Day 2 SITREP
Another great day in the saddle, although a much harder proposition than yesterday. Plenty of good size hills to get across and the joy of rush hour traffic in Edinburgh for the last 8 or so miles which made things interesting.
A few lumps to get over getting through Alnwick, then it was onto the first big climb of the day at around 8 miles. A surprise to a few riders, but it certainly warmed the legs up all-round! The descent was fast, very fast and yours truly managed to get into an epic tankslapper resulting in the GPS bouncing down the road at 45 mph – cue some swift ‘GPS overboard’ drills. The lumps continued for some time, which pretty much splintered the bunch, with Scotty M making his usual early break for freedom. Eventually we got on the flat and the chasing bunch cranked up the pace big style to reel in Scotty before the first feed stn.
The 1st feed stn at Wooler was very welcome after the fast blast and our thanks go to the Green Garden Centre, Wooler for hosting us. The support crew even managed to do some ad-hoc fundraising into the bargain. The second leg was into a long set of rolling hills, through Coldstream and across the border into Scotland. Promptly, the sun disappeared and the wind picked up – welcome to Scotland. Scenic but requiring some graft could describe the rest of the leg! Next feeding stn was at Greenlaw at ‘Blackadder’s’ Garage – nice work Edmund!! In fact, we also found out that Blackadder also owns the cornershop, the hotel and the pub, but not a black-russian codpiece in sight. Good drills from the support crew who had a brew, sausage rolls and a pile of jock pies – nice work!Out of Blackadder territory and the run up to the longest climb of the day at Dun Law – marked by the large wind-turbine ‘farm’ which is always a good sign. Going through the snow gates at the bottom of the hill also suggests some hard work is needed. It was a long ‘grinder’ and pretty much destroyed the bunch with a few callsigns getting properly shelled out the back! Over the top and the long-range view of Edinburgh and the Forth was a welcome sight. Several miles of rolling hills with the odd decent and we arrived at the last feeding stn at Pathead. Was good to meet some of the local RAFA members, including an Area Councillor from Edinburgh and Midlothian District.
Some interesting routing out of Pathead served up some last minute steep climbs which went down well after some 80 odd miles in the saddle. Onto Edinburgh and what looked like a simple route around the ring road failed to take into account the sheer amount of rush-hour traffic and suicidal pedestrians, particular through the glorious suburb of Westerhailles! Cue a combination of map-faff by the Support Crew and the lead riding group, mechanical dramas from Al and the Support Team Manager trying (and failing) to be in 3 places at once! Time for a faff at the final RV and a taste of the Scottish weather just for good measure. The last blast into Craigiehall was thankfully short and HQ 2 Div was a welcome sight. Big shout out to the chef in the cookhouse for dishing up an excellent meal, despite having no power for most of the afternoon! The Team were joined by the Stn Cdr, who will complete the stage to RAF Leuchars in the morning – hope you’ve brought your cycling legs boss!
A hard day to be sure, but through some of the best scenery available. The people we’ve met en-route have been welcoming and very supportive and our fundraising is steadily climbing nicely.We made it onto the RAF Website today:
http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/leeming-cyclists-08062011
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