I love this picture Fonz took. It was taken at towards the end of the 2nd day when we all re grouped. You can see me talking to Ian and the pelleton in the distance following the way of the Alfonzo into camp....... Top Man!
Day 2 of the JOGLE would be up there with the toughest days we had on the trip. There would be a number of reasons for this including the cold weather, the mountainous terrain that route would take us, the 45mph head winds that stuck with us all day, the unfortunate scenario that myself and three others got split from the main group (we got given wrong directions) which involved us taking on 50% of the day as a group of 4 and finally the most significant was the start of the injuries my body was starting to feel. I would find myself fighting against these injuries over the remainder of the JOGLE and having a constant cloud over me questioning myself as to how bad would these injuries get, would I get any others, would they force me out of the ride and could I manage them for the rest of the trip to ensure I crossed the finish line?
Day 2 took us from Inverness to Perth. The route took use through the highlands of Scotland skirting past Avie more and some of the highest ski lift resorts in Scotland. I had a flashback from a couple of years ago when we came through Grantown on Spey. We arrived at a roundabout coming out of Grantown on Spey a few years ago when we travelled up for Grant and Amy's wedding. The Sat Nav said turn left and the sign said turn right. I went with the Sat Nav but unfortunately it was a road that bend after bend and 5 Min's before we arrived at the hotel Nyah was sick everywhere and I mean everywhere! We had been traveling for 10 hours and with 5 Min's to go she was sick! The next day was a hot one and it did nothing for the smell in the car or the journey back no matter how much I cleaned it.
This was taken of me heading towards the highlands of Scotland. You can see how Barron it is in the distance and this only increased as the day went on.
I took the wrong turning at this roundabout again and it took us on 6 mile detour. Myself, Mike, Rachel and Tom worked together as a team to try and claw back the pack but we didn't want to run our bodies into the ground for the sake of trying to catch them so we made the decision to ride at our own pace.
Tom is leading the way up this hill on his £65 bike he bought from car boot sale! This guy was awesome, his dad had Parkinson's of 8 years and in his mind no matter what was thrown at him on these 8 days he would not be defeated and kept going and going. It was only mechanical failure that put him out for a day but this guy deserved a medal for riding what he did on that bike. The front wheel was as buckled as a 50p piece, just class!
The below picture shows the how the temperature dropped so much that looks like I was climbing Everest rather than cycling in Scotland.
We climbed 10,500ft on this ride and experienced some serious hills. I was glad to have finished the stage and get a lift to Hilton Farm (our second nights accommodation) where we would be in for a treat. (No shower tonight though).
Day 2's evening was a barbecue hosted by Perth Slow Food at farmer Andrew Johnson’s House (Hilton Farm, Craigend) Highland Beef, Beef, Lamb, Chicken, Wild Boar, salads, organic bread, cakes from Blair Atholl, berries, salad dressings. The local Perth Council had been going for 100 years and in celebration of this they had been presented with a matured bottle of whiskey from a local distillery. This was brought by the local councilors and shared amongst us that evening which was pretty special as it blew our socks off and made Patrick slightly pissed as you can see below!
We hit the sack about midnight having filled our faces full of food and warm drinks. I remember laying in bed thinking about my achillies tendons and for the first time in a long time saying a little prayer hoping my achillies wouldnt get any worse and I would wake up in the morning feeling fresh and ready to go to take on the challenge of Day 3 of the JOGLE into England and Northumberland................
