The big day has arrived, got up at 5:30 and consumed part of the, hotel provided, packed breakfast, it did the job. We knocked on Jackie's door, she was ready to go as well. I gave my bike a once over all was ok, I chose to use my Scott aluminium bike instead of my carbon fibre bike as it has compact double gearing as opposed to the triple on the the carbon bike. I prefer the compact double and having done the course, 3 weeks previously, I realised that that the compact had ample gears for me as the climb isn't too long and steep.
With both bikes on top of the car we set off at around 6:15, my start time was 7:32 so that gave us plenty of time to get there. We arrived at Pitlochry ay 6:40 and tried to get to the car park where I had booked parking online, earlier in the week. The road was already closed and we were directed to a diversion, we gave up and just parked at the side of the street back up Moulin Rd.
The high street was jammed with a huge throng of cyclists and there didn't seem to be any organisation but I was wrong, further up the street there were large single letters displayed, denoting the "wave" that was starting. Now they were letting people go off in groups of 200 every 2 minutes, I was allocated number 3269 so I was in the 17th wave, wave Q. So dead on 7:32 I had managed to get myself to the starting point and I was off.
Now since the run was 81 miles, I was planning to pace myself but with the heat of the moment I just started off hell for leather. The pace was pretty fast but I was feeling good and soon I came to first of the climbs, to the "queens view" at loch tummel. The good thing about the compact double, I can seem to climb in quite a high gear and tend to overtake quite a few on the uphills, so it felt good, especially since the roads were closed so no problem overtaking on the right hand side.
Once at the top its pretty undulating until Loch Rannoch where it flattens out, pretty much all the way round it, so the pace carried on being fast all the way to the Schiehallion climb at the 45 mile mark. Indeed I wondered if I could keep this up all the way round, you really needed to keep your wits about you, with 3200 cyclist starting in front of me I was always among cyclists all the time and you had to make sure that no one was coming up my right when I was overtaking.
I stopped, for the 1st time, at the food stop at the bottom of the Schiehallion climb and ate half an energy bar, the climb starts off quite steep but after a couple of miles it levels out and the next 3 miles is just undulating really. The top is at the 50 mile point and knowing you only have 30 miles to go is a good feeling.
The downhill isn't very technical and can be done quite quickly, even by myself, and I'm rubbish at descending. Just after the bottom there is a right turn which takes you on a 10 mile dogleg up and down a glen towards Fortingall, this is a really nice road but at this point, after 55 miles or so, I felt it was a struggle, I think for the first time I noticed there was a headwind but I new that this was only for 5 miles and at the head of the glen when we went back the otherside of the river it would be behind us. I stopped just as we were heading back and had a drink and the other half of my energy bar, 21 miles left to go.
Now back down the glen we joined the "main" road between Weem and the A9 for about 12 miles until Logierait, I found this bit a slog 3 weeks ago, so I was a bit wary, I stopped at Weem and had a drink at the food stop there, 15 miles to go. I then realised that the time was around 11am so if I kept going at a reasonable pace, I could not only finish in under 5 hours but under 4.5 was possible. Although the peleton was more spread out now there were still quite a few around us and we kept overtaking each other so it wasn't as bad as I thought, I was still feeling ok.
At Logierait, with only 4 miles left, there is a left turn up a very steep hill, I was prepared for this and went down to my small front ring. It is pretty hilly the last 4 miles and I did slow down but I think I could allow myself that.
Heading up Pitlochry high St for the finish felt good and there was a crowd there, including Hilary, cheering us on. I reckoned my time was around 4hrs 20mins and I was fair chuffed, I had said under 5.5hrs but was hoping for under 5 but to do it under 4.5 was unbelievable.
At the finish I was shepherded into a line and I detached the widget from my front hub and hand it in, I got my medal at that point as well. I was still astride my bike and was so exhausted, I struggled to lift my leg over, to get off my bike.
I headed back to the finish to find Hilary, I waited for Jackie to come in, I thought I would have to wait a while but not at all, she came in after 4hrs 38mins which was a great time, especially since she was still recovering from a broken arm she got when training in Majorca in February.
I met a few guys I knew at the finish and everyone seemed to have a great day, apart from Scott and Pete, who I know as they came out on winter CTC runs to get used to cycling longer distances. Pete had hit the rear wheel of a bike in front and crashed, the forks of his carbon fibre bike were actually fractured, luckily he wasn't badly hurt himself. Scott's gears gave way 30 miles out and he had to do the remaining miles in single speed, not much fun.
All in all, it was a great day, I found out, by text, my actual time was 4hrs 15mins. There was a good atmosphere with cyclists ruling the roads for a change. My result was:
81 miles - 4hrs 15mins - av speed: 19 miles/hr - 724th out of 3634.
Much better than I expected. Mind you Graeme Obree did it in 3hrs 33 and was in the top 20, the first place doing it in 3hrs 29. Maybe next year ! No way, I think I have peaked already.
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