I realised yesterday that if I didnt ride this today, there would be no opportunity for an organisers routecheck ride before the event. What a fun day Ive had - "well ventilated" I think Cyclops once called it. I left EH12 at 7.30 - Forth Road Bridge was literally shaking in the SW wind. Rapid wind assisted progress was halted by a road closed sign at the top of Glenfarg village. Id been passed by a fire engine in Milnathort - as it turned out there was flooding + a minor landslip + a significant treefall which had caused the bother. Still - no cars! I imagine that the road will be cosed to cars by the time the calendar event comes round - the road signs and the fence at the Bein Inn were almost in the river, although Im not sure how parking a fire engine right next to it is likley to help. I was hoping for a fire to heat me up. Anyhow safe passage to Perth was rewarded with a hot breakfast before the hard 40k in the wind tunnel to Comrie. Id decided to stop in St Davids anyway to scope out their new village hall , just as well as (1) I was totally cabbaged after the 20k from Perth and (2) I had a p*nct*r*. The hall is like one of those football stadia in 3rd world countries, theres nothing else nearby, just this HBFO structure with car park attached. I christened their vestible with a tube change. I checked the tyre for any thorns etc but all I could determine was that they tyre was completely manky. After getting a bit lost shortly after St Davids by a T junction that either (i) shouldnt have been there or (ii) should have been on my draft routesheet, more wind tunnel experiments were conducted in the stretch to Comrie where I was quite pleased to establish that the 40k from Perth had taken just 2 and a half hours including the p*nct*r* stop. Coffee and cake here then up over the moor where conditions varied. One minute I was hardly pedalling and doing 24kph then the next was straining every sinew in my body to reach walking pace. Could have been worse though. The stretch to Dunblane via KInbuck was right into the teeth of it and my brothers house at barbush rounabout and the railway station were tempting. My spirits were raised by a round of applause from 4 youths, which may have been sincere or ironic Im not sure but I did apprecaite it either way. When I started to turn eastwards at BoA the strong breeze behind my right shoulder helped hugely. I passed (I think) Simon Grove going the other way nr Stirling Uni about 3.30pm but not many cyclists were out at all - funny that. Correiris was a god send and I spent 20 mins there and I noticed I was getting funny looks from the normal customers and the manager asked if I was OK. Fine, just fine son. With the wind, floods, rain and cold, it was very much like our summer trip to Germany last August.
Traffic was bad on the stretch before the first roundabout after Causewayhead, then another brief spell with a buffeting into the breeze (although by this stage it was easing off to a tornado and a mysterious object in the sky giving light had appeared). Once pointing east for the final time twas a scoosh, easy pedalling still resulted in 25kph+ and the sky was clear and now well lit by a full-ish moon. The finish receipt said 18.40, with a 7.30 start, my longest 200k in a while, but it was pretty tough. Theres no way the weather will be this bad for the calendar event, so I hope you all appreciate my sacrifice.
A few tweaks are required the routesheet - not least of all the mystery T junction after St Davids. The stretch between here and Perth was I think a new one on me, although Ive ridden part on the Kingdom 400. The tweak to go this way rather than Harrietfield changes the character of the ride and although theres main road stretches (esp in the last 50k) it felt quite laney, the road closure in Glenfarg added to that I suppose. There was much debris on the roads - big stones, branches etc as well as the ad hoc rivers. Shortly after perth there was two instances where fine red soil from the fields had been washed over the road and had partially dried out, which resulted in a new experience for me - beach audaxing - with the front wheel snow ploughing all over the place at about 4mph.
I took some pics - will post a few when I get round to uploading.
G
ps - if anybody can provide the lowdown on the Glenfarg road situ between now and 6 Feb, would be appreciated.
