Cairngorm Classic - 13/06/2009

Cairngorm Classic
Friday June 12th was a beautiful day, blue skies, warm sun, and no wind; I could happily have gone out and cycled 100 miles with a nice café stop somewhere along the way. Imagine my feelings at 7am on Saturday 13th when I looked out of the window at the torrential rain. And it was cold! Ah well, another wet sportive; why do I do these events?
Cairngorm Ski Area car park is a great place to start an event; lots of facilities including the café/bar with roaring log fire. As I was early, I sat in front of the fire enjoying a leisurely cappuccino. I was pleased to see that the organisers had listened to feedback from last year by improving the starting system (the single scanner has gone thank goodness) and moving the start to a much better position just outside the café. I stayed by the fire to keep warm until five minutes to go.
The three mile descent at the start was cool but not as agonisingly cold as a year ago and the rain seemed to be easing, so, as I dodged puddles at high speed, I averaged 24mph for the first 10 miles (all downhill). Then I got in with a nice steady group and we made good progress towards Nethy Bridge and the start of the climbing. Groups broke and re-formed over the steep Bridge of Brown (Brig o’Broon) and I was passed by a large group of faster riders. A missing sign resulted in the herd instinct taking over and many participants carrying straight on to Tomintoul instead of turning left down Glen Livet; I turned left. I was picked up by that same group of about 50 riders as they came screaming down Glen Livet at up to 30mph. The awesome feeling I had as I clung onto the back this group answered my earlier question of “why?”. It was like being sucked along by a reverse wind machine. Knowing that I couldn’t keep up with them for much longer, I stopped at the second feed (many didn’t). We crossed the Spey and cycled along the delightful road from Ballindalloch to Grantown. Passing an outdoor activities group preparing to go canoeing on the Spey, I thought of my former job as an outdoor instructor, but to be honest I’m glad all that is now in the past. The feed at Grantown was welcome and, as I started the long climb up and over Dava Moor found that I was on my own for a few miles. The route turned towards home and the light wind was now in our faces as I went through a slower patch (not that bad, just slower.) Carrbridge definitely felt like the home straight and yet another feed at Boat of Garten helped restore my energy. After Boat I hitched lifts with a few small groups and watched my hopes of finishing in under 6hrs fade away. I wasn’t too bad until we turned left onto the ski road; any power now seemed to be lacking and I was glad of my triple chainset. It took all my remaining strength to ride all the way up that hill to the finish. I almost blacked out after crossing the line such was the effort on the final hill.
My official time was 6.19.58. My Garmin GPS said I was riding for 6.03.00, stopped for 16.58, climbed 5810 feet and consumed 6555 calories, my pulse averaged 143, 84% of maximum. I was 144/227 overall and 3/6 in the 60+ age group. The fastest time was 4.43.53. I had a good day although was a little disappointed by the fatigue I felt on the final climb. There’s a lot of summer left (I hope) and I’ve held back a bit this spring in the hope of keeping best form for later.
The event organisation was spot on and it was good to see that the organiser (HandsOnEvents) has re-acted to feedback. The route is superb and not too hard compared with the likes of the Étape du Dales or the Cumberland Challenge. The atmosphere amongst the riders was brilliant and all in all I would strongly recommend this event, even if you can’t sleep in your own bed the preceding night.

Well done, an awesome ride for your first Sportive, you'll be up there with the leaders if you do any more. I wish they had had these events 20 years ago when I was 20 years younger than I am now, I would also have been up there. Having said that the best 60+ was about 5hr 30min which is pretty impressive.
As for the amount of climbing who can tell. I think the figure I got was probably about right. Anyway, I'm up next for the Radar 105, pray for a nice day!!