Cairngorm Classic

No updates for a while, apologies to anyone who may have been following this..... anyone? :o)

The training has been going reasonably well, I've found a nice flattish 25 time trial route that takes me round the Beauly Firth. So far I've got my time down to about 1 hour 50 but I know I should be able to knock at least 2o minutes off that over the next few weeks. The goal... get it down to an hour! That means doing a steady 25mph but if I lose a bit more weight and get the hours in, it should be possible.

I took part in my first cyclo-sportive on Saturday. The Cairngorm Classic starts and finishes at the Cairngorm ski carpark at an altitude of 650 metres (ish). It starts with a fantastic downhill freewheel into Glenmore and on through Nethy Bridge round Spey bridge, Loch Garten and .... back up the ski road carpark. Ouch! I chose to enter the 50 miler being a way off having the fitness to do 100 miles in a respectable time. I set a target of 'under 5 hours and I'm happy, under 4 and I'm delighted'.

I'm delighted to say that I finished it in 3 hours 44 minutes. The results are here.

I was chuffed to bits to get up the final hill without having to stop and get off the bike to push. That was the bit I was probably most worried about, I didn't want to be seen as a bit of a bumbly!

Not a bad effort for a first go at a Sportive and if I hadn't stopped for a blether (and a flapjack or 3 ) at the feed station then I would have done it in even less time than that. The actual riding time on my bike computer reads 3 hours 30. So make of that what you will. (less time stuffing my face and more time cycling methinks!)

The weather was grim to start with. Heavy rain and a clagged in carpark made for a chilly start. I was soaked through within about a minute but that didn't dampen mine or anyone else's enthusiasm. The camaraderie was great and I didn't hear a word of complaint from anyone.

Hopefully HandOnEvents will have some photo's online soon. I'll post them on here provided the sight of my sweaty carcass doesn't give too much offence.