I think you will agree that GGCC's first year has been a phenomenal one for sure!!
There have been a number of great achievements and bucket loads of success from sportives, Cat 4 races, time trials, personal records on Strava, King of the Mountains on your favourite climbs right through to personal coaching sessions and a very successful 1 year anniversary sportive on Arran…………………..but only 1 thing was missing……………..a top podium spot!!
So………….over October 5th and October 6th, three hardy souls from GGCC set off to try and fix that fact. Robert, Jim, Ross and Andy signed up to ride the Cycle the World Challenge up at Knockhill all in aid of Enable Scotland. The goal was to firstly to raise as much money as possible for this great cause and then to do the kind donations justice…….. go all out and do everything we could to win the event…….not even knowing what that would take!!
This was a new challenge supported by Mark Beaumont who is a patron for the charity and way back in August we signed up thinking it would be a walk in the park!?!?
We arrived at the Knockhill Racing Circuit at 11am on the Friday and went straight into the cafeteria to relax and discuss tactics! Ride hard and ride fast was about the sum of it!! We had originally decided on a half hour on and then rest plan but unfortunately Ross had to pull out due to a real bad chest infection so our rest times would be cut down dramatically but we committed to try and stay to this 30 mins on and now 60 mins off schedule…………….little did we know how grueling that would actually be!!!
We set up camp in the pit area and made the hard cold concrete floor as homely as possible…….this was our living quarters for the next 24 hours…….and even now it was cold!!!
As the 1 pm start time approached we saw Mark Beaumont meeting and greeting the riders so we walked over and got our photo taken with him…………..a genuinely top bloke!!
Bikes ready, kit ready, tactics ready, order of riders ready, the 1 camp bed we had to share……ready……………off to the start line……..here we go and the flag dropped!!................only 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds left to go!!
Andy took shift 1 and after discussing a steady start shot off like a lunatic and set a lap time of 3 mins 6 seconds……lap record at that time was 3 mins dead so a rapid start!! Settling into a rhythm shift 1 was over and the baton was handed to Jim who put us into the lead, and then it was Robs turn…….after 1 shift each and after Jims and Robs efforts we were 1 lap up already!! The screen with the results would form our focus and attention for the next day!!
‘The 3 Amigos’ soon got into a rhythm and the laps flew by……….the course was fast but a few extremely fast corners kept us on our guard!!........40mph was soon reached around a particularly sharp right hander that if you weren't careful would have you off………we noted that for later when it was dark!!
Ride, change, eat, rest, ride, change, eat, rest……….that was about it for us………………..we noticed the tactics change from other teams around us but we stuck to our plan………………I am sure all 3 of us thought…….’how the hell are we going to keep this up through the night’………it was a brutal schedule!
The dark came in and so did the biting cold……………BUT……………friendly faces picked us up……………our Honorary President John Brown and Nikki turned up……………….not even a trip to hospital and Cancer could keep John away!!!.............they will never know how valuable that visit was for us………………..it was getting tough……..very tough!!
Our supporters left at midnight and then we knew we were into the seriously tough part of the challenge…………..the graveyard shift. It’s a lonely place on a bike in the middle of the night……………but still proper good fun!!...............we all just focused on small spots of red lights and picked them off one by one!!..............it actually turned into a game and kept us amused!!
A few of the solo guys jumped onto our tails and commented on us ‘flying’ so used us a pace setters………by that time we were about 10 laps up!!
In the off time we were either curled up on the camp bed in many, many layers of clothes or in the media centre drying off cold, sweaty kit on the radiators and resting until it was our turn to get back out into the bitterly cold and damp night…………….just grateful the rain stayed away!!
Morning came with a beautiful sunrise and our spirits lifted……..the leader board had us about 12 laps up………….’right’ we said………….’we can do this’……….’lets have it!!’
Lap after lap came and went………the announcers shouted ‘That’s Glasgow Green first to hit 200 laps’……..and then ‘that’s Glasgow Green first to hit 300 laps’…………………..we knew 350 laps was do-able!!
Our average was slowly coming down from an initial 23 mpg to about 18 – 19 mph but we dug in each of us to do those donations proud, do the club proud and not let anyone down……..especially each other!!
With about 2 hours of the challenge left we know we could win it……….well……..we were 15 laps up!!................and then a surprise………………..the support crew turned up again……..John, Nikki and Rae!!........................right lets go and finish this off!!
We could see the finish in our minds and we all went out and smashed it! Average mph’s lifted and Rob even went for a fastest lap!!
The atmosphere was electric and the laps got faster and faster…………………….our closest rivals came up to us with 1 hour to go and congratulated us…………..they knew we had this in the bag……………BUT we didn't assume anything…………..a mechanical could put us out the game!!
The flag dropped……………….24 hours of riding done…………….353 laps completed……………..460 miles covered……………nearly 45000ft of climbing done……………………………..we had done it………..WE HAD WON!!...............the tiredness, the aches, the dehydration, the coldness and the effort was all worth it!
Glasgow Green Cycle Club could proudly walk to the podium and stand on the top.
Robert Young, James Murray and Andy Dobinson were proud men! We ‘man hugged’ each other and properly thanked our support crew for their invaluable help!!
We had done it!!..................medals around our neck we had photos taken and then we reflected on what was probably one of the toughest cycling challenges we had taken part in…………………..but all 3 of us said we didn’t just take part in it……….we won it and we delivered on our commitment to our kind donations!