Day 4: The longest day is 85 miles long..

Stats for the day: Miles: 85, Ft Climbed: 3613 Calories: 6200 Group Punctures: 0, Beard Status: Getting there. Undercarriage: Requiring double shorts.**New Category** Comedy Tan Lines: Multiple.

Slog Blogettes, Hello. Day 4, the Summer Solstice, is behind us, we’re in another ropey hotel in Dumbarton, and in general, it was a good day. We certainly had a better time than it sounds like North Korea did.

Smashing weather greeted us again this morning, we have been very lucky with the elements so far. Mo’ Nature is still playing the game, nice work treacle. Check out the view from my window this morning:

You wont get one tomorrow, as it’s of the back of a Little Chef.

Our smart hotel was topped off with a good breaky but we were all a bit worried by what was to come- the 7 mile hill I mentioned yesterday. As soon as we left the hotel it was looming over us, a big green bully and as we reached the bottom we all settled down into our own rhythms: iPod on, head down.

And you know what? It was ace.

I think we all really enjoyed it; it was hard but never overly steep and with an incredible back drop we were able to just get in the groove and power up it. I probably enjoyed that as much as anything on the trip so far- goes to show that your mind can make things seem bigger than they actually are, just ask Capello and his boys!

I was actually so in the zone that I didn’t notice Andy and Steve waiting at a little plateau below the summit and steamed on by, if they hadn’t had caught me in the climb left, I’d have been over the top and well away. We then had a couple of more little climbs before a mega blast down through the valley and alongside Loch Lomond. We stopped for lunch in a little village right on the shoreline, and after a sarnie wondered down to the jetty and sat with our feet in the water.

Check the view:

It was a fantastic setting, and we could have sat there all day but we had a fairly average Scottish town to get to!

We managed to keep up a nice pace at around 16-17mph which keeps us all together, until we hit a cheeky little final hill which was 1:6, basically any steeper than that and you are in Spiderman territory, although I reckon he probably looks better in Lycra. After that it was a cruise down the banks of the Clyde, past the gnarly looking nuclear sub base and into our home for the night. Job Done.

So we’re over a 3^rd of the way in distance, and we’re generally in a fair state. The next couple days will really show us what we’re made of though, they’re all over 100 miles, and at the moment we think tomorrow could be 120 miles..We try and average 10mph with breaks/lunch included. Even in my brain dead state at the mo I can do the math. Uh oh.

With that, I think it’s early night time, keep dropping us comments/texts/sponsorship it really spurs us on.

Hablo Manana.

PS: Updated the blog from yesterday with Pics

PPS: Have a good last couple of days in Spain Luce. xxx