Fanylion Mountain Bike Team
Official site of the Fanylion Mountain Bike Team. Includes mountain bike ride guides, gear reviews, bike maintenance, team reports and rider profiles of the Fanylion Racing Team.
Highlands
May 24, 2008, Scotland
Finally, at 8pm, after a long day of mountain biking tackling the most ambitious ride undertaken by Team Fanylion, with bikes and bodies pushed to the limit, we reached our destination - the Nevis Range car park nestling below Aonach Mor and Ben Nevis. The realisation that we had completed our mission, the quality of the trails ridden, the superb weather and breathtaking scenery resulted in a feeling of elation and relief. I believe the freeride term is 'stoked.' Day one was over!
Taking advantage of the fact that the more hardcore elements of Team Fanylion are prepared to travel far and wide in order to ride in ever more challenging environments and terrain had given me free reign to plan a weekend over the Bank Holiday that would hopefully redefine what constituted a hardcore weekend. With the venue being the Scottish Highlands my planning was at the mercy of the notoriously changeable weather, but, as the weekend drew closer, the forecast became more and more positive. This being the Highlands though, the description of positive is open to interpretation, with me delighted that there was very little rain. Techno though, saw the forecast in more negative terms, refusing to believe the forecast temperature at 3000ft being 3 Celsius with a strong easterly wind - 'I've been wearing clogs for the last two weeks in London' he grumbled. 'We won't be going that high anyway though, will we?' 'No, I replied, we'll be going higher' and warned him and the other riders, Quad and Bear, to bring winter kit, just in case. I had a rough idea of suitable routes, and a long dry spell in May meant that the terrain should be nice and dry. Once the forecast looked pretty decent I decided to make Saturday’s ride one I'd always planned on doing, but had never got round to - a big circular loop round Ben Nevis. On Sunday we would ride from Aviemore and on Monday indulge in some manmade mayhem at Laggan.
Arrangements were made to assemble at Shortbread HQ in Glasgow on Friday night and Quad and Bear arrived at 9pm. Techno's flight from London was delayed though, finally coming in 2 hours late, and it wasn't until 11.30pm that we got back to flat and got stuck into the remains of a takeaway curry. It was rank, probably the greasiest curry I've ever tasted but it filled us up loading our bodies with carbs for Saturday’s epic. I took the opportunity to reveal a few details about Saturday’s route but didn't give much away aside from the fact that it was going to be long. I left the main description to a guidebook which stated it was 'an awesome tour for the fit, committed and skilled rider.' The fact that this was described as a two day route was but a minor detail. FaffTM reared its ugly head early with the discovery that Techno had forgotten his helmet. Cosmic. This affected the ride plans and start venue as we'd now have to start from Fort William as the forgetful Cockney needed to buy a new lid. Previously I'd aimed to start the ride about 9am, leaving from Kinlochleven, near Glen Coe but we'd now have to make to with a much later start.
After a short's night sleep we rose at 6am for the obligatory porridge and tea and a remarkably faff free breakfast meant we were on our way not long after 7am. As we drove north the sky began to clear and we caught glimpses of Ben Lomond as we sped along the shores of Loch Lomond. Once we reached Glen Coe the sun was well and truly out, with the stunning scenery providing a welcome distraction from negotiating the numerous caravans and motor homes heading north. Upon reaching Fort William Techno disappeared to buy a helmet while Quad and Bear proved what athletes they are by heading to McDonald's. We met up at the Nevis Range and slipped into our Lycra surrounded by portly downhillers taking the gondola ride up the mountain to 'session' the downhill course. By now last night's curry was wreaking a terrible revenge which necessitated a couple of urgent trips to the dunny and a general stench following us around. Techno provided the majority of the faff, taking an age to get ready and set up his bike, having seemingly attended the Oldham school of faffTM. With an eye on the clock I tried to hurry proceedings along but faff is far more powerful than any man and, like a hurricane, I had no option but to let it pass, utterly helpless. The weather was warmer than expected but caution prevailed as we loaded our packs with food water, and additional layers of clothing. Despite the advertising claiming so, my North Face Megamouth pack didn't seem suited to spending all day in the hills and I struggled to find room to fit everything I needed to carry.
Eventually we were under way and headed up a few fireroads taking in some of the manmade trails on the Witches Trail world cup XC course. After half an hour or so it became clear that Bear was 'feeling it' - I didn't bother revealing that these bits were actually optional extras....what he doesn't know can't hurt him! After a while we topped out high above Fort William and were treated to a stunning view of the town and the surrounding lochs and mountains. Not having time to spend too long looking at the hills we sped downhill on a smooth but narrow and steep trail. The trail was very drifty in places and I lost the back end on more than one occasion. Quad managed to lose the front end too; it's the law - when Quad rides in Scotland he crashes. He usually visits A and E as well but thankfully this time the only damage appeared to be to his bike rather than his brittle bones, although it looked serious enough with his rear mech looking decidedly wonky and his shifting impaired.
After getting his rear mech as close to workable as possible we picked up a cycle path and rode the mile or so into Fort William before heading up Glen Nevis. A spot of map faff saw us do an extra 200 yards but we were soon climbing on a wide fireroad which marked the beginning of the West Highland Way. The sun was now beating down and I removed my gilet, using it as an excuse as Quad and Techno pulled away. Bear remained at the rear, a sight that was become very familiar over the course of the weekend - his punishment for riding with the elite! At the end of the fireroad we joined a narrower trail - not wide enough for doubletrack, too wide for genuine singletrack, a sort of mongrel track. It began with a short sharp climb and then headed into a forest gently rising and falling. In truth it was excellent with some nice sweeping corners, a few switchbacks, and some rocky sections. After negotiating a few gates we left the forest with Ben Nevis now behind us as we made steady progress. Some genuine singletrack saw Techno mis-shift and snap his chain - fortunately the strong breeze meant that no midges were attracted to us while we stood around waiting for him to fix it. Watching him fix it was painful though, like watching an infant chimpanzee attempting to learn trigonometry, and so in order to speed proceedings along Bear and I intervened and set his gears up for him. We were now in open country surrounded by mountains and the track widened to fireroad proportions. The surface was nowhere near as smooth as a fireroad though with lots of energy sapping loose rubble resulting in forward momentum remaining a struggle. The wind, while keeping the midges away, also conspired to make riding more effort than it needed to be.
With the huge Mamore mountain range to our left we eventually got close to Kinlochleven, the original planned start point of the ride. As ride leader I now faced a quandary - do we a) continue on the track to Mamore Lodge losing no height at all or do we b) drop down toward Kinlochleven on a tight, steep, rocky trail and then climb all the way back to Mamore Lodge? If you reckon we took option a) you may as well stop reading now and get back on your turbo trainer as you aren't a mountain biker. Option b) was ace - very Spanish like in the tightness of the switchbacks. We also had waterbars to deal with some of which were pretty big. I found some of these pretty tricky to get over, especially when approaching them steeply. On one such instant I popped up the front wheel and applied some power through the cranks to clear one but, not realising my chain was off, pedaled thin air and went flying over the handlebars, cutting my knee and elbow. They do say if you don't crash you're not riding hard enough.... Techno punctured on one waterbar though and option b) turned out adding on more time than I'd anticipated. We then left the West Highland Way climbing initially steeply on tarmac and headed up past Mamore Lodge on a rubble strewn track. I pointed out a spot in the distance informing the team that we'd stop there for a good sit down and some proper grub as Bear in particular looked pretty tired. It looked a long way off but we reached it soon enough and stopped for lunch, being treated to glorious views down Loch Leven. I'm not sure there are many better views in the UK to be honest. The food stop revealed that Bear had eaten all his trail food and only had a few snacks yet. I was shocked and worried now about his ability to finish the ride but realised he was ruined and so I kept to myself the fact that we probably had at least 4 hours of riding to do. Bear - when on a big ride, take more food than you'll need, you plank! Official warning! Fortunately Sam had packed the entire contents of his fridge and dished out trail snacks like a UN aid worker feeding a group of starving refugees, providing the famished Bear with some much needed sustenance. I had a good mind to order him down to the Loch to hunt us some salmon, but with time ticking on, ordered the troops back onto their bikes and adopted the official Fanylion directive when a rider is on trouble - the quickest way back to the cars is to keep going.
The riding was similar to the earlier sections of the West Highland Way as we rode alongside Loch Elide Mor - the lack of gradient being nullified by the rough and loose nature of the track and the strengthening breeze we were now riding into. We reached a bothy at Luibeilt and I pointed out the next section - a climb/carry up a bealach straight ahead. Before this was negotiated we needed to cross the Abhainn Rath, a river usually impassable after heavy rain or a wet spell. Thankfully the recent dry weather meant it was only knee height and I waded across and waited for the others. Techno wasn't keen on getting his feet wet and so threw his shoes across to me at the other side - one made it but the other didn't. Techno, harden up!! It's only water!
The carry proved to be less severe than I was expecting with plenty of rideable sections. The elite technical climbing faction battled it out for overall supremacy with no clear winner emerging. Quad provide the entertainment though, as the release mechanism of one of his pedals was stuck in 'stupidly difficult to release' mode and more than once I turned round to see him prostrate on the deck with his bike on top of him. Good work Quad! After 45 minutes or so we reached the top and took the opportunity to rest and refuel, marveling at the amazing scenery all around us. We were surrounded by large mountains with many still holding significant amounts of snow in corries and gullies unpenetrated by the sun. The feeling of solitude was also fantastic, with the silence being interrupted only by curry and energy drink induced flatulence.
It was now past 5pm and I realised that we probably wouldn't make it to Aviemore in time to get to a pub serving the team issue steak and chips. However, the evening meal was a long way off and our first objective was to finish the ride. We now began to descend toward the Lairig Leacach on a pretty technical singletrack with lots of big boulders and steep sections meaning line choice was of paramount importance requiring full concentration. After 6 hours in the saddle this proved pretty tricky but finally we reached a trail that could legitimately be classed as a fireroad and picked up speed while losing height all the time. Reaching Leanachan Forest the finish point was now within reach, being 5 or 6 miles away but you know what happens with Fanylion on forest fireroads - map faff! There proved to be plenty, with the usual problems of forestry operations and tracks not marked on the map. This led to a number of about turns which must have really tried the patience of a now ruined Bear - sorry mate - but fortunately we spotted a trail map just when it looked like we'd have to descend to Spean Bridge and road it back to the cars. The way back was now clear and at 8pm, 9 hours after starting, we reached the cars. The car park was deserted, with the tubby downhillers having long packed up and gone home, and after congratulatory handshakes we headed off in search of meat.
Unfortunately the meat we found was part of one of the worst meals I've ever paid for. The establishment shall remain nameless, but it's in Spean Bridge, avoid it if you can. However, even veg cooked to within a second of its life and a microwaved steak pie did the job and set us up for the hour or so drive to Aviemore. Arriving at half ten we checked into our bunkhouse and went for a pint next door. When quizzed about the ride the next day I muttered something about it having a 'bit of a climb' before heading to bed.
Sunday dawned sunny and we strolled into town in search of a decent breakfast. We failed to find one though, and had to be content with a couple of bacon rolls and the worst cup of coffee in the history of the world. The establishment shall remain nameless once more but, having learned our lesson, we bought some porridge for brekkie the next day and stocked up on trail fodder for the ride ahead. Quad took his bike to Bothy Bikes where it was found to have a bent gear hanger which required to pulled back straight as being a titanium frame it didn't have a separate gear hanger. We joined up with guest rider Gav, a fellow rider brought up biking in the radcore terrain of Speyside, like myself. Proudly modeling a new Commencal trail beast introductions were completed before Techno reintroduced some faff, insisting that he move his stem 3mm lower or otherwise he simply would be unable to ride. Faff over we rode from Aviemore into Rothiemurchus and headed toward Glen Feshie reaching a 4 mile tarmac section which proved a welcome antidote to the previous day's rock fest. The pace was steady rather than spectacular, due mainly to the heavy legs felt by all from the previous day. Once the road end was reached we sampled some delightful off camber singletrack some of which was very tricky indeed...one false move or clip of the pedal off the ground and you were off. Lunch was had approximately 500 yards from the start of the climb up onto the Cairngorm plateau. It thankfully remained invisible but I tried to impress on the team how unbelievably horrid it was going to be.
It begins how it remains most the way - steep. What I'd forgotten is how loose it is in places and the first 20 minutes or so was a real battle to keep the front end down and maintain traction. Techno began to inch away but, after failing at particularly rubbly section, I managed to catch him. I rode on his wheel on a section a bit smoother and flatter gulping in oxygen preparing for the rest of the climb. It was now visible, stretching to our right in a huge long gradual right hand curve, as previously the climb had been too steep to see beyond 50 yards ahead. As the trail steepened again Techno began to pull away, inch by inch, metre by metre, until all hope of staying with him to the top was lost. The final section went on and on and I began to suffer. The trail seemed way steeper than I remembered and I was having real discomfort finding a comfortable riding position. Forced to hunch over the front of the bike to keep the front end down due to the relatively slack head angle and the inability to wind my forks down, I could not get comfortable on my new saddle at all. In addition to this my knee was aching badly and, with the finish in sight, I stopped and pushed the rest, fully aware that Techno had ridden to the top and would be taking pictures of me walking. I didn't care, but avoided making eye contact with the dominant male at the top, who was busy chatting to a couple of walkers. I couldn't believe I'd cleaned the climb a couple of times before although admittedly I hadn't done 9 hours of riding the previous day and had more sensible forks on my bike that I could lock down to aid climbing. Thankfully Techno had failed to clean the climb though! If anyone is under any illusions how hard it is imagine a steeper version of Walna Scar but twice as long. THAT tough! We were soon joined by Quad and then Gav, with Bear appearing last. The walkers asked us where we were headed so I told them we were descending down Carn Ban Mor to which they raided an eyebrow, having walked the trail in the past. A bit of work was required to get to the descent though, including negotiating a snow drift, and a final climb to the top. Bear reached us saying only 'cremate me. Now,' before clambering off his bike and lying prostate on the ground.
As we sat around taking in the scenery Techno noticed his rear tyre was totally trashed, with the tube bulging through the sidewall at a number of points. It appeared that the constant riding over the last day and a half of rocky trails had done for it. Official warning - do not run Jobby Nic tyres in the Highlands! He set about repairing it, patching tubes of toothpaste and reenlisting it in an effort to get it into some sort of shape for the descent. Before the descent began I advised the team to put their saddle's down - this was a long and rough one, dropping 2500 feet back to Glen Feshie. I led the way battering over the edge of the hill before the full descent became visible, stretching out in front of me. At the top the trail is quite wide and fast and straight with multiple line choice. The rocks are big though, and mainly fixed, rather than loose. It was one of those sections of trail where speed is actually preferable as if you slow down you end up getting more stuck and have to pick your way down. Speed is your friend! With that in mind I let the bike go and held on for dear life pumping the bike over, across and through rocks. I was now reaping the rewards of my solidly built bike with the slack head angle, the bolt thru forks, and big tyres enabling me to open up a gap on the rest. After a really wide section the trail narrows and the gradient lessens meaning you have much less line choice and have to work a lot harder to maintain any speed. This section was really tough and by now the constant battering and braking and attempts to manhandle my bike were taking their toll resulting in serious arm pump. The section seemed to go on forever but finally relented when it was intercepted by a burn and a couple of large drainage ditches. I took the opportunity to look back up the mountain eventually picking out the others, like ants in the distance. Seeing that they looked to be riding I completed the rest of the trail. The big rocks disappeared to be replaced with looser stones and the trail was tighter and narrower and generally faster with trees on each side. Before long I was at the bottom and awaited the appearence of the rest. Techno was first to appear with blood dribbling from his elbow after stacking it. Quad was next with blood dribbling from his knee after he too stacked it - both had been amazed by the savagery and length of the descent with Quad proclaiming it the only descent he's done where he's genuinely been scared! Sam thought it tougher than anything he'd done in Spain - in your face Bubion! Gav was next having suffered a puncture but still managed to repair it and beat the Bear! Techno's tyre had failed to hold out though and after replacing his inner tube we decided to road it back to Aviemore as his tyre didn't look like it would survive any more contact with a rock of any sort!
The Bear seemed transformed and led us the 9 miles or so back to Aviemore, providing the majority of the work for the FanytonTM as we blasted back in search of beer. Bidding our farewells to Gav - he did nothing silly enough to warrant an honoury team name for the weekend - we rode back to the Bunkhouse and sank a few beers sat outside in the sun. Perfect. Steak was calling though and we were treated to our first decent meal of the weekend, although did surprise the waiting staff by ordering 6 starters between the 4 of us. Having ridden for 15 hours over two days we felt like we deserved them thank you very much! A few beers later we were back in the Bunk House tucking into a bottle of whisky supplied by Techno. Good work team!
Monday dawned sunny again - what was going on with the weather - and after some porridge we drove to Laggan, conveniently placed just a short diversion from the main route south. Laggan in a trail centre yes, but differs from most as it actually has some proper black grade trails and is in the midst of some glorious scenery, rather than hidden away in a generic forest. We began with the red loop and then headed up to the top of the black. Bear was now in dire straits with the weekend's riding having taken it's toll and nearly spat his dummy out at the top of the climb threatening to turn back and cruise down the fireroad to the cars. A stern bollocking led to him reluctantly following us to the top where we took in another amazing view. Bear headed off on a newly built red run while Quad, Techno and myself went for a lark about on the black. It was ace - lots of steep granite slabs linked together by sections of built trail. Like the descent off Carn Ban Mor, speed is your friend, although it takes considerable bottle to hit some of the granite slabs fast. Before long we were at the end but climbed up to the top again to sample the new red.
At the bottom we reconvened with a hungry Bear and took full advantage of the excellent cafe. Agreeing that the weekend had been one of the best we'd ever had, we were all sad to be heading home. I think we were definitely stoked. I was delighted the weather had behaved though and thanks to the efforts of the those attending I'd managed to show them just a small sample of the quality of riding the Highlands can offer. Honestly, when the weather is as good as it was over the weekend, there is nowhere else on the planet I'd rather ride.
Over and out,
Shortbread.
Riders present
Shortbread
Bear
Techno
Quad
Enjoyment level
The best Fany weekend ever!