Centuries and double centuries

Riding a hundred miles on a bike in a day still has something of a mystique amongst (road) cyclists. For a bikepacker, the off-road century is a must-do thing, and much harder. Doing five and a half in a row even more so! Despite various escapades in Scotland and Wales on various ITT's, many over a 100 miles, a road / gravel century is still something I like to do, always starting from the house using one of five circuits I've figured out over the years. All are largely on back roads, cycleways and the odd easy trail. The appeal is the amount of ground you can cover and the changing landscapes as you progress round the route. 

So far this year I've done three of them (one twice) as well as a bonus century riding south the other week. Non cyclists still seem to regard this as a huge distance to cycle but compared to the BB300, it's a straightforward undertaking. I'm at the point where I can just gather my gear together, jump on the bike and knock one out with little thought, using whatever of my routes the wind favours. It's all in the pacing, something I've got off to a fine art. And eating of course!

A few years ago I upped the ante and did a double century on a fab route up to and round Loch Rannoch then back again. I'd thought to repeat the route this year at some point and midsummer seemed the perfect opportunity. At one point I was going to do the 'run to the sun' ride from Carlisle to Edinburgh. But logistics to get there were a hassle and riding down would involve a lot of rainy headwinds. My usual midsummer overnighter also got canned due to the aforementioned rain - I've been rained on enough this year! So a day ride it was. A variation taking in the roads and hills east of the Tay valley was considered but this would lead me back though Perth. The nice thing with the route I did in '21 was that the last fifty-odd miles were all on quiet back roads, well off tourist routes and largely traffic free. This would be my route. 

So off we go. As I had breakfast the sun was already shining so I even slathered on sun tan cream in the face of a very sunny forecast. The wind was of mild concern as it was from the west which might throw a few headwinds at me at inconvenient points. But the route has a few bail out options so I figured to get going and see what happened.

A promising start - the Trossach hills in all their sunny glory. However the forecasted 'breeze' was a stiff wind. The route west is fairly sheltered though so it was of little issue at this stage.

At Callander the sun beat down and I stripped off arm warmers and gillet. Twenty odd miles of NCN 7 followed and I was a shade concerned about the amount of cloud around when I hit my first stopping point at the Killin Co-op. The next thing I new a fine dreich blew in and the sky darkened. Of course I'd not got a proper waterproof with me, on the strength of (two) weather forecasts.... It blew through quickly enough and as I left (Arm warmers and gillet back on) I ignored bail out number one (south Loch Tay road - 145 miles) and cracked on into a stiff breeze up Glen Lochay. The pubil climb took me away from a lot more murk looking west and a few more sprinkles came in but I was hopeful it would brighten up away from the westernmost point of the route.  

23 tailwind and gravity assisted miles down Glen Lyon revived me somewhat. I was not really feeling weary, just aware of the efforts I was putting in to that point, thanks to the wind. The sun re-appeared and thoughts of bail out number 2 (straight down to Ballinluig on NCN 7 - 165 miles) evaporated.

Even the climb out of Strath Tay didn't put me off as I hoofed up it in fine style, noting this was where I'd had a big energy dip the last time. The bright skies persisted on the Schiehallion road, this pointy peak cloud free. Better yet the feared headwind on this road wasn't, thanks to the vagaries of the terrain. I passed halfway here and noted with concern I was a half hour later than when I'd done the route in 2021, despite leaving the house 25 minutes earlier. I had 3 hours extra daylight however!

At this point you pass within half a mile of the return from the circuit of Loch Rannoch. Missing this would be the last bail out - 175 miles. But looking west revealed a generally brighter prospect than earlier, so on we go, commitment made.

Being fairly conical, Schiehallion was used by Nevil Maskelyne to estimate the weight of the earth in 1774. A few goes had been made at this but as Schiehallion is isolated from other hills the gravitational effect of it would not be skewed by other large lumps. To this point things were going well - the headwind heading west up the south road had largely been blocked by the woods. Plus I saw precisely no-one other than a couple of cars and camper vans. On the north road I commenced another lengthy tail wind leg - 31 miles this time - passing 200k on the way. As I'd turned the corner at the top end of the Loch I felt a certain liberation - all I had to do was ride home by whatever means...

The roadside laybys were full up - more campers than I'd seen when I was last here. It seemed a little more restrained than the anarchy that had developed here in the '90's but I dread to think of the mess being left behind. A few cars were around as people raced for the last spots, which I hoped to leave behind on the fine Loch Tummel road. This too was rammed with campers, every designated car park full and a few others wedged with cars and vans. I did note one had a parking ticket though!

On the final climb of this undulating road I diligently blocked a following camper van. As I crested the rise I glanced back at the drivers frown and disappeared down a fine, twisty descent, outpacing it by a mile. The effort required to do this caused a few grumbles from my legs but I'd successfully moderated my usual mid afternoon low spot by constant snacking. Contact points were OK and a minor twinge from my left knee had receded.

So Pitlochry at last noting I was still around 45 minutes later than my previous ride, so much for the tailwind speeding me up a bit! One final feed and a few things stashed for the final fifty-odd miles. Better still, the sun was still showing it's face and the sheltered route kept the wind off me. This had been of concern earlier as the last 40 miles would be into it. In the event, a combination of high hedges and various twists and turns meant it was of little impediment.

Contemplating the last climb out of Dunning was far worse than doing it. I'd fully recovered from my earlier efforts by now and got up it with only token protest from my 195 mile legs, the light fading and cloud gathering. But whilst there was rain around, I avoided it and finally, at 10.20pm, arrived home.

So the hour I'd lost in the first half of the ride was maintained to the end. I suspect the stiff westerly wind was largely to blame, although my digestive system played a part, needing to visit every loo I passed. That said overall stopped time was an hour and a half which is not much more than the last time. Despite having done such horrors as the BB300, I still felt a large sense of achievement as I cracked a beer and ate food before ten hours of sleep. The large amount of pedaling (as opposed to pedaling and walking) didn't throw up any major aches or pains. The aero bars were a boon and largely why my wrists, shoulders and hands are pain free as I type this. If I do this again, I'll be a bit more selective wind wise. After the last time I speculated about doing a 250 which  may still do at some point, albeit with a snooze somewhere!