Cycling in the Scottish sunshine

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...

Scarier things than ranting drivers

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...!):

Giving cycling through sand a go with the GoPro

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...!

Getting good at falling off

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.

Aberfeldy Adventures

(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!

Limericks based on a local not-so-serious cyclist

Last year, in March 2015, I was invited to speak at one of our local Women's Institute meetings (or 'The Rural' as it's still defiantly and fondly referred to locally).

I had a thoroughly lovely evening, reciting some of my 'One Woman's Verses vs Cancer' rhymes, then facilitating a lively - and often poignant - discussion around some of the cancers which most affect women.

At the end of the evening, the committee asked if I would come back to speak in January 2016, following my Cycle Africa adventure. We set a date and the Rural were expecting me along with stories and snaps and Tanzanian tales...

Oooops!! I completely forgot to let them know - until about 2 weeks before the meeting - that I'd had to pull out of the challenge last October (ironically because of some work I was doing with Breast Cancer Care) and defer my place to this June.

With my tail between my legs, I promised to return and deliver a talk after Cycle Africa June 2016. But, in the meantime, I left the committee having to find a speaker to fill my slot at fairly short notice. Not my finest moment!

So, I was absolutely tickled pink to read recently in our local rag that during the January meeting of the Rural there had been a competition set to write a limerick with the first line being:

"There was a cyclist called Jane'!

I've since discovered that the intention was I would judge the entries - poems all based on my cycling exploits - after my talk about Tanzania. Tsk!! I feel terrible that I wasn't there to do that - and to personally thank every one of the women who took the time to write a wee poem about little old me!

So, this is my public apology - and my heartfelt thanks - to the fantastic ladies from Gargunnock WRI. I loved the limericks, and I'd have struggled to pick a winner! It's maybe just as well that someone else was there to do it for you...!

I'm delighted that I've been invited back again to speak about my Cycle Africa June 2016 experience. This time ladies, I promise - come lions or punctures or broken chains - I'll be there....

A few of the winning entries:

There was a cyclist called Jane
Who when jogging was always in pain
So she took to her bike
And everything felt right
And was never seen jogging again!
(I love this one as it totally sums up my actual experience of feeling so sad at having to give up running due to some health issues, then discovering a passion for cycling - brilliant!)

There was a cyclist called Jane
Who hit a pot-hole in Kirk Lane
And, boy, does she cuss it
Cos the seat pierced her gusset
So she'll never sit comfortably again!
(Haha - those bloody pot-holes!!)

There was a cyclist called Jane
Caught speeding along in the rain
Her water was tested
And she got arrested
Cos her bottle was full of champagne!
(Hahaha, this is great - they know me so well in my village...)

cycle and ice

Why Cycle Africa? Reason 2: Friends

I would never have signed up for the Cycle Africa challenge if I didn't know anyone else who was going. Basically, I would never have signed up if I wasn't doing it with friends.

I don't consider myself as a shy person, but the thought of travelling to a foreign country - never mind facing a tough few days of cycling, wild camping and digging toilet trenches - with a bunch of folk I'd  never met before was enough for me to almost delete the 'Sign up for Cycle Africa, Group 3, October 2015!' email that dropped into my inbox after completing Ride the Night 2014.

However, some of the women I'd become firm friends with through the WvC Facebook groups, and through London's very first women-only night ride, had already applied for the challenge. And they were very persuasive!

After some, em, gentle prodding (from the likes of Joanne Jackson, the wonderful woman who shared her breast cancer experience in my little book), I read the gumph in the email attachment. I saw the words 'safari', 'cycling', 'Africa', 'raising awareness and funds' (as discussed in Reason number one post..) - and sent off the application form.

The inimitable Joanne Jackson

I then became one of Jo's Platoon of Persuaders, convincing some of our fellow WvC friends that Cycle Africa would be an experience they couldn't possibly miss out on, especially as we'd all be doing it together...

Soon, our numbers grew and we became a special group that supported each other from Day One. We shared fundraising ideas, training traumas, our fears, hopes, worries, achievements and expectations. I could not wait to board the plane with this fantastic, fun and flippin wonderful bunch of friends!

Ride the Night 2015

In July last year - three months before we were due to leave for Tanzania - I pulled out of Cycle Africa.

An opportunity arose to work for Breast Cancer Care (ironically, one of the WvC partnership charities), but it meant I had a choice to make between the cycle and the job.

I swithered - for the sole reason that I wanted to share my experience of cycling in Africa with the group of women who'd become such a big part of my life - but I eventually decided that the job (which was all about raising awareness and promoting early detection of breast cancer) was an opportunity not to be missed. And Action for Charity said I could defer the cycle and join the next group to go to Tanzania in June 2016.

I shed a few tears over the course of the next few months and had so many mixed emotions. I felt sad, then I felt guilty for feeling sad (I was still getting to go on a trip-of-a-lifetime! There are people in the world starving for goodness sake!!), I felt excited for my pals while I continued to follow their progress, I felt a wee bit jealous when I saw all the glorious photos of them together at the airport then during their adventure, then I felt a big bit guilty for feeling a wee bit jealous, I felt proud - so very proud - when I heard about all of the challenges they'd faced and how brilliantly they'd risen to all of those challenges, and then - only then - did I start to feel excited again about my own impending trip.

Taking on Tanzania

Fast forward and it's now less than eight weeks till I board the plane. There hasn't been much of an opportunity for me to forge close friendships with my fellow Group 4 cyclists in the same way that I did with the Group 3 bunch. However, it turns out that there will be a few familiar faces flying out with me (including the wonderful Diana who designed the Cycle Africa kit - as modelled above!) and, from the little contact that we've all had, the rest of the group do seem like a friendly lot!

Next weekend some of us will meet during a training weekend in the Cotswolds, which will be a great opportunity to get to know some of my travel companions and, I'm sure, make new friends.

They'll not be the friends that I started this journey with, but they are the ones that I'll be finishing it with. Every single one of those friends - whether we met in 2014 or 2016 - will have had some part to play in my Cycle Africa adventure.

And, I predict, in some new adventures to come...

Why I don't like cycling on busy - or main - roads

I don't like cycling on main - or busy - roads. We live in a lovely wee rural village however, unless we put the bikes on the roof of our car and head off somewhere else, we have no option but to ride on some fairly busy main roads. None of which have cycle lanes.

We're allowed to do that. There isn't a law against us cycling on the roads. But lots of people are irritated by the fact that bikes are allowed to share the roads with cars. And that's absolutely fine.

It's absolutely fine not to like stuff, or to feel irritated by things.

I myself hold my hand up to sometimes feeling irritated when I see a cyclist up ahead when I'm behind the wheel of my car...I also sometimes feel irritated when I see a tractor up ahead, or (I'm not proud to admit) occasionally even a learner driver. Tsk, I have to slow down and wait (im)patiently for a safe opportunity to pass and add a whole probably nothing on to my overall journey time! What a pain!

But, just because I feel irritated doesn't mean I do stuff that might kill the person on the bike, or in the tractor or behind the wheel of the learner car.

Sadly, there are a few folk who are a bit more than irritated and they deliberately try to edge cyclists off the roads. They really don't like cyclists. They hate that cyclists are on the road and want to push them off! I was in the back of a taxi one evening and the taxi driver told me that he deliberately drives too close to cyclists because he 'fucking hates cyclists'. So, I know that these people do exist.

But most people aren't like that. Thankfully. I'm sure that even most people who 'fucking hate cyclists' don't try to knock them off their bikes.

There are some people whose irritation turns to frustration and they'll lose sense of when's a safe opportunity to pass a bike. They might wait, then get fed up waiting and squeeze between the bike and an oncoming car. That's scary when you're the one on the bike.

And there are lots of people whose irritation doesn't turn to frustration. They wait patiently for a safe moment to pass and genuinely think they're leaving enough space when they overtake and would be horrified if they knew that they'd actually nearly knocked a cyclist off their bike and possibly nearly killed them.

I was probably one of those folk before I started cycling. I had no concept of what was a safe distance to leave between my car and a bike when I was overtaking*. My bad.

Of course, there are lots of drivers who always leave a big gap between their car and the bike they're passing. Thank you all! I love you!

This morning a driver nearly knocked me off my bike. It was really scary. I didn't fall off but I wobbled, a lot. The thing is that the driver, I like to think, probably wasn't deliberately trying to knock me off my bike while he was speeding past me on a big wide road with plenty of space to move out. He probably just didn't realise that he was so close. Or, he maybe did realise that he was close but thought that the teeny space between us was a safe enough distance to leave.

I really hope he wasn't someone who hates cyclists so much that he deliberately tries to knock them off their bikes. I hope he wasn't that taxi driver on his day off.

I'll never know. But I do know that it was a pretty close call and I do know that if he'd been a smidgen closer I would've been off my bike. I might have been writing here tonight about some pretty nasty injuries I'd sustained.

Or I might not have been here to write a post at all.

And that's why I don't really like cycling on busy - or main - roads.

* According to the Highway Code you should 'give vulnerable road users at least as much space as you would a car'

Why Cycle Africa? Reason 1: Safari

It's nine weeks today till I fly out to Tanzania to take part in the Women V Cancer Cycle Africa challenge. Help ma boab!!! To take my mind off thoughts such as: 'I've not done enough training...Help!' and 'Will I collapse in a heap in the heat..?' and 'Will my bum be hardy enough...?', I thought I'd focus instead on some of the reasons why I decided to attempt this challenge in the first place, one blog post at a time:

Reason 1: Safari!

I'm sure I'm not the only person who's signed up for a challenge with a bit of an ulterior motive behind it, but I do feel a wee bit guilty about this one! I mean, of course I want to raise money for three superb cancer charities, raise awareness about signs and symptoms and push myself with a long bike ride in the process - but it was the word 'SAFARI' that really attracted me to this challenge.

I've wanted to go to Africa to see the big wild animals for as long as I can remember.

When I was little I'd ask my mum and dad if we could go on safari, but it was just a wee bit out of their price range, so a trip to Blair Drummond Safari Park and a cone in Callander had to do.

When I got older, going on safari was still really out of my price range, and my dear other half's heart was never really in it anyway, or my children's:

'You don't fancy going in a big aeroplane to see lions and elephants and monkeys and giraffes doing their thing out in the wild...??' '

'No mum, why would we want to do that when we live a mile from Blair Drummond and can see lions and elephants and monkeys and giraffes doing their thing from our car then have a shot on the bumpy slide and then have a cone in Callander..??'

This goes some way to explaining why none of my kids were ever really bothered about having a pet...

So, when I was cajoled into having a look at the 'Cycle Africa' challenge by some of my WvC pals who'd already signed up, I didn't really pay much attention to the part that said, '...350km in challenging conditions over sometimes difficult terrain...' or the part that said, '...you have to raise a minimum of £3000...' or '...you'll need all sorts of jags that are sore and cost a few bob...' or '...you'll wild camp...!!' and so on and so forth.

But, I did see 'Africa', 'raising awareness', 'cycling', and, of course, 'SAFARI!'

It was a done deal.

I am, of course, paying for the one day safari *myself and I'm really hoping that seeing some of those big animals out in the wild will live up to the dream I've had ever since I was a wee girl - and, of course, be just a wee bit more exciting than a day trip to Blairdrummond...

*Just to reassure everyone who donated their hard earned coffers - all of the cash you donated went straight to the charities and none of it's paying for any of my costs, such as travel, bike hire etc :)