Douglas F Shearer

Drumlanrig Tearfund Challenge 2009

The Drumlanrig Tearfund Challenge is a road sportive based at the wonderful Drumlanrig Castle. The entry is very limited, and unlike other sportives, you don’t pay to enter, you make a donation to Tearfund. With an entry of 300 the event feels very low key and friendly, and everyone seemed to be keen to chat and swap stories before, during and after.

A unique feature of this sportive is the un-timed rest-stop in the middle. Here you can eat cakes to your hearts content, or at least until the final departure time, without this affecting your overall time.

As per Team Macchiato directives, I was there with Vo, resplendent in our matching (well, not so much these days) Bianchis. I was also wearing an Innerleithen MTB Racing top, just so people would know what to expect when we came to the climbs.

The first half was expected to be the hardest, with a big climb up to the UK’s highest village, Wanlockhead, followed by a section back into a headwind. Up the climb I left the group Vo and I had started with behind, and chatted to the Team Colnago team manager, who was wearing a peaked helmet in an effort to show off his roots. Up over the top of the climb I was on my own down the first descent to Elvanfoot. On this descent I was caught by Vo who unfortunately punctured as soon as we turned into the headwind.

The headwind was a bit of a nightmare for me, as I couldn’t see any groups coming up behind, and all the small fragmented groups of riders I caught up with were going slower than me, so much so they couldn’t hold my wheel when I went to the front. After another descent a fast group came past, mostly made up of Ayrodynamic members. I latched onto this group and we chainganged it back to the castle. I was surprised by some of the big guys missing turns at the front, but maybe they were saving themselves for the second half. Vo appeared about 10 minutes later, having been lucky enough to meet a fast group just as he finished fixing his puncture.

After the cake stop, Vo and I set off again. Two of the riders in our group were riding rather pimped-out Storck bikes, carbon spokes, the works. Both guys evidently were aware of the fragility of their steeds, as rough sections were approached at a far slower pace than what I would call normal. At one cattle grid I almost became a human suppository, as both riders on the front failed to warn those behind, and braked rather suddenly and excessively. On the first climb I was glad to leave them behind, with the sound of crumpling carbon and swearing as poor gear adjustment on one of said bikes left the rider to walk back with broken spokes, mech hanger and seatstay.

The second half was a different beast to the first. Wind played little part, and steep climbs (one was 25% for some considerable distance, and resulted in lots of people walking) were followed by rough gravelly descents. Just my cup of tea. I was on my own for the first twenty miles or so, but in the second half I joined up with a lad of similar age and build to myself who superbly fast on the flats. We worked together for the remaining twenty miles, taking turns on the front on the flatter sections, and me driving the pace on the front up the climbs. Having someone to work with made the pain of pushing so hard a lot easier.

I rolled in at four hours and eighteen minutes, I thought comfortably within the ‘gold standard’ time. Unfortunately the event was slightly shorter than last week, and the correction the the times was not made until after the event. I missed out by a minute, but that’s always something to go for next year.

Without a doubt the Tearfund Challenge is an awesome event, and to make it even better you receive a ‘virtual goody bag’ at the end, being a record of all the things your donation will provide for those in need. I was most glad to see that they will be receiving t-shirts with the image of Che Guevara as a badger, definitely something everyone needs. I wonder how early I can enter next year…

10 At Kirroughtree

Team Macchiato hit it up at Kirroughtree this weekend past for 10 At Kirroughtree.

Friday night was pretty wet, it rained constantly, making us a little despondent about the next day’s racing. Luckily it had stopped by saturday morning, and we were soon enjoying the muddy car park at Kirroughtree.

The sun came out almost as soon as the riders had set off on the first lap. Vo was going first, with instructions to give it death. He got us round in a good position, leaving me with an almost clear course to blast round in the 5th (As announced anyway) fastest lap of the day.

The course was amazing, and I do not use that lightly. It was so good everybody seemed to want to go back out, even when they were knackered. 10 miles, and just over 600m of climbing on every lap which used most of the red route, with a section of the blue to make up some distance. There was lots of singletrack on offer, with twisty climbs, and smooth rolling descents broken up by small rock gardens and drop-offs. There were 3 natural descents, which were a bit of a mess, but great for passing those who were re-enacting the human tripod as they attempted to stay upright in the mud. Only very near the end was there a horribly short steep climb, but the rest was pretty sweet.

We hovered around 6th position for most of the day, doing lap about. While I was out on my 5th lap, it was decided that if I did a double-lap, we could get in under 10 hours and Vo could get a 12th lap in. I came in, was told I was going out again, and handed a bottle of coke. I was pretty pumped at this point, so I just went with it, knowing it would be my last lap. I got round with 3 minutes to go, meaning Vo was well rested, and could get a final lap in.

We ended up in 6th place, 12 minutes behind the winners (Dave Preston and Euan Thorburn), so something to be proud of before I head off to Poland next week.

Roll on next year, I’ll definitely be there.

Etape Caledonia

Team Macchiato (John, Vo and myself) flew (drove) into Pitlochry for the Etape Caledonia last weekend.

We stayed at The Pitlochry Backpackers Hotel on the saturday evening. This proved to be great accommodation, apart from the taxi rank directly below our window, where what seems like the entirety of the surrounding area’s young people procure their transport home. So that was 2 hours sleep then…

Luckily we had prepared the bikes the night before, so all we had to do in the morning was get up, eat, and collect our bikes from the van (Thanks to Colin of MacDonald Cycles for the loan of it).

Our start was at 0810 (Early or what), so we were off 10 minutes behind the first starters. Vo and I stuck with John until the first decent climb (Pics here and here) where the groups began to splinter. We got with a fast group, but had to stop for a toilet break a bit further on, so lost out on that advantage.

Groups came and went, and some were just too slow for us, so we’d blow off the front. About 35 miles in we got with a really good group which had a Perth RC guy on the front who refused to yield for anyone, so we were happy to sit on wheels.

We stopped at the bottom of Schiehallion for yet another toilet break (Toilet breaks wasted us 6 minutes!). The group of 50 or so guys we were with trundled on. Another 50 guys trundled past. 2/3 of Team Macchiato started the ascent.

We had decided that we should stick together, except on the climbs where we were free to reign terror on those more gravitationally challenged. I passed all 100 guys before the end of the first steep section, spinning freely while others seemed to be pushing silly big gears, and weaving all over the road. I was on my own for the next 5 miles across the top to the feed station. There I filled up my water bottle, and planned to wait on Vo. He was right behind me.

We started the descent, which due to closed roads meant we could use the whole road to get round the corners (Did I mention it was either raining or just wet the whole time?), with the added advantage of having no-one else to get in our way. At the bottom we started to put more effort in than the first half, knowing we only had 25 miles to go. We caught a few people up, got a little group going, then stopped, again, for a toilet stop.

Now we started to chase, for 7 miles we took short turns on the front to keep the speed above 25mph. the carrot of the group just in front of us was too much to resist, and based on it’s previous speed, we had decided to sit in for a few minutes, then go to the front and see who else still had fresh legs. We caught them up, sat in for a minute or two, then got caught by another faster group. Doh! Should have known and just waited.

We sat near the front in case anyone decided to go, but we didn’t get the time. Someone shouted ‘steep climb’, we saw it up to the left, heading up at almost 20%. ‘Time to go’ I said to Vo, and instantly dropped the hammer right from the bottom, dropping everyone. I upped the gears in my usual sequential style as soon as the climb eased for a short distance, keeping my pace high.

I ran over a patch of gravel, and thought I had a puncture, but it turned out to be one of the East Kilbride RC guys, Guto Williams, catching me. He had a little dig on the next steep section, but I wasn’t going to be dropped on a climb, not that day! I chatted with him over the flat top section, speaking about who I knew that was in the EKRC.

A short descent took us to the main street in Pitlochry, where I just span up, not interested in a sprint. So why bother with beasting the climbs? That was just for my own head, to validate my form, and to take revenge on all the bigger guys who give me a hard time on flatter sections.

I finished the route in 4 hours 6 minutes. Vo was a minute behind, and john 30 minutes down. I was 18 minutes down on the winner, so definitely more work to be done for next year.

I’m still on a bit of a high after it, and was super chuffed with Vo’s performance to. And of course John, who finished with a VERY respectable time, despite doing about 4% of the training Vo and I had done.

Roll on next year!