Author Topic: RR: Border Raid 600 2007  (Read 2188 times)

Maladict

RR: Border Raid 600 2007
« on: 11 April, 2008, 12:49:35 am »
Beforehand

I awoke at 4.30am, the combination of my mobile phone alarm and a knock on the door (breakfast being delivered in a box) being just about sufficient to rouse me; 4h sleep again, preceeded by a week of 6h nights.  I am making a habit of preparing for rides by depriving myself for sleep.  I suppose it might be useful training for something?

Anyhow, had a leisurely breakfast and realised time was a-passing and so got everything loaded into the car and headed off to the start, about 9 miles away.  I got there about 10 to, but unlike the Brian Chapman, there was no queue for the control so I had time enough to chat briefly to the organisor, and get away with the group (which, compared to the BC and BCM, was small).

Tranwell - Sherburn (56.4k)

100 yards down the road the light fell off the front of the guy ahead of me's bike, so I stopped to pick it up for him, then chased to catch the group - I wanted a tow if possible early on.

It was a fast pace, as the leading two bikes were tandems, and we were pushing 30kph average as we arrived at Newcastle.  The route sheet had us taking a complex route through cycle paths in the city centre, but the group - thankfully - headed straight down a dual carriageway.  Unfortunately as luck would have it the lights changed mid group and three of us stopped.  Bang goes our tow, and now I have to unpick the navigation since I have no idea what the route should be to get to a river crossing.  Fortunately one of the three, who I'd been chatting to already, a fellow Scot, lives in Gateshead so he knew the way.  I recognised some of the route as I'd cycled from the station to Tynemouth on my 400 mile camping tour in 2004.

We crossed over the Tyne bridge, and then climbing up the other side rejoined the official route up the slip road onto the A167.  I spotted another cyclist going around roundabouts below the flyover, and he came up and joined our mini peloton.  Then - joy of joys! - we saw the main group appear from a side road, all of 100 yards ahead, and again we were being towed along.  We continued to crack on; I got dropped off the group on a small climb and decided not to chase down as we were not far from the control, then stopped to adjust my dynamo cabling, which was rubbing.  One of the tandems passed me, they had also been dropped - they do all that work on the front, and then are discarded like used chip wrappings.  It seems so unfair, perhaps in return a tow up the hills could be offered?   ;D

With that delay, the control had been "open" - it was get a receipt from the co-op time - for a whole 10 minutes when I arrived, for an average speed of 29 kph.

Sherburn - Topcliffe (80.2k)

Having formed a solution of 50% water, 50% Copella, and 6% carbohydrate powder (Torq) in my water bottle (plus plain old tap water in the other) I set off again, on my own.  For some reason the pace of the start had infected me with some kind of mania, and I was pedalling along at about 17-18mph (the wind helped a bit) and maintaining the fast start.  I backed off a little when it occured to me that I was starting to hurt and I hadn't even done 100k yet.  I got to the Appleton Wiske info with bags of time in hand.  It was mostly fairly gentle undulations and not at all hard.  I topped up the Copella solution (it was something I tried on a whim at the Sherburn control, and it turned out to be very nice) and pushed on, and was very surprised to see the tandem couple about 200 yards ahead.  A cunning plan to draft them formed, and I upped the pace even further, and managed to catch on to them after a few minutes of slowly reeling them in, and said hello.

After a while I went onto the front.  This lasted only a few 100 yards before they overtook again, so I resigned myself to being a wheel sucker.  I got away from them on one hill but they soon caught me and we went through Northalleron together.  After then, back on the pancake, they finally beat me as my legs were starting to hurt again, and I quietly dropped off the back, slowing down to 17mph(!).

I had a panic moment when I needed to stop because a very angry-sounding insect had got stuck inside my high vis top (so that's a reason not to wear one, then!).  Fortunately, whatever it was, it didn't sting me.  The sun was out by now and the temperature was rising.  Rolled into Topcliffe about 11.30 ish which was still a fast pace, around 25kph - though a bit slower by the control distances given on the Brevet Card; the route sheet being a longer route.

Topcliffe-Hardrow (66.7k)

Discussions with other riders had suggested about 3h for this leg, or less.  I set off after them, at about 12.00 on the dot, having eschewed food at the control as they would not start serving til 12 (t'was a pub).  Proper randonneurs probably don't eat solids anyway.  So I decanted more powder and Copella, and was off again.  Now the wind was across us, and the terrain was hinting at becoming lumpy.  Eventually it came good on its threats, and it got harder as we headed past Masham for Leyburn.  I say we, because I caught sight of the two guys who I'd talked to at the pub - or, rather, I caught sight of them on each little climb, then they had vanished by the time I got to the top.  This game of cat and mouse continued for about 10 times over before I finally caught up with them, and I rode with them for a while and chatted.  It turned out one of them was 80!

We parted company when they were about 100 yards ahead of me and my GPS route told me to turn right, so I did.  I shouted bu they didn't hear, and it has to be said I was not sure of that turn and there was another shortly that it could have been, so I didn't bother to chase them.  I reckoned I was ahead of them when I passed where that other turn came out, as they were nowhere to be seen.  This was just before Leyburn - a fun descent on the way out spoiled by a set of temporary traffic lights and the driver who was hell-bent on beating me to the queue (cutting me up to make sure of it) despite my 30mph speed.

Turning right into Wensley there then followed a number of bigger undulations up Wensleydale.  I had been up here before on the Tan Hill 200k but that route took the main road.  This was harder.  I pushed on, but had to stop about 8km before the control to eat some energy bar - I was also getting very hot by now, and running low on water.  The two guys from earlier, and another passed me whilst I did this.  I arrived at the control at 2.42pm which makes that my fastest 200km by over an hour!  Any of you who read my Mildenhall 300k RR from last year may realise that I was not unequivocally happy about this.   ;D  However, having set myself a target of 20kph average to get to Annandale Water to allow sleep time, being well ahead of that schedule seemed to be no bad thing.

The food here was excellent - a set meal for cyclists that had to be ordered and paid for at the start.  Baked potato, cheese and beans, coffee, crumble (I cannot for the life of me now tell you what kind, but it was nice) and ice cream, went down a treat.  Andy, the other person who had overtaken me when I was eating the energy bar, turned out to have gone off route due to a route sheet error (the email to him about it having bounced so he didn't know).  I saw quite a lot of him later on.

Hardrow - Penrith (62.7k)

This stage started off lumpier still, as we continued westwards on the main road, then turned off at Moorcock to head for Kirkby Stephen.  I passed the two old guys again, but they passed me on the descent to Kirkby Stephen, they generally seemed to be faster than me on downhills.  The scenery, like the previous section, was brilliant, and well worth the effort.  I rolled into Penrith control, where Andy was eating outside the petrol station, and Dan who was on a Moulton.  The two old guys appeared about 5-10 minutes later - they had stopped in Kirkby Stephen, and had waved at me buy I had been oblivious.  I ate a sarnie, and performed more white powder ritual, and was off again, on my own, as they all got away before me.

Penrith - Annandale Water Services (88k)

This started off with a climb out of Penrith, on the A6, then went onto the B roads parallel with the M6 and WCML.  I caught Andy who was stopped for refuelling at the roadside, and pushed on after checking he was OK, then took a wrong turn (misread GPS waypoing as RL instead of L) and went 125m off route before I noticed.  Embarrassed Smiley  This gave Andy more of a chance to catch me up and we rode all of the way to Carlisle pretty much together, though I occasionally dropped him slightly.  It was a very fast section despite the wind no longer being in our favour and I made up a lot of time on my schedule.  Through Carlisle was easy with the GPS nav and we arrived at the info at Longtown (officially 306km) at 20.38, making it my fastest ever 300k (c.f. MH 300k 16h, The Dean 17h).  Again, a mixed feeling about this.  I ate some cake that the organisor had given me at Hardrow and then was off again.  Andy visited the petrol station for supplies then caught up with me just the other side of town when I stopped for some kind of adjusment (of what, I have no idea) and we stuck together for about another 10km or so, before I decided to slow up a bit.

The remainder of the section wasn't too hard, one climb of any note but it was just a drag.  I hardly needed the second light as there was a good amount of light in the sky for ages, and arrived at Annandale Water before midnight and, thus, ahead of my target time.  I saw Andy on the way from the Petrol station to the main services, and he said the station had a stamp, so I went there too, then checked in at the hotel to dropthe bike off - the tandem was there as well - and then went to the services; quite a few people were around.  I had soup (Leek and Potato - and it didn't upset my stomach! and scampi and chips which I failed to finish due to fullness, then went back to the hotel and had a shower and went to bed).  Andy said he'd push on to Abington Services (399km) so I'd probably not see him again.

Unfortunately, sleep doesn't appear to be something I can do on Audax rides and even a comfortable bed doesn't make it work.  I managed to get to sleep initially but I woke up feeling excessively hot and then could not settle back to sleep.  I probably only managed 30 mins of actual sleep so at about 3am I decided this  was just wasting time.  Part of what was keeping me awake was the return of stomach acid so I popped another Zantac (I took one before the start of the ride as a precaution) and got up and checked out and went back to the services. I was surpised to see Andy still in the very same chair he'd been in when I left - he'd slept there for 3 hours.   Grin  Also present were the tandem couple, and I got some free breakfast off them since they couldn't eat it all.  I had a nice chat with the captain and his pilot about cycling and this and that, and then everyone set off about 4.30am.  I was last away, with about 50 mins in hand - I had had more than 5h in hand when I arrived!

Annandale Water - Abington (42.2k)

This started flat, and then had a very long, gentle climb into the hills past Lockerbie.  The sun came up as we cycled it; I caught and overtook the couple I'd said hello to, fairly quickly, but the tandem was getting further and further up the road, and soon disappeared from view.  The scenery was again excellent, and as the sun came up it illuminated banks of mist in the valleys between the hills.  I overtook another guy near the top and we ended up in an off-and-on relationship as far as the control, which was shrouded in mist.  Tandem was there again, and Andy.  I had cornflakes, and then was off again, quite a quick control as I wanted to get back intocredit on the time front.  Before I left one of the staff came over and asked if we were all doing the same ride - someone had left their card behind.  I took it with me.

Abington - Galashiels (76.1k)

This started off with a little climbing to get away from the control then settled into an overall descent to Galashiels.  However, my right knee which had been a little sore since about 20km before Annandale Water, decided that as I turned off the main road onto the B road short cut that the route took, it would be a good time to start getting shouty. The pain was on the RHS, and suggested thingy band to me, as opposed to left knee issues which tend to be patellar tendon-ish.  So I decided to lower the saddle.  It didn't help much and the pain was considerably worse when getting out of the saddle for the lumps.  I plodded on, conscious of time and that I was not as fast as yesterday, and was now into the wind, which was at least not too strong first thing.  I knew it was forecast to get stronger, so wanted to turn south before that happened.

I stopped just the far side of Peebles after having failed to locate a bus shelter for a sit down and rest, and instead elected to sit on a stone wall and have an energy bar.  Imagine my surprise: movement across the road caught my eye, and it was Andy emerging from a bus shelter (which I had failed to notice!).  I said hello, and then he was off, so I wasn't able to draught him.  He seemed to be disappearing into the distance, so I just got on with my ride at my own pace.  There was a nasty lump just before Galashiels, and then I arrived there at about 11.10am which was 10 mins later than I'd hoped to achieve, but that still meant I arrived there with almost 2h in hand.  Andy, Tandem couple, were about, and then the other couple, and an Irish sounding guy I'd not seen before turned up.  I left about 12 after a leisurely pasta salad and fruit salad though I didn't eat all of the fruit as it was quite acidic and my stomach was beginning to say "No!".  I also bought a can of Red Bull which I secreted in my rack pack - for emergencies, I told myself.

Galashiels - Tranwell (135.7k)

Out of Galashiels and into Melrose the route followd the NCN and this led to confusion and error.  I hate these routes when they are in towns, they are designed by class numpties.  So my precious little time in hand slipped further away.  I knew this section was also probably the hilliest - certainly in the early stage.  Then, in Melrose, I overheated so off with the arm warmers.  Then turn left and there was a climb out of the town and instantly I overheated even worse - the sun was coming out and it had suddenly gone from chilly to baking in just a few minutes.  I went down to minimal kit, applied sun cream, and pushed onwards and upwards.

I became obsessed with time, and set targets of "by 2pm, have average speed required to complete just on the limit down to 13kph" and so on.  I managed to get it down to 13.2 or so by then, and by continuing to push hard over the big climbs was making some inroads.  There was one short climb that was mad-steep though, and I ended up stopping every 100m on there to take a drink.  Then everything levelled off but I knew that wouldn't last - the highest point of the entire ride was coming, though in the end it was at least a fairly even climb.  The GPS batteries died on the climb, so I put a new set in, which promptly died too and in the end I nicked the batteries from the rear light.  The descent was brilliant, I hit 40mph with twists and turns.  Got to the info control at Saughtree, noted it down on the phone (no pen) and then headed off into Kielder forest.

The last bit seemed to take an eternity.  For a while I switched the GPS off to save batteries, but then I decided that was a bad idea in case I went off route, so turned it on again.  I switched it to trackback mode to get an overall ETA.  This told me that at the speed I was doing I was going to get back in plenty time.  Of course on a steep climb it told me 10.30!  :P

Hunger pangs set in on the undulating drags past Kielder Water so I broke out the flapjack I had obtained from the organiser at the start - this was like manna from heaven.  Though I did try to inhale some of it in my haste, which wasn't quite so effective.   :hand:  Off I went again, by now all I could think of was finishing the  ride, though there was still 75km to go.  I was glad to get that section past the lake over as it was quite boring riding, and went on for a long time.

Eventually, the last - and perhaps the worst - climb of the entire ride arrived.  I knew from the profile it would be bad, so I stopped at the bottom and had a lie down on the pavement at the bridge (at Redesmouth), and finally drank that can of Red Bull.  After about 15 minutes of rest, I plumped up the courage to tackle the climb.  It was nasty at the start, and I decided to bash my way up the first bit to have some momentum.  Then it levelled off a bit, and then it repeatedly got nasty.  Further up near the top you could see that the hillside appeared to be relatively smooth but the road appeared to want to work its way upwards in fits and spurts of steep then less steep.  So, so cruel after 571km already done.  Anyway, I got up it in one piece.  After that, it was a downhill run to the finish punctuated by uphills thrown in to keep you on your toes.  I saw a strange incident involving some motorcycles - I was behind a right-turning bike, about to take the same turn.  A car behind me was going to do the same, so I looked in my mirror to check their position and when I looked forwards again, the bike appeared to have failed to make the turn and gone into the hedge on the far side of the road we were turning into (almost straight on).  When I arrived at the junction, I found there were two other bikes - one on its side, on the opposite side of the road from the first bike, with female rider trapped between bike and hedge.  The two bikers got it off her, she was fine, so I went on my way.  There was a strong smell of petrol in the air, though.

I stopped for a few minutes with about 5 miles to go - energy levels really starting to drop now - and just stood astride the bike with my head propped on my hands above the handlebars.  Pushed on to the finish and was very pleased to finally arrive at 20.10.

Afterwards

Did the card stuff, and organisator was most pleased that I had the missing brevet card - someone's qualification pulled from the fire. Then had a very nice all day breakfast from the cafe, and apple pie, and lots of coffee, and conversations about all sorts of cycling and other things with the other riders as they arrived, and the organisor, his helper and all.  It turns out they call that last big climb "Vomit Hill".   ;D