Part of my training plan was to hit Scotland for the bank holiday
weekend and take on some hills. I did a
similar weekend last year and encountered gale force winds, torrential rain and
even hail stones; I also had the worst the two worst days of my life cycling
Lands End to John O’Groats in Scotland; so to say I was excited would be a lie!
 |
| oh, another hill! |
The plan was for me and Keith (my girlfriend Kelly’s brother) to travel
to a few lumpy bits of Scotland and take on some hilly rides. The plan went tits up before we started as
Keith was ill with a virus, so suddenly I was facing three days of cycling on
my own (cycling in groups is easier than solo as when you follow another
cyclist you are sheltered from the wind); Keith valiantly took one for the team
and offered to be a support driver for the weekend, meeting me at strategic
points to pass supplies and take photos.
The eagle eyed of you may have noticed I am riding my road bike
Jasmine. As much as I love Holly, she is
a beast of a bike and I tend to only ride her when I need things carried!
Day 1 – Rest and Be Thankful
The day started well. I was
crowned King of the Mountain on the very first climb of the day, straight out
of the car park! Website Strava compares
GPS records of all cyclists who cycle common routes and rates them
accordingly; I claimed the climb to
Rest and Be Thankful…… this is one of the greatest sporting of my life (even if
I did only beat 9 other people!).
If I am not no. 1 on the leaderboard, I was when I posted this!!
The ride was a fantastic route with a good mix of climbs and descents, I
had a cracking time, although I was pretty knackered by the end of the day as
the route saved the biggest climb for last.
Towards the end of the day I cycled past Keith and just up the road
another car stopped to watch me ride past.
I thought nothing of it until I met with Keith at the end of the
ride. It turns out that as Keith was
wearing a Tour of Britain jacket the people in the car had stopped to ask him
if I was pro cyclist!! Keith did nothing
to put them straight (I couldn’t accuse him of lying!), so I had my first ever
cycling fans, even if somewhat fraudulently!!
Day 2 – Etape Caledonia
My second ride followed part of the route of the Etape Caledonia. The ride started with a nice hailstone
shower, before a bit of snow and plummeting temperatures. After 6 miles I was considering calling it a
day as I am not a lover of the cold and I was not dressed for artic conditions! Luckily I persevered and the day turned out
nice. The route had one big climb before
returning to Pitlochry along a very undulating route.
The ride went well until the last four miles……then I bonked. Bonking is a cycling term for when your body
runs out of energy. Having burnt all
your carbohydrates your body needs to break down fat to fuel itself; the
problem with this is the body cannot break down fat fast enough to support an
activity such as cycling! When you bonk
your legs have no power and even the simplest of climbs start to feel like
climbing Everest with lead boots, not a pleasant experience. I am pleased to report I made it to Pitlochry
(just) and upon arrival I devoured a baguettes to get my body back up and
running.
For the geeks, you can see where I bonked at the
end by looking at my heart rate trace.
Day 3 – Campsie
After the previous day, I filled my bottles and pockets with
carbohydrate drinks and gels. We set off
to Campsie, to return to the site of the hailstone storm of the previous
year. This ride in 2011 was easily the
most ridiculous conditions I have ever ridden in. The hail stones were so bad that I could only
look down at the white lines on the road as lifting my head up would have been
like getting my face shot blasted!
Although I was feeling the previous two days in my legs, I decided that
one last effort was required to record a decent ascent time on the Tak Me Doon
Road. I posted 18th out of 81
and very nearly puked at the top!
Although this doesn't look fast I was doing 43mph!
The rest of the ride went well, although the state of the road
alongside the reservoir was shocking, my arms worked harder than my legs in
places with all the bumps and potholes!
So what next?
My training is now focused on completing a half ironman on 23rd
June. I will be splitting my training
between cycling, running and swimming until then. After 23rd june I am hoping to do
a few long training cycles and put on a bit of weight before I head out to the
states.
