The Drum-Up

A fantastic picture from the Drummond trophy was posted on the Braveheart forum by John McBrearty.

The pic shows Fraser Connell, near the top of the Cathkin Braes, on the old circuit of the Drummond Trophy. The riders behind are Hector McKenzie (Douglas CC) and Norrie Drummond of Glenmarnock Wheelers. It’s thought to be 1964 or 1965. Norrie Drummond’s father was the sponsor of the Drummond Trophy.

The Braveheart thread includes nostalgic memories of the circuit before digressing to discuss who the most stylish Scottish rider of all time was. That’s a question I have been meaning to ask for a while, but didn’t feel qualified to ask- check out the thread for more.

Many thanks to John McBrearty for use of the pic. John describes himself as Formerly of the Glenmarnock Wheelers, now with Velo Allegro, Long Beach, CA USA.

[edit 02/10/10]
John McBrearty emailed me back to confirm some of the information and add a bit more. He said- I was young, 14 or 15, at the time, but I was actually at many a winter Drum-Up where Hector was. – it really is beyond due that I do a piece on Drum-Ups…

I rode the B race of the Davie Bell Memorial road race 2 weeks ago, and while it’s too late to review the day (and Martin and Ed from Veloresults have done that better than I could anyway) I thought I would recap a few of the reasons why I had such a stinker. I was dropped on the first climb and laboured over the two big climbs to 46th place, 10 minutes down.

• Don’t get ill the week before
• Don’t do another race the day before
• Don’t contest a sprint prime before the first of two big climbs
• Don’t waste energy by chasing down breaks before two big climbs

I have done a few posts on cat.4 tips, and why I did not follow my own advice I’ll never know! I did do one or two things well though and coming up to the first of the climbs, I thought I’d recovered enough after my sprint madness (didn’t know exactly where the line was, went too early, got caught) to get swept along with at least one of the main bunches.

• I had recce’d the route and knew when the climb was coming
• I was near the front
• I had checked my bike and knew it was working properly (a rookie mistake that undid me once last year)

Unfortunately though, I had failed not to do item 1 of the “dont’s” (don’t get ill) and my condition just wasn’t up to the tough Galloway climbs. A week out at the end of May knocked me back pretty badly and prevented me from keeping up my speed training, so any “top-end” I had was gone- essential if you want to keep up at the sharp end of a race- and a bit of a cold leading up to the race didn’t help either. My throat was left scorched the day after.

A full report of the A race, including Evan Oliphant’s win is on Veloresults.

The Lothian Flyer is held on a course near Stobo, near Peebles. It’s 6 laps of a 6ish mile loop with one smallish climb on it. It’s British Cycling regional C level (I think?) and is for Category 4 license holders, veterans and women racers. This was an event I thought I could do quite well in at the start of the year, as some clubmates of a similar standard to me got 2nd and 10th place.

The problem was, I have been ill over the last few weeks and as I was to find out, my legs deserted me when the pace got nippy up the climb. For four laps I was safely in the bunch, moving my way up and losing ground as other riders came around the outside- usual stuff. I sat in and recovered when I felt I needed it and dug in as best I could on the climb, although I am prone to lose alot of ground on the hills.

Coming up to lap 4 I wanted to be as near the front as possible because the hill began after a tight left-hand hairpin. I got up the bunch quite easily and sat in the strung-out line of lead riders feeling pretty comfortable. However, race-pace can be deceptive and I must have been using more energy than I thought at this stage, because come the climb, I went from front to back in the matter of a mile or so.

I have obviously not learned from the Gifford Road Race, where I spent a lap chasing back on to the bunch, and then working my way up to the front, before blowing completely on a climb. Tips for cat 4 riders: save your energy!

photos to follow.

The rest of the race went briliantly for Stirling BC, with powerful sprinter/time trialler Ian King providing a fast lead-out to strong climber Richard Macdonald to the bottom of the steep final climb. Richard unleashed everything he had and took the win- well done.