Finally its here, the big day! Did all that training and preparation pay off?…
Sunday 16th May
The Etape Caledonia – my ride
At 7:25, 3 minutes after my start time I am walking by the side of the road with my Caledonia Etape dreams shattered.
As I headed out of town on my first downhill my handlebars started to shudder – in a flash of panic I immediately assume that something unchecked happened to my bike in my crash 2 weeks ago. A tandem zips past me, I’m gutted.
Dispondently I take another look at my bike, it all looks fine; could I give it another go? Tentatively I set off, still downhill; weirdly it now seems OK. I keep going, thoughts racing through my head, I have cycled since the crash, my bike has been fine, calming myself I keep on peddling, bike still seems fine.
Mentally I start to feel better. I’m still not sure what happened but I know that once or twice I’ve had a loose grip on my handlebars and then hit a little bump and the handlebars have wobbled, maybe it was this but exaggerated through nerves. The road is flatter now so if I do come off it wont be as nasty, I press on. And so, with a very imperfect start my 81 mile challenge begins.
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Read more from Katie’s blog here:
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Week 14 – the last few days…
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Week 13 – Buses and Biscuits
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Week 12 – I believe I can fly…
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Week 11 – Lead legs, magic bending & perhaps slightly overdoing it
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Week 10 – mountainous Muswell Hill & my badass bike gets a tattoo
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Week 9 – searching for hills in London, yoga for cyclists and finding ourselves 1 man down
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Week 8 – clocks, bras, doubles and a VERY long ride
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Week 7 – White Week
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Week 6 – Back in the old routine
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Week 5 – officially back in the saddle!
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Week 4 – on the mend…
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Week 3 – disaster strikes!
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Week 2 – a world of pain…
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Week 1
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Getting Started
Katie’s Uphill Battle – Training plan Etape Caledonia
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About 20 miles later I have settled into my ride, I’ve calmed down after my early blip and, more to the point, I am really enjoying myself. The course takes you around lochs, hamlets, villages and woods. There’s stunning scenery as far as the eye can see and not a car in site. This is without doubt cycling heaven and the most beautiful place I have ever had the pleasure of putting 2 wheels down.
Bikes purr all around me as I try to stick with a group and also keep my average speed up. I need to keep a higher average speed than normal to counterbalance all those hills.
At around the 45 miles mark Schiehallion looms in the distance and the opportunity to become ‘King of the Mountain’ is offered with time pads at the bottom and top of this 5km climb over the ‘Braes of Foss’ . It’s the biggest single climb of the event. My one stop of the race is just before this climb so freshly armed with electrolyte drink and a mouth full of GObar and I’m starting to climb the hill that’s been taunting me for months.
How is it? Not actually that bad, the initial ¾ – 1km is the worst, maybe about a 12% incline then it levels out and just plays with you a bit rolling up a bit then leveling out. At the end of it, at the top I feel OK. As I begin the stunning descent alongside the River Tay towards Kenmore I am overcome with a massive sense of relief – I suspect that I am also high on my electrolyte / GObar / adrenaline combo as I consider to myself that this is pretty much as close to perfect as life gets.
Coming down from my Schiehallion high I concentrate on keeping up a good average speed between 17 – 18mph. I’m still expecting some nasty nemesis to crop up and knock me for six at some point but put my head down and keep on trying to find people to break my wind and help me along the way.
As I continue round the course I do note that there are precious few girls riding alongside me. I don’t know why. The event is fantastic and there shouldn’t be anything to put fellow female riders off. I see no macho jostling and receive only positive comments from fellow riders and spectators alike.
My nemesis turned out to be a nasty kick about 5 miles before Pitlochry. Luckily the ‘Principia’ brotherhood was out in force and a guy with same bike as me had forewarned me it was coming up. My legs screamed for mercy on that last big climb but at least I’d had chance to drop down a few gears before hand.
With a few more turns and hills Pitlochry was in sight, with what seemed to require mountainous effort I climbed the last tiny hill and 4 hours and 39 minutes after I’d started I crossed the finishing line.
Amongst the many tips I had been given pre-race one that kept on coming back was to ‘enjoy it’. I didn’t just enjoy this ride; I loved it, every second. I was delighted with my time having smashed even my most optimistic prediction. I’ll be back next year without a doubt and maybe just maybe I’ll be crossing the finish line in 2011 in under 4 hours.
Pretty quickly after the race I found Angus and Chris. Chris was going for a run and Angus had come 10th. Seriously! What is wrong with these people?
Katie Gormley, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
