It was a good 300 for me. My 5th Audax, 3rd 300, and 2nd Snow Roads. It's an addictive event!
I think I managed about 2 hours sleep in the Campagnolo Suite of the Kirriemuir Hilton
06:00 start, might have 06:02 by the time
@eck herded us out of the grounds and onto the road.
A fine dry start to the day, and a large group formed and stuck together for the first ~40k to Cairn o'Mount, when the sunshine broke through.
I planned to take it easy, keep my heart rate down, and not go too hard at it. Then I got on the lower slopes and thought f**& it. So I was nearly burst by the top, and it was the hardest climb of the day for me.
Didn't stop at Banchory, having learned last year that the service was slow in the
Morrisons cafe, plus knowing what delights lay ahead at Oyne at 106k: soup, sandwich, coffee and coke were scooped up sharpish. The fast service and quality food in the Gadies Restaurant made for an excellent Audax control.
It was a gentle tailwind in warm sunshine over the Cabrach, past the Slough of Despond (which really resembles the Craggy Island Parochial House) to Dufftown at ~150k. A welcome rest stop in the town square with a picnic from the Co-Op sorted me out for the queen stage.
We left Dufftown into a headwind, with 80k until Braemar and 3 major climbs; the Lecht, BH1 and BH2. Dufftown to Tomintoul was quite soul destroying, a long uphill slog of no major gradient, but the headwind made it feel like you were making little progress.
Then came the Lecht, with its 20% ramp. In a headwind. Somehow I made it up in one piece. At the ski station a half-dozen or so of us formed a little peltalong and headed off. The descent was disappointing, with an awkward cross-headwind, but at least it was dry and the sun was still there, though the clouds were beginning to form in the distance to the south. We ploughed on over BH1 and BH2, and they seemed to pass by rather more quickly than I'd expected, mostly due to the company of our wee group helping distract from how hard I was actually working. Then, finally, we turned west and had some respite from the wind for the last 16k or so into Braemar. It was appx 17:15 when we reached the town hall control after 237k.
Tea, beans on toast, friendly helpers revived me at that point. It was a relief to get to the control before the rain arrived.
Shortly before 18:00 we made our way out once again, and I layered up with the Gabba jersey and Nanoflex arm/knee warmers. We knew what was coming.
Sure enough, it started spitting as we left the hall. It was about 15k to Glenshee. By the time we climbed the Cairnwell it was raining proper, although thankfully we seemed to be sheltered from the wind on the ascent. It was saving itself. At the summit the extra rain jackets came out as the rain went torrential. With 49k to go we commenced the descent into the wind and rain. I was on my own from this point.
The last leg took appx 2 hours. Glenisla seemed to go on forever, struggling to see for the rain on my glasses, but couldn't take them off as the headwind and rain didn't agree with my contact lenses. I carefully plodded my way back to Kirriemuir.
It was a tremendous feeling when I got back to the control and handed in my card. "Let's see what you had in Dufftown" said
@eck, checking my Brevet, "ooh a Double Decker!" That made me chuckle. But all I wanted at that point was a Bridie.
The end.
