Cyclotherapy: Etape Caledonia here we come
The Etape Caledonia beckons. As the big challenges are wont to do, it's come round very quickly, and as I set off for Perthshire for the UK's only closed-road sportive on Sunday, I'm anxiously wondering just how fit I am. I daresay the 2,000 or so other entrants are all wondering how fit they are too.
No matter how hard you train, you know you could have trained harder. Then again, it's no good dwelling on the missed spinning sessions, the lost weekends, the plans that went awry. Sportive riders are real people. We have jobs, families, lives. We can only do what we can do, and that's what makes the task we've set ourselves interesting. It must be so boring being a pro and never having to worry about getting to Sainsbury's on a Saturday morning BEFORE meeting up with your friends for a couple of hours of hill work.
The Caledonia has The Independent as its sponsor, but I still have to cycle the 81 miles just like everyone else. There are three of us competing under the newspaper's banner - step forward Simon Usborne and Graham Bence - and we're all heading up to Pitlochry on the sleeper from Euston tonight, courtesy of Scotrail. I've gone by train to Etapes in France, and it has to be the best way to travel with a bike. Tomorrow we register and chill out (does BBC Scotland show the Cup Final, I wonder?), and at 7am on Sunday we're off.
My old friend Tony Doyle, former Olympian and world track champion, rode the inaugural Etape Caledonia last year and tells me it's a fantastic ride. "It's brilliantly organised, and the scenery's amazing." And so how hard is it? "There's one major climb, after about 50 miles. It's very steep at the bottom, and the tarmac's very heavy. You can't attack it. Get in your smallest gear and work your way up."
Thanks for the warning, Tony. We'll see how we get on. Full Caledonia report to follow.
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