The Chain Reaction Cycles TransScotland (Powered by Merida Bikes) kicks off to a fine start with a full fat 76km opening day, filled to bursting with lung busting climbs and off the back, rear tyre buzzing descents, reports Matt Skinner from the event!

1st Linking Stage – Sunday 27th May 2007

• Selkirk to Moffat
• Total distance: 76km
• Climbing: 2,100m

As the rains limply came down on Selkirk, the first Chain Reaction Cycles TransScotland (Powered by Merida Bikes) shrugged off the flailing elements on Sunday morning as 245 riders clicked into their SPD pedals and began making their way to Moffat, some 76km away. Facing them lay a not-insignificant hunk of typically Scottish border country with three progressively tougher major climbs: this was big country served up with a side of deep fried Haggis, a heady mix of drizzle and side of blue sky and sunshine to finish.

The riders spun through Selkirk as it slumbered and headed west along a sequence of wooded singletrack forays that screwed their minds firmly onto the job in hand. The over night rains had given the trails a good dousing and added some slippery spice to the mix. The course then headed calmly by Ettrick Water and along the forested trails of the Bowhill Estate before hot-stepping it to the foot of the first major climb of the day: all 450m of it up to Sandbed Moss that wound its way up snaking double track road before ramping up grunt-inducing tussocky slopes to the top out. From there the course skirted the flanks of Eldinhope Knowe, and made for the forested escarpments of The Wiss and another gravity surge up 516m book ended with mud and tough conditions under tyre, for which the fast rocky descent was more than a just reward.

After a spin out on the black top to shed excess organic matter and onto the Southern Upland Way, the riders worked themselves up Capell Fell and it’s straight up stairway to heaven portage to summit one of the highest points in the region just shy of 678m. Then the die was firmly cast: the only way was down. Straight down Selcoth Burn in an orgy of tyre buzzing steep and open grassy descent that Keith Bontrager later described as “like a groomed ski piste.” Just pick your line, get off the back and carve down the never ending, brake pad melting descent to roll into the finish, tired, elated and buzzing.

Monday sees the second linking stage from Moffat to Drumlanrig, followed in the afternoon by the first special stage on Drumlanrig’s wooded singletrack, after which the race’s pecking order will begin to take shape and the Chain Reaction Cycles TransScotland (Powered by Merida Bikes) will truly begin firing on all cylinders. But for many, the beast is already awake and prowling hungrily after some truly memorable trail…