Today, Adrian, Aidan, Anthony, Barney, Ciaran and Tony completed the Giants Causeway Coast Sportive.  The GCCS is a 116 miles, 8800 foot cycle which starts and finishes in Ballycastle, and takes in the north coast and some of the Glens of Antrim,  culminating with a spin out over the Torr Head Road.

Barney had done the GCCS before, and so he was sure that he could use this insight to guide the others through the iternary.  However,  a couple of changes had been made to the route layout from previous years  -   one by design,  the other by cruel devilment.

Adrian had planned a weekend break in Ballycastle, so he was able to collect our bike numbers and timing chips on the Friday evening,  saving us the hassle of registration on the morning itself.

The rest of us agreed to meet up at the rec at 6am, which should have given us enough time to get to Ballycastle and be on the road on the bike at the earliest possible kick-off time, which was 7:30am.  However, one of the team somehow managed to sleep through the excitement of such a momentous day ahead, only stirring from his slumber when he received the phone call at ten by six  "Whirr yee yat?”.

We hot tailed it down to Ballycastle, and managed to get started the cycle just before 8am.  Out of the car-park starting line, and the first change to the route. Instead of heading out through the town for a gentle few miles of a warm-up,  the route turned immediately right and up that big brae round the back of Ballycastle.  The steep pull, and the cool morning air, left us a bit rattled after only a few miles.   But we soon settled down into the famous "Carn Wheeler  Sunday Cycle formation”  (2 abreast, up&overs, sharing the load).

There were lots of direction signs pinned to telegraph posts and road signs to ensure the cyclists did not get lost. Barney remarked, "See if this run was happening at home, you cud be sure that every wan ave them signs would be changed round”.  The others replied that surely the good people of Antrim would never do that.

We kept up a good pace and before we knew it, we were back in Ballycastle having completed the "wee loop”.

Here we stopped off at the van, shed our baselayers (as it had warmed up nicely), a wee bite to eat, and then it was off again, out of Ballycastle towards Glenshesk  for the "big loop”.    After Glenshesk we did (the back side of) Glenann, and then Glenballyeamon,  before a flat bit around the coast road from Glenarm to Cushendall.  Then the short road to Cushendun  (short as in up over the mountain rather than around it).

In Cushendun we stopped for a wee minute and got our breathe before taking on the Torr Head road.  Barney told everyone that there were four lumps to this road and so we would ride up each one at our own pace and regroup at each summit.  At the top of the third peak, Barney confidently asserted that we only had one more climb --  we would first have a tricky descent and then a short   bit of climbing at the bottom but it levelled off to then just be a long drag.

But at the start of the forth climb, instead of following the road sign for Ballycastle (as usual),  the route directed us off to the right.  "Ah, a wee variation from the previous year”,  thought Barney, "no real odds anyway, we’l just go down here a wee bit and rejoin the Ballycastle road a bit further on”.  But this was not a planned alternative by the organisers – this was where some wee skitters had changed the signs. Worser  still, they put up another sign later on and herded us all down a wee narrow road, with poor tar covering, screelings and gravel and lumps missing of the surface.  And to top it all, the road did an ascention up some serious hairpins at around 30% gradient.

But anyway,  we persisted on and made it to the top.  Only six miles left, all downhill into Ballycastle.  A nice wee spin of the legs to finish off  (and clear out any cramp that had set in).

A great cycle run, performed with great company.  Well done lads. Bring on the next one.

You’ll notice from the photos that Barney was not wearing his usual Carn Wheelers Back&Green.  Instead, he was in the yellow&white colours of Marie Curie.  Thanks to everyone who has donated, helping Barney raise over £500 for this worthy cause this time.  You can still donate, either on-line at  www.justgiving.com/BarneyMulholland, or you can donate directly to Barney himself and he will ensure that the money gets sent to Marie Curie.