Arrochar Alps Hill Race

SAT 27 JUNE 2009
25km 2400 metres

What a beast of a race! This resurrected long classic lived up to its billing as a SHR Championship counter this year by providing a brutal course, testing conditions and fantastic Westies hospitality. 100 runners started out, 73 finished in a variety of interesting route choices and a couple of dozen found (or not found) it all a bit much. I was pleased with my own wee race, starting nice and steady out along the wooded path in Glen Loin to the Loch Sloy dam getting nice and warmed up for the first brutal slog of the day up to Ben Vorlich. Up top in the mist people seemed everywhere, but Steffen and I seemed to hit the summit cairn reasonably well, before we then started worrying about where to make the cut-off down the steep slopes to the dam wall. A rollicking slide/controlled fall down a couple of thousand feet deposited us nicely at the bottom before having to do it all again up the craggy and claggy ascent of Ben Vane.

Steffen, Louise Burt and I teamed up to pool our random guess-work round the numerous crags and outcrops and managed to find the top quite well, coming across quite a bunch at the top, including fellow Westie Ellen. I lost ground on the descent here and made a slow plod up Beinn Ime, where magically I found the Westie crew on the summit shrouded in mist and barbeque smoke. A handy point off in the direction of the path set me off into the gloom where I came back across Steffen, who advised me that the wheels had just fallen of his mean German racing machine. Together we found the meandering path down to the bealach where Dave Calder and Elsie Riley were doing a grand job.

Being careful to not go up the Cobbler, as some indeed did, the last and easiest slope up Narnain felt quite good and I managed to pull away from Steffen. Val and Christine greeted me at the top, and that only left the tough descent all the way back down to sea level - sounds easy said quickly! It was a tricky descent, full of twists, turns, scarmbles and jumps and I gingerly made my way down with no one around to spur me on till I realised that arch rival Davy Duncan was fast approaching. That was the last thing I wanted after almost 5 hours on the hill but I was determined to stay ahead, and he was equally determined to catch me. So we both hared it along to the finish along the last mile of forestry track at full pelt, and I just held him off to finish under the 5 hour mark.

Only then did I realise that may of the runners I had assumed were well finished were in fact nowhere to be seen. The stories all emerged back at the hotel where the Westies crew put on a great spread of food, goodies and huge amounts of Loch Fyne ale for the prize winners. A great day out and a well organised event by Rob and the dozens of others who all helped to make it happen. Cheers everybody.

Beer Sweat and Gears

A cycling weekend down south.
SATURDAY 13 JUNE - NEWCASTLE CYCLOSPORTIF - 102 MILES 6h 19m 1880 metres climb 16.4 mph

Leaving the delights of the new Loch Lochy Hill Race for others to enjoy, I headed to the north east for the Newcastle Cyclone - a 100 mile cycle sportif. Based at Newcastle Falcons rugby ground there were 3 routes, a 32 miler, 63 miler and the big daddy a 102 miler. The route promised miles of quiet scenic Northumbrian countryside and it certainly delivered. I headed off at a steady pace through Ponteland on quiet roads up to Rothbury in the Cheviots. I managed to hang on to the back of a few fast moving "trains" which kept the pace up near 18mph for the first few hours, including one cracking open descent where I reached a scary 43mph!!

Heading west I then cycled through lovely Cocquetdale to Alwinton and over to Otterburn on the busy A696 where I tagged on to 6 local riders who got me through the then wet and miserable weather as we headed over towards Kielder on high windy moor roads. One of them punctured so I headed off solo for a while, going through a bit of a flat patch until Bellingham, where a pack came past me and I tagged on to them over the undulating roads here. The rain stopped, the sun came out and I started to get that final adrenaline rush that would push me on over the last hour or so. I really started to crank up my speed, helped by another cyclist who I had overtook at speed, but tagged on behind me. Together we hared away at 25mph, pulling out all the stops to keep the pace barrelling along. I was on a total high this last part, zooming past the 32 and 62 mile cyclists who had now joined our route, mountain bikers and families all over the place.

I was dead chuffed to pass the 100 mile mark in about 6h 15m, and then ease off for the last 2 miles, totally knackered, but equally enthused about a great day out. Effortwise my heart rate average was 136bpm, about 75% max, pretty high for 6 hours of cycling, as I find the heart rate usually lower cycling, and about what I would expect for a long hill race - that explained why I was drained but euphoric.

www.northernrockcyclone.co.uk

SUNDAY 14 JUNE-ROUND THE ROSES CYCLOSPORTIF - 77 MILES 6h 23m 1685 metres climb

Not content with the 102 miles on Saturday, I headed further south for a 77 mile tour of Lancashire and Yorkshire on the saddle again. Yet another beautiful and testing route and more great sunny warm weather, brilliant. The pace however, was understandably slower, with a lot less cyclists, and Moira and I joined up for a very pleasant ride together. We set off from Tosside on a clockwise loop - out to Slaidburn and on to great wee roads just on the edge of the Forest of Bowland. There was a great drudge of a steady climb up to 427m before a cracking open descent past the Great Stone of Fourstones, before turning right and along beautiful country roads to Giggleswick, near Settle, for the first tea and scone stop of the day. Things were hotting up now and the road headed steeply up out of Stainforth on an amazing road up to the east of Pen-Y-Gent grinding up to 436m. The views though were amazing and helped take the mind off the tired old legs below. A steep descent followed down to remote Halton Gill, before miles and miles of fast gradual descending along lovely Littondale, bounded high on either side by high escarpments. Down past Kilnsey Crag and Conistone and then on lovely wee roads into more tea and scones in beautiful Grassington, a tea stop also last year on my JOGLE cycle. Out of there we headed off for Bolton by Bowland via outstanding rural scenery, undulating but very rewarding. The last few miles were a bit of an uphill drag back to Tosside, but the pint of Blood Sweat and Gears in the local pub made it worthwhile. We headed back in the beautiful sunshine to our luxurious guest house in the village of Austwick - www.austwickhall.co.uk - where we had a great meal and fine ales in the village pub - http://gamecockinn.co.uk . Great not to have to head back on a Sunday evening for a change.

Manny's Corbett Run

SATURDAY 6 JUNE 2009

from the man himself =
A large tribe of Westies gathered by Loch Eil side as I road biked in to start up Stob Coire a-Chrearcail across endless bog myrtle and soft ground. Before the top was made Donald Smith, Stevie Bell, Dave Rogers, Chris , Johnston, Ellie, JD and Don were all well spread out across the hill, with Shona and Brenda on van duties far below. I maybe lingered a bit too long on the top for photos and chat and got really cold before trotting off into the glen and meeting the van by Loch Linnhe. Communal feeding ensued before I once more took to the road with a good easterly tail wind helping me along. I got a great surprise at Cona Glen where Dave “Snake” Riach & Steffan “Herr” Gorgas were lying asleep on the grass road verge! Great company they kept me going down into Ardgour, Steffan in particular tramping along on quite a clunky mtb and up that last big hill – thanks for the beer Steff!
After considerable faffing about which was the optimum route, we climbed one of my favourite hills Creach Bheinn with epic views up & down Loch Linnhe. A quick down & up to Fuar Bheinn, then off towards Strontian with Brenny having cleverly suggested that she would get JD to humf my mtb up a zig ziggy track that seemed to go well up the hill. Great, that would save my once again aching left leg a jarring descent. Ho ho! After a very rough flog to find the track/bike, I set off down on the bike with the track rapidly becoming much steeper and extremely loose! I had thankfully killed my speed by the first hairpin bend, but as Ellie & Chris stepped aside and turned to let me pass, my front wheel turned in the gravel and I went straight over the bars Superman style! I landed with a crunch and an “Ouch, that hurt a bit”. The left knee was mashed. Blood ozzing from various scratches and feeling like death I freewheeled slowly down the rest of the hill to the van before a very painful couple of mile road bike to Strontian shops. My knee was swelling rapidly and hurt like hell, but with a good stock of drugs and food I set off up Beinn Resipol with Stevie, Chris, Dave, Ellie, Brenny & Donald. I took forever hobbling uphill but was not looking forward to the descent! The view from the top to mark Chris’s last Corbett was special. The low sun across Eigg & Rhum and Harris & Skye in the distance. WOW! That is the nights you remember for ever – unfortunately I will also remember it as the most painful, slow walk I have ever done. 5 hours!! Bloody hell, off the hill at last at 11.30pm. Depressed, very sore, food, beer, bed. Not looking good all of a sudden!

Manny's Corbett Run

SUNDAY 31 MAY 2009

Helped fellow Westie Manny Gorman out on his umpteenth day Corbett-bagging his way non-stop round Scotland. Got 2 new Corbetts myself from the Lecht ski area - Carn Mor and Corryhabbie Hill.
Manny's report =
"What a magic day!! Sunny from the start and feeling surprisingly spritely after 3 very hard days on the trot, I was joined on the hills by Alan Smith, and a herd of Westies some fresh from the Slioch race yesterday, Ellie, JD, Chris, Neil & Elizabeth. We headed north very quickly to Carn Mor trig running all the way to the top and feeling great. Great views! Dropped off the hill and Alan & I picked up mtb's brought in by Chris & Neil for 5 miles to the foot of Corriehabbie Hill while the rest all ran along the same route then made short work of the top, while the bikes were taken back out again. A slight hiccup in concentration and direction led to the pack being split up in the Glen Rinnes before me & JD recalculated and found the camper parked exactly in the right spot. Roasting hot now and food and drink was noshed down before the short road bike to the foot of Ben Rinnes where a pack of me Brenda, Chris, Ellie, Tilly & Alan enjoyed a scamper up the Ben in glorious sunshine and lingered on the summit tors taking in the Moray coast views.Magic.
Alan & I road biked the 16 lovely miles back to Tomintoul, with only one brief stop to articulate the errors of a particularly bad drivers errors to him and his missus, before an outrageously good feed of Soay sausages and lamb mince washed down with fantastic Cairngorm Ale".





Photos
Manny's Blog

Slioch Hill Race

SAT 30 MAY 2009
20KM 1215 Metres

Stonkingly hot and sunny day for the 2nd running of this modern classic. A simple trot out for half an hour on tracks to the foot of Slioch, then a fantastic circuit of the horseshoe summit, a rough tough descent and then a hot and sweaty slog back along the track. Just missed out on the magic 3hrs, but still pleased with 27th place of 51 starters.

Results

Borders 100 Mile Cycle

SUNDAY 24 MAY 2009

At the invite of fellow Westie and Borders resident Damon Rodwell I enjoyed a great 100 mile cycle in the Borders/Northumberland countryside. In lovely sunshine we set off from Kelso and headed through Wooler and Alnwick to the coast at Seahouses and on to Bamburgh for a lovely tea stop after 60 miles.The next 40 miles back via Norham was a bit less frenetic than the 18mph first 60. The countryside was fantastic as was the weather in this part of the country that I certainly will return to. Cheers Damon and Kelso Wheelers