Anyone know of some good rides aberdeen,cairngorms.....

greeny67

Hi there, im off to scotland soon and was wandering where to ride. will be in aberdeen for a few days and then in the aviemore (cairngorms) for 4 days. Are there any loops of say 3/4 hours from aviemore or aberdeen? would be great to do some good climbs as well so any suggetions welcomed. Thanks

chris

meanredspider

Unixnerd's your man - he lives around Aviemore and cycles around there. The A939 is a great road and some challenging climbs - especially up to the Lecht ski centre.

bompington

Pretty much anywhere (once you get out of Aberdeen's commuter belt) is scenic with nice roads and not too much traffic, although you might want to steer clear of the A9; and the A93, while a nice road, can have a lot of traffic on quite narrow and windy bits - go B976 instead. Speyside in general (NE from Aviemore, NW from Aberdeen) has nice roads, some hilly, all quiet.
If it's hills you want, then Lecht has to be a good one, and the cairngorm ski road is a good climb, even if your only option is to turn round and go back down.

As above, guys like Unixnerd (and a few Aberdeen locals) could maybe give you more specific advice on their favourite routes.

dgstewart

I would disagree with the A93 / B976 comment between Aberdeen and Banchory, on this stretch I would use the A93 as it is wider and has far better visibility than the B976. Once you’re past Banchory I would go for the B976. I commute from Banchory to Aberdeen and I always ride on the A93.

This assumes you’re heading out Deeside direction, which is very nice. For good climbs, the south Deeside (B976) goes over the “monument” hill just west of Finzean, and there is the “Garrol” south East of Strachan on the road from Strachan to the “Slug Road” (Banchory to Stonehaven Road).

However these are small fry compared to the best climb in the area, the Cairn O’Mount (B974 between Banchory and Fettercairn). It goes up to 450m, and from the south (Fettercairn) side it is a brutal 2 miles at an average of 10% (max around 16% to 20%). From the north (Banchory) it is a longer climb with some descents in between the climbs, and is generally less steep, although there are still some 12% to 14% sections. From Aberdeen a good loop would be south to Stonehaven, out towards Auchenblae and through Drumtochty Glen, over the Cairn (hard way!) to Banchory and back to Aberdeen by some route. To make it longer you could go left after the Cairn towards Aboyne and go over the “Monument” noted above, then turn back towards Aberdeen. If you want a .tcx file of a route PM me your email address.

greeny67

thanks for the info will try that loop out and maybe some of the other routes. Also hope to do the climb upto the ski station, that sounds good. Think i will have to keep the wife sweet to allow me to do all these rides...haha!. hope the weather is kind to me. I am going to take my training bike rather than the road bike just in case, more gears to play with as well on those steep climbs.(southern softy) cheers

greeny67

thanks for the info will try that loop out and maybe some of the other routes. Also hope to do the climb upto the ski station, that sounds good. Think i will have to keep the wife sweet to allow me to do all these rides...haha!. hope the weather is kind to me. I am going to take my training bike rather than the road bike just in case, more gears to play with as well on those steep climbs.(southern softy) cheers

greeny67

thanks for the info will try that loop out and maybe some of the other routes. Also hope to do the climb upto the ski station, that sounds good. Think i will have to keep the wife sweet to allow me to do all these rides...haha!. hope the weather is kind to me. I am going to take my training bike rather than the road bike just in case, more gears to play with as well on those steep climbs.(southern softy) cheers

greeny67

thanks for the info will try that loop out and maybe some of the other routes. Also hope to do the climb upto the ski station, that sounds good. Think i will have to keep the wife sweet to allow me to do all these rides...haha!. hope the weather is kind to me. I am going to take my training bike rather than the road bike just in case, more gears to play with as well on those steep climbs.(southern softy) cheers

greeny67

thanks for the info will try that loop out and maybe some of the other routes. Also hope to do the climb upto the ski station, that sounds good. Think i will have to keep the wife sweet to allow me to do all these rides...haha!. hope the weather is kind to me. I am going to take my training bike rather than the road bike just in case, more gears to play with as well on those steep climbs.(southern softy) cheers

bompington

Greeny, your gratitude for the info is starting to get out of hand!

Pigtail

Good to see some local input here!

I live in Aberdeen and do a loop to Banchory out the B9119 - B9125 - B927 then back in the A93 main road. I usually do it on a Saturday or Sunday morning and it's generally quite quiet. Works out about 37 miles.

greeny67

sorry guys, i hit the 'submit 'buttons a few too many times, i am grateful but not quite that grateful...! cheers

mabarbie

Being a soft southerner too, I'll second the Cairn O'Mount, nice little cafe for you to have a little something on the southern side afterwards too, depending on how you ride it!