Day 0 - Ideal Preparation...

I am generally an organised/forward planner. Spreadsheets/schedules and route maps are all part of the fun of a trip like this as is laying all the kit out in the days before leaving. HOWEVER, i certainly did not have the run up to the journey i was expecting.

I'd generally sorted all of my stuff on the Friday/Saturday so on the Sunday i did the club run at steady pace with a wee cake/social stop at Dales after the ride. Sunday was an absolutely perfect day to ride a bike, easily one of the best GGCC Sunday runs in a long time. Needing to drop my bike at the van in Paisley to go up north i decided against taking the train and just had a steady 9 miles ride out to Paisley. After a slight 'Tour de Paisley' trying to find Simon's workplace some advice from the locals set my straight. Pulled into the drive to be greeted by Jim, our support driver and all round hero only to be stopped in my tracks by a small raised kerb i expected to roll over... Or not as i found myself stopping dead, over the handlebars to land on my face with the bike, still clipped in landing on my back. After dusting myself off, i'd mainly lost some skin on my fingers/elbow and a lot of pride. No big deal really, i was just worried about my bike, which Simon checked over for me whilst i cleaned myself up. Oh well, a few laughs, bike in the van and back home.

After spending most of the night worrying about my bike, i woke up with a plan in mind. Breakfast prepared the night before, pack toiletries, make lunch for the train, leave early and get fruit for the journey. THAT NEVER WORKED. Just after i finished showering, started to feel really sick in the stomach. Next i know i've woken up on the shower floor not knowing what the hell had happened. For the first time in my life i'd fainted and felt utterly terrible. Thankfully i literally have the greatest girlfriend of all time, who pretty much carried me into bed. Luckily after about 10 minutes i started to feel normal again but it'd fairly ruined the morning plan and it ended up being a late, late dash to the station.

Journey being the journey was pretty dull and before we knew it, it was time to ride the 20 miles from Thurso to JOG. First mechanical stop, 2.5 miles in, needed to re-adjust my handlebars as they had taken a hit from yesterdays fall. Steve took the award for first puncture, 9 miles in. The remaining 11 miles were utterly perfect cycling, no wind, dead roads and blue skies. Pictures below but safe to say we are all pretty excited about tomorrows ride.

Day 0 - Quotes of the Day

James Reily - "Today, i went commando for the first time and you know what, it seemed ok."
Andy Cat - "The thing with track cyclists is, take them off the track and they're just cyclists."