RIDE COMMENTS

Huge hills and great descents few flat rides

Lovely people

Courteous drivers

Spectacular, beautiful country

Lots of sheep

Lots of cows

4 punctures for me, 1 for Michelle

Some really wonderful food, some not so good

Some wonderful B&B's, some scary.

So fortunate with the weather, only 1.5 days of rain

Rugby crazy people, Wales upsets England

Great to meet up with our XC14 British friends, nice to meet some new friends.

Huge beer and scotch consumption.

So proud of my riding partner!

Ride stats to follow.

Best,

M&M

POST RIDE Sunday September 27

It was wonderful waking up this morning not having to put on our cycling gear and pedal for 6 hours.  Instead, we had breakfast as a group, then say a few goodbyes and the rest of us loaded our stuff in a 20 seat bus and headed to the Inverness airport.  Some of the group were flying off to London, while Sherman, Michelle and I were picking up our Enterprise Rental car and heading 13 miles down the road to Nairn and The Boathouse House.  This is our reward for cycling 1,100 miles.  We hjust finished high tea and had a stroll through the spectacular gardens.  I've read that the Boathouse House is the finest B&B in all of Scotland.......it's pretty incredible.

Drinks at 6:30 tonight , then dinner at 7:30 in the farm/garden to table Michelin starred restaurant.  Tomorrow we head to Andy Murrays resort via Ft William to meet up with Stephen (and wife Barbara) and Rachael.

Best to all

M&M

Friday September 25

Today's ride from Inverness to Lairg of 56 miles got extended by 15 miles in order to shorten Saturday's final ride to John O'Groats (originally scheduled for 95 miles).  The ride was spectacular, riding through the country along the Dee river.  We experienced a few raindrops but escaped real rain.

Dinner at the Highland hotel with the hang.  One more day of cycling!

Saturday September 26, Final Day

Our final ride from Crask to John O'Groats didn't start out well.  We found ourselves in the midst of a swarm of Midges (small biting gnats).  The only way to get away from these pests was to cycle as quickly as possible.  The route to John O'Groats was 82 miles, starting out mostly flat then turning into big ups and downs and then finally more flats along the coast.  The weather was beautiful and we flew, covering the 82 miles at an average of almost 16 mph.!

We pulled into JOG around 4:30 after stoping for a wonderful lunch.  Pictures of  today's ride and finish.

Thursday September 24th

Today's 75 mile ride took us from Ballater to Inverness.  There's little doubt that today was one of the hardest days Michelle and I have ever experienced on our bikes.  We left our wonderful bed and breakfast at 9:00 am and was escorted out of town but our new friend David on his Penny Farling.  David owns a sports marketing company that was running a charity 100 mile bike ride this weekend.

So we started out and the first 10 miles were mild rolling hills through the countryside.  After 10 miles we started up and continued up for the next 8 miles.  These 8 miles were the steepest Michelle and I have ever experienced......steeper than Tuscony and steeper than the climbs in Majorca.  My garmin showed grades of 20% in some of the steepest sections.  I was able to do the climb without stopping and my Wonder Woman riding partner arrived at the summit a short time after I arrived.  After this Hugh climb we were still over 50 miles from tonight's home.  Ozzie, one of our leaders said the ride to Inverness was mostly flat......wrong!  Still more climbs but not as bad as this mornings ascents.

At about mile 30 we started to experience incredible head winds......I'd estimate gusts of well over 30 mph.  These lasted the balance of the ride..... Ugly!  There were some incredible down hills today where we reached speeds in excess of 40mph but the strong winds made these speeds feel uncomfortable.

Michelle pulled me in for the last 15 miles, my legs and other parts of my body were shot.  I continue to be amazed at the power Michelle generates on flats and mild grades....she smokes me!  We limped into Inverness around 4:30, took a shower and found a place to do our laundry.  We'll be clean for the final 2 days of the ride.  Here are some pictures from today's ride.  Enjoy!

Best,

M&M

Tuesday and Wednesday

  Tuesday brought us from Pebbles (Scotland) to Perth a distance of 70 miles (of course mostly up hill).  The highlight of the ride was crossing the Forth Bride over the Firth River.   We enjoyed a wonderful Italian meal, lots of carbs to get ready to tackle the hills on today's ride.

Today (Wednesday) was a ride of 68 miles.  It was one of the more challenging rides of the tour, but it was also one of the most beautiful.  The scenery though the Caringroms National Park was spectacular.  About 20 miles into the ride we started up and at mile 43 (with 3 miles of an 8-13% grade climb) we had lunch at the base of a ski area.  The ride down to Ballater was awesome....  We started out with an 8 mile downhill where we reached speeds in excess of 40mph.  After the downhill we rode through Balmoral (the summer home of the Royal family).  A trucker we met said to keep our eyes out for three Range Rovers as Charles was in the area hunting.  We reached Ballater at 3:30, showered and then roamed through the cute Scotish town.  We're currently in the Balmoral Bar having a Pint and watching the rugby match between Australia and Fiji.  People in Scotland take their drinking and rugby seriously.

Monday September 21 Talkin to Peebles

todays ride brought us into Scotland.  We've passed the 1/2 way point on our journey.  Today started off wet and after a 10 mile enjoyable ride the fun ended and it was mostly up hill for the final 69 miles, OK there were some great downhills thrown in along the way.  We covered 79 miles and climbed 4400 feet.  The ride took just under 6 hours at an average speed of just over 13 mph.  The sun came out this afternoon which made for a nice ride into Peebles, a wonderful little Scottish town.
We stopped for lunch at a Tibetan monistary and enjoyed homemade soup and sandwiches.  Off for dinner.  More later.
Best,
M&M