Etape Loch Ness

In 2015 I got my first bike, I'd had hand me downs from my brother and cast off's from my dad growing up but this was the first new bike I'd ever owned, it was a Giant Hybrid and I loved it. At the time I couldn't understand why people paid more than a couple of hundred pounds for a bike or how people end up with multiple bikes. Fast forward a year and I now own a Bianchi Via Nirone 7 road bike and it's my pride and joy!

Back when I first got that Giant hybrid a colleague asked if I fancied doing the Etape Loch Ness. I said no, it seemed too big a challenge and while I loved touring around Scotland at my own pace, doing a sportive felt absolutely terrifying. Something stuck with me tho, it was always in the back of my mind, until I mentioned it to my partner who simply said 'let's do it'. I registered my interest in the event in November 2016 thinking I'd never get in....but I did.

January arrived and with it the cold, wet weather - a perfect time to start training! We got off to a fairly good start doing training rides most weekends and working out in the gym but then we had a spate of weekends away and things slipped, I started to get nervous, I saw the route profile showing the 393m climb known as 'King of the Mountain' in my dreams (/nightmares).

The only way I know to tackle fear or nerves is to tackle them head-on so that's what I did. I upped my training, I asked my partner (a Personal Trainer) to create a program for me which I did relentlessly, we did back to back spin classes and we forced ourselves out on the roads every weekend gradually increasing our miles.

There were good rides and bad rides, some notably bad ones included a ride from Glasgow to Largs in the pouring rain, Graham (my partner) had a virus and I struggled badly with numbness in my hands to such an extent I could hardly use my brakes. Another was cycling back from Troon where I was plagued by cramps in my legs and just couldn't settle into the ride but we forged on none the less. I've been known to get the bit between my teeth and when that happens there's no giving up.

As race day approached my nerves settled, we travelled to Inverness and enjoyed a day exploring the city, we had a nice meal the night before and I slept solidly until we had to get up at 5am on race day. I felt calm and ready cycling to the start line, I'd expected to feel horribly nervous that morning but it didn't happen.

We finished in 05:00:13 and I felt strong the whole way around, I even made it up King of the Mountain without stopping - I air punched and whooped the whole way down.

My overall time was in the top 50% of women and I was 337th out of about 1,000 women on Queen of the Mountain, I was delighted!

After a very large roast dinner and half a bottle of red wine I had time to reflect; the physical side of the training was crucial and hugely improved my strength and stamina but what got me through the race was those tough cycles, they taught me that you can carry on, your body can do it you just have to keep peddling. Those tough cycles were invaluable, they gave me the experience to know there will be hard bit's, you'll want to stop, you'll wish it was over but you won't stop because you know you'll come through it and that at the end of it you'll feel amazing!