I thought it was a good event. I went down yesterday to register and they put on a a busy event village to wander round. The kids got lots of free stuff - noise maker, Frisbee, water bottles etc.
Early start this morning and I was off on Wave 1. Maybe 150 riders but because of the monster headwind no one could get away so we stuck together for the 30miles to Talla with a fair amount of scary jostling for position.
On one wide straight we did see Dave going flying by us - impressively quick into the headwind. How he coped with being in large group on narrow roads I've no idea.
I was near the front of the group at the bottom of Talla wall but sadly near the back by the top - not sure I'm built for hill climbing.
The top eventually came and the first part of the descent was neutralised. Sadly, on the next part of the descent I came across an accident, where the guy had broken his wrist, so I deployed my foil blanket and waited with him for a Marshall to arrive.
The remainder was either blisteringly fast with the tailwind or grindingly slow into the wind. I just about managed to hang onto a group along the Yarrow valley and up Paddyslacks but I was dropped on the descent despite averaging over 30mph and spinning out at over 40mph on some bits.
Made the last 10miles a bit of a slog, but happy to finish in under 4 hours (adjusted for stopping on Talla descent).
To keep up my record of a century ride every calendar month, I had some brunch and then cycled back to Edin with a cracking tailwind.
A grand day out.
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