Punishment and reward

Quite a lot happened this morning - we are, as predicted, in aviemore by
lunchtime (50 miles from alness) but not without incident.

The first 10 miles were ok and we went over the bridge to 'black isle' (I
half expected to meet a couple of hobbits on a quest) - we then had a
fairly relentless climb for 2 miles, but not too steep - it was raining and
the wind was in our face, but after a good climb we were rewarded by a dose
of sunshine, calmer winds and a good long downhill where speeds of 25 - 30
were easy freewheeling.

After that is was another 10 miles to inverness which passed without
incident. We got to the inverness bridge and the views were increadible,
followed by a huge downhill which got us up to 35, the punishment here was
35 mph rain in the face, which does sting a little. It was at this point I
noticed I had lost a spoke (I heard something clatter on the way down. I
put it to the back of my mind, donned the wet weather gear and started off
to daviot.

At daviot I felt that the climbs were a touch harder than they should have
been, so I looked back at my back wheel which was buckled and rubbing
against the brake - punishment! We then decided to carry on to the next
town, which appeared to be aviemore - about 18 miles away. Little did I
know that this consisted of a 7 mile climb to schloct summit. I staggared
on with the buckle getting worse, every mile feeling like 2. Several times
I thought we had reached the to of a hill and were going down, but checking
back realised we were still climbing, just at less of a gradient -
punishment! With a bit of grit and determination we reached schloct summit
(405 metres above sea level) and was looking forward to an easy decent in
to aviemore. We stopped to check out the bike and the buckled wheel had
worn a notch into the aluminium of the frame. I'm sorry to say that we then
had to hitch a lift with a guy called Dave and his van for the last 10
miles - if it's any consolation, it was more disappointing to see the
fruits of my impeded climbing 405 metres going to waste in a van.

So, to a bike shop for a new back rim, tyre (because it had worn away on
the frame) and a bill I could do without - punishment!

The sun is out, but I'm not sure that really has thr karmic effect required
for the day so far. We've got to sit and have lunch until about 2:30 so
the guy at Mike's bikes can finish the job, then we can get the next 30
miles out of the way and curse the day. I guess it's better this happens
today rather than tomorrow, at 97 miles it's our longest day and won't have
any time to spare.

Soreness wise, I think we're both a bit better, whether the saddles are
moulding to the shape of our bums or the other way around I'm not sure. We
are testing a supposition, we've both had problems with chaffing, so Dave
is trying 2 pairs of boxer shorts, and I'm trying none - we'll see who
comes off better at the end of that day (tmi?) - I won't post a picture!