Following a theme from my last post the title of this one can’t help but remind me of this song from my misspent youth…
I wrote that post on the 15th of October and alluded to a big event that I was planning for the following weekend. I apologise to all of you that have been waiting patiently for an update ever since 🤣
It’s been such a big gap that I wasn’t going to bother but if Unironedman can write a post and publish a video in November about an event in April I wasn’t yet past my sell by date for this post…
Back in September I DNF’d our Club Sportive event. I made it to just under 90km in atrocious weather conditions and scratched at the main food stop. That was my first and only DNF at an event. It felt wrong to me at the time (it was still the right decision on the day) and it was bugging me ever since.
On 18th October I managed to get that monkey off my back. I was joined by Grainne, who has been a steady cycling companion throughout the Summer. She was under a bit of time pressure for the evening so started in Castlefinn and met me at the bottom of my road to save her at least 30min at the finish.
We headed off through Ballybofey, Barnes Gap and on to Ballyshannon. The going was pretty good, we had a dry day and although there was a bit of a breeze it was slightly in our favour for most of the way to Ballyshannon.
A 90° turn in Ballyshannon for Beleek brought us into the wind. The work became harder and this is a deceptively difficult stretch of road with lots of small, steep climbs that sap the energy from legs with over 50km done.
Rolling into Beleek we decided to take our main lunch stop at the roadside service station. Small, covered, outdoor pods provided a welcome relief from the wind and allowed us to keep our bikes close and relax.
This stop is what I was missing on the day of the scheduled event. Not just the food at this point but the opportunity to relax, go at my own pace and not feel under pressure. It was also an important stop as the hardest section was just ahead.
Crossing from Beleek to Kesh across the top of Lower Lough Erne and Boa Island is where everything went wrong in September. That day we had heavy rain and strong winds averaging 30km/h with gusts even stronger. The wind was coming from the SW straight across the water and there is very little shelter on that stretch of road. Today we still had the wind to contend with. At an approximate average of 25km/h it was far from easy but not having the rain or stronger gusts to deal with made it much more manageable. Arriving into Kesh we felt a bit battered but a quick stop for a drink and some sweets soon had us feeling much better again.
A few kilometres up the road we reached Ederney and the spot where I scratched in September. I had to get a photo to completely dislodge the monkey and give him a final boot up the arse.
Grainne decided to keep rolling and despite only being stopped for a few minutes she proved damn hard to catch! I could see her bright yellow gillet in the distance but it took a long time to reel her in.
We were now into one of the long climbs in the last third of the route as the road winds and climbs from Ederney to the quarry at the high point of Scraghey. A long, tiring section but finally we had the wind mostly behind us and it really is just a matter of getting the head down and grinding on.
At the top of Scraghey Grainne was feeling tired and felt it better if I just pushed on and left her to follow at her own pace. She was quite determined about this and I know too well what it feels like to be riding even just slightly harder than is your own comfortable pace so I clipped back in and rolled off having said our goodbyes.
About 15min up the road I hopped off the bike to have a wee in a farmer’s field. I was only just off the bike when I heard a cheery hello as Grainne sailed past! Once I was sorted and back on the bike her yellow gillet was once again fading into the distance and I was once again working hard to reel her in! It was Castlederg before I caught her. Apparently with the pressure off she discovered her second wind and was sitting a steady couple of 100m or so behind since we parted earlier.
Rolling into Castlederg together we decided we had earned a final tea break and stopped at a shop on the way out of town.
While stopped for tea one of the other guys messaged to see how we were doing and this was Grainne’s response….
After tea we did say our final goodbyes and I headed on solo up the final long climb out of Castlederg and the long, sweeping descent into Castlefinn. A short section along the back road towards home, the final inevitable 1.6km climb back to the house and it was done. Just before I turned on to our road I was passed by Grainne in her car so I got home knowing she was safely finished also.
Back in September I was absolutely gutted about my DNF. A large part of this was the knowledge that I knew I was capable of doing it. I was sure that better clothing and a chance to ride my own ride would be successful so it was immensely satisfying to prove that right and to prove myself too.
What surprised me most was how good I felt finishing. I felt like I had at least another 15km left in my legs. That night I made plans to ride 160km the following weekend to get my first 100mile century done. However, during the week the weather turned a bit nasty and I had to scratch that idea. Through the rest of October and November I’ve been a bit hit and miss but doing enough to keep my legs in good shape. I also managed to get my November Audax ticked off with a solo ride on a new route.
Heading into December I’m feeling pretty good on the bike. I have my December Audax to get done and I’m heading for a decent mileage finish to the year.
I’ve been joking with some of my Club friends about the Festive 500 and while unlikely to happen it definitely feels like it would be a great way to finish out the year if the weather plays ball over Xmas….
niall harran 