On Saturday a few GMBC folks were down at Glentress for the GT7 event. Here’s what happened….
Tweedlove
After what seemed like months of big talk and hot air Stuart and myself finally found ourselves at the event registration for Glentress 7 – no backing out now! As well as ourselves, there was Robin & Florian who had entered as a solo riders, Ruairidh entered with his 2 brothers and Dene and his mate Kev, who we’d pitched up next to in the car park, also riding as a pair.
The format of the race, in case it wasn’t clear, is a 7 hour endurance ride doing laps of a course set out on the Glentress trails. The course was a mix of red and blue trails as well as a few “off piste” sections linking up the existing trails. Some familiar trails were ridden in reverse – I never knew some of the familiar downhills felt so steep climbing them rather than descending. The course was generally climbing to start with and the highest point was Betty Blue before starting a great descent back down through trees to the transition area. We were lucky with the weather which was just about perfect for riding – cool, cloudy with a bit of a breeze – the cool breeze was not so good while cooling down waiting for your next lap.
Our approach was to ruthelessly hunt down and pass all the competition in the veteran category to ensure we finished on the podium thereby ensuring Alpine some great free publicity. Once I’d woken up, I realised we were never going to trouble the podium so enjoyment was the name of the game. Well, I say “enjoyment” but I really mean gritting your teeth against the aching legs and sting of lactic acid while trying to keep ahead of the occasional person I passed on a climb and trying to keep my spirits up as lycra-clad race whippets flew uphill making it look flat.
Stuart's Final Lap
In the end Stuart made it back to the transition area, completing his 4th lap, with 8 minutes to spare before the cut-off. The pressure was then on me to complete my 4th lap within 68minutes otherwise it wouldn’t count and Stuart’s efforts (and cramp!) would’ve been in vain. Thankfully the cheeseburger (the energy food of champions?) consumed after lap 3 powered me up the hills and I actually quite enjoyed my final lap. Even better than the burger was the cold cider Stuart presented me at the finishing line!
All credit to Robin who managed 8 laps solo and well done to Team G Force for taking part (Ruairidh – have your brothers disowned you??). Dene and Kev finished 9th in the vet pairs category and Stuart and I were fairly chuffed with our 13th (out of 40) position in the same category.
I’d recommend this event to anyone who’s interested in endurance events. It’s well organised, had a great friendly feel to it and the course was a lot of fun. I think it’ll be in my calendar again for next year – and maybe next time the hills won’t feel quite so steep!
Yep, grand day had by all and a joy to ride it in the sun this year for a change!
D
As a first event I would thoroughly recommend the GT7 to anybody who is even slightly tempted. If you can ride around Mugdock then you can do the GT7.
While undoubtedly a competitive event, I felt no real sense of racing others, certainly anyone who saw me on the ups would testify to this. Most of the time I was merely trying to ride as fast I could. This may come as something of a surprise to anyone who has seen my lap times.
I have no doubt that the ideal riding conditions helped but I will certainly be entering again next year.
By the way, the picture shows me walking, as required, over the transition zone timing mat. I’m not knackered ..honest.