A small group of Wheelers (James Rooke, Rud Skibsted and myself) and hangers on from Lavenham attended the Annual Macmillan charity ride around Pitlochry - 81 miles in stunning Scottish landscape. We staid in a hotel outside Pitlochry - excellent beer and food inc. Haggis. More than 5000 cyclists were registered for the race - I saw race numbers up to 5400!

The ride is the only non-professional event which takes place on closed roads. The route takes you from Pitlochry along Loch Tummel and Loch Rannoch, up over Schiehallion (the mountain stage where King of the Mountain is contested), via a long descent past Aberfeldy and back to Pitlochry. We did a 40 mile trial run on the Saturday to check out some tricky bits of the route and then had an early night (well sort of).  Our start time was just after 0700 a.m. - the weather was grey and "dry" (Scottish dry!) but cold , only 6° at the start line with a COLD westerly wind! The whole main street was jam-packed with cyclists and lined with cheering crowds.

The fastest riders set off first - those aiming for a finishing time below 4 hrs. (the winner did it in 3 hrs 27mins!!) The first 30 miles was into a Headwind along the lochs on undulating
(Suffolk hilly!) roads. The atmosphere was great - pipers along the road, cheering locals old and young with bells, rattles, shouts of encouragement, banners and flags. A great spirit amongst the bikers too - 20 miles into the wind a group of Edinburgh cyclist came up beside me and said that as I had dragged them on for 10 miles or so it was their time to pay me back so I could tug in behind them! Unfortunately I left them behind 5-6 miles later!
Drinks and feed stations were spread out along the route, and motorcyclists with repair kits patrolled the roads. At the half-way mark a large group of locals cheered us on.
Although overheating was never a problem the temperature was perfect after a couple of hours of riding and the approach to Pitlochry came much sooner than expected.

The race for the finishing line provided entertainment for the thousands of spectators - thanks to my Club Kit there were lots of shouts of "Go Suffolk Go" - and I did go!
The sweet feeling of crossing the finishing line will stay with me for a long time. Tired/exhausted? No not really - I think that most of the riders were so high on adrenalin that we could have continued. It was an absolutely fantastic event which can not be recommended too highly. It is a bit of a journey from Suffolk but worth every boring mile of
driving. I have registered for next year already - and would be very keen on
organising a bigger group (IN CLUB KIT!!) who can team up for the event. In fact one could even go up for a pre-Etape event as an alternative to the Italian training camp - wine and pasta may not be local produce, but beer and locally sourced proteins will be readily available! If anyone wants to come along - let me know!

Soren