Jay Burgess (Sandy Wallace Cycles) won the Womens event in 22.46, with Fiona recording one of her best ever times (26.46) – not sure of placing yet.

Ben Peacock (Paisley Velo RT) won the Mens event in 20.14, with Neil achieving his top 15 goal with 12th place in 21.24.

To their west, in rural Perthshire, another event was unfolding. Catherine Logan takes up the story: Several Walkers CC members and friends took part the annual Etape Caledonia Challenge Ride. Starting and ending in Pitlochry, the event is the only closed road cycle event in Scotland, and one which attracts competitors from all over the UK and surrounding islands – 5361 entries to be precise.

The events starts at 6.30am with riders set off in groups of between 100 and 200 in intervals of 2 minutes part, with the last group leaving at 7.30am. At this time on a Sunday morning it is pretty cold but thankfully it was dry and once the riders were off they soon warmed up a bit. The first folk to set off from WCC were Steve Flindall and Steve Lockhart starting at 6.34am, and even at this time Pitlochry town centre was full of spectators cheering them off.

As the roads are closed the cyclists have the whole of the road to cycle on but it does take a wee while to realise/remember this. This year the weather conditions were much improved on last years in that it was dry at the start and the wind was greatly reduced. The roads surface was great compared to Ayrshire and the council had finally filled the pot holes in the worst section of the route which meant more over taking could be done safely.

Catherine Logan and Russell Mowat had a 6.50 am start time and managed to get to the front line of the group to ensure a swift get away. This pair had set themselves a target time of 4hrs 30mins to complete the route – challenging but not impossible. At times there was a strong head wind but this helped a lot on the return leg. Rain did fall twice and the second time it was quite heavy and looked like it might have been on for the day but luckily enough this wasn’t the case as dry roads again helped keep the average speed up. By jumping on and off various groups throughout the day Catherine managed to complete the course in 4hrs 29mins 09 sec closely followed by Russell at 4hrs 33mins 45 secs.

The number of spectators on the route is very encouraging as every where there is a dwelling there were people out cheering, clapping or ringing bells, great encouragement when your flagging! And considering this event never seems to be done in warm water, the spectators and the marshals must have been freezing.

Unfortunately this year there appeared to be more serious accidents than before so we hope all involved are recovering well.

Results to date from WCC members are:

Catherine Logan 4.29.09
Russell Mowat 4.33.45
John Maccracken 4.40.01
Steve Findall 4.23.06
Steve Lockhart 4.34.46
David Knox 4.05.22
Neil Beveridge 5.51.29
Richard Rutngar 5.19.22

The weather was brilliant – dry, sunny, cool, with a bit of a head wind (which also became a tail wind at other times!).
The pace over the hill to Lamlash was sprightly to say the least with everyone trying to keep up so they didn’t get dropped right at the beginning. This pace continued until somewhere between Whiting Bay and Kildonan when the really fast guys (all guys I have to say) eventually split for the big group and pedalled off to Blackwaterfoot. Bryce Gillian and Scott Kerr managed to blow this group apart with only Mark ? managing to hang in until the lunch stop. The remainder of the first group arrived approximately 5 minutes behind them for a welcome lunch stop at the golf club.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the route a few folk stuck in the middle of the 2 groups overshot the lunch stop or did not find it.
Duly feed and watered the first group now consisting of 17 cyclists set off for the second half of the island. This time the wind was in their face for most of the journey between Blackwaterfoot and Lochranza but this helped speed them up the Boguillie and down the other side.

The customary quick blast along from Sannox to Brodick resulted in the first group arriving 1 hour before the ferry was due to leave. Once on the ferry it transpired that everyone had made it all the way round the island and more importantly everyone had made it onto the same ferry home.

Super day out – weather was amazing considering what it had been like leading up to the outing and it was great to mix with all the new and familiar faces on the boat for a chin wag.

The gang’s all here

After blue skies for the event build up, Sunday dawned grey and threatening. By 8am the rain, as promised by the met office arrived, and was to be a feature for the rest of the day. Decisions had to be made quickly at the start line as to what clothing to wear, most riders opting for full-length tights and lightweight waterproofs as the rain showed no sign of easing. As 10.30 approached tension mounted and the race was underway. The Elite riders had a mass start, with the rest of the competitors having a dib start; this was a wise decision on the part of the organisers as this prevented the usual congestion heading onto the first section of single track.

The mandatory start to all mtb races, to which the whinlatter made no exception ,was a long fire road climb up to the top of the forest just short of Lords Seat crossing the moorland before dropping back down the hillside. Julie had picked off a few of her rivals on the first fire road climb and entered the first section of single track midway up the field. The Altura trail was ridden in reverse which practically clings to the hillside; a fall here was not desirable with wet ground testing nerve and skill with visibility reduced in persistent rain. The fun singletrack was over far too quickly as the course soon headed skywards again and for the first time reaches the top of the Altura trail. After negotiating wet rocks the course plummets downhill across the road. A short very steep climb took the riders up to the top of the final decent which deposited them back to the start finish area where an enthusiastic crowd, despite the weather, cheered them on. By the end of lap 1 Julie had made her way up to second position which she held for the rest of the race. With weather showing no sign of easing and riders and marshals starting to feel the full effects of the rain the event safety officer and race director called an early end to proceedings.

Julie finished 2nd female, completing 2 laps in 3hrs 25mins, taking in 24miles and over 4000ft of climbing. It was a very worthwhile trip for her as she came home with a £100 voucher kindly donated by sponsors Cyclewise, the resident Whinlatter bike shop.

Another arctic Tuesday, another low turnout for the club road ride. Hang on, wait a minute, there were actually a grand total of 22 riders out to take part in the first of the 2013 Handicap TT Series, along with 3 volunteer timekeepers & marshals!

As a single-lap of Marine Drive was voted to be too intensive for March, the riders faced a two lap, 7 mile effort instead. The sub zero temperatures, and cutting easterly wind made for tough conditions though, freezing hands, feet, faces and lungs.

First man off Darren Ridout suffered a puncture whilst going well, and had to walk back. 3 new club members took part, and acquitted themselves particularly well, and special mention goes to Bryce Gillan for his sub 20 minute time on his new TT bike, and Jim Goldie & Lorna Sloan also put in excellent times, showing the benefit of their “secret training”

Actual Times

Neil Walker 00:17:59
Charles Vincent 00:18:48
Bryce Gillan 00:19:20
Jim Goldie 00:20:21
Sandy Muir 00:20:27
Scott Kerr 00:20:33
Lorna Sloan 00:21:18
Tommy Gribbon 00:21:22
David Kaminski 00:21:24
David Knox 00:21:38
Kevin Gebbie 00:21:44
Catherine Logan 00:22:03
Calum Ridout 00:22:09
Russell Mowat 00:22:36
Laura McFarlane 00:22:45
David Belding 00:22:54
Jim Raeside 00:23:11
Peter Forsythe 00:23:41
Barry Garner 00:24:00
Mark Haine 00:24:03
Martin Kuhn 00:24:09
Darren Ridout DNF

Times on Handicap

Lorna Sloan 00:15:42
David Knox 00:16:02
Bryce Gillan 00:16:32
Sandy Muir 00:16:36
Jim Raeside 00:16:53
Jim Goldie 00:17:12
Neil Walker 00:17:17
Scott Kerr 00:17:24
Charles Vincent 00:17:45
Laura McFarlane 00:17:51
David Kaminski 00:17:54
Tommy Gribbon 00:18:13
David Belding 00:18:21
Russell Mowat 00:18:24
Barry Garner 00:18:24
Mark Haine 00:18:27
Catherine Logan 00:18:33
Kevin Gebbie 00:18:35
Calum Ridout 00:18:39
Peter Forsythe 00:19:29
Martin Kuhn 00:20:18
Darren Ridout DNF

A big thanks to everyone who took part, and especially John, Donald and Fraser for helping out! Next Month’s TT is on a decidely different course, 10 miles over the Eaglesham Moor – bring your midge nets!

Photos by Colin Robinson:
More photos can be found: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151309164381674.1073741826.594586673&type=1
 

Jim R has a trip to the bank

Hamish leads the charge

He’s behind You

This left the pairings of Laura McFarlane/Darren Ridout and Catherin Logan/Russell Mowat to fly the flag for Walkers. They did this very admirably with Catherine and Russell completing in 25minutes and 57seconds and Laura and Darren (another scratch partnership) coming home in 28minutes 2seconds.

Despite its name, the race was ridden in decent weather conditions with a generous and unexpected amount of cool sunshine. The headwind certainly favoured the early starters as it got stronger as the morning progressed but even at that it was relatively mild. Despite the puncture casualties it was a reasonably good day for Walkers Cycling Club as it showed that there are a good number of newcomers coming through to complement the stalwarts. This can only be a positive for the future. And no, we’re not giving our Lanterne Rouge back if we improve to the point of not being last next year.

Photo: Calum Ridout

Perfect teamwork from Darren and Laura

A depleted Walkers Cycling Club contingent took to their respective start lines, with several members either out of form, health or motivation! What the club lacked in racers, it more than made up for in vocal support, with more than 10 club members travelling to support,and in quality of results.

In the Women’s Championship, the club was led home by Anna Walker, who after a strong start and a bike change to her MTB due to the clogging mud, finished 8th overall and 5th in the Senior Women. Catherine Logan suffered a mid-race puncture, but changed to a spare bike to finish 10th overall and 4th in the Veteran Women’s race, a handful of seconds behind the medal positions. Fiona Walker suffered from illness and was placed 14th overall, 7th in the Senior Women.

In the Senior Men’s race, Keith Johnson showed he hadn’t lost any fitness over the festive period, starting strongly, and picking up places every lap in a superb display of consistent riding to finish 12th. John McCracken finished 30th after a late bike change due to a broken mech hanger.

Anna leading the pack up the hill section

Catherine climbs out of the bomb hole

Fiona’s valiant effort despite not feeling well

Keith manages to stay on the bike in the deep mud

John while his shirt was still relatively clean

Says super-cyclist Drew Thomson, whose 958 miles contributed significantly to the Walkers’ total: ” I try to cycle everywhere I can these days as I am training for a couple of major events. I hadn’t used Strava before but it seemed like a bit of fun and as I was doing the miles anyway, I thought I might as well get into the spirit of the event. My coach also recommended it so he can get a more accurate idea of what I’ve been up to.”

During his exploit, Drew cycled an average of 230miles a week and racked up a massive 38,500 feet of climbing. His overall position in the event was 1376th out of 36343 world-wide participants. The eventual winner of the event – an Australian from Adelaide – notched up 3,871 miles. Drew’s next challenges are to cycle all of the 7 Stanes red routes plus the distances between each venue in under 24hours. Then he will go straight into training for Rovaniemi 150 – a 150km mountain bike race in the Artic. His efforts in the Strava January Base Miles Challenge will have provided an excellent training foundation to work from.

Other Walkers members who took part were Fiona Wallace (753miles), Jim Goldie (410miles), Lorna Sloan (402miles), Martin Wheeler (361 miles), Laura McFarlane (237miles) and Neil Walker (216miles).

With the name coming from the Swedish word Strava – “I strive”, quite clearly the Walkers participants have all striven extremely well.

Long before the roadies were even awake, four of the mountain bike fraternity left Ayrshire in darkness headed for Kirroughtree 7Stanes trail centre in Dumfries and Galloway. Arriving to improving weather conditions, the quad kitted up and readied themselves for the demanding red and black trail. Discovering that Stuart McLean had left his MTB boots on his doorstep in Stewarton, it seemed Stuart would be practicing his trail running skills. However, the day was saved by a visiting Geordie MTB’er who swapped the use of a pedal spanner from the club toolkit, for a spare pair of size 8 SPD boots!

What followed was a splendid four hours of testing trails, Cat4 climbs, cake and chat. 18 miles van-to-van, 1900ft climbed, and no rain. Martin’s new tubeless 29er tyre set-up punctured, but a resourceful repair from Gavin Turnbull, with a 26″ tube saved a long walk.

The MTB section of the club regularly arranges outings away, and is planning longer trips to further afield venues in the not too distant future. All levels of experience welcome, no one gets left behind!

Also starring on the Saturday were three trekkers who completed a 45-mile excursion following the Forth & Clyde canal from the Bowling basin and then picking up the Strahblane railway path at Kirkintilloch. The trio then hauled themselves up the big climb on the Old Mugdock Road before dropping back into Glasgow down Balmore Road. The return along the canal was completed at a good pace as temperatures began to drop and the light gradually diminished.

Sunday saw more riding. Even with the weather looking distinctly dodgy with snow in Kilmaurs at the 8am departure, three early-birds (Charles Vincent, Martin Riddell, Neil Walker) opted to do an out and back route up the coast to Largs instead looping over the hill to Dalry. Funnily enough, no-one noticed the strong tailwind from Ardrossan to Largs until the turn was made, and said wind was blasting into their faces.

This, coupled with the temperature just hovering above zero, and the intermittent sleet and rain made for a tough ride back over the lumps and bumps of North Ayrshire, through Benslie (obviously) and back to Kilmaurs. 48 miles in 3 hours.

Martin Riddell did hugely well on his first long club road ride, and will settle in to Tuesday nights with no problem. He just needs to get some overshoes!

All in all a very eventful weekend’s cycling.

Walkers riders, however,  most certainly did not let themselves down.  Russell Mowat came home first for the Kilmaurs club in 69th place, with Scott Russell hot on his heels. Euan Cleland put on a tremendous show of determination to finish 75th and  Anna Walker and Catherine Logan both secured their spots in the top ten women riders.

This event has a strong element of fun to it and although there was some serious competition going on, the riders and spectators alike all commented on the marvellous atmosphere the event generated.  Said organiser David Hamill:

“Thanks to the fast guys, the slow guys and the somewhere in between guys. Within cycling it’s only cyclocross where you’re all so relevant to the personality of the sport. Without the fast guys it’s just a bunch of fat middle aged men in lycra getting muddy in a field, without the slow guys it would be too serious and elitist and without the somewhere in between guys there would be a yawning chasm in the middle.

Mostly  I’d like to thank everyone who turned up today no matter what you were doing, riding, watching, helping, taking photos of seals, whatever. All you need to do is turn up and be excited about it and if there are enough of us there the atmosphere creates itself. It wasn’t me or John that did that, it was you.”

A hearty vote of thanks to the organisers is due – what a great day out, and what a great turn-out of riders, trade stalls and spectators.

And I spent the last of my inheritance on a very classy Castelli jacket too.   Perfect.