After swerving this for a few years as didn't really enjoy it, took the plunge as Team Wheelers needed a man for the Mixed Team of 4 - so glad I did.

The biggest faff of this event is the registration, which is at the Excel Arena. It is handy for nowhere, and a 3 train journey from Kings Cross where we were staying. Decided to register on the Friday evening to beat the Saturday rush and glad I did as met Fabian Cancellara who was doing promotion duties and riding on the Sunday.

Other than that, underwhlemed by the bike expo, a massive Evans shop and not a lot else of great interest. The goodie bag is basically a Prudential branded bottle and that was it!

Team Wheelers comprised Andrea, Cheryl, Ally Mills and me and the plan was to go round together and aim to break the 5 hours. Up at 3:30am to try and eat a porridge pot before meeting the Team at Kings Cross station - which was heaving. The ride out to the start at the Olympic Park was around 6 miles and easy enough as Andrea had the route on her Garmin and as we hit the CS2 there were a fair few others going the same way. We actually arrived at the Park BEFORE the start gates had opened! On the plus side, the weather was perfect even at 5am, warm, no wind and dry.

It must be a logistics nightmare to try and get 27,000+ riders on 3 different event distances all off and seemed to go to plan. The first wave is off at 5:44 and the last around 9:30am! We were in the second wave, which was great as meant not too many folks ahead, later starters had to contend with very busy roads with riders of all abilities, a few crashes, route closures and a tough day - thankfully none of that for us.

Bang on our start time of 5:48 we were off and got into our formation of me - Andrea - Ally - Cheryl. 

I knew it was a fast start, with groups blasting past, but kept to our plan and pacing. So pretty much the next 100 miles I sat on the front, looking over my right shoulder to check Andrea was there, the odd shout of "steady" to keep me in check, and had a great ride :-) No idea if I was leading 3 others or 100 in our group, so in my head I was Tony Martin leading the Peleton round. Also, if you need advice on cornering without braking ask Cheryl, or you may have heard her back in Dundee as she "offered" advice to some folks who had tagged on to us as we rounded the one sketchy tight corner, that vexed her a tad.

Apparently we did the first 40 miles at a 23mph average, believe it was mentioned at least once :-) which was my plan as knew we would lose some time when we hit the hilly section. First up is Newlands and the start of the hills. We agreed to regroup at the top / bottom which we did and when I could catch Andrea on the descents we settled back into our formation. Thankfully due to the early start the roads were not busy and we could go at our own pace, not having to dodge too many people or folks walking up the hills. Next up was Leith Hill which is the only "proper" climb on the route, a couple of wee sharp bits before a rather sketchy descent on the worst surface of the whole route. Again, glad it wasn't busy as really wouldn't fancy that with 1,000's of others around.

Then a wee roll along to Europe's most ridden Strava segment that is Box Hill. It is a lovely climb, but it is pretty easy, helped by the super smooth surface.

Then a quick bottle fill at the top, where Andrea didn't have to break stride as she entered the feed stop, we picked up her bike and walked it to the exit as she got her bottles filled and off again - an F1 team would have been proud :-)

Only 32 miles to go and a lot of it downhill or flattish. We were making good progress and with about 25 miles to go Cheryl asked "have you done the calculations" to which my reply was " yes, it will be close". We needed to keep a 22 mph average for the last hour to get under 5 hours and I knew there was a nasty wee bit at Wimbledon, where the road kicked up - but there were hoards of folks cheering us on which was great.

The miles ticked by pretty quickly and we passed Houses of Parliament, through HorseGuards and on to the Mall for the sprint finish.

I pulled up to let the 3 others roll up so we could go across together and realised too late the finish line was sooner than I remembered and we crossed it before Andrea got beside us! Quick check of the time, we had done it, 4:57 official time :-) I think it was all down to the perfect pacing by the lead domestique.

I had a cracking ride, loved it, think being in the team was great and all getting round together under our target was fab. The crowds were out in numbers all along the route and loads of shouts of encouragement, think us being in team formation got us lots of shouts. It is well organised and a great ride (if you get an early start). Only drawback was there was nowhere to get a beer at 11am once we finished!

Garmin stats for me:

I should be so lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky!

The 2 ways to get in to this massively oversubscribed event is to pounce on a package tour on the day they are released, or go into the ballot with 35,000 others for the 4,000 places available. I entered the ballot and won a place. There are 3 routes, you choose which one to do on the day - a 50Km taking in 4 passes, a 106 Km taking in 6 passes and the full 138Km and 7 passes, including the feared Passo Giau.  I had tried this event in 2017 but only got round the 50K loop as my tyre ripped, so I had unfinished business, feeling lucky?!

The registration is at the top of steep hill in a village just past La Villa where the race starts. After a wee bit of a queue, easy enough to do and the goody bag you get is the best of any. There is an official event Castelli top and gilet, water bottle, Maratona branded prosecco, scarf, buff, energy products and other things that you may actually use - must be worth more than the entry fee. Only downside of the ballot entry is you start in the last pen, so 7,000 people in front of you and 2,000 in your pen!

Come Sunday it was the usual stupid o'clock alarm and trying to eat breakfast at 4:30am before heading to be dropped off near the start. The previous few days had been overly warm, even the locals were saying so, but at 5:30am it was pleasantly cool as we gathered in a back street of La Villa, not even in sight of the start line.

The helicopters were overhead (the race is live on Italian RTE TV) and at 6:30 the gun fired and the race started. It took us 25 minutes to get to the start line, the lead racers were over the first climb by then! It was a bit chaotic as a large bunch crawled up to the line and then head off towards Corvara and the Passo Campolongo.

The crowds on this early climb meant progress was severely hampered, had to come to stop a number of times, at least meant couldn't set off too hard! The descent wasn't much better as still a lot of riders. As soon as you hit the bottom of the descent the Passo Pordoi starts - this the theme for the whole route, there is no flat road at all! Again, the traffic hampered progress as you had to weave around slower riders while faster riders passed you! Was feeling fine though, tapping out a steady pace. The descent off the Pordoi was actually quite cold, which was nice.

The Passo Sella was next up and it is a tough wee climb with steep pitches, but my goodness the views when you look up. Common theme for the whole trip, every corner you turn throws up another amazing view. A lovely descent then on to the Passo Gardena, a climb of 2 halves, as there is a nice wee downhill section before the last kick up. On the descent, my mind did flash back to 2017 as this is where disaster struck, so had a big smile when I got down and back into Corvara. You pass the finish line for the 50K route and on to the Passo Campolongo, again! Second time around was quieter and even with tired legs, and managing my effort, was quicker this time and the descent to Arabba was quicker too with less folks around.

This time at the bottom of the descent you turn left and downhill towards the 106 / 138 route split. I knew the Passo Giau would be awful, so kept it easy, resisting the temptation to jump on the odd passing train. In the 15K from Arabba to the Giau had a couple of wee lumps on the route map, turns out they would be classed as decent hard climbs on a normal club run! Must be 50-50 the split of those that do the 106 and 138 routes as the full route heads to Cadore and immediately kicks up at 9-10% and stays there for the next 10K! The Passo Giau is up there with the Mortorilo as just awful, a real slog, no respite. Halfway up the sky to the right turned very black and could hear the thunder starting! This could be interesting, as the night before there was a thunderstorm and torrential rain that turned the roads into rivers. I crawled up, hoping to get over the top before the rain. After an eternity the top of climb number 6 and no sign of the rain.  The descent was on wet roads though, so not sure how that happened! Luckily (again) managed to avoid any rain at all, and the temperature peaked at 26, so about as perfect as it could be for me.

Only 1 more climb to go, the longest of the route, Passo Valparola. I was done, run out of legs. On any other day this would be good climb, but not today. I had nothing to give and just turned the pedals as best I could until eventually reached the summit and the nice descent down to the start town La Villa. I had no eye on a time, just to finish so didn't push on, just rolled along.

There is one final sting in the tail, as you leave La Villa for the last 3 miles to Covarra, they send you up the Mur de Giat, a 400m vertical ramp with a max gradient of 23%!! There were people falling over with cramp, walking, but with gritted teeth I made it, just. All that was left was a spin up the last drag to the finish line. DONE, in every sense.

Was great to get welcomed back and a shake of the hand from Michil Costa the owner and organiser of the event, dressed in his splendid tweed waistcoat and plus fours. Then a medal and a hat for everyone who completes any of the 3 routes, bottle of water and they provide a Pasta Party to stock up too.

It is a tremendous event, well run, well supported (not just the multitude of feed stations, but there is mechanical support all along the route too), volunteers marshalling, crowds cheering, all great. It is a brute of a day though, so much climbing in a shortish route, but an absolute cycling paradise. I'd recommend it, i fnot fotr the event then for a cycling or walking holiday as it is a stunning area.

PS Luck ran out, bike never arrived back from Venice, a first after goodness knows how many trips. Wasn't the only one, 3 missing bikes and a buggy on our flight alone. So rather a stressful end to an amazing trip (but have been told it has been found and will be home tomorrow)!

Here's the stats from my Garmin, official time of 7:27 for mid table finish :-)

The last time I did this event on this route it was 3 degrees, it was colder this year but that didnt stop 9 hardy Wheelers turning up (Ciaran, Andy A, Tony N, Cheryl, Mike T, Steve McM, John C, Brian B, me)!

The Evans events are probably the best value, about £17 to register and then you get pretty much all of that back in a High5 Race Pack, and they are well run too. Registration was easy and then you get set off in waves of 20-30. Three routes to choose from and with the medium (55 miles) and long (88 miles) you can choose after about 45 miles, where they split, which one you want to do.

We all set off together as the route went out from Callander towards Loch Katrine on truly shocking roads, a theme for the day, as the bunch were continually shouting out potholes and weaving all over the road to try and find tarmac. After 8 miles you turn left and the first climb over Dukes Pass, about a 3 mile steady climb with a fast technical descent to Aberfoyle where we regrouped at the feed station. The route was then a loop round Loch Katrine back to the bottom of Dukes Pass again. A lumpy section round the lochs saw us split into 2 groups.

Back up over Dukes Pass and the descent to Aberfoyle where the 4 of us regrouped. We turned left and out to Port of Menteith and round the Lake with Ciaran driving the pace, which is where Tony dropped off. At Arnprior there is a long nasty climb to the Top of the World, thankfully Ciaran and Andy waited for me. On the descent to Kippen we lost Andy but we decided to stop at the next feed station to regroup. After a couple of minutes Andy appeared and immediately disappeared into the toliets for the next 10 minutes - we did check he was still alive! A few minutes later Tony arrived surprised (glad?) to meet up with us again. So the 4 of us set off for the last section.

There is a real sting in the tail as you get to Thornhill and then spend an hour going round in a lumpy circle in a strong wind to end up where you were, ohh the temptation to just cut across was tough to ignore.

With around 85 miles in the legs they then throw one last hill at you and I can you tell the language was choice particularly as it had a false summit! I had really had enough and my legs couldn't push me any harder so spun up as easy as I could. Then finally we had a mile downhill and then a mile into a headwind and we were done, well and truly done.

Is it possible to have an out and back loop where there is more climbing than descending because it felt like it, seemed we were always going up and rarely going down!

At the finish you get to use the Sports Centre changing facilities, showers etc and there is cafe for much needed cake and coffee where I was disappointed to see that the comically grumpy lady is no longer there and the staff are now pleasant and smiling!

Overall a tough day out not helped by the wind and the state of the roads, but it is a great route and a well run good value event.

The stats are below, I will post up the results when they are published.

It was that sociable we even stopped for coffee.

It was a rude start to the day with a very early alarm call and on the road for 5:30am! There were around 20 Wheelers signed up to do this lumpy event from Prestonpans in support of the Poppy Scotland charity. Some were doing the medium 66 mile route, 16 of us lined up at 7:30am for the 100 and off we went.

The initial run out was flattish with nice views of the Forth on quite good roads and then some lumps started. After about 25-30 miles we decided to split into 2 groups with 10 of us setting off and 6 in a group just behind, just like a Saturday Club Run 

We kept a fairly social pace, regrouping on any climbs and rolled along well, but the wind was getting up! After 57 miles we stopped at the feed station, which was inside a nice looking new build school. I very rarely stop when doing events so was a bit twitchy, even more so when everyone decided to get a coffee and have a seat and a blether! This being sociable takes some getting used to  We were then joined by 3 of the other 6 group (Gill P, Graeme D, Ian S) with the other 3 electing to do the medium route.

We set off as 13 now and immediately hit hills, lots of hills, with lots of howling headwind! Ian S told us to go on without him, and Graeme D stayed to keep him company as the now 11 of us slogged our way round. It was tough going. It was however, beautiful scenery, dry and bright, good roads (mainly) and very very little traffic – so not all bad.

After descending to Gifford, there is a final longish drag before mainly downhill and flat run in, we even had a tailwind for the last 2 miles. All back safely we got a very nice commemorative medal followed by coffee and toast.

A very well run event, great challenging route, well signposted and marshalled, would recommend it.

Our official time was 7:27, so not troubling the podium, but a good club run. The 11 of us who stuck together have the same time of 7:27 – Graeme C, Helen W, Cheryl W, Abigail C, Gus G, Dave P, Gill P, Ralph C, Stephen McM, Len J, Davie R

Graeme Davidson supported Ian Stewart round for a time of 7:59

The times for the 66 miles were –
Andrea, Brian B, Ian A  – 4:50
Kenny F – 5:33
Jim B, Gary K , Stephen K  – 6:46

Special mentions to Abigail on her first century ride and welcome back Gary Kilcullen (you could have picked an easier ride for it!).

Garmin stats below, 100 miles, 7,900 feet of climbing and moving time of 6:30.