Tour de Ben Nevis

oodboo

Anyone doing/done the Tour de Ben Nevis? I'm thinking about entering this year and just wondering how fit you need to be? I ride pretty often, commuting 30 miles a couple of times a week and have good stamina but not sure if this will be enough. Also wondering if a 29er hardtail would be better than a 1x10 160mm full sus would be better? I reckon the hardtail due to the distance but would probably need some new wheels for it.

Anyway, anyone got anything to say about the event?

campbellrae1

Ridden the route but not the actual event. It's a damned good ride, with a lot of forestry road/estate tracks so I wouldn't bother with the big bike. Go with the 29er!

The big climb of the day is hike-a-bike though, so be prepared for that!

If riding the route was anything to go by, enter the event you wont regret it. You should be OK if you keep the pace very steady, if the ground is wet(very very likely) it's very hard going. As long as you don't spank it from the gun I reckon you should make it round!

oodboo

Sounds good to me. I thought the hardtail would be the better option but it may need some upgrades, wheels and saddle to start with. Plus probably 2 nights accomodation. Starting to add up to an expensive weekend. Actually I've got a cousin who llives in Oban so I could probably crash at his. Still just over an hours drive from there but cheaper than B&B. Just need to convince the missus.

hiswitsend

Signed up for this as well, having not ridden that distance on road, in one hit, for a while, never mind off road.

Trying to build up to that distance, did Glentress Red then Blue in one hit (20 miles) had lunch, then did most of the blue (8 miles)

Will be doing this again in the next week or so, but have also signed up for the Glasgow to Edinburgh cycle two weeks before, which is 51 miles on road.

Also experimenting with what I need, mainly fluids have a 2 litre bladder in a back pack, that I drained on the Glentress day, but it was scorching, but may back that up by having a bottle on the bike as well as offloading some tools/spare tubes etc into an under saddle bag to leave more space for other stuff in ruck sack. Emergency blanket (think that is needed) will be wrapped round the top tube.

nwallace

Did the route earlier in the year but starting at Nevis Range, taking the WHW up to Lairig Mor and the road from the Witch to Nevis Range because it was getting late and weren't sure of the route through the forest.

Did it on my Zaskar, FireXC 2.1, 85mm forks, 26/36/46 - 32/12 9spd gearing

Only problem was the massive boulders that the other guy could batter over on his full sus bike.

Glasgow Iain

Did this last year, and doing it again at the end of this week
Loads of folks doing it on hardtails. You'll be able to replenish water etc at the river crossing , which is about half way round (before the hike a bike section) i would be tempted not to put anything on the frame of your bike as it will be rattled off.
For those of you that are doing it , good luck and have a safe ride

hiswitsend

Glasgow Iain wrote:

Did this last year, and doing it again at the end of this week
Loads of folks doing it on hardtails. You'll be able to replenish water etc at the river crossing , which is about half way round (before the hike a bike section) i would be tempted not to put anything on the frame of your bike as it will be rattled off.
For those of you that are doing it , good luck and have a safe ride

Cheers 8)

Hard tailing it too

Really looking forward to this, just wasn't sure what to expect and just don't want to get caught out, but great tip re water