Stage 1 done!

Well, that's part 1 of the three day nightmare done and dusted: the Bealach race completed in a just under three hours. It nearly never happened. Since my practice run last weekend I have been feeling washed-out and on Thursday it turned into a cold (several colleagues have been down with the same thing). On Friday it was looking like I might have to pull out of the race, but I downed a traditional Fife cold remedy (a Fisher and Donaldson fudge doughnut - a legendary combination of condensed energy and hope) and come Saturday morning I felt like I at least had the energy to give it a go.

The morning of the race was sunny but freezing, with a hard frost on the ground as we drove across. After registering, we grabbed some serious porridge at Nanny's cafe: porridge made with cream, covered with brown sugar and more clotted cream. Bearing in mind that we would be burning off about 4,000 calories in the next few hours, it felt justified. I was still feeling pretty washed out from my cold, too, so I was looking for any energy I could find. I followed the porridge with a chocolate bar and a tube of gel.

Jocky and I set out at about 10:35, five or ten minutes after the first bunch. In the photo above, Jocky is in front, which is pretty much how it remained for the rest of the day! The wind by now had picked up, which was pleasant for the first few miles as it was with us; by the time we reached the top of the Bealach, it would prove to be a nightmare, with 40 mph crosswinds. The climb up the Bealach took me about 44 minutes: I could probably have gone faster, but with my cold, I didn't want to burn out early on the climb, so I held back until the hairpins. It was slightly gratifying to make it to the top without stopping, especially as the people who passed me at the lower part of the climb were forced to walk on the steeps.

The drop down the other side was tricky; those crosswinds pushed the bike into a wobble at one point, so I was very cautious with my descent. Jocky was now a couple of minutes ahead of me, so I had a few gruelling miles on the other side, toiling alone against the strong headwind. Eventually a group caught me and I worked with them for the rest of the race; drafting, taking turns at the front, grinding up the frequent 20% climbs. With about 8 miles to go, as I was beginning to make my way up the pack, something failed in my front mech. I spent about 3 minutes trying to fix it, eventually giving up, and finished the remaining miles of the race on my inner chainring, which was fine on the climbs, but frustrating on the descents and occasional flats. Eventually reached the end, with an official time of 2 hours 59 minutes. That's twenty minutes faster than last week and, given that I had a cold, a decent time.

More blogging later.