Not a Ride Report, because in the end I found that doing the 'O' thing
and riding was pretty much impossible. In the end I did the 'O' thing
and drove the Stewartry Wheelers team car.
On Saturday at 11 am, 27 riders, most of whom I'd never met before,
turned up in seven teams to start this year's 7/24 - and turned up with
at least as many again team drivers, families, and general support
people. It was quite a circus in the Glentrool carpark:
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/album/index.cgi/7-24/1/large
Team Upstart Solutions, whose support crew included two project managers
and a team chef, had had shirts specially printed and looked extremely
sharp:
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/album/index.cgi/7-24/16/large
The first stage comprised 5Km of tarmac, about 25Km of landrover-quality
road, and about 15Km of extremely technical singletrack. Consequently
the selection of bikes which lined up for the start was eclectic to say
the least:
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/album/index.cgi/7-24/17/large
Gavin Stephenson had Kirroughtree Control organised down to a 'T' and set
a high standard for the rest of the controls to meet. The Insomniacs
team also had their changeover plan very slick, having sent their roadie
down to the start of the tarmac - something several teams coming through
later copied:
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/album/index.cgi/7-24/25/large
Liam Warner was the first casualty of the day, going over the handlebars
on the Kirroughtree black route and smashing the fluid reservoir of his
front brake. Consequently he came in on foot, and bleeding:
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/album/index.cgi/7-24/35/large
I had planned to drive the event route from Kirroughtree to Dalbeattie
and check up on riders on the way, but I had to run Liam home so it was
a matter of sticking to the main roads to get Angus to Dalbeattie in
time for Andrew to hand over to him. When I got there the circus was in
full swing, with teams waiting for their arriving riders:
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/album/index.cgi/7-24/38/large
Andrew arrived, and Angus set out to ride the Dalbeattie red route.
Andrew, Kenny and I had a council of war, discussing how to re-divide the
remaining stages without Liam. The sensible thing seemed to be for
Andrew to ride all the road stages, and to split the remaining off-road
stages between Kenny and Angus - which meant we now had a genuine race
on to reach Ae before dark, so that Angus could ride it without lights.
We none of us wanted to send a thirteen year old out on a difficult
technical stage in the dark.
While at Dalbeattie we got news of the second, and, sadly, more serious
accident of the day. Galloway Mountain Rescue had entered two teams, but
had planned from the start that the two teams would ride together. On
the first road stage a dog ran out at them and took down both their
riders; David Tyson, captain of their 'A' team, broke his arm.
Soon Angus was back:
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/album/index.cgi/7-24/50/large
and we were off to Mabie:
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/album/index.cgi/7-24/51/large
For some reason I didn't take any pictures at Mabie. That's a shame,
because there was plenty to see. The Upstarts team chef set up their
kitchen and cooked a meal for the whole team and its extensive support
crew. The gaps between the teams were beginning to open up, and Mabie
was the last control where all teams were present at the same time.
Kenny had lost his pump somewhere in the bowels of the truck, and as
Angus's was identical I persuaded him to lend his to Kenny.
From Mabie we moved onto Ae - the shortest road stage, and the one on
which there was a serious risk that, due to congestion in Dumfries which
was having its annual civic festival, the team cars would not be able to
keep up with the riders.
At Ae Angus again took the baton to ride what was probably the most
technically difficult stage of the day. It was not yet sunset, but I
fitted my lumicycles to his bike and checked he had both radio and
mobile phone. What I didn't check was that he had his pump...
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/album/index.cgi/7-24/52/large
I managed to get some quite decent pictures of the Upstarts out on course
at Ae:
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/album/index.cgi/7-24/62/large
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/album/index.cgi/7-24/65/large
When Angus had been out on the stage for two hours I started to get very
anxious, especially after Liam's crash. I started to walk the red route
backwards from the start (it's extremely hard to walk!) and after about
a mile started to get very broken up messages on my radio which were
clearly Angus, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. After another
mile, with the light fading, I met him. He'd had a puncture and had had
to carry his bike two miles. Fortunately he'd then met another rider
who'd lent him a pump, and had come on. He flew down the hill to
control, and I followed as quickly as I could on foot.
By the time we'd got Angus's bike onto the truck and started driving,
Andrew and Kenny were long gone on the stage to Newcastleton. The
Insomniacs, the Upstarts and Males on Wheels were long gone, Robertson
Gemini were out on the course, and Galloway Mountain Rescue had only
just arrived, faced with the prospect of riding Ae in the dark.
Andrew and Kenny had put in a phenomenal burst of pace. Angus and I drove
across Annandale as fast as we safely could, but it wasn't until we were
coming into Lockerbie that we saw two little red lights sliding ahead of
us along the road. We stopped and got Kenny's road bike onto the roof.
Kenny joined us in the truck, and, after a very brief discussion with
Andrew, we navigated for him through Lockerbie and then drove ahead to
the outskirts of Langholm to navigate for him again there. Once again,
Andrew's speed caught us by surprise, and we hadn't been waiting more
than quarter of an hour before his headlight came into view. Through
Langholm, then; and, at the start of the brutal climb out of Langholm I
stopped again to offer a fresh bidon. No, said Andrew, keep it for the
top - I want as little weight on the bike as possible!
So at the top we handed him a fresh bidon and drove on to Newcastleton,
to see the Insomniacs and Upstart support vehicles, already finished,
driving out. At the control, Stuart Common, who I scarcely know, had
willingly sacrificed his whole night for a 7.30pm to 7.30am shift
(although in fact he was able to knock off about 4.30am when the last
team were through). Now he cheerfully greeted us, and, as Andrew rolled
in, efficiently checked Andrew in and Kenny out. Half an hour later he
checked Males on Wheels out, and after another few minutes the Robertson
Gemini support vehicle rolled in.
There was a little bit of joshing about whether Kenny or their rider
would make it in first, but before long Kenny's lights came down the
hill and Stuart again supervised a slick handover. Andrew was off on his
last stage, and we loaded Kenny's mountain bike up and pulled out, to
meet the incoming Robertson Gemini rider on the road. A quick 'nearly
there! good luck!' and we set off, chasing Andrew, trying to reach the
first junction ahead of him. Our strategy now was that the support
vehicle would navigate, driving ahead to each junction and waiting until
Andrew had seen us before carrying on.
Passing through Hawick (where, among other sights, we encountered a young
lady going home with quite remarkably little clothing on) Andrew's
lithium ion lumicycle battery failed, fortunately while he was fairly
close to the truck. A quick change of batteries, and he carried on,
still maintaining a quite remarkable pace over the big hills.
I'd ridden this stage myself the year before. Driving it now, I was
amazed at the size and gradient of the hills I knew I'd ridden. Even in
the truck we seemed to be climbing for ages. And even Andrew was
beginning to tire. Where, at the beginning of the stage, he'd been
sustaining speeds above 20mph even on the climbs, now his speeds were
beginning to drop. We knew he would want to finish the stage, but with
ten miles to go Kenny and I were getting a little concerned for him. So
we unloaded Kenny's road bike from the roof, and the two of them
completed the stage into Glentress together.
At Glentress, once again, we'd caught up with a circus. Three support
crews were in the carpark already - the first team (whom I can't name,
because as various people had gently teased me all weekend 'This is Not
A Race'😉 had just completed as we arrived. And there was a relaxed
atmosphere, comprised of tiredness, and knowledge that for everyone
there the challenge was met. Up to that point we'd been making our
changeovers as quickly as we could, but with six hours to the deadline
there didn't seem too much need to hurry. We got both Angus's and
Kenny's mountain bikes sorted out, made sure that Angus had his pump,
and sent them off up the hill. Andrew went off to the showers. I talked
to Don Whybrow of this parish, who had been manning the Newcastleton
control since midnight and was scheduled to be on duty until noon; and
he provided us with some delicious chicken stew, which Andrew was too
exhausted (and too full of energy gels) to eat. All the more for me!
As the morning gradually brightened the remaining teams gradually rolled
in, progressively more laid back in their baton handovers as the day
wore on. People relaxed and talked. Angus and Kenny came back down the
hill, and checked into control. We were finished. Despite riding one
more stage than last year and losing a rider at stage one, we'd trimmed
an hour off our own time for the course.
All in all, I was really pleased with the event. Of the nine teams that
entered, two did not start. I wasn't hugely surprised. Getting a team
ready for this event - even getting the logistics sorted out - is quite
an effort. But of the seven teams that did start, every one of them
completed inside the time limit. All the volunteer control people turned
up when required and did their jobs cheerfully and effectively, and with
some style. The timetable worked. The right things were in the right
places when needed. Even the weather was kind, with just a little rain
in the early hours of Sunday morning.
And everybody enjoyed themselves - or said they did. So a good time was
had by all.
--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
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