Etape Caledonia - how hilly?

thegreatdivide

Registration done, baguette with smoked duck eaten from that great wee deli on the high street, bikes checked out and now back in Dundee watching the Giro and eating yet more food!

Quite a few folk on 50mm carbon tubs nipping about - excellent idea for tomorrow lads :shock:

d4evr

thegreatdivide wrote:

Registration done, baguette with smoked duck eaten from that great wee deli on the high street, bikes checked out and now back in Dundee watching the Giro and eating yet more food!

Much the same as myself, lunch in Hetties, fab. Just a wee heads up, Tiso in Perth have discount off Endura gear (20%) cheaper than in Pitlochry, plus 10% off everything for Etape riders. Just incase you are passing and need anything!

rokkala

Does anybody know if the KOM section ends just after the steepest part of Schiehallion like last year, or is it further up the road like previous editions?

Omar Little

Not sure where the kotm ends

Good luck to everyone enjoy the day tomorrow!

rollemynot

Just eating my porridge and about to leave Perth, forecast looking better than before...........wave O 6 58 - target to be back before midday and the rain!

Omar Little

Managed to stay dry for the most part woo hoo! Really enjoyed the ride, it really is a great event without many others like it is the UK.

The wind made it difficult though - IMO much harder than last year, so for the first timers dont feel too disheartened if you found it difficult - It was brutal in places particularly with the right after schiehallion which is always pretty difficult anyway. At the turn i was trying to sort a knee warmer out and had a lapse of concentration and the group pulled out about 10 metres and i just couldnt get back on got to about 5 metres with the shelter tantalisingly close but couldnt make it the final bit! Solo ride for the next 10 miles (which wasnt too bad after the turn and getting the wind at my back) then another small group came by which i managed to get on. My legs were gone by then so i did a fair bit of wheelsucking :oops:

Didnt receive the text with my official time but from the computer i was 3.51, really pleased with that. My kotm will be pretty poor, i've made some improvements in my climbing over the last year but still a long way to go to manage to keep up with the skinnies!

meanredspider

Well that was fun - 4.48 for me. Completely overestimated the course or completely underestimated my fitness (having never done more that 40 miles before). In the last 15 miles I was hosing past people (seemingly hundreds) and nobody passed me. Schiehallion also threw me - it was a much shorter climb than I was expecting. Great experience - some pretty horrible weather - great atmosphere.

steve_muzzy

Good race, wind was a killer though and took me beyond the 4.10I would have expected based on my Kinross black time I stopped to zip up jacket and just couldn't bridge the gap to my group around 40 miles so spent 15 on my own/ in ones and twos and the wind just totally drained me so ended up at 4.30!

Also overdressed badly and was far too hot for the first hour

Closed roads is great however most people seem to forget and stick to the left and side

bompington

Well I'm impressed at those who thought the weather wasn't that bad, it was certainly worse for me than the met office forecast (check Finnart & Aberfeldy) suggested. It looked like it got worse as time went on, so the earliest riders to Loch Rannoch didn't have it so bad - but it started raining on me half way along, and didn't stop till well back along the south side to KR - pretty cold, although I was one of the few wearing shorts (I actually came second in my category: M45-50 with short fat hairy legs showing, riding rusty old pig iron bikes with gears way too high for the rider's talent*).

As mentioned above, the Fortingall road is probably the most disheartening, that was where the strongest headwind was: and the direction of the wind (SW blowing onto the north shore of the lochs) meant that the return leg was disappointingly sheltered. But the turn at Fortingall was great - abrupt turn from nasty headwind to cruising along at 25mph+ with no effort at all.

I was personally pleased that having worked (what felt like) pretty hard the whole way, I had more left in the tank for the wee Logierait hills, and despite cramp starting to appear as it does every year, I was able to push pretty hard up the high street to the finish.

The sprint was a bit of a damp squib as it was the only place on the whole route where slow traffic held me up! I was with a bunch going pretty well, 22-24mph or so, but pretty much at the start line we came up behind a group doing about 18 spread across the whole road! I considered doing a Ferrari.

My preparation was a bit derailed by being up from 1am with a raging migraine, but a bit of fresh air and exercise seems to have helped :-)

So I was quite chuffed with 4:37, slightly slower than last year but the conditions must have been worth quite a few minutes - not sure how many but I'm insisting on 30 ;-)

Well done everyone!

*this may just possibly be fiction

thegreatdivide

Managed 4hrs 17 and got 8.32 on Schiehallion. The wind at the start of Loch Rannoch was brutal. Pats on the back all round for today chaps!

thegreatdivide

I had to stop at the feedzone before Schiehallion to empty my bladder. It was so full that it hurt trying to get onto the drops! Biggest pee in my life - think I lost a kilo - perfect for the climb ahead ;-)

thegreatdivide

Saw three puncture victims and two of them were tubs on aero rims - was looking pro worth it?

Garryboy

Well done all round!

Was my first time and thoroughly enjoyed it despite the weather!

wind was brutal at times - I was in wave T so didnt get off till about 715 - sprint was a laugh given I couldnt get over 15mph due to the wind!

Worst bit for me was the run down to Fortinghall, a real slog. Also had some hairy moments due to gusts on the descent.

Still, did 4.46 which I was pleased with as had aimed for less than 5.30

Wallace1492

5.21 for me. Slightly dissappointed, but less fit than before, and the conditions were not good for me. Didn't enjoy mile 25 to 40, and the turn to Fortingall was brutal. Enjoyed run to Logierait then faltered on the hills back. On the whole enjoyed the experience again. Missed the worst of the rain.

A few folk on the narrow sections slowed down for no apparent reason almost causing a few crashes. One guy pulled in front of me right on the Logierait climb, then almost came to a halt, forcing me to brake heavily when climbing. Bugger!

Next year? Maybe........

thecrofter

Tough,tough,tough day. 40mins slower than last 2 years had to push hard, with my left knee really complaining, for the last two miles to get in under 5hrs 4:59:01. Heading up the loop through Fortingall I was out the saddle, on the flat, and working hard to get 9mph.

meanredspider

Results are up on line - 1355th for me - happy enough with that

Boleynboy

I started in wave L and I was rained on pretty much the whole ride after the first 45 mins.
As everyone else has mentioned the wind was brutal, got blown from one side of the road to the other several times, and the desent off the climb (usually the best part of the whole ride) was ruined by the wind and rain.
Way slower than the last two two years, wanted to get in under 4.30 but struggled to beat 5!
As to the earlier posts about how easy this ride is, not today it wasn't!
Well done to everyone who finished, even the pros would have found it hard out there today.

Stedman

Having been sick with a chest infection and a bad dose of asthma last week it was touch and go whether I was going to even enter and therefore I was delighted to finish. My finish time of 4.25 was well down on target of a sub 4 hour time, however with the brutal windy conditions out there, even if I was fully fit, this was never going to happen. Interestingly my overall finish position was very similar to last years.

Muffintop,

How did you get on?

Stedman

Accidently repeated message deleted!

AndyD2574

Got myself a cheeky little 150th overall and a 147th male. (36th in category too) with a 4hr 1min so just missed my sub 4 target.

Much harder than last year as that wind was mental!!

Great day and already registered my interest for 2013!!

Pigtail

What is this thing called a group you all speak of?

You'd think I would learn from last year. I got to the start about 35 minutes before my time and missed wave K, eventually getting off in O. It was pretty much a solo ride all the way, jumping from group to group, and leading a small group down to Fortingall. Last year I moved up through traffic the whole time until the last 15 miles, where I found a group of people around the same speed as me, which really helped. This year I never did.

I had a nasty incident where I was overtaking someone and he cut right across me on a corner, leaving me with nowhere to go. He was very apologetic and to be honest I didn't hold it against him. I was just delighted that despite skidding on some muddy stuff off the side of the road I actually managed to stay on.

I got in 3 minutes better than last year, which was a bit disappointing, however I've cheered up immensely on getting home and downloading the spreadsheet. Last year I was about 1100th, this year I'm under 500th - so I must be making some progress! Knocked almost a minute off my KOTM, though the mats could be in different places. Did ok in the sprint as well, though I got held up by a group. In the middle the road narrowed to cross a bridge, and I came up behind a group spread right across the road, with no way through. So all-in-all a bit of progress. Never as much as I'd like though!

meanredspider

The sprint would have been better on the wide road on the return leg - everyone was more spread out and, I for one, would have been more prepared to throw the effort in at that stage. But what do I know...

Brian B

How bad was the weather today at the Etape. I am just back from the Fred Whitton and the wind was brutal. 60 miles straight into a head wind.

bompington

As a rough comparison with last year:
2011 - Bompington is 1061st out of 4165 starters in a time of 4:20
2012 - 996th out of 4040 starters in a time of 4:37

2011 - 401 finish in under 4 hours
2012 - 126 finish in under 4 hours

Comparing each position for 2012 and 2011, the time for 2012 is mostly 7-9% or so slower than 2011

Not very statistically valid but gives a flavour - and suggests that my time difference at 6.5% is quite small compared to others finishing around the same time - which tells me, at least to some extent, what I wanted to hear: that I did relatively better this year.

Spender

Pigtail, I've just worked out who you are

Coming past me at 70 miles you just rode away as if I was standing still.

Well down on my time of two years ago but it seems like most people were.

Still I think I'll do it again next year.

d4evr

That wind was mental after Fortingall, I found it quite brutal going along there. I did however manage to take 30 minutes of my time last year, I did it in 5hrs 46 min. Which I am really chuffed about!

crescent

5h 47m for me . A bit disappointed as I did enter in the group for under 5h 30m and was really hoping to break 5hrs. My own computer logged me at 5h 28m which is about right in terms of time on the bike, there was about 20mins worth of feed and toilet breaks. Although the wind was brutal in places, I don't want to blame that as it really helped in the opposite directions especially between Fortingall and Logierait where I felt like I was flying. I think the weather forecast rather than the weather itself affected me more. Expecting the worst, I had too many layers on and virtually cooked myself on Queen's View. Once I'd removed a layer I was fine but it really affected my confidence at such an early stage as people were passing me left right and centre, just inexperience I suppose. I'll probably enter again next year but I would be more keen to do it again during the summer in more neutral weather.
Some impressive times above and the winning time of 3h 37m is inconceivable to me. However, my computer recorded my maximum speed for the ride at 70mph! I'd like to say it was during the descent of the Schiehallion but it was actually caused by it going haywire as I sat next to the timing mat at the start gate.

Cheers

Pigtail

Spender wrote:

Pigtail, I've just worked out who you are

Coming past me at 70 miles you just rode away as if I was standing still.

By the time I met you I was on a mission to beat last year's time. Earlier it was just about surviving the wind, but by then I had worked out what I needed to do and was going for it.

I seem to be able to keep going, and have made some progress, not that is shows over 10 miles though!

gasman_dave

I had 4.47 - it seems a lot of us were around the same. I did 4.36 last year and I felt much better this year. My back held up really well until about 72 miles and even then was okay stretching on the bike.

I went round last year with one of my training mates and could have done with him down Loch Rannoch! He got on a fast group at 5 miles and I couldn't catch it. My other mate was stuck on my back wheel while I dodged from group to group into the wind, but I felt quite good for a 46 year old part-timer. Hills seemed much easier.

This year I tried giving up the booze for 3 weeks beforehand and felt great on the bike. Maybe training with a hangover is the way to go, or stop altogether. This needs a bit of concerted research!

Dave

thegreatdivide

Crescent wrote:

However, my computer recorded my maximum speed for the ride at 70mph!

Yip those mats do cause glitches - my mate's computer recorded a top speed of 77mph and my max heart rate came in at 223bpm!