Waspie said:
How did it go?
I didn't make it the end. Had a dodgy stomach and the thought of jumping behind a hedge every half hour didn't appeal.
Sorry to hear of your temporary incapacity
It was wet - the forecast said the rain would clear the Selkirk area by 1000 but it didn't until about midday, by which time we were half way round, very wet .... and getting tired
There were some longish climbs, some steepish climbs (of course the last one, some 30 km before the end
) and the worst bit was from Ettrick to Eskdalemuir - a hard slog into a 15-20mph wind, in the rain etc etc but at least it wasn't uphill
.
Shortly after that, it dried up, the sun came out (some brave folks even removed their rain jackets
), the wind was soon behind us and we fair shot along the longish slog past Moffat Water, the Grey Mare's Tail (very impressive with all the rain
) before the 'sting in the tail' and the final run in to Selkirk.
Organisation, signage, water/feed stops were excellent, with Gore Bike Wear having a 'Try before You Buy' with their clothing for those in the know. The MTB event on today was going to be even bigger - and there were 240 on the road events. Camping, parking, showers, food, High5 at the feed stops .... it's a good event and one I will put in my calendar for next year.
I did the 95 mile (150km) ride and just missed the (total time) 7 hr mark - by 55 secs
. Still, it was less then the 8hrs I expected, so I'm fair chuffed .... and I wasn't last
[ride time 6:29 ; avg sp 23.3kph]
.....
