We decided to take the scenic west coast route to Skye - a good call because we passed the Real Food Cafe in Tyndrum and the bigman bought coffee and cake. The temperature was rising but some of the driving was unbelievable. Cars struggling round corners and taking up half of our side of the road. The worst piece of overtaking resulted in a van having to pull into a parking pace to avoid an oncoming car. Without the parking place there would have been fatalities - really scary stuff. We struggled to work out why people would take such daft risks but there you go.
We arrived at Saucey Mary's to find that the booking had been lost and it looked initially there might be no room at the Inn - after some faffing around we were given room 1. After dinner we wandered out to watch an amazing sunset both of us feeling blessed to be right then and there - it was truely awesome.
On return to Suacey Mary's I noticed the guitar man warming up in the bar - directly below our room. I realised at this point it was going to be a long night....
We sat in the bar enjoying? a mixed performance only brighten by the solo performer singing all by myself as a reflection of the number of people listening in the bar. The pool table beckoned. As we racked the balls the bigman enquired the rules when we got to the black. I thought yee ha here we go! Turned out the bigman is not quite the novice I thought and I retired back to my seat 0 and 4! The Hustler was in town.....
At 11.50 after the time we had retired for tea in the room, we settled into the short bunks and lay back to reflect on a fab day. This reflection was shattered by the twang of 'Ruby Ruby Ruby' played slightly out of tune - it was a nightmare - an hour later he finally brought the torture to an end. I lay, pillow over my head with 'Ruby Ruby Ruby' pounding through my head. The last time I looked at my watch it was 2.20, the bigman was gentle snoring and there was still some light in the sky.
Saturday woke warm and muggy - it was quite like that outside the room as well!
We drove up to Portree taking in the final climb from Slighagen and the glorious 6 mile decent into Portree. The race was very well organised with cheery marshalls controlling activities efficiently.
After the usual pre-race faffing, the bigman was ready way before me and sat on his bike adding useful comments every time I locked my car like 'are you wearing your bike shoes?' (I wasn't!), shoes on lock car, 'are you wearing your helmet?' (I wasn't!) - finally we made our way to the start. When we arrived the 150 odd competitors seemed to have rocked up before us and we were directed to the back of the queue. One poor lad had a punture before his race started.
We were off - the first climb up to the old man of Stoer flew by and we were motoring along. We grabbed the back wheel of a guy from Edinburgh Road Club and with the benefit of slipstream were whisked along - the bigman grabbed his turn at the front with relish and I hung on at the back. During the first big decent we lost him - well I lost him and the bigman - the bigman waited for me and we lost the back wheel. Bouyed by the speed we rocked along making good time.
At Totternish, we turned - the wind was everywhere, the was no respite. Being in the slipstream seemed to make no difference as the wind knocked you this way and that. Once we reached the west coast we were so exposed and the wind made progress a challenge. It was here we hit the biggest climb of the day. A beast that took us up to the plateau above Uig. We reached Uig tired from the effort but hopeful of some shelter from the wind.
We were warned about the climb out of Uig and started it in a group of 6 or 7 pedallers - we soon separated ourselves and moved ahead of the group - the wind was dead against but we worked brilliantly as a team sharing the load and moving at a reasonable pace. One of the boys from the climbing groug caught us and joined our pelaton - we were beginning to work really well - the bigman pulled out to move to the front and pop the wheel punctured - disaster. He changed his wheel, I broke the valve whilst doing my share of the pumping but it seemed to have no effect and some 15 minutes later we were off - the bigman has shared what happened next and we stopped again.
I was flagging on the road to Dunvegan - it was a tough 19 mile stretch and I was so glad to see the marshalls at the feed station. We stopped loaded up and enquired about the route back - some 32 miles to go. We were told 2 climbs one of which was a category 2 and we'd be back in Portree.
The stretch from Dunvegan to Slighagen was murder. We both fell in to silence (a very bad sign!) and ground out mile after mile - constantly climbing and having to pedal downhill into the gusting gale. At one point we were on a fairly steep decent when I checked my speed - 24kmh - no reward for all the climbing. The 22 miles to Slighagen we without doubt the toughest I've faced on my bike. The combination of strong wind and hills was a huge challenge but we worked together, encouraged each other and made it to the next feed station.
The last 9 miles were a joy - the climb out of Slighagen went unnoticed and we blasted back to the finish.
The jorney back flew by as relived the experience. It was my first road bike race and I really enjoyed it, not all of it but I think sometimes the experience of doing a major challenge is better after rather than during. Yes there were points I'd have happily packed in but working in a team you play your part and it helps you through the tough points. Having to go to the front into a gale to take your share certainly builds character.
The bigman is excellent company and we laughed lots during the race, worked really well as a team and I know that we will get through the Cape Epic working this way.
It was an amazing trip!
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