Jump to content

Skye Sportive - 23rd Aug 2014


Recommended Posts

Hi Alan,

 

Me and a mate from work are doing this. Heading to Skye on the Fri. Not sure I'll cope due to lack of miles so not sure what company we'll be!

We were hoping to latch onto a group...not necessarily the fastest.

 

Ritchie,

Sounds like a plan...see you at the start line...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2023 Subscriptions

Skye's great

 

And it's really flat between Kyleakin and Broadford for those who don't enjoy hills

 

K

 

How far is it between these 2 points Kenny ? I'm guessing 500m, cos thats about as much flat road as I can remember in Skye ? Beautiful al the same :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

That's me and my mate, Darren, in the vid. Darren rides with Glasgow Nightingales but borrowed a JWCC gilet for the day.

 

We drove up there on the Friday....loooooong drive up there :( but for some reason....and probably the lack of phone signal (how do Skye locals survive! :) ) I didn't get in touch with Alan or vice versa.

We woke up to rain on Sat morning but that soon cleared. Despite only being less than half a mile from the start point, me and Darren still managed to arrive later than planned. The plan had been to leave as near to 9am as possible and I then noticed a message from Alan that he had sent half an hour earlier! Darren then noticed his rear wheel was a bit loose so had to seek mechanical advice.
This meant we were some of the last to roll out around 9.20am.

I believe there were only about 150 signed up for the ride with there being a split for the shorter run.

 

We started off well, catching up with a few folk but they were going too slow to form a group so we stayed as a pair.

My serious lack of recent miles meant that my thighs were feeling the pinch after 30 miles so I wasn't in the most optimistic of moods and if I was given a chance to bail out I probably would've taken it early on.

 

The route followed the coast in an anti clockwise direction and despite the rain, wind, rain, sun, rain, sun, we had some amazing scenery to look at...when we weren't going uphill, heads down! I really can't remember much flat at all. The whole ride seemed to be uphill, nice downhill then heading back up! There were a couple of steep climbs and a few long drags but mainly rolling all day.

 

The route was very well signposted and marshalled with 3 or 4 water stops along the way. Tray bakes, water, spare inner tubes were available.

 

We eventually caught Tom from Edinburgh who tagged along until we then caught Ian (who posted the video) and we stayed as a foursome until we caught up with a local guy near the end. Thankfully we got our second wind so the last few miles were done at a decent pace....helped along but a bit of a tailwind :)

 

My Garmin said we finished in just under 6hrs which was my main target and one I'm happy with considering my legs.

Our official time has us at 6 1/2 hrs which was due to me and Darren stopping to help a guy from Paisley who had a puncture.

He was waiting to catch the bus back to Portree because he couldn't get his tyre off. The problem wasn't helped by the fact he didn't have any tyre levers with him!!!  I more or less fixed his flat for him and then he proceeded to drop us by big chain ringing it on the climbs!! We chose to save our legs and swallow our pride and send him on his way :)

 

All in all, a good day on the bike. Amazing scenery, a mix of weather which wasn't that bad and a well organised event.

Eventually got in touch with Alan afterwards and he said he had ridden most of the route on his own :(

 

I would do it again if I could prepare for the drive there and back!

 

Cheers :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...