The Monster

It should really be the victorious deputy blogger who pens the update on the Monster Bike and Hike but she has zoomed off to Aberdeen for a two day work meeting so its up to me, who just watched, to do the updating.

Good news first, despite many trials and tribulations, all the team made it to the 50 mile mark at Drumadrochit and all but three (Campbell, Lorna and Mike) pushed on through the night to the 70 mile finish at Inverness which was amazing. Everyone found it much harder than expected as there was quite a bit of ascent and descent at the main stops, some of it quite steep, and the first bike section was much more narrow and "off road" than anyone expected.

Lee's brother Alex and his friend Ian set a blistering pace at the front, managing to finish the whole thing by midnight and even jogging into the finish, clearly some significant training had gone on there. Then a big bunch of folks came in around 3am including the badly limping Philip, who's old knee injury combined with a lack of training to make his walk very difficult, and Colin who promptly collapsed at the finish and had to have medical support to recover. Lee and Duncan slugged it out to make it in at 5.30am, delirious, but very happy to have managed the distance, specially with Duncan having massive blisters for soles of his feet. Lee did not fair too badly, despite the absence of poles, so her training paid off and you could see in the group the folks who had done the training clearly fared better than the no training (Philip) or "drinking red wine" training (Duncan) folks.

Our support logistics worked well and everyone was met at the checkpoints with a friendly face and gear changes/soup/coffee/porridge etc no one got lost or abandoned. I helped with Jim run one support car while Rose, Nora, Michelle and Ivana were in the others - unfortunately by 10pm I was so tired I had to go to bed, so I missed the finish, my stamina still has a long way to go! Sunday was a wipe out of sleeping bodies, injury treatment and war stories which we finished up with a nice dinner in Inverness, for those who could make it, to celebrate the achievement. Although all the money is not yet counted we stand to have raised around £15k for the Maggies charity so it was well worth while.

Monday was taken up with the long haul home for everyone and a very welcome bath and sleep under a home duvet, we all went to bed early and slept like logs last night. Today the normal routine of school for the girls, hospital check up for me, and work for Lee has intruded again - my check up was fine and the rest of my day is gym, shopping and homework with the kids.

So many thanks to all the Monster Team and the Support Team, and the family support team, for a great weekend which I think will be recalled many, many times when we meet again, even if only to say "never again" in some cases. Jim and I are toying with the idea of doing it next year as a team with Lee and Lorna in support. He has to see about his knee and I need to discuss it with my doctors before we decide - it may be a good "end target" for my get fit work, we will see!

No doubt deputy blogger will have a more humorous update when she returns from Aberdeen but for now we are resting up and recovering !

Cheers

Gerry