Cairngorm Day one

Last weekend took me & Marco up to Aviemore for the Cairngorm Cycling Festival - four events over the two days.

We arrived in Aviemore and went for coffee. It was raining and cold. We went out in the car to recce the course, and noticed that at the start the temperature was 10 degrees - at the top of Cairngorm it was only 7.

Saturday morning was the Cairngorm Hill Climb - 8 miles of pain, climbing steadily from Coylumbridge to the base of Cairngorm and then 3 miles up to the main car park. My focus for the weekend was the Sunday events, so I took it relatively easy although I still died on the main climb. My HR was maxing out!

The afternoon was a fantastic hilly time trial, the Mackie Trophy. A great 14 mile loop around Loch Insh - gently rolling with a couple of big climbs. I put the foot down a bit more, but the second half of the course was very technical and I eased off on many of the blind corners eventually recording a time of 37:45.

I was cold, wet and tired. Hopefully the weather would improve on Sunday.....