Any one got any experience, tips advise etc on whether this doable in 2.5 days, and is it better to go W2E or E2W?
Distance 175 miles; 290.5 km/3600m of climb
Total pedal time
7th Sept Friday: noon - 19:30; 2 hours of breaks/buffer; 5.5 pedaling hours
Saturday: 7:30 - 19:30; 3 hours of breaks/buffer; 9 hours pedaling
Sunday: 6:30 - 19:30; 4 hours of breaks/buffer; 9 hours of pedaling
Total: 23.5 hours of pedaling (5.5 + 9 + 9)
Pace
Average_Pace=Distance/time
Pace: 7.4 mph; 12.36 km/h
Calculated distances per day based on Pace and Pedaling time:
Day 1: 40.7 miles; 68km
Day 2 and Day 3: 67mi; 111km
Target stopping points:
Friday: Birsemore, Dinnet
Saturday: Kingussie, Newtonmore
Sunday: Ft William!
Prevailing wind is usually from west, hence why most do W-E.
Timings are down to how fit you are and what the weather throws at you IMO.
Here is some inspiration.
Assuming the Corrieyairack? That definitely works best Eastbound. 2.5 days should be feasible, though you'd obviously need to think about your stops. Making it to Laggan on day 1 with only half a day would be tight. I can recommend The Rumblie B&B there.
Seems doable, why are your Day 1/2 stopping points so close together?
I did this East to West years ago, though I started from Banchory and went through Fort Bill and continued to Kilchoan (about 200 miles total I think). Took me 3 days at a fairly leisurely pace on a mountain bike. I'm pretty sure I didn't spend 9 hours a day in the saddle. I camped, so was carrying more gear than necessary. It's a nice ride. Plenty of solitude and scenery but never too far from a decent pub/chippy. Enjoy!
Oh, and I definitely picked an easier route than the guys in that video!
Yeah looks like it takes in Corrieyairack Scotroutes. It's using this route
Mat Day 1/2 so close as we need to use Friday morning to get to starting point.
Oh maybe I'm confusing your end of day 1 destination with rest stops, Birsemore is ~5 miles away from Dinnet, was thinking you'd be better stopping in Banchory for food or maybe Finzean farm shop. There's not a lot to do in Dinnet - there's quite a lot of pubs/cafes/restaurants in Ballater if you pushed on the extra 8 miles.
If you're wanting to do a bigger porportion offroad I'd suggest from Banchory following the deeside way through Shooting Greens/Slewdrum (or whatever its called on an OS Map) - would be option to do some tidy bits of singletrack here although they all run perpendicular to the deeside way so they dont really get you anywhere closer to the atlantic. Then just before you get to Potarch cutting through to Balogie and up to Glencat, could then climb over Carnferg and still do the nice bit of Fungle singletrack. Then jumping ahead to out of Ballater I would cycle up the east side of Glengairn to stay off the road (up a deadend road then onto landrover track).
Thanks Mat. Will look into your suggestions
I'd have a look at the deeside trail (site currently offline but more details on facebook page) and incorporate sections rather than doing any A road. If W2E at Ballater, you could head NE and do cnoc dubh and round Loch Kinord, or south you could do heartbreak ridge or go through glen tanar.
At aberdeen the bay where the flag is is all fenced off for construction work, but you can get to the sea nearby at greyhope bay