Cairngorm APR and Hill climb
Cairngorm Men’s APR and Mountain Hill Climb- 11th and 12th September 2021
Words by Adam Syme
After not getting a start in the Cairngorm APR in 2018 it has been on my list of races I need to do - even with a start time of 8AM in Northern Scotland in September!! Anyone who knows me will know that I only ever see one 6 on my watch and it is never preceded by an AM! Despite the forecast temperature of 9 degrees and the 6AM start I was up and raring to go! I was contemplating putting my arm warners on, but thought 'stuff it, this is a race!' Arriving with only 15 minutes spare for a warm up everything was going to plan until I parked in the wrong place and blocked the road. Typical white van man? The race organisers asked me to move it, something I was asked to do again later in the day after a half hour search of Kincraig for a man with a beard!!
As the flag went down we started working reasonably well together within our group. My arms were cold!! Where were those arm warmers? a big regret now! During the first lap it quickly became evident which riders had chinks in their armour, and which ones I would have to look out for. After Kinussie we were faced with two braes in quick succession - something that would fall in my favour later.
The circuit suited me and the road from Kinussie to Kincraig played into my strengths, being quite lumpy with short fast descents where you could easily distance riders.
On to lap two and the group had halved in size, with 6 of us doing the majority of the work. Faced with the two braes again, thinking I'd just gone up fairly steady I managed to distance the bunch. Over the top the Livingston rider (ultimately the winner) caught me up and I said to him 'let's go'. - but when I pressed on the pedals there wasn't much there!! The bunch reformed and we started going through and off again. As we approached Loch Insch I looked over my shoulder and realised the chasing group was not going to catch us and I just had to focus on the riders still with me. I made sure I was first down the descent past the boathouse and took it on the front all the way to the bridge. I was hoping to enter the bridge in 1st position as it was a tight entrance and bad line, but was jumped by about 5 riders. I made sure I was back in position before the race to the finish up the final brae. When the winning move went, he went pretty quick! I realised I would be battling it out for 2nd place. I dug deep and fought hard to the line, being nipped for 2nd by a fresh faced 17 year old youth! Overjoyed with the result and a podium place for MRCC- the perfect end to my race weekend 🙂✌
Having taken part in the Cairngorm Mountain Time Trail the previous day, its fair to say my legs had worked hard this weekend. I managed to get up the hill in 30 minutes, and caught my minute man in the sugar bowl. Once again I'd reccomend this to anyone in the club - it really is a climb you should put on your list of things you must do before you die!! Once at the top the weather changed in usual Cairngorm fashion. Lashing rain and very cold I wimped out of the descent and flagged down a van!! Luckily the man in the van knew Murphy and we exchanged some bad jokes and stories!! 🤣