Category: Routes and ride reports

This ride was the last thing I wanted to tick off for the year after the 400 and 600km Audaxs and a decent performances (by my standards) at 10 under and GT7 – all of which were filed under the ‘might not get another chance for 20 years’ category.  Before we start, here’s a warning.  This is both long and boring.  If you can’t be bothered reading much, then here’s the ride in numbers:

0: Number of punctures

1: Number of riders

1: Number of randy trackpumps

1.30: Hours/minutes of dry feet

4: number of OS maps required

5: Number of repeats of Rough Trade Shops Indiepop 09

6: Number Pop-tarts eaten

15: KM of hike-a-bike

18.16: Hours/minutes riding time

24.01: Hours/minutes total ‘on bike’ time

289.3: Total km for weekend

4000: Number of midgie bites received in Glen Feshie

Anyway, my Cairngorm Loop weekend ride was massively popular with a total of two people (Tom and Luke – no surprises there) expressing any kind of interest but neither able to make it.

So I just went on my own.  Nevermind, two whole days of peace and quiet is something of a treat these days. (update 04/09: two days!? two minutes is a luxury now…)   The planned route followed this (more or less) http://www.cairngormsloop.net/map.html with a planned stop at a B&B in Aviemore. 101 miles on day one, 85 on day two.  An early start required meant I would travel up to Blair Atholl and Friday, sleep in the car, and ride off first thing on Saturday morning. Continue reading

Another great weekend away with GMBC saw a bunch of us riding down at Glentress on Saturday and then on the natural trails around Selkirk.  It went a bit like this:

Saturday, rain, sunshine, mist, sunshine, black trail, mudfest enduro trails, Gary’s new bike caked in mud, cups of tea, cake, more tea, pub, Dene & Kev, Italian meal, beers, waiter on the wind up, Gav’s mystery pen & hairy pizza, more beers, more tea, creaky beds, Tom’s midnight dancing (or did he).  Sunday, more tea, Selkirk locals trails, amazing downhills, broken chains, almost crashes, steep techy descents, long long long climbs, long long long descents, more singletrack, welcome cake stop, even more tea, even longer climbs – in the sunshine, heather moorland descents and saving the best singletrack to last!!

We only managed about 45km of the 66km route and missed out some of the best trails so it looks like we’ll need to get back there some time very soon.  Big thanks to Sam, Ryzsard, Gary, Nick, Tom W, Julie, Bosco, Gav, Eilidh, Lisa and Scotty for making it such a great weekend.

Some photos

So, with all the weather warnings we decided to leave the planned Loch Tay ride to another day.  Instead we met up in Bridge of Allan and followed Sam out on her local cyclocross-friendly ride.  The route was a real mix of terrain; mud, gravel, grass & tarmac.  Some of it steep up and some of it very steep down.  It took us up to and around Dumyat through a field of cows (and one mahoosive bull!) before descending into Menstrie on a lumpy track which rattled the fillings out of your teeth on the crossbike.

From there we had a blast out & back along the Jubilee Way to Tillycoultry as the rain got serious.  By the time we popped out of Stirling Uni we were soaked but happy we’d managed a great wee ride and it was time for cups of tea and fish & chips from the Allanwater Cafe.  Job done!  Definitely one to repeat for more riders as it would be a good ride for newer riders.

A big thank you to Sam for hosting this one!

Lots of punctures, a broken chain and some mysterious blood trails – all part of the summertime epic that was this week’s Ben Lomond ride.  We had an amazing night of weather with amazing views over towards Argyll and with the good breeze the midges were kept at bay until we got back to the car park.  The usual rocky descent didn’t disappoint with drainage ditches and tight switchbacks to negotiate.  It was great to see some new and old members out riding – glad you enjoyed it.  Here’s a link to some more of the photos:

Ben Lomond photos

So, I am going to keep this short n’ sweet….especially as most of you know this route.

12 hardy soles decided to brave the micro-climate of Aberfoyle (it seemed to be sunny everywhere else) and set off on the usual route clockwise. As well as some new faces who have been enticed via Facebook (Jim and Thomas) we were also joined by a GMBC newbie, Neil, who would have been in his right to complain to trade descriptions…. it was not quite the introductory ride as described.

Continue reading

After a couple of local(ish) rides this weekend I’m more convinced than ever that we’ve got some amazing riding & scenery on our doorsteps – and it was a pleasure to share it with the likes of Nick, Greg, ChrisJ, Scott and Greg & Robin (Team Ayrshire).  Top riding & chat this weekend guys!