Challenges make us do silly things

In my opinion there's nothing quite as silly as a self-imposed challenge. You can make it less silly by raising money for a worthwhile cause but I've been there and done that so for now, at least, the challenges are set by me for me. It won't stop me writing about them, or their consequences, occasionally though. Every now and again they do encourage a little silliness.
This year's challenge is relatively simple; to ride at least one, one hundred kilometre ride per calendar month. It's a bit of a silly challenge really because I'm a cyclist that works in miles day to day but I knew this year it wasn't going to be possible for me to go for twelve 100 mile rides. So metric centuries seemed like a more realistic proposition. It also has allowed me to do a few of them on the tandem which is a great way to share the challenge with The Stoker. And, before there's any objection to that, it's my challenge and I have decided that tandem rides count. So there. I've had some adventures on the way but so far so good, and I now have just 4 to go.
However, I wanted to make mention of last Saturday's ride as it provides the reason for the title of this piece. I had decided that August's 100 km effort would take place on said Saturday which left me with a small time window in which to get it done, especially as I wanted to add some hills in as a wee test before this year's Tour of the Borders event. And it was this time limitation that made the ride a little less sensible than usual.
All week the weather forecast had been pretty good. That was until Friday, when suddenly it looked like it might be a little wet early on. Damp but not bad. On the Friday night The Stoker suggested that I might like to charge some lights. Surely not, but I did so, just in case. And how right they were. In the morning I got up to the expected grey and thought, "oh good, the rain has already gone through". Wrong! It started come down a little more aggressively just as I set off. And by the time I was up beside the camp site at Nydie I needed to cower under a tree to put my jacket on. It stayed on for the next couple of hours. Lovely....
And once it came off I still needed to find some heat. Then I was glad of my arm warmers and I continued to be glad of them all the way to my cafe stop a good while later. It was at this cafe stop that I realised how strange I must look. By this time the weather was better and the roads had started to dry up. Anyone going out now would be having a lovely ride. Looking at me, though, they would think I'd been dragging my bike through the fields of Fife. I had tan lines of mud from my socks to the bottom of my bib shorts. And, as I discovered later, all the way up to the back of my helmet. I also left a damp stain on the wooden chair I selected in the cafe and I had to apologise to the owner. "No problem" they said. I still felt guilty.
And it's exactly this that I wanted to raise as the silliness of this ride. If I'd been at all sensible I'd have adjusted my plans and gone out that couple of hours later and had a lovely, mostly mud free ride. But, no, that little challenge picked away at me and ensured that I went out early. I can't even say that it's ok, I enjoyed the ride despite the rain because the reality of it is that riding in the rain on roads with big puddles and nasty gradients isn't particularly pleasant, especially on your own. Even the descents had to be ridden carefully as the road surfaces were definitely a little sketchy. I do take pleasure in the fact that I did it despite the elements and I loved the scone at the cafe. Not all bad. And the ride indicates that I should be able to survive this year's ToB, even if it rains there.
The worst bit about the whole thing was getting the brand new chain I'd just put on the bike all dirty. Don't you just hate that? And the best bit (apart from the cafe stop)? Getting home in the dry. There's absolutely nothing worse than starting wet, drying up and then getting wet again. It's even worse than staying wet, or starting dry and ending up wet.

The Ride

Epilogue

It wasn't a nice afternoon at all really; lots of showers kept running through so, in the end, I hadn't missed out on a better part of the day. But I decided on that when I got in and before I'd had to scrub both me and the bike clean.

Skye Rides

Another trip to Skye gave me the opportunity to ride some very different roads even if they are known to me. Mostly on the tandem with The Stoker although I did snatch one ride on the half bike. Here's a small description of them all.

Ride 1 - To Dunvegan

We had cycling friends with us on this holiday and our first day gave us an opportunity to show them that the roads on Skye aren't flat. For this ride we popped up to the cafe at Dunvegan Castle hopine that the forecast rain didn't come in early.
It's a nice run even with the wind that hurt us on the normally quick descents on the way home. Even with that we chose to overshoot the driveway to the cottages, just so I didn't have to waste brake pads. A nice short run,  marred slightly when one of our companions managed to crash on the gravel when turning into the driveway. Luckily there was no damage done.
As part of our holiday we all went to the Fairy Pools in the evening, which was a spectacular place to be as the sun dipped towards the horizon. We drove there but riding there might be the better option as it is always busy. We were eaten alive by midges at the car park when we returned to the car. Yuck!

The Cuillin at the top of the Fairy Pools

Ride 2 - Early on the single bike

With the forecast looking poor I decided to get up early and do a ride before breakfast. Much like being at home! Again I had the wind into my face on the way back and I could also see the rain creeping in from the north. Luckily I just had one short shower and then I was back. The roads have never looked so quiet as on this ride. Especially nice was the wee thumbs up I got from a van driver.
Benefit of the day was spotting the new coffee place opposite the Talisker distillery in Carbost. Our friends tried it later in the week and declared it "good"!

Ride 3 - Central loop

The simplest long trip for us on Skye with no driving to the start. The majority of the roads in this are fine but the Sligachan to Portree section always sees some inappropriate overtaking and, sadly, this day was no exception. However we survived and made a beeline for the Aros centre for the first of two coffee stops.
Coming out of Portree also used to be nasty as we would follow the Uig road but we've now hit on the wicked wheeze of using the lower section of the hill road to Struan instead before taking the road back down to Uigshader and picking up the Dunvegan road at the end of it. It makes for a less stressful ride even if the descent is a little gravelly.
Doing the loop this way round did mean climbing the hill out of Edinbane but it was just a question of popping the tandem into a gear and riding slowly up it. Especially in the upper half where I thought it was never going to end. Having gone up, though, we got the lovely run into Dunvegan where a scone and caramel slice helped power us back home. Our friends decided to take in the views on the way home which on such a nice day was right and proper. We made an unscheduled stop too but that was because the pilot needed some help from our old friend Vaseline!

The Cuillin from the Vaseline stop!

Ride 4 - Back roads

As we were showing the island (or at least some of it) to our friends we had saved the little back road loops towards Dunvegan as a treat for our final day. These roads take the path less travelled and have great views whilst maintaining decent surfaces. Being single track slightly more care is required but they are still great to ride. And mostly the traffic is fine on them. The locals seem to deal with cyclists better than the tourists.
After the excitement of the little loopy bits we headed up the Dunvegan bypass road, over to the Fairy Bridge and on to Trumpan. We had to break our outward journey at the Skye Skyns coffee and tea yurt. The accompanying cheese scones were delicious. When we went to head away we met a couple from way down south that we'd met on the golf course the day before. It was great to meet them again and prove we really did have a tandem.

Excellent coffee stop 

Suitably refuelled we headed up to the end of the road and the ruined church at Trumpan. By then it was extremely windy and we all took shelter behind various walls. As we came aaay from here we got talking to a couple of Dutch motorcyclists who had been doing the NC500. They had had a great week of weather for it but we're heading back home, via London. Our friends must think we talk to everyone!

Trumpan churchyard 

The view west from Trumpan.

Luckily the wind was now in our favour and we headed back to Dunvegan for our second stop. We went to the bakery cafe; we'd never been. I think we will go back as the food was delicious.  Although they did seem to view some of our requests (a tuna toastie and brown bread) as slightly odd. Why?!

We took the direct way home while our pals did one more back road.  This time the little loop to Ullinish for more photos. After our usual refusal to brake at the cottages we actually pedalled on to the viewpoint so the Pilot could get a photo of the ever faithful tandem. From there a mostly downhill ride saw us back to the cottages and then end of our cycling adventures on Skye for this trip.

The tandem and the view. 

The Cuillin from the viewpoint

The view most people stop for. 

Postscript 

Skye us an odd place to cycle. Lovely views but with roads that are (for us at least) quite hilly and the choice is often limited. You can go for main roads and suffer the traffic or smaller roads and suffer the surfaces and the requirement to stop in passing places occasionally. I don't want to put you off but you should know what it's like before you come!

Lots to drink - none of it alcoholic

Gosh, it's been too long between posts. In an attempt to kick start this again, here's a little write up on one of my favourite sportives; the Cairn O'Mount Challenge. One of the reasons I like this event is the obvious dedication of the organisers to their charity. A large percentage of the entry fee goes towards it unlike some other events I might mention. And the enthusiasm that the event is run with speaks volumes about them too.

The Event

This year's ride can be summed up in one word: Hot! Perhaps not the best conditions to be taking on a ride that will probably be the hilliest I do all year. But there we go. We also had an interesting weather forecast, rain and potential thunderstorms were suggested for the early afternoon. No way did I want to get caught up in them!
Because of that, and wanting to get up the Cairn as early as possible I left in the second group. So did my colleague and Strava pal, Spin Diesel. More on his ride later. I was quickly off the back of the group, only to tag on for a second as they were stopped by roadwork traffic lights. Without more of those every half a mile or so I even more quickly lost them again. It was of no consequence as I had a little mantra going on in my head "don't overheat, don't work too hard".
For the ride to the bottom of Cairn O'Mount I was joined by a friendly local who looked like a real climber. Older than me, but he had the manner of a lightweight and strong climber. Nice to have a wee chat though and, as expected, he pulled away on the little ramp out of Fettercairn. I didn't chase and he was just a little up the road when we reached the bottom of the major challenge of the day.
I was already in my lowest gear, in preparation, when we turned the corner. "Sow and easy, slow easy" I said. It might have been slow but it wasn't easy. I did however go past my early companion and I focused on the hill ahead. I past a chap from the lead group, doing well but going slowly. Then a few folk past me; no surprise there. The road continued up.
Just before the final and steepest bit I found myself going past another slower rider. We passed comment on the heat and rode our own way up. I saw my heart rate touch 184 - that's about my limit, and thought maybe I should get off. Nope. Not this time. And then it was all over and the crazy descent started. Nice and cool as the speed built up. Zip up the jersey, remind myself to take it easy. It's so tempting to put it in a big gear and spin the legs but the advantage gained is so small it's not worth it.
At the wee sting in the tail (a nasty steep ramp in the middle of the descent) the corner was full of grit and gravel thanks to roadworks. Nasty! I hope no one came off as it would not be nice. I crawl upwards again to gain the prize of another nice descent. This pattern continues for quite a while now, down, up, down up etc until a final down brought me out at the bottom of the Slug Road.
My friend Spin reckons this should be called Slog Road and maybe he was right this year because as well as the heat we were into a little headwind here. But, at the top, a feed station and a chance to refill the water bottles. The volunteers were great, all we had to do was stick out an open bottle and they were topped up as if by magic. I like my coffee stops but these instant refills do just nicely.
And off again. This time a nice long smooth descent on the main road before turning off onto the back roads once again. And the up down nature reasserted itself. Here though the main thrust is downward towards the coast and the edge of Stonehaven. I was just thinking about timings and beating the rain when I saw a fellow participant by the side of the road; rear wheel out of the frame and a deflated tyre.
Whilst she had all the right stuff her CO2 had failed to inflate the inner and we resorted to the pump. The problem was that the valve stem was only just long enough for the rim and attaching the hose proved awkward. I'm pretty sure that's what had happened to the CO2 as well. All was fine until she unscrewed the hose. And with it came the valve core. Grrr. I lent her one of my tubes with the core held firmly in with Loctite. It's happened too many times to me in the garage. In it went and with it properly inflated (or at least enough we hoped) I left her to tidy up and travelled on. She passed me a couple of miles down the road (as she had already done) and I'm glad to report that she made it to the end without further mishap.
However, this had led to me dropping 14 minutes of my already tight schedule. On the plus side the heat, even with much, much more drinking than normal, was reducing my need for comfort stops so I was winning there. The coastal run was enlivened by the presence of other riders but few wanting to chat which was a shame. I did wonder about those doing the event on their own like me. Why would you not want to chat along the way. One even had headphones in.
Riding along, in and out of company however silent, made for a quick-ish run. To be honest I probably pushed a little harder along here just because the other riders were there and I wanted to see how I fared. It isn't a race but it is nice to ride along with others just as a benchmark. Most were faster than me by a bit and I was just holding on, often enough.
Somewhere down here there was an incident involving a quick descent, a runaway dog, cyclists and the dog's owner. The least said the better. And no one was hurt, so it was just fine.
The second feed stop arrived and, once again, I got excellent service. This time, with the bottles filled, it was time for a cheese savoury roll and some sugary EPO in the form of a slice of caramel shortbread. Mmmm. All too soon, especially with my quick feed stop mentality, it was time to be back on the road. "Stay safe" called the marshals, concerned for all of us. And again, once we were off the main road, the traffic became much less of an issue and it was back to the work of getting home without over doing it.
I reeled in one of my feed stop companions but he didn't seem to want to converse so I inched away from him and focused on the road and another rider in front. This chap must have been in my sights for about 11 miles as he had left the feed stop just that little bit earlier than me. "I've had enough" he says before asking my how bad the final climb is. "Hard" I say, not sugar-coating it at all. And I didn't sugar coat the run in either as it still has some nasty little slopes in it to catch the unwary. We chatted for a little while before I rode off, leaving us both to work on our own. Again, he made it, unscathed. Well done.
What followed was the run down to Brechin, the turn towards Edzell followed by the horrible turn away from Edzell where we met the even more horrible long stretch of temporary road surface. 70 miles in and my hands were now more than a little unhappy. Buzz, buzz went the handlebars as I rode over the very fine gravel.
The end of the temporary surface happened at the bottom of the kick in the teeth climb of Catertun. Steep and not as short as you'd like this is a real test of resolve on a hot day. I had been passed on the rough stuff by a couple of quicker riders and I could see them, seemingly close, working their way up through the turns. I could also see a couple of guys that seemed to be walking. No disgrace I can tell you. I reached the guy in the blue jersey (I'd been calling him that since the beginning of the day) and he was suffering with cramp. Nothing I could for him despite my offering and I left him to walk to the summit.
The descent that follows this climb is quick, steep, twist and a little gravelly. Not my favourite. Disk brakes would be a boon. At the bottom I thought there was something wrong with my back brake and though the inspection showed it to be ok, the rim was hot! "Mr blue jersey" caught me up here but had to stop almost immediately again as I'd stopped at the start of a small rise that caught his cramp again. He made it back eventually but it can't have been any fun.
I decided that some fun needed to be had and with it almost done and my legs feeling ok I wound it up a little. Maybe I could make it under 6 hours? I tried, honest I did, but the computers at the end said 6 hours and 33 seconds. My course record of 5 hours and 48 minutes stayed intact. I was hot, slightly unsatisfied but I had done what I came to do and we didn't get wet. I'll call that a good day.
My initial companion rolled in sometime later. His legs had just failed he said, as early as Cairn O'Mount so it was good effort to get round at all. The others I'd passed on the COM climb all made it in and all looked pleased to get round. It's not the easiest of days in the saddle and it wasn't the easiest of days to be trying it. There was much talk of heat.
As a final footnote to the day I must mention The Stoker who came to the event with me. Not so we could ride it on the tandem (neither of us fancy the two big climbs, yet alone some of the others) but just to be with me on the journey there and back, and to be there when I finished. Thanks, as ever.

Spin Diesel

Spin is in a different class. With a time of 4 hours and 25 minutes and 22 seconds he was the second fastest on the day. As I said, it's not a race, but what a fantastic achievement that is. If you don't believe me, bring a bike to Edzell next year and see what you can do.

The Ride