Scoosh wrote
It was a day and and ride of two halves as the football commentator would say.
First half was easy - down the Mennock Pass into the wind then round to the Dalveen pass with the wind behind. Alongside then over the M74 then up the Devils Beeftub.
Then came the rain and the wall of Talla! 20% for about 1K down to 4mph for some of it while cars tried to pass around us. Then a big wet descent to join the Moffat road - my eyes were stinging with the sweat being washed down by the rain and i could barely see out of my specs.
Then the grind into the wind to Moffat. Luckily, i met up with another rider prepared to take turns and made decent progress meeting up with a few wheelsuckers on the way before joining a larger group at Moffat.
From Moffat it is more or less uphill (30 miles ish) to Wanlockhead and my legs were starting to go just as we crossed the M74 again and i lost the group. I settled into the wee ring and spun slowly up to Wanlockhead and caught sight of the radar tower which seemed to be up on another planet. My hope that the climb up to the radar station would be cancelled due to bad weather were dashed.
However, i found reserves from somewhere and started up the 5K easily enough at first. Never look up as i did to see the road snaking ever upwards. The road just keeps on and on at about 15% to 20% i'd say maybe more. There were a lot of people walking. I just concentrated on not going into the red and climbed gradually upwards passing a fair few dead on their legs. Eventually it was over the cattle grid and into the radar station.
One last twist - it was closed and we had to turn left and descend for about 0.5K and up again to the finish at the mobile phone masts on the hill opposite where the suffering finally ended and i caught and passed some of the group that dropped me earlier
. At this point the weather was beginning to improve
There then followed the chilly descent back down to Wanlockhead (some were walking the couple of uphills as they had had enough by this point).
I don't think i've ever been quite so tired on the bike before - my computer showed 112 miles (including the descent) which makes it my longest ever run. I was walking like John Wayne afterwards.
Will i do it again? No chance!
The results are not up on the website yet so i'm not sure of my time. But the second half seemed to last forever...
The marshalling and signage was great and the staff helpful. However, registration was way too slow (missed my start time after queuing outside in the morning dampness for 40 mins to register) and there was no food left at the feed station on the way back.
I did the Cairngorm Classic some weeks back and it has an uphill finish to the ski station. This climb is shorter than the radar climb and easier overall i'd say - except for the first bit of the climb to the first hairpin at Cairngorm - that was relentless and sticks in the mind as the hardest 1K or so i've ever encountered (with 90 miles in the legs!)
