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30/06/2009
Riders’ DVDs
Over the course of TRAT, I took nearly nine hundred high quality digital images, using a Nikon D80 loaned to me by a very nice man called Graham. Graham clearly trusts me with his lovely camera far more than I trust myself, but having such a good quality bit of kit has allowed me to document TRAT as never before.
Of course, a lot of these are duplicates and many of them aren’t really worth keeping, but I’ve now narrowed the shots down to a few hundred that you will all want. I’ve just had a stack of DVDs delivered and in the next few days, I’m going to be burning one for each of the riders and support crew. Expect one to be turning up in your letterbox soon.
If you’re not a rider or a crew member and you’d still like a copy, get in touch – for a suitable donation to BST, we can arrange a DVD for you!
30/06/2009
Sunburn!
En route back from Lancaster, we stopped for coffee at a service station and there was an impromptu baring of arms. First place goes to Iain:
With an honourable mention to Phil:
Liz gets “D- could try harder”:
Let that be a lesson to any future riders – slap on the factor thirty if you’re going TRATing in this sort of weather!
27/06/2009
More photos from Day 6
A huge thanks to our hosts for lunch at Golspie. The cakes and puddings have passed into the stuff of legend:
If you think that the TRATers are hard as nails, these two guys were doing LEJOG in five days. Respect…
This chap is Ian’s partner Briony’s dad, on day 99 of his LEJOG walk. Yes, walk! We met him on the A99 and it was a terrible shame we couldn’t stay with him for longer, but we needed to push on to Wick. Hopefully, he should be at John O’Groats by day 102 of his walk, Monday.
27/06/2009
A heroes’ welcome
Very early on Sunday morning, eight riders set off from Land’s End. Yesterday evening at a little past nine o’clock, the same riders arrived at John O’Groats, six days later. Their journey of 874 miles wasn’t an easy one. They all faced an immense personal and physical challenge and each one of them has triumphed against an event that many would consider impossible. My respect for these guys is unlimited. They’re all heroes.
I think our Race Organiser, Allan, summed it up best last night over a pint in the hotel bar. As our team goes their separate ways today, he asked them to consider the fact that by riding this event, they have all saved the lives of a number of people living in South Africa. By raising the money that they have, some at very short notice, they have all made a very real contribution to relieving the suffering of people that they have never met.
Here’s some photos. There will be many more.
25/06/2009
Raven Cafe
I didn’t get an opportunity to upload this the other day. You can’t go past Lynn’s Raven Cafe at Prees heath and not stop for a bacon butty. Well, unless you’re not into fried piggy. In which case, they do some very fine egg butties…
25/06/2009
Alltnacriche at last!
It was a long, long day today. Well over 150 miles and the last eighty were largely on the A9, not the most hospitable environment for tired cyclists.
But thanks to a tailwind and a lot of high spirits, we arrived at Alltnacriche, just down the road from Avimore at about eight o’clock. Cue a flurry of showers and a well-ordered queue for an Athelete’s Angels massage.
Iain’s sister Mairi came to meet us just outside Pitlochry and rode with the team all the way here. A fresh face in the peleton was a great psycological boost.
Chef John was absolutely delighted at the facilities here. He’s got a full professional kitchen and he’s not afraid to use it…
25/06/2009
Through Perth
We’re now parked up in Perth waiting for the riders to come through. We left the bridge of Earn about fifteen minutes ago, where all the riders had a good lunch of paninis and coleslaw. I rode with the TRATers today because navigating Edinburgh behind the van was a nightmare last year and it’s easier to part company for a little while. Also, the approach to the Forth road bridge by bicycle is on an off-road cycle path (NCN1) and following the van is out of the question.
Chris kindly lent me his very nice Boardman bike (which I hastilly Brookscrimed last night) and at 6am this morning, I was filling my bottles and getting my cycling shoes on. Lots of memories from last year!
The road to Edinburgh was quite tough, with lots of rush hour traffic and getting through the city itself was hard going. The bridge was a fabulous reward though (cycling over bridges is one of my favourite things) and once we were the other side, it got more rural and much faster.
After our mid-morning stop, we got overtaken by a local woman on a road bike, clearly out training. I’m afraid that this was like a red rag to a bull for some of us (myself included) and we chased her down and rode with her for a while. After all this time, the team still have enough left in their legs to go out roadie-hunting – way to go chaps!
Having ridden TRAT last year, I know how tough it is, but now that I’m off the bike and sitting in the van, I can honestly say that my seventy miles this morning were well enough for me and I have yet further respect for the ladies and gentlemen of the TRAT team 2009. It’s a damned hard ride this high speed end-to-ending business.
Now we get onto the A9 – which we’re goign to stick with all the way up to Avimore tonight.
