Monday, May 29, 2017

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