Tuesday 24 April 2012

Buachaille Sportive

Always a big fan of the No fuss events so headed up north for a long weekend in glencoe. It was there 1st sportive, 170km of stunning road riding what i can only describe as the most scenic sportive i've done. I drove up through Tydrum early Sunday morning in what can only be described as heavy sleet, it cleared up on the tops and by the time we arrived at Glencoe ski center there was even a bit of blue sky knocking about. I knew full well what the weathers like up here so went for a full waterproof coat and my 3/4 leggins.
 
The temp was around 3 degrees when i set off and i knew about it, nearly a 1500 foot decent into glencoe straight away woke me up. I felt good on the bike and just went out hard from the word go. The course was so fast I managed to do the first 60 miles in under 3 hours riding completely on my own.
The weather just got nicer which was excellent for the views but not so good for me, i was cooking in my winter gear, i had to ride with my coat pretty much unzipped to keep me cool.
There was so many highlights in this ride for me, one was this singletrack road (the B8074) it was around 10miles long up the most scenic glen i've ever seen, google it its excellent you have to ride it. The only let down on this ride was i snapped a spoke in my rear wheel which just made the last climb a killer as the brake was rubbing on the rim where it had come out of true. I completed the course in 5 hours 35 which i was quite impressed with.
View from the start
last climb on the a82

If you like riding sportives then i recommend getting yourself booked onto there 2nd one at the end of September cause the route looks like another cracker.