Warts and all

So this is me with 17 miles of cycle to go (from Killin to Kenmore - a loch shore road, aye right, it wasnae flat that's for sure) in the Rob Roy Challenge. By this time I'd done a 16-mile walk, during which I got a very bad blister on the ball of my foot, so quite a painful last 6 miles. It rained constantly, all day.

Then the cycle started and it was bliss because the pressure points were away from the blister. And, to be honest, I had really trained for the cycle, perhaps understimated the 4.5 hours of walking I had to do beforehand. However, before I could get very far, really only a few yards, I braked suddenly and flew over the handlebars. Very sharp brakes on the rental bike! Much sharper than my own. After the initial shock from our support team who were yards away, there was the laughter!!! Anyway, I was lucky not to have hurt myself I reckon, could have ruined the day -- luckily hadn't even got off the grass so had a soft landing.

Then it was off on cycle tracks, uphill pretty much from the off and then a really lovely route from Callander to Balquhidder along Loch Lubnaig. After that a mega-climb up Glen Ogle along an old railway track, I think about 9 miles. The reward was a super-quick dowhill into Killin into driving rain. The picture here is of me just afterwards (let's really get the full effect). It was so exhilarating! The highlight of the day for me.

The low point came about 10 miles later along Loch Tay. A very difficult stretch of up and down, felt more like up than down but of course the physics isn't right for that, into the wind. It was a struggle, my seat kept lowering itself, so having to stop and lift it didn't help the rhythm. Four miles later, things started looking up, and then it was a pretty easy run into Kenmore (still raining).

Had a wonderful support team from the Sightsavers charity, with whom I was cycling. Felt like a pampered Formula One driver, really thoughtful, helpful, encouraging, made a big difference on a wet and cold June day.

Then it was hog roast, drinks, more drinks, and more drinks until I collapsed in a heap at around 2.30am. Great sense of achievement, I worked hard for it over the last few months. In addition to Jeremy, Ronnie, Ali and Hillary who were in the Sightsavers team, thanks to Dave, Jim and Sam for coming out with me on walks and cycles and helping me to get ready for what was a pretty tough, but really fun, day.

Next year? As someone in my team said, Just think, this is the youngest we'll ever be doing this. We'll see....