Thank you to everybody who sponsored me for the Etape Caledonia. Starting from an unfit base, I trained hard for 5 months for this. I bought 2 racing bikes (cash converters is probably not the place to buy your elite racing bike!), lots of strange lycra clothing and spent hours training, doing around 600 miles of training along with some nights in the gym. I also acquired special shoes, a computer, lights, waterproof clothing.. the list goes on. Frankly, Macmillan would have got more if I'd just sent them a cheque and not bothered....
However, that's not the point, is it - and the bikes can go back on ebay now.!!..maybe not....
There's some photos here - I got round the circuit of rural Perthshire in 5 hours 12 minutes- not a record time by any means but decent enough and it felt fast to me. I was very pleased that I was 983rd fastest out of 3600 or so on the timed "king of the mountain" stage at the Braes of Foss (south of Loch Rannoch) - which given around 1000 of the competitors are probably semi-professional/under 30/super-fit etc and use it as a training exercise for other events I wasn't at all unhappy about. It amused me greatly to overtake so many people on expensive carbon bikes and club lycra in my mountaineering socks and an old golfing jacket.....it was less amusing to be overtaken on the flat sections by some young guys on mountain bikes who looked fresh and relaxed around the 75 mile marker!.....
Most importantly, Macmillan will have made a fortune from the Etape Caledonia, I lost weight and had some fun and I was still able to smile and walk at the end of it all! (just).
The only problem is now that I have to go for an even bigger challenge next year.....
Kind Regards
Donald
