I can't believe I forgot to do a post on this! This year was no different to any other year. We would leave it until the last minute to book a holiday. This is mainly because my parents can never agree where to go. My mum always wants to go to a hotel in a warm country to relax and take in the culture whereas my dad would rather go somewhere cold (he burns in the sun) where he can sit by the side of a lake and fish. He also doesn't like having to travel on planes to go on holiday. He usually gets his own way. This year I jokingly suggested that we go to Fort William after a biking trip there with some friends was cancelled. My dad took this seriously and found a nice log cabin about a mile away from the Nevis Range.
So this was a dream come true for me. I had access to the gondola assisted red route and world famous downhill track as well as Ben Nevis and many other natural trails. A week later my dad had persuaded my mum and had booked the place.
A few weeks before we were due to set of, I had saved up enough money for a GoPro HD Hero2 and Chest Mount which would allow me to film my riding. As I had just passed my driving test my mum thought it would be a good idea for me to do some of the driving to Fort William and while we were on holiday. This would be the first time I had driven with a bike rack, we use one which overhangs off the boot but we decided to take the wheels off just to be on the safe side. As I had only just passed and the the roads can be pretty narrow in the highlands I was glad we had taken that precaution.
On the first couple of days there, I decided to do a few evening rides just to try and find some natural trails. I didn't find much but then again I didn't venture too far because I didn't want to get lost on my own! On one of these evening rides I did manage to find a few natural trails though which were very steep and loose but so much fun.
My first visit to the Nevis Range was with my dad and brother to ride the 10 Under The Ben trail which I was fairly disappointing with. There was lots of fire road climbing with not much of a reward. In one particular instance we climbed for quite a while only to descend on a dead straight piece of single track with no features. Considering this route was graded as a red, it could have been a bit more technically demanding.
The next time we visited we rode the Witch's XC trail which was also graded as a red. This had much more fun single track and was a pretty fun loop. It was not very physically demanding but I would have been more than happy to do a couple of laps of it to fully appreciate the sections of single track.
A friend had planned to be in Fort William at the same time as me as he was heading to the Isle of Mull for a holiday. He took a slight detour and stayed in a bed and breakfast for a few days in order for us to get some quality riding in. We had planned to ride Ben Nevis on of the days but due to bad weather we changed our plans and ended up going round the Witch's trail again. It was quite amazing to see what a difference trail conditions make to your speed. On the day where I rode with my dad and brother it was bone dry. I was using a 2.35 High Roller 60a on the rear and a 2.35 Minion 60a on the front and my wheels were just washing out all the time. It felt as though I couldn't maintain any speed due to loosing grip. When I rode the trail with a friend the day after it was slightly damp, not soaking with lots of puddles but just enough to make the trail surface 'stick' a little better. I was using the same tyre combination with the same pressures and it just felt like I could hammer the bike into corners with confidence. This allowed me to maintain much more speed on twisty sections. You could say that it was because the second time I knew what was coming up but it genuinely felt as though my tyres were sticking much better.
The day after, me, my dad and a friend set off to ride Ben Nevis. My dad was walking with us mainly to keep my mum happy but also for the self achievement. We rode up the main bridleway which was pretty rocky early on then seemed to flatten out in the middle section before becoming much more rough and jagged near the top. I would say we rode about 40% of the way up and pushed the other 60%. My dad got to the top about half an hour before me and my friend mainly due to how awkward the terrain was for carrying bikes. When we got to the top we got the obligatory bike above head photo's and had lunch.
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| Bit foggy, I'm the one on the right! |
The rest of the mechanicals were all snake bites from hammering our wheels over the rocks. I think we racked up about six flats between us, but it was well worth it for such a sick ride.
The next day we got a gondola day pass and did several runs down the Downhill Track and gondola accessed red route. I first followed my friend down the red as he had ridden it before. The wooden northshore on the top half of the trail was so grippy. I couldn't help thinking even with the chicken wire it would be a different story in the wet. That thought of what could happen if you run wide remains in the back of your mind when riding northshore like that. I had a couple of brown pant moments where I would jump and land awkwardly or shoot offline coming out of a banked corner but overall you can carry lots of speed if you are precise with your cornering.
The next last half was fairly rocky. It almost felt like a mountain bridleway rather than a purpose build bike trail but I like that. the thing which gave it away was the fact that there was reliable drainage to keep the water away.
Here is a GoPro video of the red run, sorry the quality is a little poor. I had to compress the file to allow it to upload.
Nevis Range Red Trail from Jack Reeve on Vimeo
Next I rode the downhill track. It took a little bit of persuasion to get my friend to ride it. In the end I said "You won't get this opportunity very often and you'll regret not riding it in the future." He did one run and I was happy for him that he had given it a go.
The track start off being quite smooth with a few gravelly turn before it turns into full on carnage in the middle section, you are hammering through rock gardens leading into gravelly berms. Your hands are already pummeled by this point (mine were anyway). You don't get to experience the full track which world cup riders smash, instead you miss out the road gap and hit a rocky track which takes you down to the start of the motorway section. This has some double decker sized tabletops which take allot of speed to clear. I was getting about 3/4 of the way along them at best. You are pedaling flat out along this section before you are shot down a few steep section and into the finish area. By this point you can barely release your hands from the bars due to the arm pump.
Here is another GoPro video, enjoy!:
Fort William DH Track from Jack Reeve on Vimeo
We got five runs each on that day. I rode the Red three times whereas my friend rode it four times. I rode the downhill track twice and my friend rode it once. At the end of the runs my suspension was pissing oil. On one run it had dribbled down the fork leg and got dangerously close to the disc rotor. Both of these tracks take it out of you and your bike but they are well worth doing. Plus you get 15 minutes in the gondola after each run to rest your broken hands before sending it down the mountain again. Bonus!
My dad, brother and I also rode a Kinlochleven ride which we dug out from MBR. It had won some award for the best natural trail so it sounded very promising. My dad enjoyed that day even though the sun was scorching and the midges were helping themselves to our flesh. My brother, not so. He's more used to riding well maintained flowy bits of single track so he ended up pushing lots of sections. I was surprised how well my dad coped on that ride. He had bought himself a Giant Anthem X5 just before booking the holiday. before that he didn't ride off road very often. He had a 90's Specialized Hardrock which he used for commuting. The ride took the format of a long rocky fire road climb up to a dam before descending very varied single track all the way back. I think it deserved that MBR award.
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| See the rider on the left of the photo? |
