Richard Binnie Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 http://www.sus8events.com/index.php http://www.cyclosport.org/article.aspx? ... entid=1084 Found this event listed on the cyclosport website. Looks to be quite "interesting " at 105 miles with over 2000m of climbing. Would be nice to see a few other JWCC jerseys out, or probably rain capes as its in July. Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Binnie Posted May 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2008 have added a link to youtube, shows what can best be described as a nice "undulating" route http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd0JrURU ... /index.php Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Binnie Posted July 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 The 1st edition of the Southern Uplands Sportif was run on Sunday. I lined up on the start line at about 9:18 with the 6th group of around 20 riders, Graham started in the group behind. Right away the group fractured with everyone focused on their own agenda. The 1st 7 miles was a fast desent out of Wanlockhead and I teamed up with another 2 ( 1 from Edinburgh Road Club (ERC) & 1 unnatached) riders and we started working together passing single riders as we went. The 1st big climb of the day, the Dalveen Pass, passed without any great problems, being just a steady long climb, over the top of it and we were onto a long steady desent, almost flat or so it seemed where we caught up with a 2nd rider from Edinburgh Roads, together the four of us worked well, through and off at a steady 24-25 mph. Eventually the 2nd Edinburgh rider dropped off on a bit of a climb and we got on the back end of a fast moving train all the way to the 1st feed, at the top of an unamed climb, unfortunately the unnattached rider had a puncture, after stopping to check he was ok, I had a 2 mile fight to get back on. The 1st feed station followed at the top of a short climb. After that was a climb up the last part of the Devils Beeftub, this wasn't actually as frightening as it sounded but was a nice warm up for the Wall of Tala. This consists of a 20% climb for 1 mile which had everyone out of the saddle struggling with their bike for all they were worth, with a few electing to push. The only encouragement came from the photographers and the thought of the desent to follow. I think i have now experienced what hell is actually like, not the Wall of Tala, but the ride from St Marys Loch out towards Moffat. To all intent and purpose, this appeared to be reasonable flat, maybe a gradual incline, definately nothing taxing. By this time we were in a group of four, me in the 39 x 24, the others in something similar, crawling at about 8 mph. On another day i reckon we could have cruised comfortably along in the big ring. The only thing that actually made people go to the front being guilt I guess . About 10 miles out of Moffat another fast train came past, with my compatriots jumping on the back, not for me, even if i wanted to though and i continued on my own through Moffat and up Greenhillstairs climb to a second visit to the feed station. Here I met up with the ERC rider who elected to wait a further 5 minutes allowing me to stuff my face with Cheese roll, ham rolls, cake, fruit loaf, banana & Ready Salted crisps along with lots of water. This left us about 30 miles to go, a couple of riders went passed us, but we were focused on surviving and not chasing and eventually forming another group of 4-5 riders. About 5 miles on I started to feel really strong and with the others in the small ring I found myself happily staying in the big ring doing most of the pulling, bring back riders that had passed us. This led to a discussion on what everyone had consumed at the last feed stop, the verdict being that it was the Ready Salted crisps "that what had done it". Riders started to drop off the back with me now having to check my speed to help my ERC compatriot, this being a first on the day. We eventually reached the entrance to Lowther Hill, and got a boast from the spectators at the bottom cheering everyone on. Lowther Hill boasts the highest road in Scotland at its summit, It started off with a bit of a bite, but some easier sections allowed for some recovery however the real sting was in the tail as it really kicked up and stayed that way for a good few km, eventually one more bend according to the photographers and then the finish line. Again riders elected to push the bikes as it seemed never ending at some points. I managed this ascent in 20mins, clocking the 55th time out of the 180 riders doing the 105 mile circuit and completed it in 6hrs 43mins & 20 secs with Graham coming home in 7hrs 33mins. Really enjoyed it and hoping to do it again next year, would recommend it to anyone interested in this sort of ride. Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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