Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 63 total)
  • STW Scotland – shiftworkers and skivers ride next week…
  • stuartie_c
    Free Member

    Hi all,

    I'm planning a day out in the hills next Thursday. Current thinking is a circuit of Lochnagar, though this is obviously contingent on the weather/snow conditions. Plan B would be a ride from Pitlochry and plan C would be to get pished the night before and stay in bed, riding on Friday instead.

    CaptainMainwaring has emailed a suggested route to me which sounds excellent, though there will be a good bit of "exploration" involved which may involve carrying bikes, getting cold and pissed off before selling your bikes and watching shite TV for the rest of your miserable life.

    Sound good? I'll post route details later on, but it's not one for Southern Jessies. 😀

    So if you're unemployed/unemployable/enjoying an extended holiday at the taxpayers' expense, sign up below!

    jabbathehut
    Free Member

    might be interested. Extended holiday. woop woop.

    singlespeeddan
    Free Member

    i might be interested in this. On "reading week" from uni. 🙂

    j_me
    Free Member

    Aye – could be up for that -but only if there are lots of rivers to ford.

    Kit
    Free Member

    I'm on holiday next week. Would need a lift mind, but otherwise I'm game!

    stuartie_c
    Free Member

    Could probably be arranged Kit (I'm in Dunfermline). If the weather is half decent I might head up Wednesday afternoon/evening and stay in the bunkhouse in Ballater, possibly ride Friday too.

    McMoonter had expressed some interest as well (another Fifer), so I'm sure we could come to some kind of arrangement.

    I'll post route maps later this evening and decide on the exact plan next Tuesday when I see what the weather is doing.

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    Startie, I'd be game but I'm teaching at Gleneagles on Thursday.

    druidh
    Free Member

    Too far South for me….

    stuartie_c
    Free Member

    Too far South for me….

    Northern Jessie.

    druidh
    Free Member

    😆

    CaptainMainwaring
    Free Member

    Despite that route being partly my suggestion I take no responsibility for any misery or suffering incurred, except by myself. 35km and 1800m of climbing, all off road. 😯

    househusband
    Free Member

    May well be up for this – would be happy to offer you a lift, Kit.

    swiss01
    Free Member

    one of my workmates is currently mulling over whether she's going to be off sick next week but assuming i'm not covering her shifts i'm definitely up for it

    stuartie_c
    Free Member

    Here's the proposed route (somewhat truncated, but this is the meat of the riding).

    Click for big.

    Start at either Keiloch by Invercauld Bridge or at Crathie (which gives an optional finish via the cairns with some nice riding). There are various options on the way. Capt.M. suggested going via the Lochnagar plateau which would get the full Glas Allt descent, though it involves a bit of carrying to get there. I don't know what the Glas Allt descent is like, but I'm keen to give it a whirl. From Glass Allt Sheil we could head round either end of the loch aiming for the LRT up onto Broad Cairn which is more rideable uphill than the Coire Chash path. The bit from the stables to Broad Cairn summit is pretty much hike a bike and I'm not sure how rideable it is from there to Cairn Bannoch and beyond. The proposed descent to the Feindallacher Burn is also terra incognita for me. So there we go.

    What can possibly go wrong?

    italspark
    Free Member

    stuartie, as usual youve got me considering skiving off and cancelling my dental appointment to ride some orange lines on a map, didnt you get your boyscout map reading badge, arent the dotted lines the paths ?
    mcmoonter will be too busy working to pay off his credit cards following his month long trip to oregon and california( oh how the other half lives )

    ill let you know if i can make it

    shortbread_fanylion
    Free Member

    damn, I'm off the following week. Be interested in how you get on – the bottom half of the Glas Allt Shiel descent looks steeeeep!

    Trekster
    Full Member

    Too far South for me….

    Northern Jessie.

    Too far North for me…I`m off and I dont get payed till Fri 😥

    stuartie_c
    Free Member

    the bottom half of the Glas Allt Shiel descent looks steeeeep!

    Sure does. Possibly needs madder skillz than I possess nowadays. 😯

    didnt you get your boyscout map reading badge, arent the dotted lines the paths ?

    Nah – too obvious Colin. It's the un-dotted lines that interest me….

    CaptainMainwaring
    Free Member

    Reckon it would be a shame to miss the top 2/3rds of the Glas Allt descent which must be one of the best in the UK. The bottom bit from the waterfall is by all accounts only rideable if you are a mountain biking god. Would add about an extra hour.

    househusband
    Free Member

    It's the un-dotted lines that interest me….

    That's precisely my main concern…

    stuartie_c
    Free Member

    The bottom bit from the waterfall is by all accounts only rideable if you are a mountain biking god.

    Looks like we're going to need Mr. Raddogair…

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    I've ridden the waterfall section a loooooong time ago after bivvying on the summit of Lochnagar on mid summers night with the dangerous brothers. It was rideable then with rigid forks and cantis. I didnt have the skills of Radoggair then nor now, but I got down ok

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    Dont even begin to think there is a trail from the ridge down to the Dubh Loch. Its a nightmare of a hike a bike. The descent from the Dubh Loch to loch Muick is pretty good though.

    italspark
    Free Member

    is the m.c. going soft first he anounces that road biking is the new mtbing
    then he complains about a 7 hour ride up lochnagar which finished after dark.

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    You failed to remember the climb out from Glen Clova which preceded Lochnagar, the Dubh Loch hike of death the the bonk climb of doom back to Clova.

    MC going soft? Not as soft as all those who are having trouble with their hair straighteners and calling off for tomorrow.

    stuartie_c
    Free Member

    Who are the Dangerous Brothers anyway?

    I know a Dangerous Dave but I'm not sure he has a brother…

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    Kevin and Stuart Dangerous. They are dangerous but not brothers. Kevin Dangerous runs Escape Route, the bike shop in Pitlochry. Stuart restores castles on Deeside.

    stuartie_c
    Free Member

    It was rideable then with rigid forks and cantis

    McM, I do believe I have a photo of the very bike:

    You'll notice it's a "Dunehill" bike though…

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    When we first met Les Freres Dangereux they raced us down Mt Keen on bikes not unlike that. Kevin Dangerous rode a hybrid, half Ridgeback, half Raleigh Maverick . The Mavback. This was in 85.

    Does your one have an Aboyne Rip Off Shop sticker on it? It could be one of Kev's

    messiah
    Free Member

    Ah… the legend that is the "Dangerous brothers"…

    I'm about on Wed but the wife has the Thur pass – unlucky!

    I've ridden the whole route you plan, not in the way you are planning but I've done all the bits if you get what I mean.

    Your route starts with the the fireroad hell that is Ballochbui… it's truly soul destroying in there… you climb for hours… and the wind is ALWAYS in your face… being followed by blacked out landies is also not my favourite part of this. I avoid this now.
    The lower half of Glas-Alt-Sheil is completely bonkers even on my big bike. Last month this was very washed out in places… previosly there was only one corner I did not get round but this summer it scared the hell out of me and I walked a couple of bits where there has been HUGE EROSION just past the waterfall.
    Up the lightingstrike… good luck with this… the challenge is on you as it HAS been ridden by me this year!
    From Pony Hut to Broad Cairn is a hike, after that your biking all the way. There is a route round the side of BC but it's actually easier and definetly better to shoulder your bike and go over the boulders to the top. When you get to Carn An Sagart More go straight up to the top – the path round to right halfway up is fun but go on up to the top, it's not much further. Find the crashed aircraft (Bristol Baufighter) and take the nifty singletrack down to the saddle (Schweet). I've never ridden from here on down to Invercauld as a descent but it's rideable on the way up so should be easy and probably fun.

    Enjoy!

    stuartie_c
    Free Member

    Cheers Messiah, you're a very naughty boy…

    When you say the Lightning Strike, do you mean the LRT or the path that comes straight down from Coire Chash? I've ridden down the latter and that was hard enough 😯

    messiah
    Free Member

    Hehehe – the one that comes down from Coire Chash is called "the streak of pants" – or the "streak your pants".

    It's fun now but before it was made a proper path it was mental, especially rigid with canti's – as we all rode in the very early 90's.

    Yes… the lightning strike is the switchback LRT.

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    Stuartie, I was riding with Colin today, word is that the weather could be pants on Thursday and there is the chance of a shift to Friday. True or False?

    stuartie_c
    Free Member

    I'm entirely relaxed about which day we do this McM.

    We can make it Friday if that suits the majority and the weather is going to be more favourable. Too early to tell at the moment on the weather front though…

    What would Los Hermanos Peligrosos do?

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    They'd do it blindfolded down the Lochnagar steps

    Kit
    Free Member

    I'll not be out for this – have fun and take photos 🙂

    Swayndo
    Free Member

    Mmm … wonder if I could manage Friday.

    CaptainMainwaring
    Free Member

    Weather indeed forecast to be pants for Wednesday and Thursday. Friday or Saturday should be OK for me. Will give me an extra day to get rid of the current man flu.

    Would deffo like to find some way of doing the whole of the Glas Allt descent rather than just the bottom section as I don't fancy my chances of transforming from biking average to biking god within the next 4 days

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    Friday or Saturday is good for me. Colin can get his teeth seen to too. I should have the mothership back by then. We could car share from
    Dunfermline.

    stuartie_c
    Free Member

    OK, good.

    Looks like later in the week is preferred. I'll make a definite decision tomorrow evening once I've got a better idea of what the weather is going to do, but let's say that Friday is looking more likely at the moment.

    (Kit – cheers for letting me know. Another time…)

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