It has been a while.....

So, it has been a while since we have posted and therefore it is now time to start again.......

Daily Picture From Each Day's Ride

Last Night Bar Bill

Is any proof required that we are the pub cyclists??????

My Trek Bike - Madone 4.7c

The bike I used for the trip was the Trek Madone 4.7c. I think I know now why the brand is called Trek since that is what you are going to be doing a lot of the time!! As can be seen in the photograph I have had to duct tape the base of the seatpost to the frame to stop the saddle from spinning around. This event happened on day 8 when the inner metal sleeve of the carbon frame sheared off at the point where the seat post clamp holds everything together. The result was that the seat post was just sitting in the frame and whilst the clamp stopped it falling down there was nothing to stop it spinning around.
The bike is also a very hard ride. The slightest bumps are transmitted through to the rider and at times the bike feels very nervous over bumpy surfaces such as a cattle grid of which we met quite a few.
At high speed the bike is fairly stable but could not help wondering if there was gong to be a catastrophic failure of the frame!!
I have the compact groupset so no girly triple for me. The compact handled all the hills I encountered although I did need to go up some hills a little faster than I would have preferred.

The frame is now probably scrap because of the seatpost issue. I will be taking the bike back to the shop of course under warrantly. Would I buy another Trek?????

No!!!!!!!

Team Photo

Team photo at John o' Groats of Helen, Rob and Simon. If you click on the photo then it opens in a larger window and you may even notice that Rob appears to have 4 navels and some 'man boobs' under development!!!!!

Crask Inn

On the ride up to the north coast of Scotland in the middle of nowhere on one of the best cycling tracks in the UK there is an oasis called the Crask Inn. It was exactly mid distance in our ride and provided a most welcome stop for food and liquid sustenance.

Lejog Stats

For the whole ride Rob and I both used the Garmin Edge 800. This acted as a sat nav and also tracked a whole bunch of vital stats. I cannot say enough how useful the Garmin was for guiding us on the route especially since we were taking the quieter routes and were making many turns.

The 'big ride' stats are:

1014.6 miles
64.13 hours of riding
18,097m of climbing
15.8 mph average speed
123bpm average heart rate.
34,641 calories burned
54.7mph max speed

1000+ miles in 10 days

We rolled into John o'Groats this morning. The obligatory pictures at the post were taken and we signed the visitor book. More pictures to follow and more stats of the ride to follow in due course.......

It has been a great ride. Mentally and physically it was challenging but now I am basking in the after ride bragging rights. It was a great pleasure to have shared the ride with Rob and Si. It has also been great for me to have had Helen along with me to share our experiences day by long day. We have all had some great laughs in the evenings and that has eased the pain of the days.

Would I do it again?........... Yes!

john o groats

we didi it! A nice sunny morning, but a rather windy 40 miles. Now in the car and heading due south. Full update later

The Best Cycling Road in the UK

I think the photos say it all. I have ridden a lot of miles on a lot of roads but the day 10 route through the North of Scotland on single track roads is the best route I've taken in the UK. If this place was "Down South" there would be 1000s of cyclist on it. But then there would also be a motorway, seaside resorts and holiday homes everywhere and the place would be mobbed.

John O'Groats or Bust

Do I really need to say more.......................

chalk and cheese

What a difference a day makes...
yesterday, rain, broken bikes, mountain bike trials and the worst B&B/pub of the trip - The Station inn at Alness, dont think i'll give them a good rating on trip advisor. Bless the 2 old dears who served us breakfast though. the guys were ok as they had the standard english breakfast, however i threw non standard order at them "poached eggs and beans on toast please". they came back to the table 4 times to confirm my order and it took the best part of half an hour to serve. Did I mention they wrote the order down when they first took the order. Rob has a working theory that she couldn't actually write and just doodled on the pad as we asked for our orders!
On to day 10: Alness to Melvich, about 90 miles. the sun was shining, the wind was favourable for most of the day and the roads were possible the best I have ever riden on. miles and miles of smooth tarmac and the most amazing views of forests, hills, lochs. Yesterday I hated Scotland, today it was an amazing place. We had our first glimse of the Atlantic ocean on the far North coast and with that we knew we were nearly home. The place was Bettyhill and the views of the beach were wonderful. We then had a hard final 10ish mile slog to Melvich, but it was worth it. We are staying at the Melvich hotel, certainly the poshed place on the stay - i think it's well deserved for our last night of the trip. Just a 40 mile ride in the morning to the coast and then thats it, job done.

Day 10 - Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Men

We are down to the final stage and the last push to John O' Groats!!! 9 days of grind and sweat and now we are on day 10. It has been very tough going mentally and physically but the prize is in sight so our spirits are lifted. We do have the slight technicality of covering the last 128miles but after riding 900 miles we are feeling confident.

We have chosen the scenic route rather than the coast road and this adds about 28 miles to the route but what is 28 miles between friends????

The sun is shining and the winds are favourable so looks like it will be a very nice ride.

There is just one little blip on the horizon and that is we have what will be the most hilly stage of the whole ride. Out of 128miles there are only about 6 miles where the road is horizontal!!

Day 9 - Helen to the Rescue - Nee Naw, Nee Naw

This was the route for day 9. It turned out to be the longest route so far time wise. It started wet and got real messy when we went off road for long sections. Road bikes have 23mm tyres for a reason and it is not to glide over gravel and mud!!
At the Caledonian canal tow path section Rob got the first puncture of the whole trip. Shortly after that there was a failure of a component on Si's bike to remain connected to the bike and the rear mech fell off. This was a terminal failure. We could have shortened the chain to run a fixed gear but that would not have carried Si up the hills. So, the first SOS call of the trip was made to Helen to bring the spare bike. She was only about half an hour away and came with blue lights flashing and sirens awailing, almost.
The ride continued and at 42miles in we met the 'big momma' of hills. An 8 mile 1250 feet monster. It was put to shame by Si and I's mountain goat climbing ability and we froze at the top waiting for 'Speedy Gonzales'.
My seat post continues to twirl around every opportunity and when going through towns I have become aware of kids pointing!
The spare bike is in use and therefore I have to resort to using all my 32 years of engineering experience to make a fix, with the ubiquitous duct tape!!
The overnight stop was at a doss house called the Station Hotel organised by Rob. No ensuite and the other rooms all appear to have Polish immigrants living in them! It is not a place for a lady to stay!!.... and that is all I will say about that.....

its grim up norfff

where do i start. A wet morning and we set off a little later than usual, about 9.30 so we were all feeling as good as could be expected. The first 20ish miles were good and we put in a few quick miles. The rain was coming down but it was light and nothing as bad as the weatherman promised. We then hit the canal tow paths and initially they were ok, similar to many previous days. However the going soon got rougher and Rob got the first puncture of the trip, a mere 840 miles into the trip. We soon got back underway and were all hoping not to get another puncture, the track was getting rougher. No punctures for the next few miles and all was well, then CLANK. I looked down and something was very wrong. I stopped, got off and saw my rear mech was stuck in my spokes. The rear mech hanger, a bit of metal about 4cm long had sheared in 2. My bike was well and truly nackered, i was gutted. We rang helen and within an hour she was with us and i changed to the spare bike. During the hour wait it rained so the 3 of us got snuggly in a phone box to keep dry. This was only 25 miles in, still 80 miles to go. So we set off again and hit loads more mountain bike trails on our road bikes. The 5 miles on the trails was terrible and took ages. Then we got back on the main road and knew we still have the 1200 foot climb. The climb was long and steep, but we made it and after a little wait for rob, we then all flew down the other side. We stopped at a pub and had a quick pint and a bag of crisps, that was lunch done. After lunch dave had a puncture and had more problems with his seat post, his seat is only just hanging together. We carried on and hit inverness, which was very busy. We headed out over the bridge with 30 mph side winds, it was horrible. We carried on and finally made it to alness at about 6.30. We are staying at the station inn pub. Well its a bed for the night, but i'll be glad to move on asap in the morning, never thought i'd say that. Its been a tough day for all. A hilly day tomorrow and then a quick trip on wednesday and we're done.

Day 8 Musings and Day 9 Pre-ride

Day 8 started with a gentle 300 yard cycle to the ferry which took us from the north tip of Arran to the mainland. Weather was dry the whole ride and at times the wind helped us except the last 10 - 15 miles. The scenery was again breathtaking or maybe it was just the hills we were climbing that made us gasp. Rob informed me that a wise cycling sage once said that on these rides you morph into a 'cycle fit' stage during the ride but I think I have just morphed into a cycle wreck. I need to remember that Rob also believes you get better phone reception sticking your phone in a beer glass and that if you hold the iPad against your head then the signal is stronger!
My saddle woes continue and today I rode with my mountain bike saddle. Needless to say I will not be riding with it again! During a short pit stop yesterday I discovered that the inner metal sleeve that my seat post slides into on the carbon frame has sheared off so there is nothing holding my seat post in the frame! The clamp stops it sliding down but now the saddle can slide around 360 degrees. We have a spare bike in the back-up vehicle BUT it is a wee frame.
Our lunch break was a long one since we met up with old friends, Andrew and Fiona who we had not seen for a few years. It was good to catch up on the gossip and Helen and I could have easily stopped for a lot longer.
The day 8 destination was Ballachulish and the Loch Leven Hotel is well located. Again we do not have decent wireless or 3G so no pictures.

Day 9 is the penultimate day and is a 102 mile ride to Allness which is just past Inverness. This means in one day we will ride from the west coast Scotland to the East coast. It is also going to be a very wet day and we have a massive 1250feet climb bang in the middle of the ride.

a day in the life of...

we've decided that this holiday is almost like a job. Every day;
up at 7am
breakfast 7.30
get kit packed up 8.00
Set off 8.30
cycle till we find a decent pub for lunch for food and drinks 1pm
cycle some more 2pm
get to the hotel around and have more beer 5.30pm
have a shower and wear something other than lycra 6pm
back to the bar for another beer 6.05pm
have tea with drinks 7pm
have another beer 8pm
have a g&t 9pm
have another beer 10pm
crawl into bed and pass out (can no longer read the time)

the first 60 miles were great, decent weather and we made good speed. They we dropped down in to Oban for lunch and met some friends of Dave and Helen for lunch. All we had after lunch for a 30ish mile ride to the hotel. For some reason it was the longest 30 miles of the trip for me. i just wanted to stop as soon as possible. Luckily dave and rob dragged me through and eventually we landed at the hotel. The views out of the hotel are stunning and we are on the beer and we are in the bar watching the canadian grand prix.

Day 8- Arran to Loch Leven

We had a good night on Arran, a great island to visit, beautiful in places but I would struggle to live there!
It was a 0930 ferry to the mainland and then a 60 mile run into Oban for lunch. Quite a few climbs and some wonderful descents. Had a good meal in Oban with a couple of Dave and Helen's friends who live on Mull and got the ferry over to meet us. I said it was good they made the effort to meet us and Dave said "what effort- we've cycled from Land's End!"
The run from Oban to Loch Leven was windy and tough with me and Simon leading for a while until Double Pants Dave super cycle hero blasted ahead and led us in for the last 10 miles against a tough wind.
Loch Leven hotel is in a amazing location and the views out the window are something else. Watching the Grand Prix and typing this during the red flag period!
So that's 800 miles done and 200 left. We are taking a scenic route tomorrow along small tracks up the side of Lochs. It will be slow going but worth it, although the weather looks rough tomorrow, ie wet.
No photos today I'm afraid as we are not in a wifi or 3G zone!

Day 7 - My Turn

No Internet connection in Lochranza so no pictures tonight, :-(.
I mentioned in my previous blog on the ferry over that we were blessed with the weather. Well, the blessing did not last long and sure enough, 5 miles from the hotel the heavens opened and we got drenched as we climbed a 1000 feet climb. The descent was extremely fast and dangerous due to the poring rain. I nearly wiped out at a turn at a bridge when my brakes did not bite as early as I hoped they would and I was forced to lean into the corner far more than I wanted to. I am going to send some more money to the company that makes my tyres, Continental. The tyres we are all using are Gator Skins and so far we have over 2000 miles and no punctures!

Tomorrow is another rest day with a mere 91 mile ride.

The Scottish midges are out in force tonight and biting like hell. What a shame Rob and Si left their room window open!!!

arron and upwards

a long day, mainly trying to log on in Arron... The land that time forgot, by the looks of the locals at the lochranza pub. We did 100 and something miles, it doesnt seem to matter any more once we get over the 100 mark. The aches and pains are starting to turn numb, which is good. Hands and feet are sore from the vibration of the road. Legs are sore, i cant remember a time when they werent. Sore neckand sore upper back, and occasional sore head... Usually first thing in the morning. I saw the donations webpage is up to £380 which is great, but we have spent more than that on beerso come on if you havent donated!! Phone/internet reception is terrible here. Rob is typing a text message and then using an empty pint glass to help send the signal. Yes he does look stoopid, but oddly it seems to work. The ride today was amazing in parts, photos to follow when we get back to the 21st century. We saw wild deer and sheep b
blocked the road on more than one occassion. The low point was a jaunt through ayr and preswick, what a hole..! The lochranza' hotel' seems nice enough, although the food portions are too small, i'm always hungry. and the pleasantries are non existant, however the bloke behind the bar looks lke christiphor biggins which is fun. A lazy lie in until 8ish tomorrow before the ferry back to the mainland. I dont even know where we are going tomorrow, i guess somewhere north of here.