5:30 alarm call Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
Started off well and Stuart joined the ride for the first 30 miles but once he left ( conveniently just before the first major climb...) I slumped and was really struggling to keep the pace and the positive mental attitude.
I blame Finn who made me laugh all the way up the first climb. I ate and drank as much as I could and was starting to come round as we entered the gorgeous scenery of the highlands on a fairly busy road. At this point loads of police, ambulances and a trauma unit came blasting past and shortly after the road was closed.
It became evident that something serious had happened (in the front of everyone's minds was that it was probably one of the 800 odd cyclists on the road that day) and we were directed to a car park on the banks of the gorgeous loch earn where we sat in the sun and waited for coaches to come and get us (4hrs). There was a pub nearby and we sat waiting with a pint.
Started off well and Stuart joined the ride for the first 30 miles but once he left ( conveniently just before the first major climb...) I slumped and was really struggling to keep the pace and the positive mental attitude.
I blame Finn who made me laugh all the way up the first climb. I ate and drank as much as I could and was starting to come round as we entered the gorgeous scenery of the highlands on a fairly busy road. At this point loads of police, ambulances and a trauma unit came blasting past and shortly after the road was closed.
It became evident that something serious had happened (in the front of everyone's minds was that it was probably one of the 800 odd cyclists on the road that day) and we were directed to a car park on the banks of the gorgeous loch earn where we sat in the sun and waited for coaches to come and get us (4hrs). There was a pub nearby and we sat waiting with a pint.
The coaches picked us up at 5 pm and drove us along the now reopened road up Rannoch Mor and through Glencoe. The scenery is definitely gorgeous but the road is bad for cycling. Single lane each direction, fast and full of heavy traffic like huge logging trucks and coaches. Quite relieved I wasn't able to ride it.
When we got back to base camp at 7pm the atmosphere was sombre and we were told that it had been a serious accident involving a female cyclist from our event. She was in a critical condition with a serious head injury in hospital.
The RAB event had quickly turned from the best ever on day 5 to the worst ever. We had 30 seconds silence during the briefing in the huge marquee to send her prayers and thoughts then everyone went to bed at 9pm. Threshold Sports (the organisers of RAB) were amazing throughout the day going above and beyond what anyone expected of them.
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