Pedal For Scotland 2012

On Sunday I completed the challenge ride for Pedal For Scotland, a 47 mile ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh.  The event was raising money for Maggie's Centres and you can give money if you like this post. You can see the route I took here :-




It was an incredible day. Some 8000 people made the journey I’m told, although some (not including Mark Beaumont - thanks Mr. Brennan) took a longer sportive ride, 110 miles and lots of big hills. A quick nip to the shops compared to some of his adventures, but a bit far for me.

Having done some training, including a 60km ride in less than 3 hours the week before, I was quite confident that the distance would not be a problem.  I was more concerned about getting to the start. Whilst the organisers had arranged transport to go from either the start to the finish beforehand, or the finish to the start, the people in the middle had to sort themselves out. Being closer to Edinburgh and my wife willing to see me on route and pick me up, all I had to do was get to the start.

The only real option was getting the train, but you couldn’t reserve a place, and after phoning ScotRail they were less than enthusiastic about the whole thing.  In the end, whilst there were about 20 bikes wanting to get on at my stop, we all got aboard and ignored the startled conductor (who was expecting the usual 2 people at this early hour on a Sunday) who said only one bike to a door.  This was my day’s first example of how this country is so poor at connecting different forms of travel if you don’t use a car.

Arriving in Glasgow, everyone disembarked from High Street and skooted down to Glasgow Green where the ride was to start. There were hundreds of people, if not thousands all queuing up with their bikes.  I queued for over an hour to start and the queue looked as long as when I’d started.  There was no way everyone left by the 10:30 cut off point.

Through the streets of Glasgow and out towards Coatbridge, some roads were made bike only and some cross roads were closed.  However, mainly we travelled in bunches between traffic lights.  I barely noticed the distance and the time, enjoying the company and trying to keep up with a bloke on a bike that had the biggest wheels I’ve ever seen.

From Coatbridge, through Aidrie to Caldercruix we were mingling with cars, buses and vans. Some of which were quite happy to coast along, but others were pretty annoyed that their very important car was being held up by idiots on bikes.

The idiots were not all stuck in cars mind. On the Caldercruix to Avonbridge section we had half the road to ourselves.  Faster cyclists could overtake in the other lane, you just had to make sure that there wasn’t a car coming the other way at the time.  I was a bit faster than most of the other cyclists and this was a section I’d trained on.  I’d seen a car coming so had slowed down.  However, a group of 4 club cyclists hadn’t seen the car and swooshed by only narrowly missing the car and causing panic in the cycle lane as they jumped in.  I had great delight in “dropping” them on the next small hill section. And my favourite moment was when I was overtaken by a guy on a very expensive looking road bike and then we were both overtaken by someone steaming past on a Brompton.

I stopped for lunch at Linlithgow which was heaving, but the break was nice and the food was needed.  The section after that was the only bit where I felt tired as I tried to get my legs going again after stopping. It was also uphill a bit.  Along this section, my family was waiting for me to offer encouragement.

It wasn’t long before I was onto the NCN1 and into Edinburgh.  I think this section was nicest for the fun day out group, but I can see that it would be a pain for commuters (narrow in places; shared with others, many places where you have to slow down and stop). In my (unwritten) report of the trip I took out of Edinburgh on the NCN75 I went (I will!) go into that in more detail.

Suddenly, you can see Murrayfield and you drop out of the cycle paths and into Edinburgh’s busy roads and finally arrive. A quick circle through the stadium and out to the finish line where there were spectators applauding your efforts.  That was much appreciated and it was a great way to complete the trip.

After collecting the medal and goody bag, I had one further task. Find the Pedal on Parliament stall and collect a postcard from them to send to my local councillor about the lack of cycling provision in West Lothian.  It was a pleasure to meet and talk to Sally (@sallyhinch) and David (@magnatom) too.

Then I had some more cycling to do.  I was feeling good and the mad thought of cycling home (and doing my first ever 100km) fleetingly passed through my head, but a call to my wife and see was able to come and pick me up somewhere near the Gyle.  

As I left, a group of sportive cylists were coming in from the other direction.  Having finished and still feeling fresh, maybe that 110 miles isn’t so far after all. With a little bit more training, next year ….. although my friend wants me to do a Lands End to John O’Groats with him instead.

Ben Vorlich and Stuc a'Chroin

From my bedroom window, I can see (on a fair weather day) the start of the Highlands. Ben Lomand, Ben Ledi and others can be seen, but two stand out more than any other, Ben Vorlich and Stuc a'Chroin.

 

 I had a wet weather alternative planned, but it wasn't needed as when I arrived at the lay by at the side of Loch Earn at 9am the clouds were well above Munro level. Following the well marked path past Ardvorlich House, I quickly gained height and was rewarded with some nice views of the loch.

 

 The path was steep but straightforward. I thought I was making good progress until I was overtaken by a lady in cycling gear. Before I reached the summit, she was on her way down and I was left wondering what was the point of getting up there when you don't stop to enjoy the view.

 

 In less that two hours I was at the top. In the photo you can see a lone metal post. In Hamish's Mountain Walk, the post is still attached to the fence that runs over these hills when he completed his famous round. I was chatting to one guy on the hills who asked that if someone found a post on the hill, could they carry it off the hills as they were eyesores. Well, not only are they far too heavy for me to take down mountains, most are still fixed firmly in the ground.

 

 At the top, I was joined by others. Two ladies who'd been up in April, but hadn't been able to go over to Stuc a'Chroin because of deep snow. They were wondering if the second peak was as hard as they feared. I said I'd seen Cameron McNeish say it wasn't too bad on the telly, but there was a route around to the side that wasn't such a scramble. I left them to decide and headed off to see how much of a scramble it really was. At the foot of rocky section, I found two guys from Glasgow and their dog trying to work out which was the best place to start up, or whether they should go around to the side too. After a short debate we agree to all go together. I love walking solo, but a little bit of companionship on the hills is always welcome. Once I put my poles away, it was a fairly easy climb, and quite quickly we got to the top. Only there is about a 10 minute walk over to the highest point - you simply have to follow the metal posts along to the summit.

 

I decided that simply returning down the way I'd came would be a bit boring, so headed onwards. Hamish Brown had come the other direction from Glen Ample and in his description it had sounded rather nice. I'm sad to say that forest plantations have put paid to that. I eventually found my way around and through the dead ground under the trees and fought my way through to a road. Eventually this road led past some farm buildings. Past the farm was a short section of the original path that was a delightful walk through "proper" trees along side the Burn of Ample. It didn't quite make up for the dead forest and the tarmac slog to get back to where the car was parked.