Blowin' in the Wind

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This is supposedly a rest day. We have just cycled through 43 miles of some of the most arduous terrain so far through the Cairn Gorms with 2000ft climbs the norm. Its been hard on the body especially for the first time today. Due to the gradient there is a lot of 'out of the saddle' cycling like a jockey would do to gain extra strength in each cadence. This takes its toll on the lower thighs and knees after a while. Steve is convinced that his heart is going to burst. He is wearing a heart monitor for some bizarre reason which goes through the roof every time we are on a climb. He keeps shouting out, 'Dave, Ive hit 160bpm' at sporadic intervals.

The prevaling winds as expected are making a real nuisance of themselves. Predominantly coming from the South West this makes for strong headwinds. Think we will come the other way next time. To overcome this Steve and I take turns 'drafting' which is one cycles at the front with the other directly behind. The leader uses more strength at the front, this creates a slipstream for the follower who exerts less energy of around 40% .



It has been a welcome change finishing our day today at a relatively early time of 3.30pm. This has given us a few hours of rest and recuperation which is a breath of fresh air as our bodies do not know what has hit them.

We are off to Edinburgh tomorrow. This will see us breaking through from the higher more mountainous regions on to the lowlands. We have a beast of a 10 mile climb when leaving Braemar in the morning, then hopefully it will be more plain sailing. I am going to miss the highlands as for all that they have thrown at us it is every cyclists dream to be in such varied terrain.

Miles: 45
Maximum Speed: 38mph
Average Speed: 9mph
Time in Saddle: 5hrs 01m

TOTAL MILES: 236/970