Owning It

The 20th and final Pedal for Scotland. My (and Her) third one, Tom's 2nd and Alex's debut. 

We were up at 6, and out shortly thereafter, with a slight paranoia about getting on a train, but were in Waverley after 7; and onto what we thought was the correct platform. Then McDonalds for coffee.

At 8 the train was still on the platform, no sign of movement, an announcement that it was delayed due to signalling problem. The train then headed off down towards E Lothian and we scratched our heads.

Then the almighty scramble from platform 10 to platform 2 as they recalled the train there. 4 bikes, 2 kids and space for bikes at a premium.... thanks, Scotfail you never cease to be anything other than  unwieldy.

Out at Queen St, we lined up at the start of George Square on a bright fresh morning and off we went; along Duke St; Alex amazed at how quiet it was. At the top of the hill up from Glasgow Cross we joined up with PFS (we'd missed the cut off for the 0900 start at Glasgow Green so just battered on into the fray).

Drumpellier was 9 miles away and shutting at 10, so we got stuck in; She and Tom lead the way, Alex and I (me shoving him on the uphills) trailed in their wake but at 0955 we arrived, scooped up the fuel available and also bumped into Kristers (Tom's chum from school). An officious official swept through the station at 10:00:01 declaring that they were closing, so off we set into the hilly 2nd section.
13 miles of undulating roads. But thankfully a tail breeze and also Kristers' dad (who's name I really ought to know; I've spoken to him a million times at P7 football etc) shared in the duties of propelling Alex along at speed.
Helpfully Tom paired up with Kristers and She / Me / Alex / Kristers dad formed our own little gruppetto  and charged onwards to Slamannan. Possibly because we started late, we had (relatively) clear roads and in little over an hour we hove into Slamannan. Water, sandwiches, drawing breath and then onwards once more. 

We dropped the Kristers team and ploughed on alone, and whilst this 13 miles contained the worst ascents, it also contained many long sweeping downhills; the boys just zipped down them, effortless and exhilarated. Autumnal fields of golden stubble, the bright orange of rowans, the pinks and purples of willowherb and blackberries set against the blueish sky was magical. Very Famous Five / bike ride / adventure but without a golden retriever for company. Or ginger beer.

The long drag from Linlithgow Bridge into the palace grounds is always a chore but we managed it and dumped the bikes down and went  in search of pies and pieces. A pleasant hour on the grass in the shadow of the palace and then onto the final 10 miles. 

The snaking ascent out of Linlithgow up to Threemiletown was slow but all of the team were digging in; and certainly the 2 miles form Winchburgh to Kirkliston were superb; wide roads; a view of distant Embra and the wind behind as we swept across the final few miles of West Lothian.

The sharp right in Kirkliston leads onto a speedy mile to the back of the airport and finally onto the home straight - much longer than I remember, but the excited chatter returned from the boys (particularly Alex) as he realised he'd done it! The announcer as we crossed the line picked out Alex's smile - 'this kid's had a ball; he looks like he's been smiling the whole way here' which was pretty much true.

Their mum was late for the 2nd and final time; twice she's said she'll see them finish and twice she's arrived late.

Medals / photos / tram to town and the final 10km home on the cycle path where the fatigue kicked in; Tom a spent force, but hardly surprisingly. A brilliant unsupported 45 miles in a decent time.

Bikes dropped, we trudged slowly back up to their mum's and into hot baths and PJs.

And I did likewise.


I'm glad we got the chance to do it together; a day that will live long in the memory, and both boys now know they can achieve so much if they put a little effort into it. Go kids!