17 of us ventured out … 7 went out again today. I copped out due to a knee issue flairing up at the bottom of the kilbo yesterday 🙁

Ill let stuartie C fill in the details of where we actually went … i can point it out on a map. it started with the ministers path and finished with the kilbo path. either way great day out.

Where to go ? ?

A little hommage to the bogtrotters and the quantocks rides ….only with hills in view….;)

Props to greg for riding all of the top of the kilbo

more at http://picasaweb.google.com/trailratmtb/STWDayOut2May2009#

looked good. i missed it,ended up at thurso to watch surf comp.maybe next time.

That was one tough day, for those who missed it, 8 hours of riding, four seasons in one day, very windy on the exposed hillside and some hard hard riding all in. Never found out about Andy but hope he is doing o.k. after a bad fall at beginning of ride (crashing on the road the girl, tschh). Will post my pics tomorrow night of the ride. ALthough the climbs were very tough the final descent was magnificent, very rocky but fast fast fast

haha yes HH chain snappage …. The last descent has made it clear that if i am to enjoy rides in the hills like that alot i could use a bigger bike … something like jims dialed would be ideal for me i think.

Jo did well on that final descent as well 1

Andy was in good fettle when we got back to the clova , battered pride but that was it !

Well, we did try and warn you that a 23lb 80mm travel whippit bike wouldn’t cut it with us. It seemed like you suffered after your fall. What you want is a Turner 5 spot like mine, Fast up as well as down. That was some downhill anyway at the end and i’m still annoyed going down the wacky races descent(the one where there was no path anywhere) that you didn’t crash on camera thus losing one of the numerous bets that was happening that day, lol
Jo was somewhat a dark horse, so fast on the downs it was unreal

i fell ?you not thinking of ian on the charge ? his fall was nasty. my knee failed me yesterday decending the wacky races descent. Every step up the kilbo path was excrutiating.

The only section i felt outbiked on was the top section of the kilbo path descent other than that i loved it.

Fell…..sore knee, same thing. That wacky races descent, i’m suprised there wasn’t more casualties. It was crazy i tell you. Anyway, remember, we’re not telling anyone what bike you had yesterday….ssshhhhhhh!!

Would you do that route again unless it was bone dry and not windy??

wind doesnt bother me but the rain would , lots of wetness and boggy stuff despite it having been dry round here for a bit …

mid summer when its a bit drier it would be a cracker and a hellovalot easier to ride everything (but that didnt stop you even on the ups ) but too many walkers about then !

Am good thanks! Rather stiff and bruised today, with a nice scabby knee.

Raddogair – sorry have forgotten your name, but thanks so much for your time and patience in dragging my sorry carcass up the climb up from Glen Prosen. And Trailrat for fixing my chain whilst I was in a bit of a shell-shocked state at the side of the road.

My bail-out plan worked a treat and I only had to bomb (gravity assisted) down the track until it turned into a road, and found an elderly couple packing up after a picnic and was able to hitch a lift to the junction – half an hour later the sixth car stopped and I was soon at the hotel. Was a 40mile round trip back to pick up the bike that I’d left in some woods.

I’d love to go back to the area again but do only Glen Clova > Glen Prosen > Kilbo path one day and Loch Muick the next.

Well that was a long, fun day 🙂 The descent almost made the haul over the hills worth it… Aw ok, it did make it worth it. Really felt like we’d earned it. Great company, a heap of hard work, and some daft downs to top it off at the end. The perfect day. I just wish I’d brought a wider selection of outfits…

We also wished you had, a nice lilac one would of done. Your the only person who in every picture was wearing something different. All you really needed to carry for the trip was ‘bendy stick’, the one tool that does everything.lol

I do hope you’re sending the patent application off soon. You wouldn’t want some large corporation pinching the idea. I’m working on a new riding outfit that will combine a floral motif with shades of mauve and puce.

“I’m working on a new riding outfit that will combine a floral motif with shades of mauve and puce. “

aye you were telling me about that this morning ….the new mlehworld kit isnt it 😉

Very exclusive, as a number of STWers can verify. 😉

Thanks Stuart for setting it up and good to meet some new faces and witness some awesome riding.

Tom

jojo – you scaring the boys again

yes TJ …waving her bum in front of the camera saying “take a gratuitious photo for SFB please”

show off …jo ….never

Its more the meek and mild young lady turning into a potty mouthed demon descender that scares me

meek …mild are we talking about the same person …..

From a distance she appears to be – a safe distance that is

I was genuinely touched when she was eager to remind me about the lardy bit of knee flesh that was hanging off after my premature fall:

Not sure if it was humane concern, or macabre fascination…

You can see it hingin oot right there!!! EEK! Was very worried about you at the top of the penultimate climb, Andy. You did the right thing by bailing and an awesome effort to get so far round after a stack like that. Loads of the guys said they’d have just sacked it off when you stopped to put a dressing on at the hotel.

potty mouthed demon descender

I’d kind of like that on a tee-shirt. Who can I drop hints to for my birthday pressie?

Does anyone know how Ian’s leg is holding up. looked like some swelling at the end of the ride!!
I’m guessing another STW meet up north will be in order soon??

his leg was fine…nothing some liquid painkiller didnt fix !

Yo!

Brilliant weekend all round, but i’m with Trailrat, suddenly a slightly bigger bike makes sense, not like the short fork and titanium seatpost helped me keep up with Greg anyway!

Apologies to the many people i crashed in front of, i’m not used to being the group liability! My leg injury was nothing, small cut with some very slight swelling, didn’t notice it at all the next day.

For those who weren’t there on sunday, Greg (bow3rs) upped the crash-and-injury stakes quite significantly on the shore of loch muick, some pretty extensive gravel rash!

Looks great – pity I couldn’t make it.

Couple of questions;

Which route down to Loch Muick?
Which descent “needed” the bigger bikes?

thats no so good ian. Hope gregs ok !

it was the kilbo path to clova descent that needed the bigger bike ..

3 more weeks off the bike for me i think !

I found the Kilbo path actually needed a smaller bike – one that I could carry 😳

Excellent day out and some good photos – well apart from Andy’s 🙁

Hope Greg is OK. Amazed I managed to stay off the injury list – I was working well outwith my comfort zone on a couple of the descents and did a wonderful dismount over the bars on Kilbo – somehow landing on my feet.

Surprising to look at the map and realise the biggest adrenalin rush came from only about 0.5k of the route at the top of the Kilbo path.

Big up to Stuart for organising and getting us round – can’t have been easy having the pressure of route finding with so many bodies in tow.

PS For those concerned about the effect of a large group of bikes going through the hills – when Alison and I walked back up to the col on Sunday there was scant evidence that 16 had been thro a few hours before. Even on the softest ground in the woods it occasionally looked like maybe a couple had been through.

Top ride, thanks to Startie for getting us all up there. Sunday’s ride was brilliant. A lot windier with a couple micro showers, one of hail briefly. The trails were dry and with the exception of one 1/4 mile hike a bike all rideable.

The Kilbo Path downhill looked fantastic from the top of the Capelmount descent. The latter was in the best condition I’ve ever ridden it. And we had a tailwind back down the Gln to the Clova Hotel.

I think I need one of these newfangled voilet bendeestiqs to reset my seatpost height after dropping it. Are they on the market yet?

Hi guys.

Thanks very much to one and all for taking the leap of faith to come along in the first place. It was great to meet everyone and put faces to names. It was also great that everyone was completely sound and there was an instant camaraderie. I’d been a bit nervous about trailing a huge group around the hills but it just worked out perfectly, thanks to you guys. Fair play to Andy for persevering as far as he did after that fall.

I really enjoyed myself. Saturday had its “moments” but it was worth it for that final descent – the kind of downhill where you have to just go for it because stopping makes it too difficult to even get clipped back in. Some impressive riding from Greg and Jojo on that bit! I still can’t believe Greg managed to ride all the way up the other side – I felt I was in the presence of greatness ;o)

Sunday’s ride was also fantastic. Shorter and much more rideable but still pretty taxing by the end. I’m willing to stick my neck out and say the Capel Mounth descent is the best in the UK… (whole other thread there, which would probably descend into vitriol within about 4 posts). OK, it’s one of the best…

I’ll post up some pictures later on today after I’ve built my shed foundations.

Cheers,

SC

Cheers Guys – quite a ride in all respects for me; there were moments when I wondered if I was destined to join the sheep carcases, but many thanks for the patient waiting. A few pints of Deuchars rapidly restored my equilibrium 🙂

Echo the thanks to Stuartie_C for organising, worked out a treat all round.

trail_rat – something like jims dialed would be ideal for me i think.

I’m thinking more along the lines of what Greg says;

What you want is a Turner 5 spot like mine, Fast up as well as down.

Apart from a bruised undercarriage already, down that last descent I think a full suss spoke for itself and plans are already afoot for alterations to my stable… Not to take anything away from Greg & Jojo down there. As for Greg’s climbing prowess…

Great day, great company, great trails – when where next? Anyone for Aviemore post-midgie season?

I thought i heard the seeds of an aviemore plan being hatched when we left on sunday, last i heard was big day on the hills followed by some sessioning in Inshriach or something similar.

Post midgie season might rule out much of the summer though, think I’ll be heading up before then!

Excellent work Stuart, many thanks for putting it all together. Fantastic ride, and it was great to meet everyone – some humbling skills on display. I was pretty much wiped out afterwards, don’t think I moved from the couch all day yesterday. Definitely do something similar again if folk are up for it.

Post midgie season might rule out much of the summer though, think I’ll be heading up before then!

Give us a shout if / when…

Some more pics, including Sunday’s ride:

And the obligatory slideshow.

Covered in super glue now after repairing all 5 of my tubeless punctures (it was a thorn that scuppered me on the last 200m to the hotel after having to resort to a tube on the descent to Loch Muick!)

Ah – Coire Chash. Wot’s it like then?

Ah – Coire Chash. Wot’s it like then?

All rideable apart from one or two bits (Raddogair would be down it in two minutes). Lots of water bars to hop which gets pretty tiring towards the bottom, particularly the ones that steepen on the entry and you need to lift the front wheel up and over. I got sloppy and started whacking my rear wheel which burped most of the air out and went flat.

It needs a lot of concentration as there are some tricky rock gardens where you wouldn’t want to get your line wrong.

clicky on my bendy stickyAnd in case we didn’t have enough pics, here’s some more of day 1. Obviously the reason i was ahead on the climbs and descents was purely for photographic reasons.
Anyone up for all the 7 stanes in 1 day ride???……kidding everyone, just kidding
Photo’s , all 108 of them are here