Day 6: Nothing like a bank holiday

Today was a bank holiday but riding 100 or so miles for the sixth day in a row felt nothing like a holiday.

I woke in Gretna to brilliant sunshine but it was a cold night and a cold start to the day. I didn't sleep well again - having a battle between a call of nature and wanting to stay warm in my sleeping bag. I was a little sleepy and grumpy to start the day, not helped by a northerly wind for the second day in a row.

I cooked a decent breakfast of porrige, bacon and coffee and left Gretna at 10.30, just as the sky began to cloud up. I tried to get in the mood for Scotland by listening to the Celtic-punk stylings of the Dropkick Murphys but nothing could help me ignore the headwind.

I began cursing Scotland and cursing a lot of other things too. Sometimes time alone on the bike isn't healthy. The route I took ran alongside the motorway meaning it was open and exposed to the wind. The scenery had certainly changed from northern England. This was big country with long straight roads and expansive horizons.

After 49 slow miles I finally reached the lunch stop at a service station, almost an hour after I predicted to Helen. My first words to Helen were "that was a wretched morning." Just as I was eating it started hailstoning. My mood couldn't have been much worse.

Funnily enough though, once I re-started after lunch the wind died down, the hail stopped and the gradient was downhill which really bucked up my spirits. I raced through Lanark and Airdrie and felt a lot happier as the final miles were drawing in. I rode 91 miles in 5hrs 30mins.

Unfortunately during the afternoon another squeak started coming from my bike. This time it was the free hub (the bit with the gears on in the middle of the rear wheel). Without any tools to take it apart I could only hope that more GT-85 would help. We'll see in the morning...

Tonight we're staying at Greenacres B&B near Cumbernauld. It's a short drive from a lovely curry house which more than made do for dinner. I highly recommend the Nawabi Korma and the Lamb Keema Beans Taba at Bombay Dreams if you happen to be passing!

Latest photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=425209&id=751600611&l=316933a515

All publicity is good publicity

I woke up on Sunday morning feeling pretty good considering Saturday's mileage. Once I dragged myself out of bed I gave my bike a liberal soaking in GT-85 and gave it a quick test ride to find the creaking noise had gone.

I wolfed down a quick breakfast and headed out to Dundry hill and Chew Valley Lake. I must have still been hungry after Saturday because I was already eating my food rations not 15 miles from Bristol. By the time I'd climbed the huge Highfield Lane, leading from Compton Martin, I was hungry again and the dreaded bottom bracket creaking had come back.

I was only 25 miles into my ride but I knew I couldn't continue on a big ride with my bike making such a worrying grinding sound. Unfortunately I still had a 25 mile ride to get back home. I rode down through Cheddar Gorge (taking a video as I went), and then came home via Shipham Hill, Congresbury and another fearsome hill called Providence Lane in Long Ashton.

I rode a frustrating and slow 51 miles, knowing I could have ridden further and faster had my bike been in perfect working order. Still, I did manage to get a video of the first half of the ride, which I pieced together with Windows Movie Maker.

On Monday Bike UK managed to fit me in for a quick £10 bottom bracket strip down and re-grease which has hopefully solved the problem. I'll have to take it on a quick test ride tomorrow (Thursday) to find out for sure.

In other news, Bike UK donated a prize for a charity sweepstake this weekend (thanks Paul!). I'm still on the look out for other prizes. I'm hopeful that Howies might come through. We've got about 40 people coming round this weekend for a fund-raising BBQ. So for all the business-owners reading this, that's 40 people you could turn on to your products - all donations very welcome!

Also my story made the local paper. Well not exactly. The journalist I spoke to chose to focus on how I'll be turning to fast food and beer to get me through my ride. That's not strictly true folks. I'll be relying on high carb and protein foods - a beer in the evening might be a by-product of being on 'holiday' (if you can call a LE-JOG trip that). And for all those looking for those references to 'food porn' - on Saturday I ate a deliciously creamy chicken and artichoke pie and followed it with a whole Easter egg. Anway, I'm not complaining about the tone of the article - all publicity is good publicity I guess. I've already received a £10 donation on the back of it.

Finally, Helen and I went out to buy a new bike today. It's a Specialized Vienna which cost the princely sum of £300. It's not a bike suitable for Lands End to John O'Groats but it is a beauty nonetheless. We especially love the white tyres (a manufacturing mistake apparently)!