Day 1 Glasgow to Langholm

A day that will live long in the memory.

Grace & I were reunited at Celtic Park this morning after being separated yesterday as she was prepared for this epic journey by Q Bikes Paisley.

I suppose it was a bit like a Spa day for her? As I found her she was basking in the sunshine on a chilly but beautiful Scottish spring morning attracting lots of attention from the other cyclists, their families and the well wishers who had turned up to wave us off.

I found the support vehicles and got loaded up before being summoned for the photo shoot and ceremonial cycle past the dug outs along the side of the pitch. STV were there and we actually made the Scottish National news :-)

I could see a drone buzzing around but never imagined how powerful the video would be!

When you have 5 or 6 minutes then this video is well worth watching. It captures the atmosphere perfectly and the drone footage is simply stunning.

Click here to watch it on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzy2EnUF7vY&t=2s

Time to go, at last the preparation was over and we could actually start cycling.

Chief Organiser Paul Muldoon was up front to lead us out but as all good cyclists know it should be two bikes at the head of the Peloton. Paul called Grace & I to the front with him, we led them down The Celtic Way. turned left onto London Road and The Road To Lisbon officially started at 08:28h BST.

The pace was very modest and constantly interrupted by traffic lights and of course it was rush hour. The plan was to stay together and navigate through the busy roads until we passed Larkhall at about 30 Km.

For those of you who haven't heard of Larkhall then let me enlighten you. It is entirely populated by Rangers fans, the green traffic lights are protected behind wire cages and even the ASDA has a blue sign ........... get the picture? Rangers fans don't like us much and the support company Greenrock Cycle Tours had no idea that cycling through Larkhall might not be appropriate.

We were joking that it was the best place to do a TT (Time Trial) or at the very least put the hammer down and get through there as fast as possible :-)

There were some of our supporters there cheering us on from the edge of town "welcome to Larkhall" they shouted as they laughed at us and photographed the occasion.

What happened next you couldn't make up!

Paul suddenly stopped with a rear puncture, the Peloton was halted and 27 cyclists dressed in Celtic gear dismounted right in the middle of Main St Larkhall. There was some choice language flying around that I wont repeat here. The fastest puncture repair in history was carried out and we got on our bikes sharpish. Soon we exited the danger zone we were out in the country.

"PUNCTURE" was the cry, it was Paul AGAIN! Same rear tyre?

It transpired that the guys charged with fixing the Larkhall puncture were in so much of a rush that they didn't actually repair anything. They had inflated the tube and couldn't find a hole so just re-used the same one.

I laughed all the way to the lunch stop.

After lunch there was only 52 Km to go but it was still very slow. Some of the guys were struggling a little with the climbs and we were continually waiting around. Lots of punctures because of the appalling condition of the road surfaces didn't help.

As we waited for the group to catch up we were informed that one of they guys had jumped in the mini bus, his cycling was over for the day and there were some proper hills awaiting us. Now the cycling really started as we headed for the hotel. Tough climbs and a strong head wind ensured we arrived in Langholm after a pretty decent workout.

Distance covered 139.3 Km

Climbing 1,354 M

Moving time 06:50:09

You can see a graphic reconstruction of the route here https://www.relive.cc/view/981559886

Summary:

One of the easier days for me, weather was glorious. Looking forward to better road surfaces and seeing how I cope with stiffer tests.

Difficulty rating 4/10