Cairngorm Loop | ravensgully

http://www.cairngormsloop.net/map.html

The Cairngorm Loop is a 186 mile mountain bike route that takes in some of the best tracks and trails that the area has to offer, the challenge of the event is to complete the 186 miles in under 56 hours. You can do this at any time but twice a year (April and September) there is a group ride, effectively a race, there is no entry fee or prize money and it is totally unsupported, you ride as if doing it yourself and no caches or pre-booked accommodation is allowed. More information about the challenge is on the Cairngorm Loop webpage. I put my name down for the April group ride and this was to be my motivation over the winter to get in shape to complete the challenge, it also gave me some time to think carefully about the gear and equipment I would need and also plenty of time to get the bike in good mechanical working order. The bike I use is a 7-year-old Specialized Rockhopper SL hardtail mountain bike, with a 21 inch frame, it has 26 inch wheels, Deore XT gears, Avid Elixir disc brakes and a Rockshox Reba front fork. It fits me well and has an excellent light weight aluminium frame. I hit the trails at the weekend with it and use it for commuting to work during the week, I try to clean it regularly, particularly the drive train and keep it well lubed. However little problems were starting to mount up though, skipping gears, damaged chainring teeth, hard gear shifts, rattling pedals and a rough feeling back wheel…. time for a major overhaul.

Preparing the bike…

Wheels The wheels i have at the moment are an upgrade from a couple of years ago and they have Stans ArchX tubeless ready rims and run on Hope hubs which use cassette bearings, which makes servicing a bit easier.The front wheel was running smooth but the rear wheel was feeling rough so I took the cassette cluster off and then removed the free wheel body, on Hope hubs this just pulls off and comes off with a pop, being carefull not to lose the washer which sits behind it. This gives access to the rear wheel bearings and I could feel with my fingers that one of the cassette bearings was turning very roughly and needed replacing, you tap these out with a drift (or a screwdriver if you are feeling brave…) Hope sells servicing kits which makes knocking these bearings out and back in square a lot easier. With the new bearing in the wheel it was turning smooth again. Before replacing the free hub I removed the 4 pawls and springs (responsible for that distinctive Hope buzzing sound) and cleaned everything up for inspection and found out that one of the springs was broken… this seems to be a problem with Hope hubs as I have broken quite a few, anyhow I replaced it with a new one and greased everything and popped the freehub back on the wheel and made sure it was spinning ok.
New cassette (Shimano XT M770) 9 speed 11-32 ratio, replacing the old 11-34 cassette as I found I was very rarely using the largest 34 cog.
New chain (Shimano HG93) 9 speed. The last time I used a reusable link to join the chain, thinking I could then take it apart for cleaning, in practice I never did though so this time just used the pin Shimano supply with the new chain to join it together. Those re-usable links are handy to keep in your saddle bag though together with a small chain tool for any problems out on a ride.
New chain rings (Shimano Deore FCM590) 44-32-22 ratio. I took the crank arms off the bike to clean everything up and fit these 3 chain rings. You need to make sure you fit these the right way round, particularly the middle one. I fitted the last ones and I think I put it round the wrong way…. I’m sure now that this was responsible for some of the gear change slips I was getting as the Ramps and teeth profile wouldn’t be aligned optimally. With the cranks off it was a good opportunity to clean and re-grease the bottom bracket too.
new Jockey wheels (Shimano 105 RD-5700). This set is compatible with lots of derailleurs including mine, again care need as they are slightly different, the guide pulley is the top one and the tension pulley is the bottom one. I took the derailleur off the bike to replace these as I wanted to give it a good clean and was surprising how much gunk came out of it. After a good soaking with bike spray and oil it was moving much more smoothly.
New gear cables (Shimano MTB stainless steel gear cable set). Everything you need in one bag, cables and outer housing, end caps and cable stops too.
Headset service The bearings at the top and bottom of the steerer tube taken out cleaned and re-greased. I use a small neoprene collar attached with Velcro around the bottom of the steerer tube to help keep the worst of the mud and water out of the bottom bearing.
New pedals (DMR V12 platform pedals). The old pedals were the original alloy ones that came with the bike, they were still usable but were starting to rattle quite a bit.
New tires (Schwalbe Nobby Nics Evo, tubeless snakeskin, (26×2.25) pace star compound). The rims on my wheels are ZTR Stans Archx which are fully compatible with tubeless setups so this is the way I went front and back. The front tyre inflated straight away and soon after I heard the explosive pinging sound of the beads locking into the rims but with the back tyre I had a much harder job, even getting it inflated was tough but to get the beads locked in I tried all sorts of recommended tricks, washing up liquid on the beads, putting a tube in and trying to seat it that way (that got one side seated ok…) what done the job in the end was removing the core from the tubeless valve to allow a greater airflow from the track pump into the tyre, then pumping away furiously until finally with the sweat pouring from my brow I heard the explosive pings of success as the beads locked in. Once the beads are locked in you can deflate the tyres and the beads will stay in place, then you can inject the recommended amount of sealant into the valve hole and put the core back in and inflate the tyre as normal. They should now be immune to normal punctures as the sealant will quickly find and fill the hole in the tyres as it is spinning inside the tyre. The sealant does eventually dry up so check every now and then, I still carry a spare tube, patches and inflater just in case though!

Clothing and equipment…

Something you have to think carefully about is the clothing and equipment you take with you on the ride and that is largely dependant on the weather you are expecting, in Scotland at the end of April that can be a very tricky subject to predict! True to form the week before I travelled up to Braemar, winter returned to large parts of the country for a few days, with fresh snow and freezing northerly winds. On a bike it’s the extremities that feel the cold first, so a warm hat that fits under a helmet and winter mountaineering gloves went in the bag, along with a lightweight Montane insulated jacket which provides instant warm, particularly under a thin waterproof. Footwear choice is very important too as the route fords several rivers with no real choice but to wade straight across and this can lead to very cold feet, after much thought I decided on using my old Mammut summer walking boots, they were lightweight, comfortable and had room to get a nice thick wool sock inside too, which I was hoping would feel warm even when wet and they would be perfect on the hike a bike sections too.

Another big choice has to be made about your sleeping system, how much do you intend to get? and where do you plan to get it? There are bothies on or near the route but conditions on the ground may make you slower than expected or they could be full when you arrive there. I decided to take a lightweight down sleeping bag and a Alpkit Hunka bivi bag, so in theory I could stop anywhere. If you intend riding in the dark you need a good light and these can be expensive, the best mountain bike specific ones are probably by a brand called Exposure, I did have a look at cheap Chinese ones on eBay and was tempted but in the end I decided I would just use my old MYo XP head torch and some spare batteries. I probably would have left the stove and pot in the car just to save weight, the ready cooked meals in a bag are just as nutritious cold. Also there are places on the route to buy hot food if you arrive when they are open. To carry all this gear I used an Apidura seat-post bag (compact size,11 litres), this carried my sleeping bag wrapped inside a plastic bag and I also used a very light-weight OMM 20 litre rucksack for the other stuff including food, some tools, spare socks, maps, compass and a small first aid kit etc.

Waiting for race day…

I drove up to Braemar on Thursday arriving just after 6pm, I got something to eat then reassembled the bike and packed some gear for an overnight bothy stop and set off on the 6 mile ride to the Linn of Dee, just past the car park there is a signed track that heads off north into the heart of the Cairngorms, I took this and headed for Derry Lodge, an old abandoned shooting lodge. I was surprised to read on the notice board that there were plans to turn this lodge into a hostel with warden accommodation, I had mixed feelings when I read this, it certainly would be a good location but I think also it would lessen the remote feel and the commitment needed for the long walk or ride to access the Cairngorms from this side. Also there is a very nice bothy nearby and I wondered what the impact of a hostel would have on that….. it was starting to get a bit chilly when I arrived at the bothy, there were 4 people already in, 2 young guys and a Dutchman with his son, they had the stove going strong and candles lit and it was a very cosy warm atmosphere. They had been up in the hills the day before and said the conditions had been really tough, deep soft snow in places, cold wind and rivers in spate with a thaw setting in.

The next morning I wanted to recce a section of the race route from Glen Derry to the Eidart bridge as I would possibly be doing this section in the dark come race day, so I headed off past Derry Lodge and then north up Glen Derry to the edge of the forest to check the terrain out, I turned round here and headed back to the Linn of Dee and carried on west along the track to White Bridge and followed the track heading along Geldie Burn, a couple of hundred meters before this track crosses the river there is a smaller track heading off on the right, this leads eventually to the Eidart bridge. Up until now the cycling had been easy with a nice firm stony track to follow but now on this smaller track it was much harder because it was so wet and boggy and in places soft snow, in fact I ended up pushing the bike nearly all the way to Eidart bridge, this was as far as I went and I now retraced my route back to Braemar, however things didn’t go smoothly, just before White Bridge on a rough land rover type track I caught my front wheel in a rut and I came off the bike and my left knee hit a rock with some force. At first I just tried to walk it off and ride the easy bits but it soon started swelling up really badly and I slowly realised the race tomorrow was over for me, all that preparation and planning ruined by a lapse in concentration on an easy track, by the time I eventually reached the car in Braemar it was hurting quite a lot and it was difficult to bend it. The next day I went to the hospital to get it checked out and an X-ray confirmed that I had a clean break of my left knee cap and I’m writing this with a full leg cast on wondering when I will once again be back in the Highlands…..

Discussing this accident with friends when back home we talked about the best ways to get help if ever you are out in the wilds and need to contact the emergency services, this little video by Lyle Brotherton contains some very useful information. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPZv_8dABfU

: Sign on the Linn of Dee road

: Bob Scott`s Bothy

: Bob Scott`s Bothy

: Bob Scott`s Bothy

: Bob Scott`s Bothy

: Confluence of the Eidart and Feshie rivers

: Eidart Falls

: Eidart Bridge

Early February 2017 I had a week off work and decided to head north to the Cairngorms once again. Last year sometime I requested to enter the group ride for the Cairngorm Loop which is a mountain bike challenge ride that takes in most of the Cairngorms in two loops (see map here) there is no entry fee or prize money and you have to be totally self supported. It’s a tough challenge, 186 miles in 56 hours, most of it off road. The group ride takes place at the very end of April……February is usually not the best month to go mountain biking around the Cairngorms but this year has been relatively mild so far and not a lot of snow. The plan was to take my mountain bike and riding gear and also take my hill walking kit too so if riding was impossible then at least I had something else to do. I based myself for the week at Cairngorm Lodge Youth Hostel next to Loch Morlich, about 7 miles east of Aviemore, which is an excellent, comfortable base to explore the area from.

Lochan Uaine

Monday The first day was cold about 3 or 4 degrees but the weather forecast was predicting very strong gusty winds late on in the afternoon (80mph!). My original plan was to try and do the inner loop on the Cairngorm Loop with a bothy stop halfway at Derry Lodge but this wasn’t really possible with the forecast. So instead I headed off on some of the excellent trails around Loch Morlich and Rothiemurchus Forest, crossing the Cairngorm Club footbridge and onto the path that goes around the picturesque Loch an Eilein, a rocky side trail from here goes up to the lovely little Drakes Bothy before continuing on through the forest to Feshiebridge. Here I turned right along the B970 road and headed north-east to Inverdruie. After a short detour along the “The Old Logging Way” into Aviemore for some lunch I returned to Inverdruie and turned left over the bridge to pick up the B970 road between Coylumbridge and Nethy Bridge, after 5 km or so turned right on a wide track and headed east to Forest Lodge in the Abernethy Forest, which is a RSPB national nature reserve centre, from here I turned south up the trail for the steady climb up to the Ryvoan Pass and down to the Bothy. By now it was late afternoon and the weather forecast was proving to be accurate, as soon as I left the forest I was buffeted by strong gusts and had to get off a couple of times and it was a relief to dive into the bothy to get out of the wind for 5 minutes before continuing downhill past Lochan Uaine and Glenmore Lodge back to the hostel.

Old Logging Way near Glenmore Lodge

Tuesday The next morning the strong winds had gone but when I opened the curtains and looked outside i was amazed to see everything covered in 3 or four inches of snow, quite a transformation and it looked beautiful. No mountain biking today then, instead it was on with the big boots and hill walking kit. I headed off towards Ryvoan Pass again past Lochan Uaine then followed the trail that crosses over the River Nethy and goes around the back of Bynack More. As I gained height the snow became deeper and the path was difficult to follow and subsequently the going became hard work, eventually I made it down to the Fords of Avon, a strategic mountain crossroads with a small emergency refuge no bigger than a garden shed. Here I turned west and made slow progress in the drifts to Loch Avon which was partially frozen over then headed steeply uphill to a feature called The Saddle, then even steeper ground up through a weakness in the cliffs to the flanks of Cairngorm Mountain itself. After a bit of navigational faffing around I eventually located the Mountain Funicular Railway and ski runs of the Cairngorm resort and slowly waded my way down through the snow drifts and onto the never-ending road that leads back to Loch Morlich, arriving back at the hostel at 7.20pm, it had been a tough day out.

Loch Einich

Wednesday Back on the bike again and headed over to Feshiebridge via the same route as Monday to check out another little section of the Cairngorm Loop route. This section started on the west side of the River Feshie and headed south to Ballintean along trails, road and forest tracks to the hamlet of Drumguish, i then picked up the B970 road back to Feshiebridge. With this little job done I retraced my tracks back into the Rothiemurchus Forest, past Loch an Eilein to a cross roads about a km before the Cairngorm Club Footbridge, the route heading north went down to Coylumbridge but I headed south on the track that led to the remote and magnificently located Loch Einich. After a couple of Kms the trail became quite snowy but not icy and the tyres were gripping well, the trail split after a while and for some reason I took the high route and ended up doing quite a bit of climbing for nothing because it soon descended back to the lower trail, which gradually made its way up to the Loch, the terrain is quite easy but there are a couple of stream crossings to keep you on your toes and the snow was becoming deeper and harder to pedal through, especially with a bit of a headwind too, but it was all worth the effort in the end to see the Loch surrounded by imposing snowbound cliffs. The ride back down was a blast, downhill with the wind behind and a great bit of single track along the river which I missed on the way up. It was dark by the time I hit the forest again but a full moon provided enough light to high-tail it back to the youth hostel and it was a great way to end to a memorable ride.

Thursday Similar ride to Monday, around Loch Morlich and through the forest to the Cairngorm Club Footbridge then at the crossroads I turned right on the very pleasant trail that heads down to Coylumbridge. I turned left here on to the Aviemore road then took the next left on a very quiet road that leads to Loch an Eilein and I done a circuit of the Loch once voted as Scotlands favourite picnic spot no less! then picked up the road to Inverdruie where I crossed over the river Druie on a shortcut to the B970 that leads to Nethy Bridge, I followed this road for a few miles before turning off right to cycle past Loch Garten which is famous for it’s Ospreys (which had long since migrated to sunnier climes for the winter), then onto Nethy Bridge. Here I took the road on the south side of the River Nethy that heads south back into the Caledonian Pines of the Abernethy Forest and headed for Forest Lodge and south again to the Ryvoan Bothy and back to the hostel.

Swing bridge next to the ford at Loch Pattack

Friday I drove down the A9 to Dalwhinnie and parked up at the railway station, a good track runs along the side of Loch Ericht to Ben Alder Lodge where the trail leaves Loch Erich and heads to Loch Pattack. The snow was a couple of inches deep here but again it didn’t feel icy and the tyres were gripping well so it felt ok apart from being harder work than normal. I turned off left when I reached the Loch and crossed the the river on a rickety wooden swing bridge next to the ford, then kept left at the next junction on the trail to Culra Bothy and Lodge. This bothy is situated in a fantastic remote location amidst grand mountain scenery which looked even more impressive covered in snow. I was surprised to see that the bothy is officially closed due to asbestos being found in its construction and the outer walls of the bothy are spray painted with warnings, however all 3 of the rooms I checked out were open and the main room with the stove in it looked very usable. I had a quick look at Culra Lodge, a short distance away but everything was battened up. Back at the bothy I retraced my route over the swing bridge, here I briefly considered heading left just before the Loch on the track to Lochan Na Earba and onto Ardverikie and back via the River Pattack but decided to leave it for another day! Instead I headed back to the car the way I came. Before putting the bike away I had a ride to the Whisky Distillery at Dalwhinnie had a look around the visitor centre and tasted a wee dram of their 15 year old single malt which i had never tried before but will certainly get a bottle of it in the future.