Just seen a ridiculously purple tandem going through the town centre. Is it anyone on the ride?!
The Hamiltons (from England, but often seen riding in the Frozen North) are pictured on their purple tandem in this set of piccies:
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPoas-kdpYIrX-DK1gKV9y4ntWoDPzAQGuFxFJ41dwKrGqOe0XCtHzPbdvX2DNB8Q?key=U0NnbldoZDNLUEVuOE9wUkt4NWUwZVlhN0cxaEZ3
That was us, making the long trek up from Englandshire.
You have impeccable taste in tandem colour schemes.
(Even though I managed to totally miss it on the day!)
As everyone else has already said, that was rather hot. I kept looking out for the snow, but I didn't find it.
I'd looked at the weather forecast beforehand and seen a pleasant 17°, so when it came to the "second water bottle or tool bottle with some extra CO
2 and tubes" decision, I opted for the latter. Big mistake.
Suffice to say, I was stopping at every shop to get water (and sweets). I only had a very small saddlepack and a mini top tube bag - in retrospect, I should have taken a slightly bigger saddle bag, to avoid ditching a water bottle. Lesson learned!
I'm glad others also found the Dufftown to Tomintoul stretch tough. I was slogging it out on my own, barely seeing anyone else, on that section, and although it seemed pretty flat, I just didn't seem to be making any progress. I wondered whether it was just me, but it seems not! I saw one rider up ahead in the distance turn straight on to the Lecht road, but decided I definitely wasn't doing that and diverted in to the metropolis of Tomintoul in search of ice cream and more water. Soon afterwards a whole bunch of other riders turned up with the same idea, so I stuck with a big group all the way back to the end.
After the turn on to the Lecht road things got better turning into the headwind
I can't think of too many occasions to use "Lecht", "headwind" and "better" all in one statement...
Huge thanks to Alex and all involved - it's a lovely route; the Braemar control was great (even if I was regretting having eaten quite so much on the climb up to Glenshee) and macaroni pies at the end even better.