Cairngorm Classic 100

As part of my race prep for Roth this weekend I entered the world of road cyclists at the Cairngorm Classic 100 sportive.
A fatal crash on the A9 meant a detour was set up on Friday on my way up, sending me driving over Pitlochry to Braemar, Glen Shee & the Lecht, with lots of ideas for future cycles to be had.
With a group of GTC'ers staying in Aviemore Youth Hostel, we were up, breakfasted and off to the start line to register before 9. Dibbing in not long after 9.30, the day had begun in earnest.
The descent from the Cairngorm's car park was a fantastic way to start, and a fantastic way to get the eyes nice and streaming with water! Going what felt fast yet controlled for the corners, it was a joy to be heading down with plenty of other cyclists. At the bottom I caught up with Charlotte & one of the Stirling Tri bunch, then we waited until we picked up a second Stirling Tri'er and headed on at a reasonable pace for me, though the big groups of cyclists going past showed what can really be achieved. After a brief hello by Paul, he took off up through the field to find more people to catch to and help round the course. We caught up with Duggie and formed a 5.
After too long, I remembered that I hadn't had any drink or gel yet, so reached for my bottle to have a swig and... there was nothing there. As the tops were leaking a little, I'd put the bottles upright in the foot well rather than in the cage lying down in the boot & never picked them up. What a dumb ass! Thankfully Duggie took pity and gave me his second bottle, else I'd've had to have turned round at the first aid station. It did mess up my nutritional strategy however, as it was an energy drink & I find them rather sticky, and much prefer water & gels.

Onwards, through Nethy Bridge, then a stop for jacket removal split are group up, with Charlotte getting pulled on behind a big group & me starting up again thinking the others would be right behind me so I ended up on a solo mission for a while. As there was some climbing to be done, I settled into my own pace and carried on.

Charlotte was waiting at the 50/100 route split, but since we couldn't see the others on the road behind us, we headed on, as some of the others were slower on the climbs. Lindsey caught up with me and kindly let me sat behind him on a long flat high section into a headwind. Dropping down into a valley I stopped for Charlotte to catch up, then had a nice steep hill to grind up, with one torturously steep bit them almost had my breakfast coming back up.

A rolling section followed, where we went back and forth with a female cyclist, until at one point as I went to accelerate past her on a down hill and she caught onto my wheel, except she had no real control there; at one point I looked back and down to see the front of her wheel level with my rear mech. When she went past and offered a wheel, Charlotte pulled up due to her scarily bad group riding skills (or lack of), and I'd been unaware of the worst of it.

At the next feed station we refuelled and then got caught up by more GTCers. When myself and Charlotte took off, not wanting to hang around too long Duggie join us, forming a trio that would pull each other through the rest of the ride. Over the next wee while, we all took spells where we flagged, but thankfully as we stuck together, there was always two more to help.

Another pitstop at Grantown on Spey and we headed off, briefly joined by Lindsay, Gav and Lesley, but their prowess up hills split us soon after. I held the front up a steady incline into a headwind for a substantial length of time, wanting to make sure the other two were getting as much benefit as possible from some of my Ironman training, but I was mightily relieved when Duggie took over. I do think I over cooked it as I really took a while to get the zip back in my legs afterwards but I was well chuffed with the sustained effort I'd put in - I had know idea I could actually go that fast in those conditions!

Up onto the moors and round out of the headwind Duggie got a puncture, giving my legs a wee rest on a sunny loch side, before the back markers reached us along with the ominous broom wagon, which did focus the mind a little bit for the rest of the journey.

Starting out again, a niggle I'd had in my right knee since about the half way mark starting getting worse, and I started to struggle on the hills more. Thankfully a substantial downhill wasn't too far away, easing the pressure somewhat. Into the last feed station, we only had a brief stop to top up water, but it was enough for something to tighten up in my leg so that when I restarted and stood up on my right leg the pain almost caused me to drop. It quickly eased off to a dull ache, but I lagged off the back of the other pair for quite a while, wishing for my aerobars to help me catch them up. My knees were starting to get cold as well, and then the knee caps started aching. The predominantly up hill drag to the foot of the Cairgorm climb was torture for me between the pain and the fear of the hill to follow - it felt that if I really started to struggle on the steepest bits I wouldn't be able to stand up out of the saddle (I'd tried it on a couple of shorter hills and it hurt like hell on that knee) and was worrying how I was going to make it up. I was also toiling with a severe energy dip and clung to the wheels offered to me by Charlotte and Duggie as I stuffed some food into myself in prep for the climb.

Reaching the foot of the climb, it had to be everyone for themselves as I was in no state to help anyone, though Charlotte & I kept pace fairly well together, gee'ing each other on & lifting each other's spirits with invented song lyrics about how this was a stupid idea, and a crazy, painful way to spend the day. Surprisingly, as I settled into a rhythm the pain in my knee eased off and progress up the steepest section was swifter than expected - the recent expeditions to the Tak have clearly paid off!

As it eased off, we waited for Duggie before tackling the last steep section, then regrouping for the final time to cross the line together.

YA FUCKING DANCER!!!!!!!!!!

My heart felt thanks go out to everyone who had a kind word or a wheel for me to sit on on the day, but most of all to Charlotte and Duggie - you guys made the day more bearable, more enjoyable and faster than I expected.

The route:
http://app.strava.com/rides/10064613#

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De La Soul - Three is the Magic Number