A few days ago we blogged about Sam Levey, who is riding in betweenn all the postboxes pained Gold in honour of our Olympians in order to raise money for The Children's Air Ambulance. Sam kicked off his incredibly tough challenge yesterday (17th March) and over the course of this journey he will be blogging for us so that we can experience his ups and downs of his feat.
Day One
Well, one day of cycling done and I feel done in. I knew it would be hard, I knew there would be hills, I knew there would be bad weather - but yesterday was awful.
From a very positive start in Elgin I set off in dry and still conditions to Lossiemouth. All good. Then I turned around, got on the A96 and rode pretty much uphill into an awful headwind the entire way to Dyce. One thing I did discover, Aberdeenshire is big. Like, absolutely massive.
Had one technical issue which resulted in a hissy fit. Shortly after lunch I climbed about 3 miles continuously away from Huntly through a blizzard and got a pleasant surprise seeing a 26 miles to Aberdeen sign, then disaster struck. I say disaster, my chain slipped off. Not the end of the world I hear you say, but I lost it. Hands covered in oil, freezing cold and being rained on with 3 hours riding to go. Tantrum time!
Anyways, I got back on my bike and kept talking myself up hills, through the wind and cursing myself for having such a dumb idea. I made it though.
Warmed up, ate well, rested and made a couple of phone calls which helped a lot. It may only have been a 75 mile day but I think it'll be my worst. If not my actual worst, the top 3 is a definite.
Longer ride today, 85 through Aberdeen for Katherine Grainger and Tim Baillie's boxes, then down to Dundee. Recovery has gone well and I'm feeling pretty positive again so let's get this thing done.
To quote Friday Night Lights and rehash my mantra of the day, Clear eyes, full hearts. Can't lose.
You can support Sam by sponsoring him for his challenge, you can also keep up to date with his challenge on Twitter.
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