Helensburgh – 8/10/2009

Milngavie – Helensburgh
30 miles
I actually set out to do this route the day before, but 5 minutes from home the heavens opened. I carried on but decided to cut it short and just loop round Mugdock before going home for an early bath. Naturally, the sun came out just after I turned off and the rest of the day was great.

So on Thursday I tried again. The plan was to go to Balloch on a route I’ve done many times before – West Highland Way then turn off to cycle route 7 just before Drymen, which takes you through a mixture of railway paths and quiet roads. From Balloch I followed a route I read in one of those bike books I always read but never buy from various Glasgow book shops (Over the Hill to Cardross in Bike Scotland Book 1).

The route goes up a steep hill that starts off as Stoneymollan road then becomes a rough hill track, with some great views over Loch Lomond. It was very steep and since I didn’t know how long it lasted I walked a lot of it to conserve energy, but I actually could have managed a lot more than I did because the hill didn’t last too long. Once you can see the woods that’s the peak and it’s pretty much all downhill from there.

Looking back downhill towards Balloch

From the top it follows on some wide doubletrack through farms, but a lot of it was very muddy and churned up from caterpillar tracks. The downhill lasts for a while but was nothing too exciting really. Once you hit the road there’s plenty more downhill to be had, but the route in the book takes a left turn to head to Cardross. I was planning to go to Helensburgh so I carried on straight to come out on the main road about 2 miles before Helensburgh.

The ascent from Balloch would make a great descent if you reversed the route, but then you would have a long, long slog up from Cardross. Some parts on the road are pretty steep too. It really does last a long time and there’s just no way I could be bothered coming up it!

But overall it’s a nice wee track to link Balloch to the Clyde, and I quite like Helensburgh so wouldn’t rule out doing it again.

Boneshakerrr – 4/10/2009

Just a local ride along the west highland way on the red bike with it’s new rigid forks – bought from Singletrackworld, originally from a genesis iO.

I headed down to the Beech Tree along the usual route. The rigid forks really made a difference on the rocky sections. I took it easy down the long steep hill with the loose rocks, but due to the weaker brakes on this bike rather than the fork. When I came to the short steep rocky part I nearly came off due to the front wheel deflecting at all sorts of unpredictable angles. This is just something I’ll get used to with experience though.

I definitely think it rides better with rigid forks, rather than the Rockshox Darts. (Which are junk, in case I’ve never mentioned it before.) After coffee at the Beech Tree I headed up to the pipe track on the climb beside the distillery – which definitely seemed easier than usual.
I can now see myself using this bike a lot. I have plans to singlespeed it too, but I think I’ll step back one generation of bike technology at a time!

Tomorrow I’m hoping to head to Balloch along the WHW then Cycle Route 7. I think I’ll have to take the blue bike though because my back is bad and even just front sus makes a huge difference!

Arrochar & Loch Lomond – 31/5/2009

Arrochar [route] & Loch Lomond cycleway
~40 miles

Another Kenny Wilson route I’ve liked the idea of for a long time is Coire Grogain. At only 18km I’ve always felt it a bit short, but since it was such nice weather this weekend I decided to combine it with a cycle down the West Loch Lomond cycleway for a train home from Balloch.

The route starts with a forest road climb out of Arrochar. Very steep and I was walking due to the heat and the knowledge of have a lot of mileage ahead for the day. Good views though.

The first section – up to the river crossing – seemed to take forever. It is by far the longest part though. The scenery was good but the track was boring. And there were a fair few climbs without much descent.

The river crossing mentioned in the book was just a collection of rocks – totally dry in this weather. After eating a melted twix I headed off. Soon after there’s a small descent full of loose rocks. Great fun. A short uphill and then there’s another one similar. Almost immediately the road leading up to the Loch Sloy dam is reached, so this section flew past.

Down the road slightly there’s a bridge which leads across to the Glen Loin Singletrack. This looked great. Running fast through a forest there’s a steep uphill afterwards. In the heat I had already decided to walk, but it’s the kind of uphill I like – short, with a little bit of a technical challenge to keep you pushing harder.

A few rocky downhills coupled with another few uphills made this section great fun. And it flew past again.

I reached Arrochar around 2 hours after I set off. With a few breaks along the way this was a very quick route. And although the first section was long and boring, it’s very worth it. I’d do this one again.

From here I headed up to Tarbet where the Loch Lomond Cycleway starts and then made my way down to Balloch for a train home.

Glen Tilt – 26/5/2009

Glen Tilt [route]
39.33 miles
6.7mph average
5:51 ATM
I’ve been interested in the Glen Tilt loop in Kenny Wilson’s book for a long time, but with a stated 1600m of climbing and a hard/epic rating I’ve never felt brave enough to attempt it. “So how about splitting it in two?”, I thought. So whilst studying for exams I hastily sorted out a rough plan to do half the route to around the Falls of Tarff then head off to Braemar. Stay overnight in a hostel in Braemar and ride back to Blair Atholl for the train home again. The only problem was I’d miss the Champions League Final.

Setting off from Blair Atholl I followed the route from the book uphill on road towards a place named Monzie and Loch Moraig. It was pretty hot and the hill was a bit of a leg-burner, which I hadn’t seen mentioned in the book!

The route levelled out just before Loch Moraig where the offroad starts, on a wide quad bike track through some hills. The terrain stays the same and mostly flat for a while, with one good rocky descent just before reaching a place called Shinagag on the map.

I was carrying a copy of Kenny Wilson’s route along with a more detailed description from Offroad Adventures. On their site it mentions that the track might be difficult to find, whilst Kenny mentions nothing. They weren’t bloody kidding! I overran and reached the (abandoned?) farm buildings before reaching the end of the quad path I was following. (The buildings are recognisable from paint on a door saying “No Bothy, No Camping, Thank you”)

I spent a few minutes working out where I was and where I wanted to be, and the path I wanted looks to go between 2 groups of trees. I backtracked to just before the farm and could make out a gate up on the hill at 954678. This matched up with where the path should be on the map, so I headed for it. I couldn’t see any sign of a path leading up to it though so I waded through marshy ground to get there. Just as well I’d packed spare shoes for the night! Offroad adventures describes an alternative turnoff track, well before Shinagag which I’d recommend looking for.

Through the gate there was a feint sign of a path (see photo below) which I tried to follow, aiming in the general direction described in the route. I knew it creeped round behind a hill, but from the map alone it was tricky to make out which of 2 hills that was supposed to be!

As I hiked further along on the unrideable track I saw 2 walkers who confirmed which hill the track followed behind. I was expecting to go round the other one so it’s just as well I met them! They also mentioned a bridge over the stream ahead. This “bridge” turned out to be 4 logs placed alongside each other so I crossed by some rocks nearby.

Roughly at the bottom of the hill a clearer singletrack emerges which was rideable. Nice, but there were a lot of rocks at the sides which did a good job of preventing pedaling. I stopped briefly for a sandwich, then after carrying on I saw another mountainbiker sitting across the trail. At first I thought he was injured, but it turns out he was just resting. He was following Kenny’s book and had gone around the wrong side of the hill, and had just had to climb over the top!

Since we were following the same route we carried on together, and it turned out he’s on Singletrackworld too! After climbing a little on the singletrack there was some nice wider quad track with a good rocky descent. This carried on to some buildings at Daldhu.

From here the route follows up a long, vehicle track with lots of ups and downs. I didn’t like it much and it seemed to take forever to reach the pink houses at Fealar Lodge. All along I’d been getting a bit concerned at the time. I’d hoped to be at the Falls of Tarff by 4.30 and it was already later than that.

After Fealar Lodge there’s some very unclear path for a little while, but after crossing a few fences it turns into some excellent singletrack. There are some big drops so some sections are best walked. This carries on down to the Falls of Tarff and was definitely the highlight of the ride.

It was 6pm when we reached the Falls of Tarff and after a break Andy followed the route down Glen Tilt towards Blair Atholl (about 12 miles), whilst I decided to carry on for Braemar (about 14 miles). We both studied the maps and decided I must retrace our path back to the river crossing, and then follow a path up the river for a few miles. Simple.

So I headed back seemingly along the path we came from, but after 10 minutes I still hadn’t encountered the river crossing. It shouldn’t have been more than 100m away. I was following a track along a river though, exactly like the one we had come down. Puzzled, I climbed a hill for a look around.

Everything looked bleak in all directions. I tried my compass but it appeared indecisive over which direction North was so I couldn’t rely on it to send me in the direction of Braemar. Back down to the path, and on the map this looked a lot like the path to Braemar – highlighted by some steep rocks marked. But I hadn’t come across that river crossing. And on the ground all the way ahead there were tyre tracks. Comparing them to my front it was definitely a Panaracer Fire XC pro!

So was this the path we had come down already? Why hadn’t I come to the river crossing that shouldn’t have been any more than 100m back from the Falls?

It was 7pm by this time. I had no water, barely any food, and decreasing chances of reaching Braemar dark. So down the Glen to Blair Atholl was the only safe choice.

Looking back from the Falls of Tarff (below) it looks like there’s a small river meeting the Tilt, which would have been the river we crossed. It looks like I joined the correct path to Bramar before this and then met the river just a little bit upstream, passing the place we crossed. The tyre tracks must have been someone elses!

Even though it was only 12miles and almost all downhill it took nearly 2 hours back to Blair Atholl, not helped by a headwind. Reaching there at 9pm I was glad though that there was a train back to Glasgow at 9:50. Just time for a quick dinner in the Atholl Arms.

Although I was disappointed not to make it to Braemar, I had still completed a route I had never thought I’d be capable of. And parts of it were excellent – the Singletrack from Fealar Lodge and the early tracks leading to Shinagag. If I’d prepared properly I’d have found out that almost all that 1600m of climbing is in the first half! So to make Braemar I would have been better heading straight up the easy Glen Tilt path. I’ll keep that in mind for next time.

West Highland Way – April 2009

Milngavie – Fort William
88.25 miles
6.0 mph average
14:42 ATM

About bloody time I got an update in here. In April I set off for a 3rd attempt at the West Highland Way (2nd by bike) joined by Derek, Christine and David. The plan was to stay in hostels and do it over 3 days, which should make it less of a struggle and more an adventure to be enjoyed.

Initially we planned to stop in Inverarnan then Kinlochleven but forgetting that it was the easter holidays we left it too late to book so all accommodation in Inverarnan was fully booked. Luckily, for some reason I looked at the Inversnaid Bunkhouse website despite knowing fine well it had closed down. Only, the website didn’t mention that. So 2 phone calls and we discovered they had reopened – so now the plan was Milngavie – Inversnaid – Bridge of Orchy – Fort William.

Day 1
Milngavie – Inversnaid
34 miles

Day 1 started off well. Knowing we were only going to Inversnaid was good as we didn’t have to rush at all. We made it to Drymen quickly and stopped for lunch in the Winnock Hotel. Then we decided NOT to do conic hill as it’d take a lot of time and effort and there was no point tiring ourselves out on day 1, especially for something we can easily ride from home. Taking the road meant Balmaha only took about 15-20 minutes and we carried on without stopping to head towards Rowardennan. There are a few tricky sections of steep steps so we soon became tired, and glad we’d skipped Conic Hill.

By this point in the day I’d noticed a new clicking sound coming from somewhere on my bike, around the pedals/cranks/bottom bracket area. Apart from the 3 or 4 steep climbs the path between Balmaha and Rowardennan is mostly good fun with enough roots and bumps to keep it entertaining. Even Christine was proving surprisingly capable on a mountain bike! We stopped for another break at the picnic benches in Rowardennan and we all new some dull, nasty fireroad climbs lay ahead.

Not long after starting off the diagnosis for my mechanical became certain. My bottom bracked was fucked. It jammed in place and I couldn’t pedal forwards! Back-pedaling managed to loosen it up and get it going again but it wasn’t looking good for the 65 or so miles still to go. Whatever was going to happen, we had to get to Inversnaid before seeing a road again so ploughed on without too much problem.

As it approached 5 o’clock it was clear that my bottom bracket was in severe danger of dying completely at some point over the 3 days. Possibly in the middle of nowhere, but definitely resulting in another failed West Highland Way attempt. I called home and convinced my parents to pick up a bottom bracket in town and drive out to Inversnaid that night. I just had to call the bike shops and see who has what in stock. I’d never have guessed finding a 168×113mm ISIS bottom bracket would have been so difficult, but thanks to Gear I was able to get one for my mum to collect.

So after about 30 minutes of phone call we were back on the bike again, in the pissing rain. Got to the Inversnaid hostel somewhere between 6 and 6.30 and all got changed for dinner. With its new owners the hostel is much the same as when I was there before – great food and a very nice main seating area upstairs, I’d definitely recommend it.

After dinner my parents arrived, armed with a £29.99 Gussett ISIS BB and a box full of tools so I got to work removing my cranks etc.
2 problems:

• Neither of my bottom bracket tools would would fit onto the lockrings to allow me to remove my BB.  Apparently Shimano BB tools have thicker outside edges and will not fit over splined axles.
• I didn’t have an ISIS BB in the first place.   Turns my bike came with FSA Powerspline.

So the best I could do was grease everything up and hope that it lasted for the next 2 days.

Day 2
Invesnaid – Bridge of Orchy
26 miles
Day 2 was to be our shortest day, but we knew it’d take a long time due to first section alongside Loch Lomond. All of us with the exception of David had crossed it before. Loch Lomondside is pretty much a 4-mile carry from about 1km after Inversnaid to Doune Bothy. Up and over rocks and through all sorts of small gaps… I’ve probably detailed it more on the blog from my last WHW trip.

What surprised me is how little of the section leading up to the campsite at Inverarnan is actually bikeable. Or bikeable by our whole group at least – there were big divisions in the levels of our technical skills.
After leaving the hostel just after 10 it must have been about 3 by the time we made it to the pub on Beinglas Campsite for lunch. A distance of about 5 miles. Derek had the first mechanical of the day with a puncture.

After a well earned rest and lunch at Beinglas we set off just after 4. We climbed uphill on a fairly decent landrover track and started making a bit of progress for the day. Until mechanical – David’s chain snapped.

Having never (successfully) fixed a chain on the trail before I wasn’t sure how this would pan out. But I used the chaintool on my Topeak Hexus for and it was superb! Much better than either of the 2 in my toolbox at home and we were moving again within 10 minutes.

The miles seemed to be dragging in after here. It took ages to get to the turnoff for Crianlarich, passing the Falls of Falloch on the way. We debated taking the road from Crianlarich to Tyndrum, but Derek remained determined not to. Probably a good decision, as the undulating path through the forest shortly after was one of the best sections of the day. It would have been even better without more mechanicals: my front brake pads ran out and me and derek had a broken chain each.

I couldn’t help but feel that progress was very very slow for the rest of the way, and Tyndrum seemed to take forever to come. We eventually got there sometime after 8. Knowing that it would be dark not long after 9 and that we had 7 hilly miles to Bridge of Orchy we had a bit of a dilemma. We spent about 30 minutes arguing and then discussing the possibility of a bed for the night in Tyndrum. The hostel was trying to work out a way to fit the 4 of us in when we saw a train at the station behind us. That was Tyndrum lower, but the hostel owners told us there was one due in 5 minutes at Tyndrum Upper.

We had 5 minutes to find our way to Tyndrum upper and get train to Bridge of Orchy. After going the wrong way then asking 2 sets of people for directions we saw the long path up the hill to the station. As I let the charge up, my chain snapped! There must be something in the mud here – FOUR CHAIN SNAPS IN ONE DAY!
Luckily for us a group of tourists had been standing at Tyndrum Lower, looking for Upper. The driver called ahead so the train we wanted was waiting for them and we made it.

We got to the Bridge of Orchy Hotel in time for last food orders and had a great dinner. Quite reasonably priced too compared to the extortionate breakfast the next morning. With my bike needing a change of brake pads and a fix of chain things weren’t looking good for making it to Fort William the next day. Given the slow progress of day 2, attempting to make the 35 miles to Fort William (with the 2 biggest climbs on the route) in time for the train at 7.50 didn’t seem too sensible. We opted to get up early and bike as far as the Kingshouse hotel, with the intention of turning back if time didn’t look good.

Day 3
Bridge of Orchy – Fort William
35 miles
With a lack on confidence in reaching the next day nobody seemed as eager to get up and going as they did the night before. We sat for a while making the most of our breakfast buffet and David decided he’d get the train to Fort William and then cycle to Fort Augustus for his lift home. After changing my pads and chain the rest of us left the hotel at 10:20.

Knowing time was tight we all moved fast. No stops at all until Ba Bridge for a few photos. We had the wind behind us over Rannoch Moor which helped us a lot. We made it to the Kingshouse Hotel for 12:20, which is a huge improvement in pace from the day before!


After a quick lunch it was on again and we headed towards the Devil’s Staircase. I loved the path leading between Kingshouse and the staircase. Rocky enough to be great fun and a little bit technical, but overal not to hilly. Combined with the Rannoch moor crossing it was probably the most enjoyable part of the way.

So to the base of the Devil’s Staircase. Carrying up was tiring, but it didn’t take too long at all. Then this was the section I’d been looking forward to most on the whole trip. The legendary descent on the other side of the Devil’s Staircase! Soon after starting off Derek had a puncture on one of the waterbars. I was able to pop over about 1/2 of them so it wasn’t too bad.


I was surprised it wasn’t all downhill from here – there were a few short uphills to mix it up a bit. The final descent is probably the rockiest of the lot. Good fun but for some of it I was a bit cautious on given that I didn’t want to total my BB this close to the end or fall and break any bones either. It turns to a road and the rest of the descent was slightly disappointing tarmac to Kinlochleven. Overall it wasn’t quite as amazing as I’d hoped, given the effort it takes to get up there. I much preferred the flatter sections just before the staircase!

We didn’t stop at Kinlochleven. Derek pushed us hard, knowing there was a lot of climbing ahead. The climb out of Kinlochleven was the worst section of the entire trip for me. Very tiring and not rideable. A push up the hill without the nice scenery of the Devil’s Staircase. Once we got to the top it seemed a long and drab road to Fort William too. Eventually when we were getting close we noticed the West Highland Way markers indicated a split. A map showed us an alternative route to Fort William by road, rather than up a long hill into a forest. To help our timing we took the road. It was hilly too and felt much longer than the 6 miles indicated but eventually we made it to Fort William. About 6.30. Plenty of time to cycle to the main finish point for a photo then a quick dinner before the train home to Glasgow!

As always, lots more photos on Flickr.

Update!

well, not really much of an update, more of a test post!

I’ve not really had much time to ride lately with too much going on at uni so there aren’t many rides worth mentioning. Part of the West Highland Way is closed at the moment for logging and they have destroyed a lot of the trails at Carbeth.

Saturday 20th September

Mugdock & Strathblane
18.84 miles
8.7 mph average

Up to Mugdock the old way – through the waterworks and along the road through Mugdock village. From here through Carglas woods to the “cliff” trail that leads down to Cuilts Brae road. From Strathblane I headed for the pipe track and along to the track leading up the hill from Cantywheery Cottage. It’s definitely not bikeable!

Aviemore 15th-16th September

I finally managed to do something I’ve been hoping to do for a long time – get up to Aviemore to sample some of the much-acclaimed natural riding on offer!  I got the train from Glasgow a 7.06 on Monday to get up there nice and early, stay the night in the Aviemore Bunkhouse then back again after 7pm on Tuesday so I could fit in 2 days of riding.

Rothiemurchus & Glen Feshie
34.36 miles
8.4 mph average

For day one I followed a route from What Mountain Bike, much the same as this route here. It started off with some really great riding around Loch an Eiliein. At least, it would be great if the weather was a bit dryer. It was raining and there were wet slidey roots everywhere!

Roots. Bloody roots.

Even while walking the rootiest parts of the Singletrack or taking the main walkway instead the views were fantastic so the the ride was off to a brilliant start.

Loch an Eilein

Swinging round to Loch Gahmna brought more tasty singletrack. This time it was narrow, lined with heather, and had no real roots with just enough rocks to provide the fun. It was very very muddy in sections though.

Loch Gamhna

After Loch Gamhna the route follows another wider and rockier trail past Inshriach Bothy and then onto forest roads leading to Feshie Bridge. From Feshie Bridge the route then follows a road for about 5 miles, followed by 1km of trail (with a burn crossing) and then a bridge across River Feshie to… more tarmac! There’s a mix of tarmac and uninteresting walkway back to Feshiebridge, making the second half of this ride quite pointless! As good as the short section of trail was, it wasn’t worth almost 10 miles of road to ride it!

Instead of following the magazine route along the road back from Feshie Bridge I decided to retrace my steps and ride the same great trails in the opposite direction to finish the day on a high.

Loch Morlich & Badaguish
32.39 miles

Also staying in the hostel that night was another biker riding solo, so the two of us went out together on Tuesday. I found a map of some trails near Badaguish Outdoor Centre somewhere on the internet so we planned to head in that direction. Firstly I showed him the loops around Loch an Eilein and Loch Gamhna then we followed the path network through Rothiemurchus towards Loch Morlich, crossing the often mentioned Cairngorm Club Footbridge in the process. This was actually a great fun section considering they were fairly well surfaced paths. There was a few good streams to ford too (there were bridges across all of them but we took the fun route.)

By Loch Morlich I was nackered, mostly from the long day before, so I was glad we stopped at the cafe for coffee & cake. We (okay, I, the fashion victim without any mudguards) was very muddy so intended to sit outside but the woman kindly let us sit inside with binbags to keep the chairs clean!

The cafe was the perfect place for a rest as the hill up to Badaguish started just across the road. Eventually, after climbing a long way, we reached the start of the trails. And I have to say they were fantastic! It’s a series of small sections that lead out and back to the main forest road, some of which weren’t much different to the local trails at at Carbeth but the natural forest was much nicer and the trails didn’t seem to be very muddy at all. We rode the whole loop twice, including one section 4 times. The end of one section had some rocky steps that I wasn’t quite brave enough to attempt but the rest of the trails seemed to be just my perfect level.

I don’t think there’s much left to be said apart from some photos, but I’d definitely go back here. Hopefully before the year is done!

One of the highlights on the highest section – the loop we rode 4 times.

The section I couldn’t ride looks so easy in photo!

It was that big snakey root that made it a bit sketchy

Even the forest road looked good

Friday 12th September

Mugdock
12.32 miles
9.2 mph average
Just a quick local ride in the morning.

Monday 8th September

Pollock Country Park [map]
26.31 miles
9.7 mph average

Cycled through Glasgow and over to the Pollock Country Park to take a look at the mountain bike trails for the first time. They have 3 short graded routes in the woods: an easy green, a medium blue and a harder red. They’re all very short but any man-made trail in a city is a bonus. The green is very short and very tame, just a simple oval loop, not even much in the way of turns! The blue is a lot longer but still very plain. The red though was actually very impressive! It’s the only route with any hills, it’s got a lot of small doubles, tabletops, some log obstacles and a few bermed corners. We did the route twice but I could happily spend a lot more time around the circuit and I think it’s a great way to improve skills. Because it’s away across the other side of the city I don’t think there’s enough there to convince me to go back but if I’m over that direction anyway I will drop by for a few red laps.