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ARRAN :)


P McDonald
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Just putting it out there to gauge interest. As it stands it looks like perfect conditions for an Arran next SaturDAy. Warm, dry, and a light SSW wind, perfect for 7am ferry. Should note that the additional ferries don't start till the week after so if you miss the single and the 11.05am ferry then its the 1.55pm ferry back.

Anyone interested in an SA ?

Ohyadancer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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13 minutes ago, P McDonald said:

Is your tongue in cheek or are you serious about DA ?

Tongue in cheek. Early mornings in April are too cold. Weather too variable. My point was getting up at 5am for a trip round Arran is weird. My friends would think I was touched. It’s only 56 miles. Hardly epic. But we are quite fit and if we were to go to retake the Strava segment... 9 45 ferry is sane. Still be home at a reasonable time in the afternoon for people with jobs, family, friends and pet dogs. 

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Ok doke Ian. I sounded out Galeb who is a keen bean, but ..... he has time constraints and I had committed. So its 7am for us, and I think Jan. Think of it as a good team building exercise for Moniaive next week and I'm sure you can set that alarm for 0530 :)

 

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I do think we are fit enough to re-take the Strava segment. You guys have done 2hrs 41s. Iain would need to sacrifice himself on the Lochranza climb and 2hrs 36mins has to be possible. I'd suggest you bring a gel too. Even 2.5 hrs can get you into trouble...

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That was a good Arran run with a strong team at the start...but Arran being Arran it seems to always manage to throw challenges at you! We were setting a good pace until I got a pinch puncture going over a pothole at 25 miles to go...we decided at the start there will be no waiting and so I mended the puncture and set off in TT mode keeping calm not to blow early. 3 miles later I see Jan on the side of the road with a puncture, gave it a quick thought and decided I would keep going as agreed at the start. Just before Lochranza climb there were some road works and I was stopped by the workers for 2 or 3 mins ruining the momentum I had going . They gave me the go ahead and then back to TT mode, half way up the climb looked back and saw Jan catching up...I thought perfect we would rejoin for the last 10m as I needed a good push to catch the 11.05 ferry! At that point it was around 10.30 already so once we rejoined we set off at a good pace sharing the workload and just manged to catch the ferry...don't think would have made it alone. Thanks Jan for the nice steady wheel at the end and Paul and Ian for the team work at the start .

That's SA done 8-)

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The Hall of Fame welcomes a new SA member, chapeau Galeb ! It was just about as good as it gets weather wise today, the clear early morning made the Nirvana even more magnificent. Some excellent new road surfaces mixed with some sectors so grim they could have counted them down like Roubaix.

The Ian's were on a bit of a Strava time mission, I suspect the reality is the wind really plays quite a big part in this, even though its a circuit and even when you have a good pace line. I got quite a few PR's in the first 25 miles and we were bowling along. However there was not much tailwind up the west coast and of course we lost two, it might have been close but I think it needs the perfect wind day.

Another spring, another Arran belter. DA18 beckons :)

 

 

 

 

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Great day out and well done to Galeb particularly with the puncture!

4 was probably an ideal number in the end, much more and the road surfaces would have caused a lot of issues. There were a few sections i really wouldnt fancy doing the middle of a bunch of 10 or more.  On the positive side the sections of road that have been repaired are superb, nearly the whole of the String and the Lochranza climb too.

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Thanks for the assistance round yesterday. Quite disappointed with the time and I think even without the punctures the time would be slow. My average power for the first 40km was 228 watts and 251 watts for the last 50km. 7mins down on the round Arran KoM at the top of Lochranza climb so can't even blame the headwind on the run in to Brodick. 

My thoughts are we need to practice our paceline technique. For example I don't feel we were nailing our turns on the front sufficiently, especially on the downhills which was hard given the potholes and tight bends

Anyway shouldn't beat you all up. The target was get the ferry. We did that. We need a new target :) Frustrated!

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