Bring it on!

22 June 2011
Day 8
The Pedal for Parkinson's Double End-to-End Cycle Challenge
Alston in Cumbria to Moffat in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland
68 miles

Posted by the Secret Secretary

If the umbrellas were up in Wimbledon and the retractable roof was out so that play could continue on Centre Court, there were no such luxuries for our boys on the road yesterday as they found themselves, once again, riding in what can best be described as foul weather. There were only 68, rolling miles to bag but, as so often happens, the weather put a fierce complexion on the Team's first day in Scotland. Les had a strategy for the particularly challenging conditions: give as good as you get. So the smile was very audible in his voice when he 'phoned to say that Day 8 of the Pedal for Parkinson's Double End-to-End Cycle Challenge had been appalling but he was flying. Bring it on!

The Pedal for Parkinson's Double End-to-End Cycle Challenge
Day 8
Les reports that he is flying.

"It was raining when we left Alston and I'm sure it didn’t stop raining all day, it just got heavier and heavier. The roads were flooded in places; we just ploughed though it. Lunch was a wet picnic on the side of the B7076. Our support team, Geoff and Liz, had parked their caravan and had the awning out: Noah's Ark! We all crammed inside providing the ballast as the trucks sped by creating mini Tsunamis that had the caravan bobbing about like a boat. (David must have thought that he was back sailing around the world.) It was bleak. Still, the ride goes on. I’m actually riding well. I had a couple more little falls: nothing serious, just my usual trick of toppling over whilst stationary on the bike. I’m getting good at it now. Mark had a proper fall though at the end of the ride in Moffat where he butted the pavement with his head. He was wearing a helmet but with an egg above his eye and a gash on his nose, he now looks as if he has just done a couple of rounds in the ring with a prize-fighter.The Team is staying in The Buchan guest house in the centre of Moffat where we are the guests of Chris and Brenda Wallace who often welcome cyclists riding Land’s End to John O’Groats.”

There are a few more miles to go before the Team reaches one of its targets at Dunnet Head, not far from John O'Groats and the most northerly point of mainland Britain, and then heads south and west to Ireland. For the time being, the next stage of the Pedal for Parkinson's Challenge is to Stirling in Central Scotland: about 70 miles and, with a bit of luck, sunshine, or at least a little less rain!