Katie MacDonald - Bike the US for MS
Day 1 - Jul. 30 - John O'Groats to Bettyhill - 51.5 mi
Naomi and I woke up at our hotel in Wick, quickly got ready, and drove to the team campsite with my parents to start the ride. We spent about an hour getting our cubbies organized and our bikes ready to start the day, and then went over to the John O'Groats signpost to take team photos. It was raining most of yesterday, but today was nice and sunny. After a few photos and adding a Bike the UK for MS sticker to collection of stickers already on the sign post, we set off on the first mile of our 1,020 mile trip to Land's End.
The tandem bike quickly passed the rest of the group, and took the lead for the day. Most of the team stayed in a big group, and I got to chat with a few people. Once we started to spread apart, I ended up riding and chatting with Tim. The roads were narrow with lots of sheep, and my GPS at one point informed us that we had taken a wrong turn. Luckily this was caught almost instantly, and we got back on track only to find the majority of the team stopped at a beautiful beach taking pictures. We stopped to join them, and Issy tried (unsuccessfully) to take a team photo using her GoPro's voice activation feature - "GoPro, take a photo!". This gave us all a good laugh, but we eventually had to go manual and press the photo button to take the picture. Rest stop one was at a grocery store in Thurso, where we got some shopping done and got two donations from locals. I haven't ridden much this month, so I was feeling rather out of shape and tried to lighten the load on my bike by putting the drone in my day cubby. Leaving rest stop one, I rode with Sarah the rest of the way to rest stop two, which was in a parking lot at the top of a hill around mile 40. Here I snacked on a banana and some crackers, and tried to stay warm in the wind. It's been mostly crosswinds today, with the occasional headwind, and even more occasional tailwind. I left the rest stop with Sarah and Naomi, but lost them pretty quickly when I turned around to get a picture of a mom and baby sheep on the side of the road. Riding solo meant I stopped to take lots of photos and videos on the way to camp. The elevation profile for today showed three big climbs, the first of which wasn't bad, the second was pretty tough, and the last one was just plain annoying because I was so close to camp. Tonight we are staying at a community centre in Bettyhill, and boy are we being spoiled on the first night. We were able to shower at the local pool (complete with hot tub!) and then we were given a delicious meal from some of the ladies in town. They put out an incredible spread of sandwiches and desserts. After eating, we headed down to the beach in town. This place is stunning, and it looks more like you're on a tropical island than in northern Scotland. I brought the drone out, and was able to get some footage of everyone chilling on the beach. On the walk back it started raining, so we hung out in the community centre for a while and then headed over to the pub for some free wifi. We ended up sitting outside at a picnic table playing cards and watching the sunset for the rest of the evening. Pretty great first day! Day 2 - Jul. 31 - Bettyhill to Evanston - 76.8 mi
Woke up early to the sun streaming through a crack in the curtain, directly into my face. I instantly dropped right back into the morning routine I've followed on every previous tour - breakfast, get dressed, pack up my sleeping bag, brush my teeth, pack up my cubby, pack up my bike, hit the road. The whole team headed out together, but we soon got separated as Tim's chain broke within the first mile, just past the pub we had played cards at last night. I ended up riding with Sarah for most of the first stretch, occasionally joining up with Issy, Laura, and Naomi. We spent most of the way into the rest stop alongside a beautiful lake, or a loch as they would call it here in Scotland. There were also sheep everywhere! All over the road. We passed a sign that says "lambs have no road sense", which might be my new favourite street sign.
At the first rest stop we had a little picnic in the grass and messed around with accents. The Brits tried out their best American accents, and we tried out our best English and Scottish ones. After the stop I rode with Sarah again. What looked like a climb on our elevation profile didn't really feel like one, but then the descent didn't feel like a real descent either so it kind of evened out. We were both pretty frustrated by this point, as we had some unpleasant headwinds for this stretch. We did however pass some beautiful waterfalls, and Sarah graciously put up with me constantly stopping for pictures. We also stopped for French fries at a cafe in Lairch because we were both starving. A bit later on, we met up with Tamla at the big waterfall, and rode with her for a bit. Tamla and I popped into a corner store for snack right before the rest stop in Bonar Bridge, and then hung out for a bit with Jo and James K at the stop. As we were leaving the stop, we passed by a lady who handed me ₤10 when we biked, saying "I saw your van pass and wanted to give you a donation! Keep riding!". This was a great moment, and a good motivation for the climb that we were about to face - 13% grade for 2 miles. The climb was tough, but at least we got a good descent out of it. Every part of my body is hurting at this point, and my legs started to seize up a bit on the descent. I rode the final stretch alone, and got into camp just before 7pm. There are no showers tonight, so I took a quick sink/wet-wipe shower and then went to the pub with Sarah. We met Steve and Sara (the tandem couple) at the pub with their friends, and then James W, James K, and Naomi joined us a bit later. After dinner we grocery shopped and then headed back to the church to go to sleep. Day 3 - Aug. 1 - Evanston to Fort Agustus - 59.7 mi
Due to some snoring, I ended up moving my sleeping bag into the kitchen of the church in the middle of the night, where I was able to get a much better sleep. I woke up to people coming in to make their porridge, and figured I should probably start getting ready myself.
Had a good ride in to Inverness with Sarah, and even got to ride with Sara and Steve and their friends for a bit. Sarah and I joked that this may be the only time on the trip where we spend more than a few seconds riding with the tandem because they are so fast. We almost missed the first rest stop, but thankfully Sarah noticed the van at the last minute and yelled ahead for me to pull over. At this rest stop, we were joined by a couple members of the local MS Society, which was really cool. We got to chat with them, and took a team photo. It was during the team photo that a seagull decided to try and steal one of my recently purchased bananas right out of the grocery bag. I almost tripped over David's bike running over to scare it off! After saying goodbye to the MS Society, we rode through the city as a team, passing by the area where I had stayed with my parents a couple nights ago. After getting through the city it was a short ride to Dores, an unofficial rest stop, where we got to see Loch Ness and take some pictures. I was honestly pretty relieved that we were stopping for another break, because every part of my body was hurting. I'm not sure why this ride is hurting so much more than any other trip I've done, but it's really frustrating. I rode with Sarah, James K, and Naomi to the next rest stop, which was on the side of the road right beside the loch. My phone was on the verge of dying, but I still managed to fit in a quick drone flight out over the loch, which was stunning. After the rest stop, we had a big, tough climb between us and camp. The four of us struggled through it together, and stopped at the top for some more photos. We also saw a couple taking wedding photos at the top - that's how scenic it was. Just as we were starting off towards the bottom, I saw James W climbing up the other side, coming from camp. I yelled at him "why would you do this to yourself?!", not yet knowing how amazing the descent would be. He replied with "you'll see!". Thankfully James was right, and the descent was even more beautiful than the climb was tough. It's amazing how quickly a good descent can erase the painful memories of a climb from my mind. After getting to camp, James K, Naomi, Sarah, and I head down towards the loch to swim and then shower. It was freezing cold and raining, but we figured we couldn't come to Loch Ness and not jump in. It took us five minutes to finally waddle out to a point where it was deep enough for us to fully submerge ourselves, and in that amount of time we amassed a little audience that cheered for us when we finally worked up the courage to dunk underwater. The warm showers that came next were very welcome, though we had to wait for the rest of the team to finish because there was only one functioning shower. For dinner Sarah and I went out to a fish and chips shop with James K and James W. James K treated me to a battered sausage for dinner because I said I'd never had one before, and it was actually pretty good! After eating, a bunch of us went down to a pub by the loch, where we spent most of the night teasing Jo because she was confused as to what end of the loch we were on, even though we had spent the whole day riding alongside it. Back at the church we chatted for a bit, and then headed to bed by 10:30. It's a pretty tiny room tonight, so hopefully the snoring won't be too bad!
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katie macdonald
Summer 2016, I biked 4,295 miles, coast to coast across the USA to raise money and awareness for MS. March 2017, I biked self-contained from San Francisco to San Diego with my friend Carissa. August 2017 I connected the dots and biked from Seattle to San Francisco. Summer 2018 I am heading to the UK! Follow my journey here! Miles biked for MS:
6,800.13
Updated August 27, 2018 Archives
January 2019
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