The alarms went off on the morning of Day 16, I felt like I'd not been to sleep at all. I had really struggled with my ribs all night, I couldn't get comfortable. Even lying on my good side was hurting the ribs. Moving my arms hurt my ribs. Bloody breathing hurt my ribs. It was not a pleasant night. On my way to the shower block I passed-by a cyclist who we had bunny hopped the day before, he overtook me on the road but somehow we had finished ahead of him and got to the campsite before him. I was going to go and have a chat with him but he was stood in the middle of the campsite naked. Everything hanging out! After the night I'd had I wasn't in the mood to stand talking to some bloke with his todger out in the middle of a field. Maybe the granddad had tried charging him to wear clothes!
Having seen all the mountains surrounding the campsite I was convinced I was going to need to climb lots during Day 16. I didn't have much confidence that I would be able to climb that day but we made our way to the start to give it a crack. Dad was in his cycling gear again, I didn't try and talk him out of it, he seemed ok so maybe the cycling was doing him some good. I did say he would need to let Ed have a go cycling soon as he hadn't had chance yet. Ant was starting to feel a bit sore but he wanted to be cycling with me which was really cool of him. He could have been sat in the motorhome, in the warm with Ed but he was out with me.
 |
| At the start of Day 16 and already in pain. |
The start of the day's push was better than I thought, it took me a good few miles before I reached my first real hill so I was nicely warmed up when I needed to climb. I was still in pain but I did ok on the climb.
 |
| On the first downhill |
We passed through a steep sided wooded valley whilst following the path of the River Farg. I loved it, I felt like we were miles from anywhere It was one of the few areas we travelled through that had a natural woodland and not a pine plantation.
Shortly after the valley I started to suffer from boredom again, Ant was saying well done every 15 minutes or so but I needed a bit more. Dad had gotten in the habit of telling me how big and steep the hills I was about to go up were. Then as I was climbing them he'd be pointing out how hard work they were and how they were slowing us right down. I was trying to distract myself from the pain and how much I was struggling on the hills today but my dad was reminding me every few minutes. I know looking back that he was actually trying to point out I was doing well climbing these hills with my broken ribs but that's not how it was coming across at the time.
 |
| I really wanted to stop at the motorhome! |
 |
| Approaching Perth |
We passed through Perth centre, it was the first built up area in Scotland that I thought looked nice, some of the buildings were amazing looking. We passed a church that had had a stone crown on top of its tower and we travelled along side the River Tay for a while. Although it was beautiful to look at it was a busy place and it was the first large built up area we had passed through without a single donation. On the outskirts of Perth we picked up the A9 which was a busy road and one we would be spending the afternoon on.
 |
| The beautiful church in Perth - I was really captivated by it. |
 |
| Passing through Perth. |
It wasn't long before the ribs and the boredom had me looking for somewhere to stop for lunch, it was another layby. I'd only managed 22.7 miles more than 10 miles less than yesterdays morning mileage tally. We were low on supplies so we had to have beans and cheese on toast again followed by us trying to eat our way through the mountain of cake that had been bought for us on Day 13. I was starting to struggle getting food down, probably due to exhaustion, I wanted something light and healthy but we didn't have anything so I forced the beans on toast down so I had some fuel for the afternoon push. Over lunch I asked Ant and dad to give me more encouragement on the climbs and to have a chat with each other whilst riding. I couldn't hold a conversation when pushing but hearing them chatting and me joining in with the odd word or two would help pass the time. I also asked dad to stop pointing out how big and steep the hills are and how slow we were going, I already knew all that! haha! I didn't want to upset either of them but I needed them to distract me from the push, the pain and the slow speed.
 |
| Ed getting arty on the A9 |
Looking at my stats for the morning push I wasn't actually that slow, it's strange what a bit of pain and negative thinking can do to the way you perceive what you are doing.
Day 16 Morning Stats
Miles: 22.67
Time: 2:05:24
Average Moving Speed: 10.8mph
Top Speed: 28.4mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 12 - 8:51
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 5 - 3:03
Total Ascent: 807ft
Average Heart Rate: 135bpm
Max Heart Rate: 156bpm
Day 16 Morning Progress Maps
Day 16 Afternoon
The afternoon push was all on the A9 which is an extremely busy and fast road, it is the main route to Inverness which is the biggest city up in the highlands. The road has many HGV's using it to supply Inverness with all the goods it needs. It seems like a lot of dickheads also drive on this road. We had dozens of cars get way, way too close to us whilst travelling at 80 or 90mph. Lots of people beeping at us but not in the cheery way we had been beeped at in the rest of the UK. It was only car drivers acting like this, every artic lorry that passed us did so with a really wide birth and many drivers mates gave a thumbs up out of the window. We were all thanking the none dickheads as they overtook us with a wave. There was never any point where traffic couldn't get by, people seemed to be angry at me for some other reason.
 |
| Heading for Inverness on the A9 |
Dad and Ant were making a real effort to keep me entertained during this push. Dad must have been cursing inside at the drivers coming too close and beeping. Even with me at 32 years of age he was still over protective and he loves a good rant with lots of swearing thrown in. He definitely listned to me asking him to be positive because he didn't shout fuck off at a single driver! Anybody who knows my dad will know that was a miracle. Dad's new positive vibes and Ant's now more frequent 'well done ant' helped me to 18 miles which was a good effort for an afternoon push considering how tired and sore I was! I'd got myself to a place called Killiecrankie, another place name that made me giggle. The place name and exhaustion had got me imagining Janette Krankie being killed in all sorts of comedy ways. Giggling at my own internal jokes was not good for my ribs, I was on the verge of crying due to the rib pain but I was laughing like mad about the Krankies being twatted in the face with a plank of wood on a builders shoulder as he turned around. It's not even funny, I'm not much of a fan of slapstick comedy so exhaustion must have played a part! I should probably talk to Dave the sports psychologist about why I found the place name and the thought of an old woman dressed as a school boy being killed so hilarious.
We weren't very far from our campsite Milton of Fonab, yet another freebie. I was a bit down about the day as a whole; I was in a lot of pain and I wasn't happy with the 40.5 miles total for the day. It was 7.5 more than my daily target but I felt like I should be able to do more.
 |
| Beautiful but tough. |
We had three lots of campers come up to us in the campsite to chat to us about the challenge and they all donated to the charity which cheered be up a bit. It was the first day that we hadn't had a single penny donated on the road so it was nice to get something in the bucket for all my effort. It meant I could stop grumbling about the tight arse Scots! Dad was in his element talking to the people who donated. He loves chatting to new folk when he isn't upsetting them.
Dad had spotted that there were baths in some of the wash rooms so he helped me over the deep gravel roads and I went for a very long soak to ease some of my pain. I was in bed by 7pm that night hoping for some better rest.
Day 16 Afternoon Stats
Miles: 17.97
Time: 1:38:30
Average Moving Speed: 10.9mph
Top Speed: 30.0mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 17 - 7:06 (fast as a slowest mile)
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 3 - 3:09
Total Ascent: 531ft
Average Heart Rate: 138bpm
Max Heart Rate: 154bpm
Day 16 Afternoon Progress Maps
Total Daily Mileage:40.64
No comments:
Post a Comment