61 Days to Go: Drumlanrig Tearfund Challenge

What a fantastic day yesterday, cycling the 82 mile Drumlanrig Tearfund Challenge around the beautiful, quiet Dumfries & Galloway countryside.  After the past few weeks I knew that this would be a real test of my fitness, especially as I had not ridden longer than 50 miles for awhile.  The forecast was for light rain and temperature of 8 deg, a bit of shock after the 18 deg we had been having.  Driving down in the morning through heavy showers I was bracing myself for a grim day, but the blue skies appeared as soon as I turned off the M74.

Wrapped up in mostly winter kit I set off in a small group at 9am.  After a couple of minutes I realised that there was another West Lothian Clarion rider in the group, who I had ridden with previously on our Rad Tour in March.  As our pace was pretty similar we ended up riding together, which makes a nice change as I often end up on my tod in these events. 

My decision to wrap up rapidly turned out to be the wrong one as I was overheating on the first climb, but this was quickly fixed when I removed my thermal top before the nasty 20% Dunnregan Brae. While this was not as long as those in the Lakes, the potholes and gravel made it very tricky.  Even worse was having to negotiate around riders walking up the climb!  

After that climb I felt properly warmed up, both mentally and physically and settled into the ride. Next came lovely open climbs with beautiful views.  We saw a flash of yellow, white and black as another Clarion rider passed us on the next long climb.  By this point I was used to the constant ups and downs and before I knew it 35 miles had passed, and there was only 8 to go until the lunch stop, and I was desperate for a cup of tea.

Now I am not sure if I have been spoilt by the last events that I have done, but I have got used to indoor feed stations with hot drinks.  I had forgotten that I should not expect more than a bit of food and some water.  As I have learnt my lesson, I don't generally partake in the food on offer as it can result in stomach pains if something doesn't agree.  I had just had four nights of pretty bad insomnia so was very tired mentally, so imagine my disappointment when there were no hot drinks or coke at the food stop. I hasten to add that this is not a criticism of the organisers at all, just my desperate mental state.  So I grabbed a banana, top up my bottles, dumped my superfluous clothing in the car, and headed off again. 

I was a bit concerned that I had ridden the first leg too hard, as my average heart rate was 154.  Normally I ride in the 140s.  This, coupled with my lack of caffeine, meant I went through a bit of a rough patch for the next 30 minutes.  When a couple decided to sit on my tail, without so much as a hello or the offer to work together, I was pretty hacked off.  They took off past me after 20 minutes and I tried to get in behind them but couldn't quite do it.  So as you can imagine I was not good company.  Then I remembered that I had some gel shots in my pocket - WITH CAFFEINE!!!! Yipeeeeeee!!!! So took a couple of those before the start of Mennock Pass.  Then I caught up with a couple of ERC riders, one of whom was very positive and commented on what a lovely ride it was with a big grin on his face, which put me back into a good mood.

Mennock Pass was fantastic! About 6 miles of climbing, albeit into a head wind, but when there is a trail of riders ahead of you there is something magical about everyone suffering together.  I started picking off riders one by one and felt the best I had all day.  Before I knew it I was at the next feed station with only 18 miles to go. 

I joined forces with the two ERC riders I had passed earlier.  We rode pretty well as a team, and picked up David (my morning's companion) and we made a team of four.  Pretty soon it was down on the drops for a beautiful fast descent to Elvanfoot.  Working as a team again we rode pretty strongly to the castle grounds before the last small push back up to the finish line. My total time was 6hrs and 1 minute!!!! I was gutted as I was aiming for under 6 hours. But then I won't let 2 minutes spoil a brilliant day and what was, for me, a strong performance.