I had travelled up on the Friday with my friend Paul from Addiscombe CC. He usually finishes these sort of things half an hour ahead of me and so over a few pints of the local brew the day before he put a wager down that if I finished more than 30 mins behind him he could cover my bike with his newly acquired book of Addiscombe CC stickers and in the unlikely event that I beat him he’d have to wear my SFACC jersey home on the train.
So on the wet Sunday morning I started in the 2nd to last group of 150 riders (4 mins behind Paul’s group). I joined a group of four guys from a local Scottish club who where aiming for a 4 and a half hour time to complete the 81-mile highland course. They where very friendly and welcomed me on board.
We where doing pretty well and just before we got to the 25 mile mark we caught a group of riders from the Brian Rourke team and my Friend from Addiscombe CC (much to his surprise).
Together we pushed the pace further and reached the halfway point in under two hours. We thought then that together we would be able to get back in under four hours so shot past the 2nd feed station to start the ascent of the KOM stage up Schiehallion (Which translated means fairy hill) when ‘pop!’ My rear tyre punctured. It was a frightening few seconds as everyone around me was puncturing too. On close inspection of the tyre’s it was carpet tacks.
We later found out it was a race sabotage attempt, by the 62 year old chairman of the Rannoch and Tummel Community Council! Disgraceful!
I Changed the Tyre and got to the top of the climb semi-deflated to find the Race had been held until they cleared the tacks that had also been laid on the downhill section of the mountain. (Which could have been lethal!) While we shivered at the top one of the local supporters happened to have a track pump with him and was getting everyone’s tyres back up to pressure! Which was brilliant!
We soon restarted and had a controlled descent behind a police car and marshal’s bikes and where soon back on track. The sun came out and we flew back to Pitlochry along the River Tay. It was a very scenic route indeed and despite the protest the road was lined with more and more people cheering us on with horns, cowbells, flags, chalk messages on the road, etc. It really gave us a boost and I had a big grin plastered on my face all the way back!
I crossed the Finish line 11th in my age category (20-29) and 212th overall. With a time of 4hours 42mins (with over an hour stopped at the top of Schiehallion) Out of 3500 I thought that wasn’t bad and most importantly I was 4mins ahead of Paul!
I just wonder how much better I could have done had it not been for the puncture and suspension. Oh well I’ll have to do it next year and find out!
All in all it was a very enjoyable, fantastically well-supported event.
Well done to all the Fairies who took part it was great to see you out in the highlands!
