Snow Road Audax The Adventure Show

# Gotta get another mile or two

# Gotta get another mile or two... #

Well, that appears to be working,

but this month on The Adventure Show we'll see if I'M working

as I take on 300 kilometres of cycling

up some of Scotland's toughest climbs.

Well, you saw me suffering last time

but I think I got the long straw, to be honest -

compared to what you're facing, I'd take on my challenge any day.

300 kilometres of uphill ascent... isn't that, like, 185 miles?

Yes, thanks for reminding me.

I'll be taking on the Snow Roads Audax,

that's over 16 hours in the saddle, probably 17, maybe 18,

and I'll be climbing 4,800 metres

up some of these really, really tough climbs.

I've absolutely no idea why I'm doing it,

but it's the challenge of taking it on...

bad idea!

I think you're just charting our descent into the abyss, aren't you?

-This is...

-It does get worse than this.

Pedal goes up, pedal goes down, pedal goes up, pedal goes down.

The thing about an Audax, it's important you do it

self-sufficient and unsupported, but don't tell anyone,

I'm being supported by Cameron McNeish here,

and I'm delighted you're here, Cameron, because you did Land's End

to John O'Groats recently, you know all about long distance cycling - am I mad or will this be a breeze?

Well, yeah, a bit of both probably,

but there's a couple of things to remember,

from my experience, a bit of a hint and tip -

faster is harder than longer.

You don't have to go fast. And it's long, but it's actually easier

than going fast. You'll be fine, you're young and you're fit and...

-Well, maybe not so young now but...

-I was young.

-You'll be fine.

-You were young once.

-Once, yeah, exactly.

You're a veteran of some of the great races in Scotland,

you know, the Strathpuffer and...

-I've made a mess of many events on The Adventure Show and I've come to...

-You'll be fine.

-..a sticky end

-in one or two of them as well...

-No, you're right, we're not allowed to actually support you

so we'll have to be very careful in how we sneak you energy bars and whatnot.

Yeah. So you've got all my drinks, all my water, all my stuff in the car and all that.

You're not supposed to be supported but frankly, 185 miles

and all that climbing, I'm not telling them if you don't.

It'll be fine. Sshh!

Later in this month's Adventure Show, Cameron heads to Norway

for a wild weekend in the mountains above Voss,

and we'll discover they do it in style over there.

-Oh, we're not going to go hungry.

-Nope.

-Wow, look at that!

And back in Scotland, we'll be polishing up

our paddles for a taste of white-water kayaking.

I've had many, many scary moments on the river.

I still get them now, it would be odd not to.

You need...you need a wee bit of fear in your life, I think.

Wahaaay!

But first to the Snow Roads Audax,

that very, very long bike ride ahead of me.

It takes place on the roads north of Dundee and west of Aberdeen.

From the small village of Kirriemuir,

it's north-east for 65 kilometres to Banchory,

with a gruelling hill climb on the way.

It's then another 90K to Dufftown.

But there are two killer ascents still to come -

there's that steep climb over the Lecht,

and after 200 kilometres in the saddle to Braemar,

there's an equally tough one over Glenshee,

and if I survive all of that, it's back to the start at Kirriemuir.

You have to be crazy! I'm afraid

once it gets in your blood, there's no stopping you.

To me, cycling is stupid, you know,

because it's that miserable most of the time.

But the fitter you get, the harder it is,

so you never really get anywhere. It's only a bit frightening

when you're going down a hill on a tandem, that's the trouble.

I shut my eyes because I cannae see very well anyway.

It's like... like being a kid in some ways,

you get to go out and play all day and, er...and it's...

that's fun, you know?

What fun, eh?

I think, erm... I've been worrying about this for a long time,

which I often do before doing events,

but I didn't sleep at all last night.

I had two hours' kip so I hardly slept, it was dreadful,

which is wrong, I should... I actually should go and go out

and enjoy some of the most beautiful scenery I'll ever see

from the back of my bike, but actually, I'm not.

Now you can catch the rivers of perspiration!

APPLAUSE

And here we go. Good luck, guys! Good luck, Dougie!

Rather them than me!

Let's be clear on one thing, this isn't technically a race.

It's not a sportif, either.

It's an Audax, a sport that has its origins

in Italian endurance events of the late 19th century.

Success is measured by just completing the event,

but there's also a pride in turning in a good time.

It's a long distance challenge

where people have to cover

a route of a certain distance

within a time limit.

There's a maximum time limit beyond which people, you know,

can't go, and there's also a minimum time limit.

Maybe the last five or six years that the sportifs have

become the biggest thing in cycling,

I mean, what do you guys think about things like that?

There's an old joke, Dougie, that you may have heard.

What's the difference between a sportif and an Audax?

A sportif is for people who like to pretend that they're racing,

an Audax is for people who like to pretend that they're NOT racing.

What sort of person takes part in an event like this, because it's... I mean,

it's not usual, is it, I mean, it's a big challenge.

Oh, there's... there's all kinds, from the really super-sporty

to the quite eccentric,

so it's all types.

There's a lot of contrary people in the world of Audax.

I think it's... it's a very special niche, I think.

Somebody described it to me as kind of being one of the most

bad-ass things you could do but nobody would know it.

Erm...because it is...it's a personal challenge that nobody...

people would almost look down at you

if you tried to go round really fast.

There's a pride in having that second scone

when you stop at the cafe.

Second scone or not, this is a deadly serious event,

one of endurance and determination.

The Cairn o' Mount's in about three or four miles...

-Yup.

-..which is the big Category 2 climb, which,

for anyone who knows their cycling, means it's a monster...

Ha! I think that described it well.

-Yeah.

-But you're looking good, you're going well.

You're pumping away, you've got a good rhythm going.

It's quite interesting, Cameron, I've driven up the Cairn o' Mount

many times, and you know it's steep

when you have to put the car into first gear.

I'm just about to ride up it.

We're now just at the start of the first big hill

over the Cairn o' Mount

and this is where it's going to get really tough for our riders.

It's the first really big ascent, and it goes on for quite

a long time, two or three miles of pretty steep uphill.

Cairn o' Mount's always the hardest one, and once you get over there

you know that there's not going to be anything as hard

as that for the rest of the day, and I always find that

the hardest hill on the entire route,

the first one we would get to.

Do you think that's kind of partly psychological as well,

sort of getting the first big thing out the way?

It might be, but it is very... it has got a very steep start

and a very steep finish, so, er...

that...that tends to... You've...

Many a time I've felt like stopping halfway up but I've not, I've always managed to cycle

all the way to the top without having a rest, but the temptation to stop

and have a breather gets very strong about halfway up.

-It must be very strong, yeah.

-Yeah. Soon be there.

You just need to get in a suitable low gear

and pedal away for a while, then eventually get there.

Even Anne Mustoe, who was a great round-the-world cyclist, when she

first went across the Alps, she was frightened, daunted, but she said,

"You just keep at it, and after a while you go down the other side."

Easy, really.

Nearly there! Slowly.

I have a big, long rant about physical meditation -

there are a number of things like the dervishes in Islam,

and the marathon monks in Japan, and the Lung-gom-pa runners in Tibet.

All of these people do long endurance stuff,

because just like yoga, it occupies the body and leaves your mind

relatively free, and it's a very meditational sort of experience.

You don't want to be impatient, though.

If you think you're going to beat that guy to the corner

and then overtake him,

you're likely to find several hours later that you've blown something.

Oh! Ha-ha.

'I wish I'd had these tips beforehand.

'It's a pretty disastrous start.'

That was horrible.

'And my bike is having as many problems as I am.'

-Dougie's had it.

-How are you doing?

A bit of a mechanical problem. It's not good.

Is that you rattling?

-Yep.

-Have you got a problem with the bike?

-Maybe get you up the top and stop and see if we can...

-Yeah.

-I've lost my chain three times.

-Aye.

And it doesn't make it any easier, does it?

Just let it happen.

Let it happen, don't worry, don't fight it.

'And things are going from bad to worse.'

Chain's just broken. Oh, it's so annoying.

The annoying thing was, I mean, that was, the climb was tough,

-but it was...

-You were going so well down there as well.

But it was doable.

You'd caught up with these guys and you were going really, really well.

My chain was off three times down there, and then that's broken.

The chain came off, eh?

That's what I'm saying, it came off three times. Oh, no!

'Typically, I haven't got the right kit with me.'

-The chap coming up has just got a chain splitter.

-Has he?

-Yeah.

'Luckily, someone is always willing to lend a hand.'

Oh, fine. You're a fine man.

'It's a temporary fix, but thanks to expert help,

'it's enough to get me going.'

-You got away with that one.

-I know.

-OK.

-Thank you very much indeed.

You're not getting away with not riding it!

Yeah, a wee bit of a push to get me going. On you go, go on.

Just get my feet in there.

-Are you in?

-Yup, thank you.

-Good lad.

-Thank you!

The great thing about an Audax is that other participants

are happy to help out, even when someone's as badly equipped as I am.

That's hard work.

Everybody sort of mucks in, you know, if you need help on the ride,

you know, if you want company, then it's there to help you, you know,

if you get into trouble, somebody will be there to help you, you know.

Everybody sort of helps each other

because they all know it's a long, hard ride.

# On the road again.... #

If somebody's flagging, people will stick by them.

No rider left behind, apart from those that are.

It's just a hardened crew of nutters out there, who all seem to be twice

my age and whip my ass every time, and I don't know how they do it.

They're just amazing!

Well, all that pre-race adrenaline has now gone

and our riders are well and truly into the hard slog.

For now, though, we're leaving this road bike epic to join Cameron,

as he escapes the Scottish weather for somewhere slightly more exotic.

I just love this country. I've been fortunate enough

to visit Norway several times

over the past few years, and I've come to the conclusion

that Norwegians are my kind of people.

Everybody here explores the great outdoors either on foot

or on ski, and indeed you're deemed to be rather strange if you

don't have a pair of hiking boots or a pair of cross-country skis.

But they treat the outdoors just a wee bit different here than

we do in Scotland, and I'm here to find out more about that.

'Train to Voss from platform two, soon ready for departure.

'All aboard, please.'

This is a big train and it's a busy one,

because it's Friday afternoon

and everybody's heading for the mountains.

I'm off to a place that claims to be

the extreme adventure capital of Europe, a town called Voss.

I'm essentially a backpacker at heart,

I like nothing more than to take my tent and my rucksack with

everything in it into the wilds for a few days at a time.

But here in Norway, they do it differently,

there's a huge network of mountain huts, all run by local associations,

and it's those huts that I've come to experience for myself.

It's a wee bit wet.

It's too late to head into the mountains now,

but fortunately there's a hotel right on the station platform,

one that was built in the grand Swiss style 150 years ago,

when people started flocking to these hills.

I've always been an advocate of the full Scottish breakfast

before a day in the mountains,

but here in Norway they actually put the Scottish breakfast to shame.

There's everything you could imagine, bacon and eggs,

all kinds of bread, all kinds of fishes, cereals, yoghurts,

including Mediterranean salmon fillet with cognac and juniper.

I think I'll have some of that,

and I think I'm going to be well set up for a day

in the Norwegian mountains.

This area is close to where I grew up, it's high above sea level

and it's open, and you can see it's got good views,

and you can walk for days and find new spots.

I've been walking here for many years but it's...

I always find new places to go.

'I'll be exploring these windy mountains above Voss

'with local outdoor enthusiast, Are Mossefinn.

'Norway's huts tend to be about a day's walk apart,

'so there are lots of options

'for a long weekend or better still, a week of walking here.

'And it's not just the huts that make things easy, there's also

'an intricate system of marked trails stretching right across the country.'

As you can see there is a six to seven hour walk

down to Torvedalshytta,

and another six hours to Volahytta,

or you could do this,

they're really close.

And then there's a six, seven hours walk to Voss.

There are several good starting points to the west which will take

you through the area of Stolsheimen in about a week, or you could

go down to one of these valleys and take the bus back to Bergen.

-This is where the track splits in the DNT track network.

-OK.

So we're walking towards Selhamar,

and if you continue that way you get to Asedalen which is

another four hours of hiking to a different hut.

How is this mountain hut system organised,

who is behind the whole network?

The mother organisation is the DNT,

the Norwegian Trekking Association, which organises

the network of huts.

The different huts are owned by local departments of DNT,

like, Bergan Turlag, which I represent.

All our huts are self or unequipped and we leave them

open all year, so there's...

you don't need a key, you can just walk in.

Whereas other organisations within DNT, they have equipped huts

with people, with staff, run more like a hotel would be.

-And can anybody use these huts?

-Anybody can use them.

It's cheaper if you're a member but they're open to anyone.

Are, is this old snow or has it fallen recently?

-This is snow from last year.

-Oh, really?

So this probably will never melt.

'We own the huts but we look after the tracks,

'like the network of tracks going to and from, in-between the huts.

'We mark them with red Ts.

'This is all done voluntarily, it's coordinated by people that

'work within DNT but it's done by volunteers.'

-There's one that's fallen down.

-Oops!

'It's a way of making the mountain accessible.

'Most Norwegians are used to think of going from one red T

'to another, it makes you feel safe.'

That's it, well done.

That must be hard work, gathering up sheep by hand

and not having a dog to help you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and you have to be patient as well,

as you can see, the sheep keep running away.

Every year in Voss there's a skjelte,

-which is a festival for the sheep's head.

-Oh!

Because we don't just eat the mutton,

we eat the sheep's head as well.

Do you have the eyes still in it?

-The eyes still in it...

-And the teeth?

-And the teeth.

We don't eat the teeth but we do eat the eye, it tastes good.

It's just a muscle and just, of course, you pick out

the black parts of it and eat the rest, which is just a muscle...

-Quite chewy?

-Chewy, it's good. It's quite good meat.

I hope you've got something better in mind for our dinner tonight at the hut?

I do, yeah. We don't... we won't be eating sheep's head tonight.

Well, that's a relief.

'A number of years ago I heard a word called friluftsliv,

'but it was explained to me,

'it seemed to encapsulate what the outdoors was all about.

'It's outdoor living.

'Very many like hiking, some like climbing,

'some like going sea kayaking, it's very common in Norway.

'Would you say it was part of the Norwegian DNA?

'Yeah, I would.

'A lot of Norwegians get taken out from they're very young.

'For instance, I've met children six months old at DNT huts

'with their parents, so, yeah, it's very much part of the DNA.'

-Well, Cameron, there's the hut.

-Oh, fantastic!

-Yeah.

-Fantastic!

Well, that's closer than I thought it would be.

What a beautiful position it is.

-It's a good location, just between the lakes.

-Yeah, absolutely!

-Well, let's go and get the kettle on.

-Let's go down.

Ah, here we are, the kitchen!

Ah, right into the kitchen.

-Oh, we're not going to go hungry.

-Nope.

Wow, look at that! Look, tins and tins of food...

Tins and packets of food.

-As long as you like tinned food...

-Yes.

-It's all good.

Well, we could probably start at one end

-and just work our way down and across.

-Yep, I think so.

Oh, wow, this is nice and cosy!

-And a wood-burning stove?

-Yeah.

-Oh, just the job.

So do you reckon there's anybody else staying here?

Well, we can just check.

One of the main rules is that the first thing you do

when you go into a DNT hut is to write your name.

-And you pay here as well?

-Yeah. You can pay either with cash

or with these authorisation forms.

It's just leave your name and numbers and details,

just note everything you eat

and then you sum it up in the end and just leave it.

-And this is all based on trust?

-It's all based on trust.

Yeah? Is it ever abused?

Very, very rarely, it works really well.

You know it's a terrible thing to say,

but I'm not sure that would work in the UK. I might be wrong.

We do have a lot of people from the UK coming over here

-and using our huts...

-Yeah, and not paying.

-And not paying.

-I'm sure they do.

-I'm sure they do.

-I'm sure they do.

OK, what's next, do we find somewhere to put our heads down on?

Yeah, then we'll find beds, and get food,

and light the fire, yeah.

Ah, this'll do.

Oh, my billet for the night.

Oh, nice and comfy.

I could be Wee Willie Winkie.

I've got a nice duvet quilt, so all you have to do is bring

a sheet sleeping bag to use, so you don't have to carry

a sleeping bag and things, so, yeah, I think I'll be fine in here.

I've never done this before, getting water out of the lake.

But I tell you, it looks beautiful,

and I'm really looking forward to spending a night here.

'What about main course, what do you think we should go for?'

'I like the bacalao,

'which is actually one of the best tinned food we have.'

-'Is it, what is it?'

-'Dried fish which is boiled again afterwards.'

So it's been a great day today, I've really, really enjoyed it,

and I can't help but thinking if I was at home in The Cairngorms,

I would be lying in a tent just now, probably shivering, whereas here

I'm in the height of luxury, so I look forward to a good one tomorrow.

'Join me later in the programme

'when I'll learn more about the DNT hut system,

'and I'll be having a go at freefall skydiving, without an aeroplane.'

Right now though we're back to a wet day in Scotland, although

that's probably an advantage if you're into white-water kayaking.

Scotland is a fantastic place for white-water kayaking.

Unlike the Alps where you maybe get springtime snow melt, we do require

a bit of bad weather, but a great thing to do on a day like this.

Scotland's blessed with lots of natural environments,

lots of natural places to go paddling,

but to have something that is just this unique that we can get on

and be predictable at this grade of water, so it's great, yeah.

'We've come to the River Moriston near Loch Ness, with Dave Rossetter

'and Iain Murray from our national outdoor centre, Glenmore Lodge.

'These are ideal conditions for white-water kayaking,

'but as we'll see later,

'even the best instructors can find themselves

'in a difficult situation.'

'Dave Rossetter - he's a good paddler, good coach,

'a great guy to be on the river with, nice and chilled out,

'and if ever I've got questions about...

'whether it's my own coaching or whether it's just,'

you know, out, any advice,

he's great for that as well. A good guy.

'I've paddled a bit with Iain and we've done expeditions

'in this country and abroad, and he's great, kind of just

'his infectiousness, you know.

'He's just great to keep'

high spirits going, but a talented boater as well,

so to have somebody there that can look after me

'as well as work together, I can look after him at times, we can

'just have the craic together, you know, so a good guy to have around.

'We're on the River Moriston kind of coming here,

'and it's one of our dam release rivers that we've got in Scotland.'

'It should be around about now where one of the hydroelectric guys

'will turn the tap on, the river will fill up,

'and the rafts will be there for the paddling.'

You'll find to get in and go boating,

it's a little bit of a slide down into the water and away we go.

The easiest way to get in really.

'This river, of the dam release rivers that I've been on,

'has to be the best one.

'A short section of river, packed full of rapids, you could go up,

'do a few laps on it, you can paddle it several times, get the most value

'for money, so to speak, and there's another great section downstream.

'Steep, narrow, the power of the water as well, eh?

'So in some of the rapids we've got

'quite a lot of power coming through, so...

'and that's what puts the grade up.'

'I've had many, many scary moments on the river.

'I still get them now, it would be odd not to.

'You need a wee bit of fear in your life, I think,

'it keeps you on your toes, keeps you focused.

'And controlling that fear is a massive part of the thrill

'and the adrenaline that we kind of get,

'so you can control it so therefore it's great, you know,

'to have that bit of buzz that makes you feel alive, really.'

THEY LAUGH

'When we get to the take-out, we'll just walk back up,

'carry the boats to the top, it only takes ten minutes,

'and do it again, until we get tired.'

'I'll see a lot of crossover between, say,

'downhill mountain biking and white-water kayaking.

'The difference, I suppose, being that we're not moving

'but the water underneath us is moving, so we have to adapt,

'you know, using tactic and technique, to ride the water,

'because we can't fight it, that's what the water is,

'we have to ride it to get the best way down.'

'On one level it's definitely just the adrenaline and the buzz,

'I'd definitely go with that,

'but for me there is that bigger aspect of the sport,

'and it is that working with the environment,

'being in the environment, using the environment to travel through,

'that journeying through it,

'and just the multiple ways that we can do that.

'The rivers have been here for a long time and it's great to

'use them and see their path down through it, so adrenaline,

'absolutely, but I'm definitely

'about more than that, as well, on the river.

'Even rivers that we do know, you know, there'll be times

'where you want to get out and just check your line.'

'You know, it is a natural environment,

'it's been windy, there might be a new tree down

'that we don't know about, there might be a new rock been shifted.'

So we're looking to find the smooth, dark water,

and we're just going to go on that rooster tail we'd call it,

and that'll just kind of kick us nicely, and it'll avoid then

the stopper, the recirculating area that we've got at the bottom.

'On the Moriston, we have stoppers, we try and jump over them

'or punch through them.

'Basically the water's returning back into the drop,

'and if you don't get through this backwash,

'then you might be in for the ride of your life.'

Dave, he's in a stopper! He's got a problem, I think!

'It's a very sticky little hole there,

'with the wee backup rock there,

'so I'd got to go into the depth of it, kept pulling,'

kept pulling, and the boat's not particularly edgy so I couldn't...

I just didn't manage to get myself over there,

maybe needed a bit more energy.

So I tried to go backwards and that didn't work.

I just spun around, flipped upside down,

and I was getting very tired then so I just thought,

"Well, I need some swimming energy,"

so pulled my deck, swam, got to the side before the next drop.

'Definitely a psychological effect, both of us had switched off.

'Tired, we'd been going for a long day, kind of up and down,

'having lots of shots, we were getting tired on our strokes,

'lazy on our strokes, not really finding the kind of correct line,

'and we just didn't have the energy to fight it, really.'

'That's it, national TV!

'It's an ego thing, really, but that's...

'It's just one of these things, you know, I got stuck,

'I gave it a good fight, I swam.

'I've got to be philosophical about it,

'but my friends will love this, that's for sure.'

'I didn't have to swim off, I could've waited for a rope.

'I've spent a lot of time swimming in these waters

'and I made the decision, once I'd caught my breath,

'to save a bit of time.

'Dave was downstream of me so I had some

'backup downstream, gave it a go,

'and swam through, caught the eddy.

'A little embarrassed but, hey-ho, we're all between swims.'

'Expert kayakers, Dave Rossetter and Iain Murray showing us

'how exciting this sport can be.'

'Welcome back to the Snow Roads Audax.'

We're well into the route now

but unfortunately Dougie's bringing up the tail end, and that's

largely because of the problems he had with his broken chain and having to replace it.

And of course when you bring up the rear, that brings

its own psychological problems, and he's been having one or two wee dips

in confidence, but physically he's looking quite strong, and I think

pretty well-prepared for some of the big hills that still lie ahead.

This can't be the right way, into the wind again?

We just keep on going towards that hill and round that,

and then away from that hill and then straight towards it again.

I'm glad I came with you guys

cos I would've been completely and utterly lost.

-Do you know where you are, Dougie?

-No.

-No idea?

Not a clue. I knew I was in Aberdeenshire.

So, that's me sorted... well, kind of, anyway.

'Way ahead and out in the lead as they come into Banchory

is a group of four.

Deziree is there to meet them.

-So first control point, how's it feeling so far?

-Not too bad.

We've got quite a long way to go still, but we've refuelled,

a coffee and a bun will get us to the next control, I think.

And how are the energy levels amongst the team?

Aye, not too bad, aye.

We're just trying to keep a wee group together

because it's a headwind.

There'll be a headwind up to about Dufftown or something.

One of the good things -

yes, I really did say there were some positives

to cycling 300 kilometres with nearly 5,000 metres of ascent -

is that there's a whole range of bikes on the course,

including a tandem and this one.

The recumbent, I find I'm quicker on,

it's more comfortable over long distances,

your weight's supported on your back,

and the main advantage is air resistance

so you're a bit faster on the flats and downhill.

So have you got a bit more of an advantage, then,

over the others today, if you're saying that this is a bit faster?

Not really because I'm lazy and slow uphill.

So they'll all pass me going uphill

and I'll maybe pass them going downhill.

Provided there's no engine, you can use any bike in an Audax,

and unlike a professional race,

there's no formal peloton or team cycling.

'You quite often do some of it on your own,

'you can ride it with a group of you come together and ride round,

'or as often happens with me, if I ride an event where

'I don't know anybody at the start,'

you form road buddies along the way

and you might form

a friendship for a while and help each other along.

-Good morning!

-Hello.

-Nice to see you.

The thing with Audax, it's the least disciplined group cycling

you'll ever get, because actually it's an agglomeration of

solo riders that happen to be in the same road space, so it's different

from group riding, but there is some wind-drafting benefit from it.

'For me, anything that helps is most definitely welcome.'

Oh, man!

I'm feeling a bit weary at the moment.

'Right now I'm heading towards Oyne, and I'm struggling.'

-Oh, not up that hill!

-Yeah, I'm afraid so.

See, these aren't even marked in as climbs, are they?

Just think of the cappuccino and cake that's coming up shortly.

They're evil. Evil, the people that set this course.

The roads have been pretty flat hereabouts

and I think the lads have been quite enjoying the flatness

and the fairly rolling countryside, but now and again you get

these little short, sharp hills, that are wee stingers

and we've just noticed this one and it's certainly silenced them

for the moment.

Yeah, just when you think you're doing fine, wallop!

Agh!

'While I slog up this hill,

'one that's not even mentioned in the course description,

'ahead of me many have completed the first third of the course.'

-Good 100K.

-Yeah, that's not bad at all.

-I've got one of the beasts dealt with, a few more to go.

-OK.

I'll get some soup in us to fortify us for the next bit.

-I'm just warming up nicely.

-OK, 100K warmer, yeah?

Yeah, well, I usually get loosened after about a hundred miles.

So I just had to eat soup, a sandwich, and a scone in 20 minutes,

and that takes quite a lot of skill to manage to do.

-See you.

-Cheers guys. Have fun.

'And it's not that long before I get to this rest stop.'

I need a coffee now, that last bit I was just feeling a wee bit...

-Aye.

-Mm.

-So the wee break's come at just the right time.

Yeah, I just...I kept on thinking about, that's us just got

over a third, and the prospect of how far to go, just for that

last five miles or so I was thinking about that and I was, "Oh, no!"

But I need to get back into the head again.

-Nice cappuccino and cake now.

-Exactly.

I was trying to think about eating, and I don't want anything,

I'm not hungry at all, and my guts feel...

-Yeah, but eat anyway.

-I will eat. Force it in.

Good, well done!

'There's no question, this is a monster event.

'I did try to train for it, but I'm not sure how you can be

'fully-prepared for something this long and arduous.'

A lot of it's up here. It's just...

because it's such a long distance,

and you've just got to be sort of psyched up for it really,

and just, you know, if you're having a bad patch, you've just got

to say, "Right, well I'm going to get the next 20K done," or whatever.

-Hi.

-Hello.

The trick, I find, is not to look at it as a long distance,

but break it down into sections,

so rather than thinking at the start

you've got to cycle all 300 kilometres, which is quite

a daunting prospect mentally, if you break it down into sort of 50, say,

I've got to cycle 50k to Banchory and then 53 to

the next place, and that tends to, on the mental side, help.

It's a long day out on a bike, you know, you look forward to the next

control point and spending as long or as little as you want there and

then moving on to the next one, but the last 50 miles is always hard.

No matter what you do, the last 50 is always purgatory.

Right, I'm getting on with the feeding now.

It's early afternoon

and the riders will have covered nearly 120 miles by this point,

and in front of us a 20% gradient up to the top of the Lecht Ski Centre.

If they're not feeling tired already, they will be soon.

'How's everything going?'

Oh, it's good.

Good now the wind's turned,

but...

A nice wee bit down from Dufftown

was quite a fast section.

'Well, this is... have you seen what's coming up now?'

-We see it.

-Yeah, we see it OK.

I'm just looking through the handles.

Brian Sproul and Colin Crawford have been having a great ride,

and after 200 kilometres in the saddle they're now

way ahead of the rest of the pack.

Meanwhile, I'm still at the back of the field,

thinking about that last break.

'And did the last little stop help you?'

It helped me massively.

A big cup of coffee, big bit of cake,

and just a chat about what I had still got to do.

I know we've still got a lot to do but not...

you know, thinking about it, it's not quite as bad.

'You're feeling a bit more confident now?'

I feel, well, confident's maybe not the word,

but certainly positive.

'Do you guys find it helpful cycling together?'

Yes. Oh, yeah.

Big time.

Conversation helps you get along.

It takes your mind off it.

It just eats up the miles when you're blethering, it's great.

Who's the biggest bletherer?

I'm a mammal, a middle-aged man in Lycra, and I'm proud of it,

but I'm not quite sure what makes me,

or anyone else, dust off our skin-tight shorts every weekend.

I was hoping someone would tell me why I like doing this.

I've no idea.

I suppose it started off as a bit of a challenge, you know.

It still is a challenge.

I started Audaxing kind of as a personal challenge.

I had ridden some shorter rides

and I realised 50 miles was quite achievable, and then the next ride

I did was 65 miles, and I thought I was fine with that,

and then I did 100 miles,

and it was just a natural evolution - how far can I go?

I could happily jump into the back of the van just now.

Not that I'm being helped in any way at all by being

a foot and a half behind...

..the filming camera car.

That's lovely.

You won't show this on the television,

that I'm drafting behind the camera car?

Because that would be frowned upon, that's not in the spirit.

He won't grudge me a little bit of help, surely,

especially as we're now leaving the action here at the Snow Roads Audax

and once again heading over to Norway,

and one thing's for sure

Cameron's had a great night in the mountains above Voss.

I'll be back shortly, though, still in the saddle

and struggling to complete this 300 kilometre bike ride.

Sunday morning in the Selhamar hut brings low cloud, rain, and wind.

We're in no rush to leave.

I've never cooked pancakes before.

This is a bit different from the breakfast

we had yesterday in the hotel in Voss,

where we seemed to have a choice of everything under the sun.

I hope they're all right.

They must be.

They don't look too bad, actually.

But here on the mountain,

when food is flavoured by mountain air,

then I think pancakes

and eggs will be just as good.

That was OK.

It's good mountain food.

Every member of the DNT is a joint owner of the huts,

and that of course brings its own responsibilities.

Well, the whole DNT hut system,

especially the self-equipped/unequipped huts,

based on people doing the washing,

doing the little things that have to be done every day themselves,

by that we keep the prices down

and by that we are able to keep this,

the whole service.

You are expected to do it... you have to do it.

It sort of... that's part of the contract.

We have a word in Norwegian called dugnad,

it means volunteer activities, but it means something more than

that because there's a social aspect to it, the part of getting

together and doing something voluntarily for the greater good.

So that was us for this time.

-Yeah.

-Ready for the hike back?

Good Norwegian weather!

Never mind, it could be worse.

It could be worse.

We've got quite a peculiar looking mountain in front of us,

it's got a sort of red summit.

-It is.

-Is that unusual for this area?

-It's completely unusual.

It's the only red mountain you'll find in this whole area.

And what causes that?

It's actually, it contains a rock called serpentine,

which contains iron, so that, what you see is actually rust.

It's rusted iron.

A rusted mountain.

It's a rusted mountain.

That's incredible!

What would rusty mountain be in Norwegian?

The name of the mountain is Laudberg.

Laudberg, that sounds much better than rusty mountain.

Gryteberget?

Gryteberget, that's the name of this rock.

It very roughly translates into "pot hill" in English,

-because of the pots being carved from it.

-OK.

As you can see, there are still some unfinished carvings.

So someone has started to try and cut this out?

Yes, exactly.

So they've cut out a big sphere of rock?

Yup, and then they would just hollow it out and then they...

They'd hollow it into a pot or a bowl?

A bowl in one piece.

And how long have people been doing that?

-I think they've been doing it since the Iron Age.

-Phew!

Which is a very long time ago.

But there's a number of them one, two, three...

-There's quite a few of them...

-Four, five, six.

You can see several of them if you follow along the rock.

Are, how did DNT actually begin?

What were the origins of it?

From the beginning of the nineteenth century,

English upper-class people started coming to Norway to go

mountain climbing, mountaineering.

They would take their boats,

as long as possible, into a fjord, and they would ask

a local farmer for accommodation and guiding into the wilderness,

and the Norwegian farmers would do that, and after a while

they realised that we need, sort of a system, because every farmer

would do this in his own, at his own farm, but there was no organisation.

As part of that the Norwegian Trekking Association started

to form as a network of huts and people offering accommodation,

so it's been doing the same from the beginning up until today.

This is a fascinating country, physically so similar to home,

yet with such a different mountain culture.

The hut system and network of paths makes walking a social event,

and this whole concept of "friluftsliv" means so much

more to Norwegians than its literal translation of "outdoor living".

I've come back to the mountain town of Voss,

it's Monday morning, and my wild weekend isn't over yet.

I couldn't visit Norway's capital of extreme sports without trying

an extreme sport, so I'm going to go skydiving without an aeroplane.

This is a five million pound freefall simulator,

a vertical wind tunnel, and it's run by a Dane

five times world champion skydiver, Martin Kristensen,

although I'm starting to think his alter ego is Superman.

It's like the perfect trampoline.

Oh, yeah, absolutely, with no burns. It just... Yeah.

I mean, gymnastics, trampolining, everything rolled into one.

-That's flying.

-That's fantastic!

That's flying.

Of course I have to try it out.

There's a detailed briefing, lots of safety equipment,

and a deep breath

before giant fans recirculate the air at over 100 miles an hour.

The basic position you're going to have is on the belly,

and from there on, you kind of need to get into a balance feeling.

So you won't be doing flips and stuff like that

because that would be the next step, I would say.

The awareness of how you use your body is something that's completely

different to most people in the wind

because the element is different.

So I'm going to, through being in there with you,

try to give you the tools you need to do it on your own.

Is skydiving similar to the weightlessness that astronauts

would feel in a spaceship, or is that a totally different feeling?

Ah, that's a very different feeling.

The fact that you have the gravity in skydiving

gives you the pressure of the wind,

which doesn't make you feel weightless at all.

Oh, that was amazing!

It's much more exhausting than I thought it would be.

-Yes.

-I feel it in my shoulders.

Maybe I was too tense, but it's quite a magical feeling

when you're floating around, and the couple of occasions

when you let me go, it's just... oh, it was just like flying,

-it's what man has always dreamed of.

-Yes.

I can now see the great fun and joy you get from jumping out

an aeroplane at that height and just floating down.

For this being your first flight, I think you did a perfect job.

You were focused on

trying to get balanced and breathing,

and you flew like a good jump.

Shortly, I'm going to be heading back to bonny Scotland,

but I've had the most fantastic wild weekend here in Norway.

It's an interesting thought that Norway has a smaller population

than Scotland, yet it is three times the land mass,

and 32% of that land mass is above the tree line,

so Norway is a fantastic country for mountain adventure

and mountain exploration.

And the big bonus of coming to Norway for a wild weekend

is the people.

The people are so tuned into the great outdoors that you just

feel very much at home, and I'll tell you,

it's not going to be long before I find myself back here again.

And to find out more about Cameron's wild weekend, and catch up

on all the news from The Adventure Show, follow us on Facebook.

Right now, though, we're all back to that long,

long bike ride I'm trying to get through.

I'm in no doubt about why many say an Audax is

the toughest of all cycling events.

This event is called the Snow Roads Audax,

simply because it goes

over the roads that are often,

and very usually blocked by snow during the winter,

which means, of course, it's the high ones, and to get to

the high ones, you've got to go up,

and up, and up,

and up some more.

Oh, it's tough!

We're about three or four miles from Dufftown now, heading up towards

Tomintoul, and I think Dougie's going through a bit of a bad patch, to be honest.

His legs are feeling heavy, he's taken some snacks

just to get some of that energy, but he's kind of looking a wee

bit on the grim side, I have to say, but, you know,

this happens in cycling and he'll get through this patch,

I'm sure he'll get through this patch and go back to the happy

Dougie Vipond that we know and love.

This is not funny.

It's quite interesting that we've been up a pretty steady

climb for quite a few miles now, and it's a hill that nobody

really talks about, they talk about the big hill...

the Cabrachs and the Lechts, and all the rest of it,

but this is probably as steep and as sustained as coming over

the Cabrach, and the point is, Dougie wasn't really expecting this.

'Earlier he was talking about, you know, a nice flat road

'to Tomintoul and then the climb, so this has probably taken him

'a wee bit by surprise, and it's pretty relentless, I have to say.'

Come on, Dougie, mate, you're doing well, pal. You're doing really well!

'Doing well? I don't think so.

'This is grim, and there's no getting away from the fact that even

'the fastest will be in the saddle for at least 14 hours.

'In my case it's going to be much,

'much longer.

'The word Audax is Latin for bold.

'I don't feel bold, just worried that this ride will never, ever end.'

You know, when I was quite young and fit and I had all my teeth

and hair, a lot more hair than I have just now,

I used to take it pretty serious, you know,

but nowadays, just getting up in the morning is enough preparation

and hoping you'll finish it at night without ending up in a coffin.

I cycle 24 miles every day to work, so just...

I do a hundred miles cycling a week just getting to work and back,

and most weekends we'll be doing kind of 200 kilometre rides

throughout the year,

and maybe around about spring

we start doing slightly longer rides, so this year I've

already done a 300 and a 400, we'll be doing a 600 later on, so you

kind of work up to the longer rides, but you do less of the longer rides.

Out in the front,

Colin Crawford from Edinburgh has now completed over 230 kilometres,

that's well over two-thirds of the course,

and he's just coming into Braemar.

Deziree is there to meet him.

Can I just ask how you're feeling being here?

You've got one big climb to do

but you're on the home straight, you've broken the back of it now.

Yeah, there's about 40 miles to go and I feel good, I feel good.

I know it's not too steep until the last quarter mile up to

Glenshee, and then it's more or less downhill after that so...

Coming into this final control point just a couple of minutes later,

are Findlay Watt from Dunfermline and Brian Sproul from Dundee.

I went through a bad patch after the Lecht,

just pedalling squares, as they say.

Yeah, your pal was saying...

Oh, I was just...

When you came in, they just said...

I hadn't eaten enough, I think, so it would be nice to see it done now.

There's a shower back at the hall just got wur names on it so...

With just one big climb left,

these three riders really are on the final stretch.

I'm still on the wrong side of the Lecht,

and it's just as steep as I thought it would be.

'You're doing good, Dougie! Keep it going.'

It's a funny hill, the Lecht, you come up to these

very steep sections, one in five, 20%,

and then it sort of levels for a wee bit,

and there's even a couple of slight dips,

and then suddenly you're into the next steep section, and it's...

it's kind of undulating but uphill all the way.

Dougie's overtaken a couple of guys now from the group who left

a good ten or fifteen minutes ahead of him,

and it helps a lot when you've got somebody in front of you

and you can see you're making progress,

it really, really helps you get up these hills.

'Well done, Dougie!

'Well done, good man!'

At the top at last.

The reward, a fantastic descent down the other side.

It's enough to remind me, at least till the next uphill,

that there is something special about being out on your bike.

I got back into cycling in my early 30s, and I think there's a bit

of that, do you know that wee boy going down the hill, going, "Whee!"

and you don't get to do that much as an adult, so I quite like that.

For me, cycling is about freedom,

freedom of the open road.

If you're in a car, you go too quickly to see things properly,

you don't smell anything in a car apart from petrol.

You know, you see wonderful sights on a bike and you can go...

you can travel large distances and you can go to all sorts of places.

For most people, it's a manageable challenge,

but it will be, for some, right on the edge of what they're

able to do, and I think that's quite attractive for a lot of us,

and that's the great thing about Audax,

is people are pretty tough, but really sort of mild about it,

and it's not flashy, it's not macho, people are doing really hard

things but in a pretty low-key way and I think that's quite appealing.

There's no question, there are some serious riders on this event,

I'm not one of them.

I'm starting to lose the will to live.

I've done the Lecht and I'm heading towards Braemar.

It should be a piece of cake they said,

but it's still uphill.

People are walking at the top

I could be joining them very soon.

This is a P-I-G and no mistake.

Not far now.

Ah!

Phew!

Oh!

My legs are screaming!

It doesn't help that I've just been told

the fastest riders have nearly finished.

Crossing the line first are veteran Audax riders Colin Crawford,

who's been in the leading group from the very start, and Findlay Watt.

The hardest part's always when we're going up the hills

and on this particular route they're quite steep and quite long, arduous.

Enjoyable?

In a funny sort of way?

In a funny sort of way, yes.

It's obviously challenging and you're always pressing yourself.

Was there a point today when you just thought,

"Actually I'm really running out of juice here?"

-Oh, frequently, yes.

-All the time.

It's nice, nice to be finished.

When the wind turned round

we were expecting a nice tail-wind

the whole way back, but it was,

it seemed to turn, I don't know if it was south

but it was certainly sort of south-east.

It's a lot better riding, you know, two,

just taking a turn at the front each.

At least Colin and Findlay finished in daylight.

For me, after a stop in Braemar, it's on to the final major slog.

it's up to Glenshee and it's not looking good.

15 hours and 40 minutes into this ride,

the last big, big climb.

Twenty to ten at night!

How's it feeling, Dougie?

It's feeling...just awful.

It's really starting to hurt now.

I'm running really short on energy now.

Well, you can save a lot of energy now,

you've got some big downhills coming soon so that'll be good.

-Then you're on the last stretch.

-Yeah.

Fantastic, that's the last big climb. Downhill nearly all the way.

-No more big climbs.

-Yup.

But go for it and we'll see you at the finish.

I'll see you at the finish.

Good man! Cheers!

The last big climb may be over but there's still more

than 30 kilometres to go in the dark,

and in the true spirit of this event,

no more ascents actually means lots and lots of undulating ground

and that translates into lots and lots of hills.

I'm completely and utterly worn out.

It's now half past twelve in the morning

and Dougie's been on the go for something like 18½ hours,

but hopefully he'll be arriving any minute now.

So I don't know what state he'll be in,

I don't know if he'll be in a good mood to even talk to us,

but let's give him a big welcome when he arrives

and we'll see how it goes.

Hurrah, go Dougie! Good man!

Well done, Dougie!

Good man, congratulations!

How are you feeling?

Silly question, maybe.

Do you want a hand off your bike?

Come on, famous words...

Words for posterity.

What's the time, first of all?

Half past twelve.

-So what's that, 18½ hours?

-Uh-huh.

That was the toughest thing I've ever done.

In your life?

By a country mile.

-Really?

-Without a doubt.

I don't know if I can get my leg off this, actually.

Well, I'll hold the bike, eh?

I'm gubbed.

I feel absolutely zonkered.

Yeah. Look, get inside where it's a bit warmer.

Get something to drink.

Next month on the Adventure Show, I won't be doing that again.

Oh, God!

I've learned the hard way what it's really like to take

part in an Audax.

Next month we'll be at the Celtman Extreme Triathlon

in the north-west of Scotland.

This event is a whopper - a three kilometre swim, 42K of running,

including up a Munro,

and a mere 200K in the saddle.

I hope you can join us for that one.

Right now, I'm off to bed.

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