Lifescan 3G

Dubbed as 58 miles of mountain bike heaven - my bike nearly went to hell after only 8 of them. For full details of the event follow this link.

A delay in the bikes arriving at the start allowed the Scottish midge to dine on 200 or so lycra clad bikers. With this minor inconvenience rectified (the late bikes - the midges were a major inconvenience) we were off around Loch Beinn a'Mheadhoin. At first the pace was fast and frantic as everyone jossled for position but I was feeling strong and it was all Tarry could do to hold me back. The first climb started to sort the field out. However disaster struck on the following descent. All the way down the very fast and loose downhill my front wheel had not been right; juddering backwards and forwards in a worrying fashion. Inspection at the bottom revealed that my rim had collapsed. I told Tarry to go for glory on his own and started pushing to the next checkpoint to wait for the broom wagon.

I soon came across a guy whose rear mech had disintigrated. With parts from my bike we managed to fix his. At least I had helped someone else even if my day was over.

At the checkpoint I was informed that there was a spare bike that I could use but it was on top of a car at the front. By the time the bike arrived I had lost about an hour and was at the very back of the field. At least I was cycling again.

A short aside about the bike that I borrowed. It was a very small, aging Marin hardtail with very soft suspension and a semi working front mech. The finishing touch was the pannier rack. Great for a 5' 5" woman to go to the shops on (which was its normal use), not so wonderful for me (6' tall) trying to make up a lot of time in an offroad endurance race. At least I had managed to swap my pedals over. I was grateful none the less.

It took a while to catch even the back markers. As the hills grew I soon began picking people off and by Drumnadrochit I had passed over 50. On the long steep road climb that followed at least another 25 places were gained.

However I soon started to pay for my high pace and the tiny bike was beginning to make my back very sore not to mention terryfying me with its sketchy handling on the downhills. Having by now reached some riders of a more similar pace I took a short break to eat and further put the saddle up, which was already well over the maximum line, to try and placate my complaining back. The food and bike adjustment did the trick and I pushed on to the finish in Fort Augustus gaining a few more places in the last couple of kilometres.

Tarry came a very creditable 32nd in a time of 4 hours and 25 mins. I finished 60th in 4 hours 58 mins; respectable after my tribulations. Over 200 people started the event. 174 finished.

The map below shows how far I got on my own bike.