LEJOG Day 9 - Peebles to Perth (64 miles)

Today's ride

Today was to be an easy ride. Pretty flat and only 64miles. As mentioned yesterday this would be Jordan's chosen terrain. We followed the morning routine with the Connie and Spencer team setting off at 8am and everyone else leaving periodically, in their various cycling groups. Beryl, uh Dave, gave us a comedy moment trying to exit the car park and then asking "is it this way" pointing in completely the wrong direction. The trio left the hotel around 9:30am after a little discussion about what to wear. Arm warmers or no arm warmers? But definitely gilet, much to Jordan's annoyance. As we headed out of Peebles I sat on the front and set a quick pace. Jordan was happy to sit on the wheel and initially so was John. Eventually John lost the wheel and dropped way back. The pace was slowed so he could catch up. By this time we had caught Rachel, Andy and Pat.we said the customary "hello!" and then rode on by.

After a little up and down in the terrian we were presented with a long descent. I powered down the hill with John making a "woohooo" sound as the speed increased. About half way down there was a junction and I saw a car roll up to the give way line. The driver did see me but must have thought, "cyclist"not going very fast I have plenty of time to pull out and accelerate away. As they pulled out they then locked again and realised that I was going at a much greater speed than they anticipated. Fortunately for me they stopped in the middle of the carriageway. Leaving just enough room for me to squeeze between them and the oncoming traffic. Many expletives were shouted as I passed them. People out there don't think that because you see a cyclist they will be travelling at 10mph. Please look twice!

As we circumnavigated Edinburgh city centre we saw Connie, Spencer, kash, Paul making there wat into a pharmacy. Paul had been stung by a Bee on the knee. After that it was a quiet ride to the first feed stop, next to the Forth bridge.

As always we were a little early and Dianne was furiously making the sandwiches. As quickly as she could put them on the plate we scoffed them. One by one the rest of our fellow riders arrived. A quick check of Paul did reveal a puffy knee. Hopefully he'll be fine the morning.

As we rode over the old Forth road bridge the sun came out and gave us a spectacular view of the Firth of Forth on our way to Perth.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Jordan rode off into the distance for the last few miles. We thought he was trying to beat the van to the hotel. Depending on who you believe Jordan won the race, but Dianne said they were there 2 seconds ahead. Either way John and I just gently peddled our way to the hotel.

Not much other news today. Derek (King of the Audax and incidentally will be 73 on Wednesday) decided to go off piste to get his bike fixed and have a cafe stop. But neglected to tell anyone. For dinner tonight we (Derek, Pat, Andy, Rachel, Dave, John and me) went to pizza express. Although not very express tonight.  Our food took ages and the waiter came over to inform us that John's pizza order had been missed by the kitchen. To make up for this they would give him some dough balls and his pizza would be 15 minutes. The clock ticked by and i complained to the manager andshe blamed the kitchen staff 😲 about 15 minutes later the dough balls arrived. 20 minutes later the pizza arrived. We then asked for the bill. It was then noted that the chips Pat had ordered never materialised but we on the bill. This was pointed out to the manager. Long and short of it was that John's pizza was taken off the bill, so we're the chips plus a 30% discount. What an end to an otherwise innocuous day.

Tomorrow the Cairngorms!