Katie MacDonald - Bike the US for MS
DAY 7 - AUG. 5 - CARLISLE to Kendal - 56.5 MI
There were some rather noisy birds in the area over night, but getting to sleep in until 7:30 made up for it. We had a slow and steady 500ft climb over 7 miles to start the day, along some nice quiet roads. Rest stop one was at a Burger King at the 21 mile mark, where I got chicken fingers for second breakfast. I also used this rest stop as an opportunity to dump my trunk bag in the car, in an attempt to shed any extra weight from my bike for the upcoming climb.
Between us and the next rest stop was Kirkstone Pass - the steepest climb of the trip. I'd seen clips of it in last year's video, where the previous route leaders had filmed each cyclist coming to the top of the climb, utterly exhausted. We had an approximately 15 mile ride to get to the base, and then there is a 1.25 mile straight uphill that averages 12% grade, with sections of 20%. Well actually it's not very straight, rather a series of switchbacks that make their way up the mountain. Regardless, it was a struggle, and took a lot of physical and metal energy to get through. It was a relatively busy road, both with cars and sheep, and at one point I saw a sheep jump from the road up onto the rock wall/fence, and walk along it for a little while. We were greeted at the top by the route leaders and cyclists who had already made it to the top. James K was ringing his cowbell, and Issy, Jo, and Laura were cheering us on while capturing the moment on the GoPro. We stopped at the pub at the top (the only building around) and treated ourselves to refreshments. While we were chilling at the top, Jo decided it would be "fun" to go down The Struggle and ride back up. The Struggle is another road that leads up to Kirkstone pass, and is even steeper than the climb we just finished. Not sure what made her want to do this to herself, but it was fun to cheer her on as she got back up to the top. The descent was a bit bumper than I would have liked, and I was clutching the brakes the whole way down. Unfortunately, as soon as we got to the bottom Sarah realized she'd left her water bottles on a picnic table at the top. It was a fairly short ride to rest stop 3, but involved going off the map. We attempted to follow the directions that James W had sent us, but ended up getting a tiny bit lost and coming in from the other direction. All good though, as we made it to the BBQ on time. The local MS Society came to meet up with us and provided us with a lovely barbecued dinner. So nice of them! After eating and chatting, Jo led us the final ~2 miles into camp in Kendal. We are staying right at the centre of the city, in a church that has a lovely yard and garden. After getting set up, we walked about a kilometre to the hostel for showers. After showering we headed to the laundromat to do our first load of laundry of the trip. Never thought I'd get this excited to do laundry! It was ridiculously expensive (approximately $17 Canadian for a wash and dry) but much needed. We walked around town for a bit while the laundry was in, stopping by a convenience store to buy an ice cream sandwich and chocolate milk, which I have been surprised to find doesn't appear in many stores in the UK. In fact, this is the first time so far I've seen chocolate milk for sale. After our laundry finished up, Tamla and I walked back to church together. I organized my bin and read for a bit, but was starting to fall asleep in the middle of my book so eventually I gave up. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it yet, but I am reading Land of Lost Borders by Kate Harris and LOVING it! Highly recommend to anyone who is into biking. Day 8 - Aug. 6 - Kendal to Eccleston - 59.8mi
Pretty chill day today! Easy 17 miles into rest stop one in the town of Over Kellet. Almost the entire team was here at the same time, and we sat and chilled on the grass in what appeared to be the town green. A few people took a detour down to the next town to check out a bike shop, while Sarah, Naomi, and I grabbed some snacks at the store across the green. As we were getting ready to leave, James K said he would ride with us but then got a pretty serious leg cramp and fell over trying to stand up. He tried to walk it out, and even rode his bike around the block, but James W didn't think it was a safe idea for him to ride, so he got back in the van.
The next stretch of the day brought us along some narrow roads with tall hedges on each side which was a little scary. I was looking forward to the promise of a pub at rest stop two, but unfortunately it was closed today so we hung out outside. The local MS Society joined us for a bit, so we got to chat with them. Naomi also introduced us to a word guessing game that we played for a bit. I struggled to follow the rules at the time, so I won't bother trying to explain them in the blog, but it was fun. After R2 it was a quick 21 miles into camp. We got to a bigger town that made navigation slightly more difficult, and I definitely took the wrong exit at a roundabout and had to turn around and get back on route. James K apparently got over his leg cramp, and we met up with him on the road in the last 5 miles or so. After getting to camp at Eccleston Methodist Church we walked over to the park nearby to use their showers. A lovely gentleman who works for the town was waiting so that he could unlock the showers for us. After showers we went grocery shopping at Sainsbury's, because of course we were out of scones again. Back at the church we had some more people from the MS Society stop by to say hi, and then the whole team headed out for an Italian dinner at Verdes. It was a fancier restaurant that none of us were dressed for, but that didn't stop us and we got a long table that fit almost everyone. I got a carbonara that really hit the spot, and was big enough that I couldn't even finish it. Apparently it wasn't big enough for the boys though, as they started eating everyone else's leftovers. Back at the church we met our new route leader, Becky. She did the ride last year, so she knows Jo, James W, and Catherine. We stayed up chatting and building card castles until 10:30pm, and Issy did a French braid for me, which I've never had done before. Fun night! DAY 9 - AUG. 7 - ECCLESTON to Market Drayton - 73.2MI
I was hoping to eat my leftover carbonara for breakfast this morning, but I discovered that the fridge had not been plugged in so I settled for porridge with maple syrup. We had a couple of steep climbs to start the day which got the legs warmed up. We passed some beautiful wheat fields, and Naomi got her first hay bale photo. Unfortunately I must have walked into a thorn or something while I was taking the photo so my leg was stinging for a bit.
We rode into a bigger city for the first rest stop, which was on the side of the road. I though I saw a cafe not too far back, so Sarah, Naomi, and I walked back to get second breakfast. Turned out to be a good call, and I got a fantastic bacon sandwich. We headed back to the rest stop and hung out on the sidewalk for a bit while we waited for the bus that was going to shuttle us around the closed bridge. The three of us got on with Tim and David, and were driven around to the other side. Because it's a bigger city, there were lots of cars on the road which is never enjoyable. Eventually we left the city, and returned to the narrow road with hedges. Rest stop two was in a residential area, and a few of us walked to a convenience store to use their washroom and scope out some snacks. We spent about an hour at the stop, then headed out to finish off the day. We are camping tonight, and the local MS Society came out to meet us. When I got to camp, some of the guys were on their bikes and James was teaching them how to track stand (stay upright on your bike when it's not moving), so I got the drone out to capture the fun. We snacked on some donuts that the MS Society brought for us, put up our tents, showered, and then headed into the campsite restaurant for dinner. We ordered food, and then Sarah, Naomi, and I snuck back out to the tents to play a prank on Jo. Naomi had the idea to get a bunch of q-tips (which apparently are called cotton buds here) and just hide them in all of Jo's stuff. We put them in her shoes, her saddlebag, sleeping bag, book, day cubby, everywhere we could think of, then headed back inside. The amount of food we had on the table was absolutely insane. I got a burger and fries, and there were so many fries that they came on a separate plate. The food was delicious, and Naomi and I managed to save room and split a brownie for dessert. Now, laying in my tent, I am uncomfortably full and wishing I hadn't eaten quite that much. DAY 10 - AUG. 8 - MARKET DRAYTON to Hereford - 75.3MI
Woke up this morning to Tim and David chatting in their tent, and panicked that I had overslept. Nope. It was 5am. I found out later in the day that in his sleep Tim had accidentally kicked open the valve on David's air mattress and it started deflating, waking both of them up. I have no idea what on earth these guys had to talk about at 5am, considering they literally spend 24/7 together.
Sunny ride this morning into rest stop one. Our ride was briefly interrupted by some cows who were crossing the road to get to their pasture. The farmer strung up some rope across the road, opened the gate, guided the cows through while we waited, and then closed up the fence and took the ropes down. We pulled into R1 at mile 19, and I immediately ran across the street to join Tim who was petting a horse in the field there. We hung out with the horse for a bit, and then rejoined the team when the horse no longer seemed interested in eating grass out of our hands. The local MS Society joined up with us for a bit, and we took a group photo with them. Have I mentioned how much I love getting to meet people from the MS Society almost every day? It is such a nice addition to the trip. Becky, the new route leader, joined Naomi, Sarah, and me for the next stretch of the ride. Turns out she has great taste in music, and we had a great time chatting. Biggest climb of the day was during this stretch, but it wasn't too bad. We rolled into rest stop two in Ludlow and found the car, but it was locked and Jo was nowhere in sight so we had to give her a call. Turns out she was across the street at the Tesco, but just couldn't park over there because of a 2 hour limit. We went inside and met up with Issy, David, Tim, and Laura at the cafe, and I grabbed a sandwich for lunch. This was followed by some grocery shopping, which included a millionaire's shortbread for dessert, which I promptly ate in the parking lot. Jo said she remembered the rest of the day being pretty flat, but as soon as we took off from the rest stop we came across a pretty steep hill. Pretty sure we all uttered some variation of "damn it Jo!" as we worked our way up the hill and out of the town. It was just Sarah, Naomi, and me for this stretch, so I listened to my music and had a pretty chill ride. At one point we got the text about camp that said "showers at leisure centre, hair care available". Having no idea what this meant, the three of us starting placing bets on whether this meant free shampoo and conditioner, or access to hair dryers. We rolled into camp at Hereford Baptist Church just before 5:30, and promptly headed over to what are for sure the nicest showers of the trip. The Anytime Fitness around the corner from the church was nice enough to let us use their showers, which means we all got our own individual room with plenty of hot water. It took me a while to figure how to actually turn the shower on because it was super high-tech and incorporated a motion sensor of some kind. After the shower we discovered that "hair care" meant a countertop with hair dryers, straighteners, etc. down the hall from the showers. Tim and David were just arriving as we were wrapping up, and had to wait because all the showers were occupied. Tim took this as an opportunity to try straightening his hair for the first time, which was pretty funny to watch. The church has a big kitchen tonight, so Sarah and I decided that it was time to try the canned hot dogs. We cooked them up with some baked beans, and it turn out they're not to bad. Definitely not as good as a *fresh* hot dog (if that's even a thing), but edible nonetheless. After dinner we asked Tim what people were up to and he said that everyone was heading down to Spoons. When we stared at him blankly, he tried to clarify by saying "Whetherspoons", which still meant nothing to us foreigners. He then explained that it is a pub chain, at that there was one just down the street. We ended up heading down to Spoons and played cards with the team for a bit. We had a curfew of 9:30pm tonight because that's when somebody was coming by to lock up the church, so we continued our card game and had some hot chocolate when we got back. I claimed my own room tonight, just off from the main room, which hopefully means I'll have a nice and quiet sleep. DAY 11 - AUG. 9 - HEREFORD to Bath - 77.4MI
Oh boy, what a day. Prepare yourself for a long blog post. Ok, here we go.
Had a pretty good sleep last night, but discovered in the morning that my phone hadn't charged at all because I hadn't turned on the switch next to the outlet. Rookie foreigner mistake. We got packed up and ready to go, but then Sarah got a flat before we even left the church. Fortunately she fixed it super quick, and we were ready to hit the road. Less than a mile in, we come across Tim standing on the side of the road looking down at his bike. Apparently his derailleur snapped clean off, making his bike unridable. We hung around with him for a little bit, and David, Issy, and Laura eventually came back for him as well. We waited for the car to show up so he could get his bike looked at, but there was nothing the route leaders could do, so he just swapped his bike for one of theirs and was able to keep riding. It was a hilly ride to rest stop one, which was at a Morrison's. I got a chicken sandwich and a croissant for second breakfast which we ate in the parking lot. I heavily considered going back for a second croissant it was so good. I was very glad I didn't though, when we started climbing the big hill after the rest stop. Unfortunately the descent after the climb was interrupted by a detour to rest stop 2 which was being held at the National Diving & Activity Centre. The detour took us down some very narrow winding roads, which are becoming the norm. The detour was absolutely worth it though, because we got to meet up with another MS Society and they gave each of us a coupon for a free slice of cake! There were three different options to choose from, so Sarah, Naomi, and I got one of each and shared them all. The slices were so monstrous I didn't even come close to finishing it. We sat out in the back area with the MS Society and enjoyed the sunshine and the view of the quarry. There was a zip line, but it didn't look worth the price. Just as we were getting onto our bikes after about an hour of hanging around, it started to drizzle. By the time we crossed the bridge and entered Wales (third country of the trip!) it was pouring. Wales also decided to greet us with a nice steep climb up a busy road. Near the top of the hill, Naomi discovered that she was no longer able to clip into her pedals, so we got off the road and sought shelter under some trees. We called the car to ask if they could drop by and let Naomi get a new set of cleats out of her cubby, and then waited for them to find us. Fortunately, by the time Naomi got her new cleats installed, the rain had lessened and the sky was clearing up. We made our way through Chepstow, and to the Severn Bridge that would take us back into England. However, we had yet another mechanical failure before we were able to leave Wales, as part of Sarah's crank fell off somewhere and the whole thing was loose, making her bike unridable. We called the route leaders yet again, but as we were already on the bridge there was nowhere for them to pull over. Naomi and I rode to the end of the bridge to flag them down, while Sarah started a very long walk to catch up to us. We tracked down James K and Jo at the end of the bridge, and then I rode back to Sarah to keep her company. Fortunately James K was able to tighten the crank so Sarah could keep riding for the rest of the day. Less than 5 kilometres in Wales ended up taking us an hour, and James K and Jo were cracking jokes about how they'd expect another call from me in 30 minutes or so. Meanwhile, during all of this, I was trying to coordinate meeting up with Michelle from Ride On Cycling. Michelle is from Nova Scotia, and her and her husband Nathan had biked across Canada a couple years ago and had posted a video series about it on YouTube. I was a fan of the videos, and had seen on Instagram that Michelle had just moved to Bristol, which would be very close to where we were riding today. Hoping I could chat with her about the cross-Canada trip, I reached out to see if she would like to join us for a stretch of today's ride, and she agreed! We met up with her at rest stop 3, and she helped lead us onto the bike path that would take us all the way into Bath. It was so great to chat with her about the ride across Canada, as it is something I would like to do in the near future. Eventually Michelle had to turn back to head home, so Sarah, Naomi, and I rode the final stretch into the city together. Because of all the mechanical problems, it was pretty late in the day by this point and we were all exhausted. When we came upon the final hill and it was massive, none of us were happy campers. Turns out Bath sits in a valley, and our church for the night was at the top. The three of us were cursing most of the way up, but eventually we made it. The church we're staying in is very nice, and a lot more modern than most churches I've seen so far in the UK. It has a big kitchen, a laundry machine, shower, two big rooms for us to sleep in, and a lobby with couches. We all showered quickly, then got a cab down to the city where James K treated us all to dinner at Nando's, which was delicious. Thanks James! The night ended with the team staying up late, chatting, playing cards, and not having to worry about getting on a bike in the morning.
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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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