Criteria- Epic Saturday ride, shorter Sunday ride before being back in central belt for dinner.
Good pub for Friday & Saturday night.
Braemar/Ballater- Maybe less well known than somewhere like Torridon but plenty of good riding, and pretty easily accessible.
Glencoe/Fort Bill- Glencoe on Saturday, bit of Kinlochleven, maybe some uplifts at Glencoe or Fort Bill for couple of hours on Sunday.
Torridon- For obvious reasons.
Due to other commitments I am likely going to manage just the one full weekend away this Summer (aside from races) so I want to make it worth my while. Last couple of years we've done road weekends or kept it fairly tame to suit the less experienced in the group, but we've jettisoned the mincers this year (fortunately they have other plans anyway) so we can get something more interesting in for the first time in donkeys years.
Would prefer Torridon from a riding perspective, and it's the only one of the 3 I've never ridden (though there's loads in the other locations I've never touched), however I'm also conscious that it's nearly 2 hours further than somewhere like Braemar, which is a lot more riding time on the Sunday rather than just sitting in a car, so may be better for when we have more than 2 days free. There's also some folk coming from South of the border, so it's a long old drive for them.
So what's riding good these days, any others I've missed?
Accommodation? If you have a camper van or are camping and aren't having to book a B&B or hotel then I'd leave the choice to the last minute to get the best weather. Quite often it's fine on one side of the country and wet on the other - of course it could be wet everywhere!
Edit: I'd go for Torridon since I've not ridden there.
I really like the surrounding area of Aviemore.
So much to go at. Wild stuff & big country, on your door step rides, easy forest tracks, short out and backs, and a few trail centers not a million miles away.
It's easy to navigate, and understand the directions to head out to.
Although we don't stay in Aviemore - we don't usually get in a car all week, such is the proximity of rides (although the trail centres will require a vehicle.)
Hostel, so need to book in advance, especially in July.
One of the group is a Navigation expert/mountain leader/mountain rescue bod, so I'm pretty happy going somewhere that needs (his) navigation skills to get the best out of it.
Aviemore / Cairngorms in general.
Minigaig loop on Saturday; stay in Blair Atholl / even Pitlochry - then poodle round Rothiemurcus on the Sunday.
I love the riding around kinlochleven but in particular because it's so good in the wet- can't speak for the stuff around braemar but torridon I wouldn't fancy on a bad day. (kinlochleven is still really unpleasant, mind, but the descents are never better than when there's rivers going down them). So that gives it a sort of perverse weatherproofness.
Torridon hostel does need booking, and fills up early (1 week in July is already full)
Maybe some of the Neeps can chip in on the Braemar front, given I've got most of my trail options from their club page!
There's tons of good stuff around Ballater area: the Coyles of Muick, and then over towards Mount Keen, Glen Clova and the Lochnagar group. Proper 'big mountain' riding, with plenty of hike-a-bike, but lots of remoteness and tough descents. Good stuff too around Cambus o'May area (just to the NE of Ballater). A quick search around on Strava will probably show you what's there, otherwise give me a shout and I'll fire over some .gpx files.
Take a look at the Glen Clova and Lochnagar page on mtbroutes.info for example.
Just returned from Braemar which despite the weather was great.I didn't do as much riding as usual , the woman-in-charge had to be entertained, but I still got a good loop up and over the Bealach Dearg. You can do the really remote stuff , up the Lairig Ghru, Glen Feshie and then there is a short drive to Ballater for the excellent riding there, Mt Keen, Lochnagar etc. Cycle Highlands in Ballater will sell you some maps and give you real hands on advice. Torridon is probably more technical but the Braemar/Ballater area gives more choice.
If you do torridon you can always break the return journey with a curry in Aviemore
I love the riding around kinlochleven
We've decided on Kinlochleven, seems to give a good mix of shorter loops from the town and bigger loops for one of the days.
What's the "nightlife" like in Kinlochleven these days, years since I stayed there as always default to Glencoe for the ale range at Clachaig. Since its our one big weekend away for the summer the ales are as important as the bikes!
You could do kll to bridge of orchy taking in the devils staircase. Then time it to get train to fort bill then cycle back to kll.....
Torridon gets my vote even though we did it drizzle & it had poured down for a few days before hand making it pi^s wet through, make that torrential, but it were reeet good fun & I'd go back again no worries, a ride with all the right ingredients in.
The bar at the MacDonald hotel is normally fairly lively, and the beers are great.
I would look at the mountain weather forecast
[url= http://www.mwis.org.uk/scottish-forecast ]Mountain Weather info service -Scottish Forecasts[/url]
That will give you the best info for choosing to go West/East/North they are all great places to ride
Glen Clova hostel. Loads of great biking - Lochnagar and surrounding tops for a big day, Then whatever you wanna do from Loch Muick/Capel Mounth/Jocks road/Kilbo path....