My cycling jaunts

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daan

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I'm going to use this thread to recount my cycling jaunts that I do. I cycle to work twice a week, doing ~22 miles each time, and always try to get out at the weekends to play. There are a few quiet, easily accessible, country roads near where I stay, but you can't beat getting out into the really beautiful (when not raining!) Scottish countryside.

Pedal For Scotland - Glasgow to Edinburgh - 47.5miles

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This is an annual cycle ride between Scotland's biggest city, Glasgow, and it's capital, Edinburgh. Its been running for a few years now and its something I've always wanted to do, but I didn't want to do it myself. I talked my work colleague, Tom (62 years old and much, much fitter than I am!) into doing it, and he brought his friend Andrew along too. We were lucky with the weather. The wind was light and it was behind us too, and there was only 1 shower of rain that lasted for about 10 minutes. Coming out of Glasgow, for about the first 10 miles, there were policemen on the junctions stopping traffic as we cycled past, but after that we were on our own. For the most part the route was on country roads, and it took to cycle paths once we got to the outskirts of Edinburgh. The route finished in a park just next to Murrayfield rugby stadium. I made it there OK, but probably couldn't have went much further. It took us just under 4 hours to complete the route.

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Cycling out along Duke Street

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Tom, me and Andrew

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We were passed by this strange contraption (They may be small, but 6 legs are better than 2)

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Out in the wilds

I'm doing it again this year.
http://pedalforscotland.org/
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Callander to Glen Ogle & back - 36 miles

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A couple of months ago, Tom and I decided to put our bikes on the back of my car, drive to Callander and then cycle up the cycle path to Killin. Unfortunately Tom had visitors that he couldn't get rid off and had to call off. I had been looking forward to it, so decided to go myself. I got to Callander OK although the carrier did try to fall off the back of the car once! In a way, I was glad Tom wasn't there as I could go at my own pace, and could turn and come back when I wanted. It was an enjoyable run up the side of Loch Lubnaig. Its great getting out into the wilds and to not be bothered by cars trying to run you over! 90% of this route is on dedicated cycle paths, with the rest being on very quiet, very bumpy single track roads. The route is undulating, and as you're going up the side of a river, it is predominatley uphill. I cycled up past Strathyre, and on to Balquhidder (Bonus points if anyone knows what Balquhidder's claim to fame is?). From there I went up past Lochearnhead, and up towards Glen Ogle. At this point I decided I had done enough and turned to come back. I could have went slightly further, as it was still undulating but mainly slightly downhill on the way back. All in all a really enjoyable day out.


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Wee lambs

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Cycle path alongside Loch Lubnaig

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Loch Lubnaig

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Zig zags

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Heading out to Balquidder

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Loch Earn

I'm definitely going to go back and do this again, drag Tom along for company and encouragement, and hopefully make it up to Killin (which will be a 50 mile round trip.)
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Aberfoyle & Loch Katrine - 41 miles

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A few weeks ago, Tom suggested another route we could try. He suggested going to Aberfoyle, with the bikes on the car again, and cycling round Loch Katrine. Incidentally, Loch Katrine is where most of Glasgow's water comes from even though it's nearly 40 miles away. It was quite the engineering feat. I looked at the map before hand and between it and google, worked out it would be about 34 miles. So off we went. Most of this route was on single track roads, but the road round Loch Katrine is a water board road and is only open to cyclists and walkers. Cycling out of Aberfoyle, past a couple of lochs was relatively easy, with the road just undulating, but nothing too strenuous. when we got to Loch Arklet, the road branched right to Loch Katrine and left to Inversnaid on the banks of Loch Lomond. The sign said 4 miles, so that would add an extra 8 miles onto our journey. This road carried on the tradition of undulating along quite nicely until it was nearly at Inversnaid when it took a steep dive downwards. Downhills are always great until you remember you've got to go back up it.... :( Stopped at the bottom for 5 minutes, and then nothing else for it but to head back up. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I just stuck my bike into 3rd gear (of 24) and just ground my pedals round. Back at the top, we headed back along the road and re-joined our original route. Cycling round the Loch was great, with no traffic and well surfaced road, with just the odd hill sneaking up on us. We then re-joined the main road to head back to Aberfoyle, via the Duke's pass. Tom had warned me about this beforehand and I wasn't looking forward to it. On the map, the Dukes pass had 2 >> on it, indicating that was steep and it went uphill to start with. I was doing OK going up this, just stuck it into 3rd again and watched Tom jump on his pedals and leave me in his dust, even though he's 25 years older than me. (He's been cycling longer than I've been alive and used to race back in the black and white days.) Just when I thought I was at the top, I would turn round a bend and up it would go again. Got to the top, absolutely knackered, stopped for 5 minutes, then off along the top, looking forward to the downhill on the other side. The downhill was fantastic, and great fun. It was like an alpine pass, with numerous hairpins. Another great day of cycling fun.



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Blooming electricity pylons spoiling the view :(

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Tom, Loch Chon, and my bike to prove I was there!

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Loch Katrine

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A hill

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Loch Katrine

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Me, puffing up a hill.
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Yes, I have the ability to ride a bike without falling off. :D
 
Awww.... I thought 7 miles each way was a "long" bike ride.... :(


Thats some beautiful scenery right there. Nothing like that from Pittstown to Englishtown.
 
Nice to see another "biker" in here 👍

Nice photos there daan 👍 Some of them remind me of Spain or Norway in a way, I've always wanted to visit Scotland :cheers:
 
Wow, never knew you were a keen biker daan. I used to be quite the keen biker myself actually. Id cover between 10 to 20 miles daily, its not that much really but considering im using a mountain biked designed for downhilling running 3 inch wide tyres it can make be quite a chore. The scenery is amazing where you ride and although its quite nice round where i live and the surrounding areas its just not quite the same. You might well have just inspired me to bleed the disc brakes on my bike and get riding again.......then again maybe not.

Spec....

PS, those pesky kids would have got a firm "shut up you minge" from me for that!
 
Sarebear
Well I can see those bike rides are keeping you fit. The shorts look good. :)

If you need sponsoring let me know - for the price of a photo of you in shorts of course! :)
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I do have firm thighs and buttocks. Lycra shorts FTW.

Specialized
Wow, never knew you were a keen biker daan. I used to be quite the keen biker myself actually. Id cover between 10 to 20 miles daily, its not that much really but considering im using a mountain biked designed for downhilling running 3 inch wide tyres it can make be quite a chore.
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So what kind of bike do you have, Specialized? :dopey:

Mine is a GT Karakoram, but I've got road tyres on it as I never (intentionally) go off road anymore.
 
Sounds like you had a great time, daan. 👍 I like biking too, as long as it isn't along a main road... Not that there is much traffic in Scotland anyway. :p I just haven't ridden in a long time...
 
daan
So what kind of bike do you have, Specialized? :dopey:

Mine is a GT Karakoram, but I've got road tyres on it as I never (intentionally) go off road anymore.
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:lol: well just incase you were wondering................

I did have a Specialized Big Hit 3 but it was a little to hardcore for what i needed so i bought a Specialized HArdrock Disc Sport with many many upgrades over the standard bike and was offered for a price i couldnt refuse. I did have a Specialized P.2 but i hated it so i sold it. Basically my hardrock disc sport had pretty much everything from the big hit changed onto it. Does what i want it to do and i havnt managed to break it yet which is quite an achievment in itself.

Spec....
 
I should be riding more. To think i had a very good physique 5 years ago.
Riding 30 km/h for a longer period of time with mountain bike tires wasn't a problem, now i have problems riding 25km/h for a shorter period of time.
I do prefer riding offroad rather than on the road, just because it's more exciting
 
As a former racer, I still enjoy the regular bike-ride every once in a while. Practices, on a good day, were usually 40-mile jaunts with average speeds somewhere around 22 MPH.

...Those were the days...

Here is one of my favorite routes:

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Grand Haven State Park to Holland State Park, about a 54 mile ride round trip. There is a good variance of hills, valleys, tree cover, trail, road, etc. Most of the time you can see or smell the lake, and there is always a cool breeze. I used to make the trip twice a year, but I haven't done it in some time, however, I may attempt to convince my friends to go with me...

(BTW: I live in Kentwood, way off to the east there on that map... Just outside of Grand Rapids).
 
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Omg! the Loch Lubnaig Downhill!

Do you do some m4d ty73 dr1f71ng y0!?
 
Ah good memories. I recognise some of those areas having lived near Oban and then near Stirling, with relatives in Bathgate and Blackburn. We then moved down to Southeast England where I cycled London to Brighton one year - 60 mostly flat miles. Now I'm a lazy sod on the edge of Exmoor with two bikes rusting away in the shed. At least the weather is nicer down here, even if the scenery is not so rugged.
 
Interesting 👍 I'm getting knackered just reading about it. Excellent photos too, some great scenery indeed... I've only ever been on a mountain bike once in anger, and that was when I was at a conference in Aspen, Colorado. Was great fun, but much harder than I thought it was going to be. One day we did a downhill run down a mountain track, and that was relatively easy (being all downhill), and the next day we cycled from Snowmass Village to Aspen (about 10 km) and I found the short uphill sections very hard work indeed! It was quite pathetic to watch actually...!
 
Were you using clip-on pedals? I find those are easiest to have when you're doing a lot of uphill action... You know, since you can push and pull with them...

Out here in the Grand Rapids area, there are some good climbing areas. I should take a video of one of the roads I used to ride up and down three times a week. Its killer even in my Volkswagen...
 
YSSMAN
As a former racer, I still enjoy the regular bike-ride every once in a while. Practices, on a good day, were usually 40-mile jaunts with average speeds somewhere around 22 MPH.
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"former" racer? You're only 20. How can you be a former racer?

YSSMAN
Were you using clip-on pedals? I find those are easiest to have when you're doing a lot of uphill action... You know, since you can push and pull with them...
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I know this wasn't directed at me, but I do.
 
daan
"former" racer? You're only 20. How can you be a former racer?
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I was on a cycling team for three seasons when I was in High School. I wasn't very successful, but I was more or less the big guy who would tow the line and break the wind for the faster kids... A sacrifice early in the race if you will.

I stopped racing last year when I went into College. I didn't have enough time with school and work, so my riding has pretty much been spent as recreational jaunts here and there.

...Let me see if I can find some old photos of when I raced... Otherwise, I can get out the ol' Jersey...

EDIT: Photos of photos is all I have







BTW: That is us racing on Grattan Raceway just outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan
 

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