Your favourite epic ride?

campbellrae1

Hi all,

I'm looking for a few target rides this summer, so looking for routes that I am not familiar with or have never heard of and am missing out on! The type of thing I am keen to do is a long one day ride(40 miles + off road) or multi-day rides in the 'wilderness'.

To give you an idea, I have already planned to do the West Highland Way and Great Glen Way from Glasgow to Fort William to Inverness in two days. About 170-175 miles and a buck load of climbing. Should be fun!

I have heard of routes on Knoydart, but not ridden them, has anybody on here got any tips? Also very keen to find out about routes in the Cairngorms and Sutherland! As I have done a fair bit of riding in these areas but think I might be missing some good trails.

Outside these areas, I haven't ridden that much, so any advice will be gladly received! Never really ridden big rides in England or Wales due to being so spoilt for choice in Scotland :?

Thanks!

Campbell

delcol

chilcotins bc has to be my best epic..

float plane in then 40 plus km of amazing flowing singletrack and 98% of it downhill.. what a day...

campbellrae1

That sounds like an awesome day! Unfortunately it's the girl friends turn to pick the holiday destination this year, so will probably end up in some beachy dump and no peace and quiet anywhere in sight, oh joy. Next year on the other hand, my turn , BC is definitely on my short list, heard so many good things about the riding there when I have been over during the winter for snowboarding!

Wallace1492

Tour of Ben Nevis. Did it with a few out of the club last year.
Big, epic day out, brilliant wild country.

WHW followed by GGW is quite a challenge, though think the GGW is more of a slog. Crianlarich to FW will be ace, but surely much better to be had by either turning right or left at FW.

campbellrae1

Yeah, the GGW will be a slog, but the WHW should be really good, after suggesting it as a route for a couple of days a friend bet me £50 that I couldn't do both in 24 hours(admittedly in the pub after a few beers, but I have held him to daft drunken bets and now he's doing it to me!). So we'll have to wait and see how that goes.

Did think about doing Ben Nevis, but have been put off by how busy the tourist path always seems to be, how was it when you did it?

Wallace1492

Didn't do the Ben itself. Was a big circuit round it. Started at Kinlochleven, up to Mamore lodge, then up past Loch Elidh Mor, over to Luibielt, the to forest near Spean Bridge, along to Fort Bill and back part of WHW to KLL. Google Tour De Ben Nevis for route, there is a yearly race/challenge doing it.

The WHW itself in 24 hours is a challenge. Are you used to long, hard days in the saddle?

Amazing fitness required. Last year an extreme cyclist attempted the WHW double and got from Milngavie to FW in just over 14 hours. He never made the return....

Do not underestimate how hard it is! Plus there is a lot of carrying at the top end of Loch Lomond.

campbellrae1

Biked the WHW in a day in 2009, and have walked both the WHW and GGW, so I have a fair idea of what I am getting into! And it's going to hurt like hell!

Thanks for the tip on the tour route, will look that up. Sounds like a really nice route! Do you remember roughly how long it took you?

Wallace1492

Took us most of the day, left at 8.30am and got back at about 5.30. However, was very slow with plenty of stops for pictures, lunch, energy bars, tough bits. Could easily have taken a few hours off it, but was an enjoyable, long day out rather than some kind of challenge. Great route in the good weather.

campbellrae1

Thanks for the tip on the tour de ben nevis, just looked at the route, and it's gone straight to the top of the to do list! Looks awesome! How was the climb from Luibielt over to the Lairig Bothy? And were there any other major hike-a-bike sections?

Wallace1492

The climb was quite interesting! Personally I could not do a lot of it, but one of our group was pretty awesome and managed a hell of a lot more than me. It was only a mile or two, and was over quickly, but was pretty tough.
One thing to watch for is that there are 2 river crossings, and the first one could be a bit hairy if the water is high, so keep an eye on the forcast before you do it.

Other mistake we made is that we deviated from the "official" route as we decended towards Inverroy and took the route of the dismantled railway from the start - we did wonder why the Tour route did not use it. Well, we found out! A very muddy start, a few cuttings to cross, then a much deeper river and a deer fence, followed by a 200ft long 2ft deep bog - yes, a mistake! Do not try it! Follow the full Tour Route!!

Rest of it was brilliant, just a shame about the pouring rain on way back from FW to KLL, it spoiled the descent back down as the rcoks became rather deadly. Will i do again - too right!

delcol

Bc is defo worth a trip if you can there's so much amazing riding over there. from the northshore to the sunshine coast vancouver island squamish whistler pemberton and the chilcotins. kamloops plus many more i probably dont know.
sqamish is excellent so is whistler pemby and the chilcs. these are places we rode in the past..