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working and people who were worried about me. I tried to check the
trackleaders page, but my phone was too old and not able to load the page
properly. I wasn’t too sad about that because I thought I could get quite
distracted by knowing everyone’s position. I switched my tracker off and on
a few times to see whether it would start working, but it didn’t.
As I left the cafe I met Stephen Haines and Michal Novak. We had a quick
chat about the first night and the ridiculously steep hill we all conquered in
the early hours of the day. In Letterkenny I went looking for a new tyre, but
Halfords did not have any 25mm road tyres, so I just stocked up on tyre
boots, inner tubes and a small bottle of oil.
I knew the gravel section would come up soon and I was worried my tyre would
burst again. The gravel section was in a beautiful part of the country, but
concerns about my tyre and ankle didn’t really allow me enjoy to it. I walked
most of it, but walking on big gravel in super stiff carbon MTB shoes was not
ideal for my ankle. Although it was over 3 months since my ankle break, I knew
I didn’t have the stability back, and walking on rough ground requires stronger
muscles. I went over on my ankle slightly and it started hurting… I just hoped
that cycling would give my ankle some rest again.

                            Stunning views that my phone can’t really capture.

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