There's been lots of lovely Scottish sunshine over the past few days, so we've been making the most of it and fitting in some warm weather training! We're very, very lucky to have some beautiful cycle routes right on our doorstep...
I was also practising a wee bit more with the GoPro. It'll be better once I've got it attached to my helmet, but in the meantime I'm using it strapped on to my chest till I figure out which button does what and when! Maybe then there'll be less of the handlebars and more of the surrounding scenery. I also need to work on editing the clips, but it all takes time! Hopefully the next video I make won't be quite so long - but I kind of like this as it is anyway as it's a wee record of two of the things I love most about cycling: whizzing downhills and being out in the very heart of our beautiful country...
The third Women V Cancer Ride the Night is tomorrow night. I'm sad to be missing it, but with it being so close to the leaving date for Cycle Africa (two weeks today, gulp!!), it was too much - both financially and practically - to fit it in. Instead, I'll be waiting to hear how all of my Women v Cancer friends get on during this most special of events.
Ride the Night will always hold a special place in my heart. It introduced me to many incredible women; it motivated me to write my first little book; it made me cycle further than I'd ever done before; it introduced me to three charities that do a great job of supporting women affected by breast, ovarian and cervical cancer; it gave me some fantastic friends and it was truly humbling to be surrounded by so many women who'd faced the toughest of times (who'd had a cancer diagnosis, who were in treatment, who'd lost someone dear to them, or who'd faced a whole host of other adversities) but were grabbing life by the handlebars and making the very, very most of the ride.
I was reminded this morning (by an innocent Facebook post from one of my lovely friends, that led to the usual tirade of angry comments) that throughout the year, us cyclists face a lot of ill-feeling on the roads. Let's face it, most drivers just don't want us there - taking up their space, getting in their way, holding them up...we're so bloody annoying! And sometimes they're justified in being angry - when numpty cyclists jump a light, when they pull out in front of cars, when they cycle four a breast etc. Tsk, bloody cyclists! They drive me nuts, talk about inconsiderate! They don't even pay road tax or insurance. Hate when there is a cycle lane and cyclists don't use it! Now that really gets me annoyed! I'd love to run them over...
So it's fitting that I read those comments on a day when I'm thinking about all of those amazing, incredible women who'll tomorrow night face their fears, get on their bikes and ride. Despite the animosity they face from many drivers.
After all, they've faced things far more scary than a few red-faced ranting drivers in their time...
So a wee message to my fellow Women v Cancer cyclists: Best of luck to each and every one of you for tomorrow night. Stay safe, enjoy the ride and have an absolutely brilliant night! You're all amazing.
And a wee message for my fellow drivers (again...!):
I've been told so many times by everyone who completed the challenge last year that the hardest part of the whole experience was cycling along the sand trails. So, with less than three weeks till I head to Tanzania, I thought I'd better fit in a bit of sand-cycling training!
Armed with my shiny new GoPro (a fantastic surprise birthday gift last week from the family), Alex and I set off along the sandy tracks of Tentsmuir Forest and out onto the beach.
I wasn't brilliant on the sand, and I was even worse with the GoPro! But I fair enjoyed the practice with both...
Next time I'll make sure the camera's pointing up the way - then you might just be able to see more of this...
...and less of my handlebars, knees and slowly turning pedals...!
I'm clearly needing much more practice on a mountain bike.
At lunchtime today I decided to make the most of the lovely weather. So, I pulled the bike out of the garage and set off for a wee trip to our neighbouring village for a sandwich. (One of the advantages of working from home...)
En route, I took a bit of a detour up a short local trail to an old reservoir above our village. It's not very far, but the track's quite steep, bumpy and muddy in parts. However, the sense of achievement from making it all the way up without having to stop made the effort well worth every turn of the pedals.
After a short break to draw breath by the side of the water, I set off feeling fair chuffed with myself. 'Yup, I've nailed this mountain biking lark!', I was thinking as I rode off down the track...
I was still a little bit muddy when I eventually made it to Kippen for lunch, but thankfully the lovely staff in Rhubarb Lime didn't seem to mind and I thoroughly enjoyed my sandwich before cycling back home.
Straight back home - no detours up the hill on the way back!
So, I've not quite cracked the mountain biking yet and I've clearly still got a lot to learn - but, I'm having a whole lot of fun in the process. And I'm getting really good at falling off.
I settled back down to work this afternoon feeling all the better for my splash in the mud and well-deserved sandwich.
(Warning! I got a bit carried away so this is a post full of photos, videos and Strava profiles....)
We're just back from a glorious few days away (staying in a wee lodge in Aberfeldy) that'll hopefully go some way towards my Cycle Africa preparations.
The idea was to get in some proper off-road training, but we took the road bikes along too - so it was a full house on top of the car when we left on Sunday...
First stop, on the road up, we tackled 13 miles or so of the Griffin Forest trails:
The next day we headed to the village of Dull (paired with the town of Boring in Oregon...) for a Highland Safari 'Drop at the Top'. We were given this treat as a 50th birthday present by our good friends Elaine and Eric - and what a treat it was!
As you can see, we were given a lovely Scottish welcome by the staff, then were driven up through the forest in a land rover and, well, dropped at the top! There's a selection of trails to choose from, but the guides gave us great advice, based on our experience and how crazy we appeared to be. Needless to say, we were dropped at the top of a fairly challenging route (based not on our experience, but on how crazy we appeared to be...)
I found the first part of the trail on the way down genuinely terrifying! But, once I got my confidence up a bit I really did have a blast. It wasn't all downhill and there were a fair few challenging climbs thrown into the mix. I found the terrain at times really, really tough...
But every turn of the pedal through the mud, up the hills and down the scary slopes was well worth it for the views, the thrills and the fantastic fun!
We started the following day with a short (but valiant!) attempt to see how far we could cycle up the Birks of Aberfeldy (named after a poem of the same name by Robert Burns). It's a beautiful, but steep and bumpy, route up the hill to the Falls of Moness.
It seemed like a good idea at the time but, as I'm sure you all know...the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley...
After drawing breath over a bacon buttie and a cup of tea, we set off later in the morning to tackle part of the Rob Roy trail from Aberfeldy to Kenmore. I think the website said something like, 'the route is fine for walking all the way and some parts can easily be cycled...'. Tsk, why let a bit of advice from a website put us off - and anyway, I needed all the tough training I could get, didn't I..?
We were, yet again, rewarded with stunning views from the top. The mud was soon forgotten as we looked down to Loch Tay and Kenmore (and the thought of lunch...) below.
We stretched out lunch in the lovely Kenmore Hotel (where they fortunately make muddy cyclists feel very welcome...) to put off for as long as possible the long steep climb up the hill out of Kenmore. Now, Alex (in his wisdom) decided to record some of this part of the cycle. I was totally miffed when I watched it - I'm going at about minus 2mph and the video just doesn't do the hill justice! Honest! It was really, really steep! Honest...!
The descent back over the muddy trails was scary in parts, but really great fun. And I did feel a great sense of accomplishment by the time we made it back to Aberfeldy.
Having said that, I was glad to get on my road bike for our last day of cycling - a gentle cycle round beautiful Loch Rannoch was the perfect way to finish off our wee holiday.
I'm feeling a bit more confident about the cycling in Tanzania now. The rough roads, climate and other challenges are going to be very different from those we face cycling at home - but surely if I can plough my way through the Scottish mud, fend off the midges, and manage up and down a few of our rugged routes then I'm in with at least a fighting chance of staying on my saddle from one end of the 250 mile African route to the other...only five weeks tomorrow till I find out!
