This was the first long trip with overnight stays required.  Being a three day event an extra hour in bed was granted by the Captain and a more leisurely 6:00am start was granted.

Breakfast was had in Dunkeld then up to Balinluig wher the Captain had his first fall off then to Pitlochry for double fag break wiith Dunc Fletcher and a couple of pints in Blair Atholl for lunch.   The second half of the days biking was the hardest with an ascent to the Drumochter Summit before heading on to Dalwhinie where disaster struck in the form of a puncture.  Unfortunately it was not repairable even with the can of magic junk and with the whole village shut and nobody going about we were in trouble.  Fortunately there was a train, all be it a 3 hour wait but it was preferred to a 15 mile walk.  Road Runner completed the last stretch to Newtonmore solo in the dark.  The train got in just after 10 so the Captain was warmed up, fed and entertained by three nice young girls from Shropshire who were land management students specialising in Black Grouse replacement.

Day 2 started with a puncture repair helped out by the Newtonmore Bunkhouse as the plastic tyre leavers were not strong enough to get the tyre off the deep rim. so we headed off for Aviemore just after nine in the sunshine.  A couple of miles just after Kingussie disaster struck again when the Captain's rear tyre exploded sending him crashing into the verge.  Thankfully a passing joiner with a flatbed lorry was passing and took the Captain to Kincraig and a winow sales rep took him onward to Aviemore where Mike of Mikes Bikes put on two new tyres and two new tubes and thankfully there was no more need for the train.  A good liquid lunch was had in the Rowanlee Bar in Carrbridge before the ascent to Slocht which was not nearly as bad as we feared it might be.  The trip into Inverness was  the first time we have had rain and it made for a slight wrong turn where the sign was bent round the wrong way.  It meant an extra hill climb for the Captain who's brakes rear brakes then failed and were out of use for the rest of the trip.  Many thanks must go to Derek the owner of the Redcliffe hotel  in Inverness who have us a complimentary room for the night.  A good feed was had then plenty beer to rehydrate.  Many thanks to Ian Fraser, Milton of Culloden who gave us £20 in the pub.

Day 3 was again good weather with only 1 hill out of Dingwall a massive 375' climbing up the Old Evanton Road.  In Evanton we had a bacon roll, mug of coffee and a bottle of beer compliments of head coach Dave and his wife Sheila who were on holiday for the weekend.  With less than 10 miles to go and in bright sunshine we headed off for the last leg of the journey into Invergordon and into Ross Sutherland's ground.  Many thanks to Ross Sutherland for their hospitality and their donations to the cause.

The winner of this weeks 50/50was 1st team prop Gary Durward who guessed at 176.5 miles only 0.1 out.  To learn more and enter the next 50/50 which is to St. Andrews on the 30th of October CLICK HERE.

The monies raised will be split between the Everyman Charity and the club where the money will go directly towards an extension to the clubhouse benefiting both the juniors, seniors and all who come who come along to watch the matches and support the club.

Everyman is a campaign that was launched by The Institute of Cancer Research in 1997.  Everyman's mission is to stamp out testicular and prostate cancer, more can be found out by clicking on their logo.

We aim to have a variety of sponsorship opportunities through the season.  There will be a book behind the bar where a donation and an overall season accumulator competition can be entered.  A separate match 50/50 book will be available the week before all the away matches where you can guess the distance travelled for £1.

All club members and supporters are more than welcome to join in any of the rides, we are also looking for volunteers to assist with transport and back up.

To offer help, join a ride or sponsor us click HERE

This page will be further developed