I have booked myself onto the Beleach Mor sportive and already the fear has gripped me.

Any tales of heroism from the STW Collective to convince it will be okay and that I won’t die?

Why not get your name in for the 3 Pistes Sportive while you’re at it..?

I did it on the inaugural event. I rode it on a hybrid with panniers; I didn’t die (I did fall off though, buckle front wheel, finish in the lower 10% of the field, and struggle horribly on the sections round Applecross peninsula. The Bealach itself wasn’t the problem, it was the constant roller coaster of the road on the latter half.

Good to complete it though 🙂

Its a great event, lovely place, friendly locals, decent food, drivers wave. People come out and cheer you on like a real race. non of this new forest aggro carp.

i’d recommend taking the mountian bike up too and make a weekend of it. Theres a great hotel/camping barn in Achnasheen.

What kcal said – the bealach is long and steep but only like a very big dales climb. But its the sawtooth profile of the next bit that gets you, often with gusty winds.

google beleach more and bbc adventure show scotland they did a programme on this years which aired about a month ago.

Good to hear people have survived and enjoyed it.

I think the key will be to make sure I have enough miles in my legs.

I did it in 2008, its a great ride. Its not that hard, the Bealach na Bà (note spelling 🙂 ) itself is fine really, the worst bit is the circa 2 mile straight section, but before and after that it’s okay. Go easy on the decent though, I saw a few people shoot across tight bends and into ditches.

The rolling roads after the Bealach are hard going but its nothing to fear.

If you get to the pass before the road is closed then I would just crack on with it. I got there about 20 minutes before the road was closed and hung about till it was closed, as many others were doing, on reflection I should just have carried on.

edit: yeh miles in your legs will definitely be of help!

I’ve done it twice, the 2nd time was a shorter route than avoided the Bealach na Ba because it was so windy. Lovely route, great scenery and friendly locals and luckily not too many midges about at that time of year either!

Starts of fairly gentle and quick so long as it isnt too windy. The Bealach climb gets steep near the top but so long as you pace yourself is pretty OK really. Like everyone else has said, the section around towards Applecross is tough going. Usually windy, steep and short climbs and descents don’t give a lot of recovery time and take it your legs.

Just make sure you’re used to riding the distance and probably do intervals to get used to the short sharp climbs, but you’ll be grand 🙂