2020 Strathpuffer
TLdr: Never wanted to do the Puffer, signed up as a pair, partner bailed, started solo, didn’t MTFU enough, scratched after 6 laps, have to do it again next year.
You may recall I never wanted to do the Puffer in the first place. I had signed up as a pair, then just a week before the race my pair partner bailed on me. And magically my plan B and plan C became unavailable! So – I contacted the organizers and asked if I could switch to a solo entry, which they kindly agreed to. So I was signed up to solo this damn event I didn’t want to do!
I drove up to Fort Augustus a couple of days before-hand, with a plan to arrive at the event site on Friday and camp that night. The Puffer allows all the campervans to park on the main climb, Tour de France stylee – it’s quite a scene! Here’s me riding down the lower half, on the day of the race:
However – I was not in a campervan, but rather a work van borrowed from a friend. Which was too small to camp in, so I had to put a tarp thing on it and keep the doors open. And use some wood taken from the local rubbish dump to extend the “bed” area. This on a night that was forecast to go well below freezing. Needless to say – it was a cold night. I was miserable, and probably only slept about three hours.
Because of this I started the race chilled, and never warmed up. First four laps were on the pace I was aiming for (1:15 per lap, aiming for 16 laps on an 1:30 average) but HR was waaaay too high. Even walking some of the sharpest uphills, even coasting the downhills, I was in Z4/Z5 the whole time. Still not sure how much of this was lack of sleep/cold, how much was typical start of race nervousness, or what.
It all fell apart in the fifth lap – I bonked, I got very chilled. I jumped into the van and fired up the CampingGaz heater and downed some food, but just couldn’t get warmed up enough. It didn’t help that all my food and water was in the van, and thus also at about 0 degrees C.
After a half hour or so, I went back out. Lap 6 was actually my best – still on pace (I think 1:20 – haven’t checked results) and HR where it needed to be in Z2/Z3.
It was a total mudfest as well – I passed at least three people who had ripped their rear derailleurs off in the mud, and a few other minor accidents (generally OTBs).
Lap 7 I started getting chilled again, and so went back to the van to try to warm up. I realized it wasn’t going to happen, and scratched, about 8 hours or one-third into the race.
I’m definitely annoyed at myself – in over 30 years of off-and-on MTB racing this is only the second time ever that I’ve DNF’d a race. So annoyingly, I’m going to have to solo the event again next year since I now have unfinished business! I do know what it takes though – this is one 24 I can’t do without a support team, and will need a heated campervan.
The guy I camped next to came in 16th in solo BTW – a monster.
After all that – drove back to our cottage in Fort Augustus, washed the bike, sat by the fireplace like an old man with a whisky, beer, blanket, and the Sunday Times, and was treated to the most amazing sunset.
