren't just numbers
Is there any enthusiasm for an epilogue or shall I just sign it off by saying that it was a fantastic day in great company, major kudos to Ross for completing his ton, neener neener (but well done really) to Louch, congratulations to Dougie for thrashing the lot of us effortlessly, and many many thanks to the amazing organisers and Jordan, Directeur Sportif, Team Arnold Clark CycleChat?
OP
OP
Louch
105% knowledge on 105
- Location
- Kingdom of Kinnard
Not that one, the one that's the sharp left into a very sharp climb that takes you on the cycle path to Pitlochry
Photos are up; not sure why I always look so grim in them...
http://phototaste.co.uk/EHMDDVYD
Some good pics there of the rest of you though
http://phototaste.co.uk/EHMDDVYD
Some good pics there of the rest of you though
Last edited:
Harry_Palmer79
Guru
- Location
- Wet coast of Scotland
Fantastic write-up! I won't wax as lyrically as Ed except to say a huge thanks to my three fellow Cycle Chatters (@Louch @ShooglyDougie @Edwardoka) for helping to drag me through my first imperial ton (my longest ride before that was this metric ton in July, so I didn't really know how I would fare towards the end... or if I really had it in me) I hadn't been on my bike all week, feeling a bit down/under the weather, but I was determined to hit this target for the year and whilst I might have been physically capable of the distance solo, it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun! 
I started to get a twinge in my right knee from about 65km to go, so I started to favour the left and coasted on the descents, straightening my left leg to take the strain (not to mention a little chemical assistance courtesy of @Louch). About 10km from the end, just when our directeur sportif (the frankly amazing Jordan) told us we had half an hour to make the timing station, I had what I recently learned is called a 'bonk' - not as much fun as it sounds! Going up a small incline, I knew if I didn't stop and eat something I would have no chance of making the finish under my own steam, never mind in the allotted time. One hastily consumed banana later, I was back on my way and soon up out the saddle trying to stay ahead of the white van patiently waiting behind to allow us all to record our times officially - so there was no sprint finish or time to get a wee certificate but it was still an awesome day out in great company and one I'd gladly repeat!
(possibly with an earlier start!)
I won't wax as lyrically as Ed except to say a huge thanks to my three fellow Cycle Chatters (@Louch @ShooglyDougie @Edwardoka) for helping to drag me through my first imperial ton (my longest ride before that was this metric ton in July, so I didn't really know how I would fare towards the end... or if I really had it in me) I hadn't been on my bike all week, feeling a bit down/under the weather, but I was determined to hit this target for the year and whilst I might have been physically capable of the distance solo, it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun! I started to get a twinge in my right knee from about 65km to go, so I started to favour the left and coasted on the descents, straightening my left leg to take the strain (not to mention a little chemical assistance courtesy of @Louch). About 10km from the end, just when our directeur sportif (the frankly amazing Jordan) told us we had half an hour to make the timing station, I had what I recently learned is called a 'bonk' - not as much fun as it sounds! Going up a small incline, I knew if I didn't stop and eat something I would have no chance of making the finish under my own steam, never mind in the allotted time. One hastily consumed banana later, I was back on my way and soon up out the saddle trying to stay ahead of the white van patiently waiting behind to allow us all to record our times officially - so there was no sprint finish or time to get a wee certificate but it was still an awesome day out in great company and one I'd gladly repeat! (possibly with an earlier start!)
ShooglyDougie
Guru
- Location
- Gore Glen
Well done @Edwardoka I read part one and thought I would leave my ramblings until the end so not to get in the way of your fable. It was a great day one of my favourite days (on road) on the bike, great company throughout the day, a lovely route with amazing scenery and the event staff were great especially Jordan (the unofficial team CC Ecosse support van man). Think this could be a regular event for me, I'll just have to take a spare rim or two for next year .
.
Fubar
Guru
Photos are up; not sure why I always look so grim in them...
http://phototaste.co.uk/EHMDDVYD
Some good pics there of the rest of you though
I always seem to have my gob open in sportive photos, shows how hard I'm working (when the camera is there...)
