Scotland Adventure – Day One
A warm up around Balmacara
At the start of summer, I took to the bike in the Scottish Highlands and surrounding isles. As part of an organised Mountain Bike holiday over four days, it wasn’t just an off-road bike trip it was a true ‘Mountain’ bike adventure.
We met up with the group on day one. After all the messing around with hiring a suitable bike or bringing my own bike, they have a bike for me to rent. I was little relieved but annoyed at the same time. Anyway, I took them up on their offer. Thank God I did. My hardtail would not have made it through the first day.
We met at the H&I head office. The rest of the group turned up at around 11am. It was a great range of people across the group. A mum and son, two American friends, an American on his own and a Dutch guy. We had coffee and snacks and the briefing from our mountain guide. Then we headed to the guest House to start our first ride. The view was second to none.
We spent a few minutes faffing around with the bikes to get them right for everyone. Seat posts tweaked, suspension checked and brake levers on the correct side. We set out from the B&B across the road and straight on to a long-drawn-out climb. First ride and as everyone had just met it was time to show any fitness. I didn’t buy into it as I had done a previous trip in Canada and on the first ride, I did the same. I was knackered after the first mile. A lesson learnt there, it’s a marathon not a sprint. I hung back and churned the pedals. The track was more a back road so was very smooth. Easy to turn those pedals but it was hard work.
A mile in and we ducked off road and onto the more technical trail. Not used to my full suspension bike, dropper post and 29-inch wheels it took a while for me to get going. There were a number of short, sharp technical mounds to negotiate. Then there were a couple water bars to get across which I’d never ridden before. All the new challenges were tricky but that’s why we ride in new different places.
Uphill and left we came around the corner to our first sight of the Isle of Skye. A cracking view across the loch. That would be the challenge on day three. It looks awesome.
For now, the focus was on this new terrain and bike. We cracked on the narrow, rocky trail. Short punchy climbs and technical rocky descents. We soon came to a trickier lengthy climb through the shrubs with a water in the middle. Well, that through me and I was already walking. Day one and walking. Not great for the confidence. I was puffing and wet through with sweat. I suppose that is better than ‘wet through with rain’. It was sunny and amazing views.
We finally came out of the loop and back on the road just a few metres across the road from the lodge. I quickly handed the bike back and got back to the room to assess my poor performance. It was a short punchy 5-mile ride, although distance here isn’t the same measure as distance at home. I’m a little concerned as the climb was hard and the track technical. There are some water bars to cross which were tricky, and that was the warmup...We were absolutely knackered after the ride. I’m not sure how we will cope with the rest of holiday. Just take it one ride at a time I suppose.
I headed back out and got my luggage in. Then it was Plockton for food and a beer. The food was spot on. The view was amazing too. Let’s see what happens on day two, the Isle of Rasaay.
The warmup ride was testing. I did 5.40 miles in 52:25 with an average speed of 6.2 mph. Totally different from the stats back home.
