Randonnées again. Off we headed down the A72 before turning north at Thorneylee towards Stow, which gave us some more climbing to do. I was mostly alone again at this stage but just pacing myself as I knew what was coming at Stow, a steep climb out the village. Sure enough when I got there another Audaxer was steeling himself at the bottom for the 15% climb, and we had the temptation of the new Stow railway station sitting at the bottom of the hill as a bailout – I decided just to grind it out as this would test my legs to the max. My fellow Audaxer was making lots of grunting and swearing noises behind me which made me smile on the climb, and I was pleased to make it to the top without stopping or any adverse affects on my legs. Over the moor and a long decent took us into Lauder, where I was flagged down on the High Street by Brian and Ian for another café stop – cake this time. Brian was talking about an 8:30pm finish which was a lot later than I had assumed, but he knew how much climbing we still had to do. It is weird what you will do to amuse yourself when you are on your own on a bike, like “Mooing” at cows, “Baaing” at sheep, and shouting “ESCAPEEEEEEEEEEE!” when an appropriate Motorhome goes past (it’s a family holiday-trip game). Fine Scottish fayre at 60k
www.aukweb.net
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Off again the road was “lumpy” and seemingly never-ending but we eventually made it to Duns and our final Control at the 152k point at around 5pm. The guys all opted for chips but I really didn’t want a full stomach so went for some chocolate instead. The kids in Duns Square eyed us with amusement for a moment, before carrying on with booting their rugby ball towards the parked cars – must be a Borders thing… The 4 of us left Duns with a silent agreement that we would finish together – I was feeling good and with only 50k to go I reckoned no matter how bad it was we were on the last leg. A long climb out of Duns took us towards Longformacus, though it seemed to take an age to get there and by this time the group had fractured – occasionally glancing round I could see figures behind me so knew it wouldn’t be long until I was surpassed. Through Longformacus the only sign post was for Gifford 13 miles away, so this had to be where the bulk of the climbing would be, and I wasn’t to be disappointed. The route took us up over the Lammermuirs, which were just a series of climbs, false summits, short descents followed by more climbs – it went on and on with nothing but desolate, empty moors. I could occasionally hear voices behind me and after about the 5th climb to another false
summit I started to feel a bit light-headed so decided to stop, eat and let the guys catch up. At this point I was in danger of hitting the wall, though my legs felt ok and really what were my options? No point turning back, just more climbing so onwards it was – all I had to do was keep pedalling. After about 5 minutes of eating and drinking I felt better and with no sign of my chums I headed off again. Seeing power lines marching across the top of the moor gave me hope that I was nearer to civilisation and at the next summit the Forth Estuary and Fife hove into view in the distance – I’d done it! I wasn’t finished by any matter but I could see the finish and was convinced it would be downhill from here. My joy was short-lived as, joining onto the B6355, a 17% sign appeared – “WTF – where did this come from?” It was only by the next turn I realised it was a DOWNHILL, and the joy returned. Some light rain made a quick appearance but this was a celebratory champagne spray rather than a soaking. Finally passing through Gifford at 7pm the road sign advised 10 miles to Tranent, so I estimated around an additional 5 miles to the finish – could I sneak in before 8pm AND finish in under 10 hours? I set myself the target. Hitting 200k was another milestone met with a loud “WOO-HOOOOO!” and all the
aches and pains were melting away, though getting caught in the lights through Tranent made me convinced I wouldn’t reach my target. I was giving it full beans and as it was now dark I thankfully couldn’t see the clock ticking towards 8pm – reaching Musselburgh High Street the lights all started to turn green, just for me! I raced over the bridge looking for the finish and pulled up hitting the stop button on the Garmin – 7:59pm!! Joy, Joy, Joy. Martyn was waiting for me in the hall and instantly I was presented with soup, coffee and a Macaroni Pie – they were all piping hot and I was burning my tongue not knowing which one to eat first, chattering away to Martyn about the ride even though he’d probably heard it all a million times before. Soon after the 3 other guys arrived having finished together - I did feel a pang of guilt about riding off on my own but had been convinced they would catch me at some point before the end. Thankfully there didn’t seem to be any hard-feelings, and we all congratulated each other on completing a tough, tough ride. All in all it was a well organised event, with some great company and a route to rival anything else I’ve done. Will I do another? Who knows…?
The lads enjoy their chips!
Arrivée February 2016 No. 131
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