Doune to Carrbridge 123 miles
Today my wee cousin Stuart joined us cycling form Doune to Carrbridge. We left as per normal just after 8am. It was a lovely sunny day as we set out towards Crieff….and then up on the back roads to Sma Glen…. we climbed and climbed long lovely hills, Speedy was in his element. As we reached the top at Amulree we stopped for coffee ….Stuart had me in fits when he told me he was singing eye of the tiger in his head all the way to the top ;- ) We had the best descent of the trip as we free wheeled 4 miles down into Aberfeldy.......it was great being back on the Scottish hills . On we rode to Pitlochry where we met Jack (aka dad) and the rest of the clan for sandwiches and cakes …….we did a quick mileage check to see how far we had to go to Carrbridge, it seems we made a bad calculation and our estimate of 105 miles was slightly out and in actual fact we were going to be cycling for 123 miles, thats a long flippin way… there was nothing else to do but get on with it. We made our way up the a9 along the dodgy cycle path. Just as we came of the bad bit psssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhh first puncture of the trip and also the fastest puncture change… the midgies were out in force. On we went for another few miles where we met my dad who was waiting to lead us convoy style for three miles down the a9 to Newtonmore through the roadworks.
So we’ve been cycling for 96 miles and we tell poor Stuart he’s going to be sprinting for three miles, I could just see his wee face looking at me as if to say thanks a bunch. So there we were at the side of the road digging into mars bars and snickers bar to give us an energy boost before the end to end time trials. We saw our opportunity and we were off ….me up front , Stuart in the middle and Speedy at the back …. then dad sitting behind us in the van keeping the traffic well away.
Woo hoo we made it to Newtonmore it was wine o clock at 100 miles, we had a wee glass of wine and more cake ….at this point I have to add that Stuart has only ever cycled 75 miles before so this was a huge achievment for him … we had 23 miles to go …it was raining now and time was ticking … the next 23 miles were ridden in silence as we all got into our zones and pedalled, kingusssie, kincraig, aviemore and finally carrbridge…… we’d spent nearly 9 hours in the saddle. My longest ride and Stuarts longest ride … we all did amazing but mostly stu, not a grumble or even once a suggestion that he was going to quit. So proud of you stu …you are a legend xxx
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