October 2011 was a defining moment in my illustrious mountain biking career - it was the last time I rode a full suspension bike. It was quite a weekend - I'd driven up early to Glencoe and set off on a circuit out of Kinlochleven to get an appetite for the Clachaig beer festival. A hard climb on tarmac and gravel track then about 15 miles of single track, all of the extreme nadgery / rocky / boggy type. This culminated in the final descent down the Chiarain path from the Blackwater Reservoir Dam back to Kinlochleven. As gnarly a descent as you'll find in the UK. It passed in a blur but the above pic highlighted my problem. I approached this at speed and rode it without a blink. I took the photo to prove how rad I was then blasted off down the remainder of the descent, a big grin on my puss. But that was the end. Suddenly I was bored of getting to the top of some techy single track and then suddenly, a few minutes later being at the bottom with little memory of what had passed. It was fast but it was not memorable.
I'd progressed through all of the iterations of suspension - flex stem, Rock Shox Judy's, Santa Cruz heckler (one of the first), bombers, Patriot, Five. I'd raced downhill, done dirt jumps, step downs and gaps and I wore body armour.
Except none of my mates (after a brief flirtation) were really interested in this nonsense plus after a few close shaves and a cracked wrist I knew that sooner or later I was going to take a big crash and a big smash. After a long break, the hills called and off I went into the wilderness.
I still used the same bike as I was a convert to the full bounce. It was the most efficient, fastest, most comfortable... And being a single pivot man, easy to maintain. Even the forks in those halcyon days were easy. Servicing involved changing the oil. Once. In say 5 years of hard use.
Of course the priority was the descent; we just went further afield to find them. I even did long distance stuff (On a patriot with a coil over shock and bombers and 26" wheels. It worked)
The change was slow. Pals had already switched to hard-tails for some rides. Suspension was increasingly seen as an unnecessary indulgence only of use for more speed which was also seeming like a pointless goal.
The beginning of the end was a trip I did in 2011 - a bikepacking trip no less but with rucksack and too much stuff. Suddenly the suspension was at best a useless waste of energy and at worst a liability if the over loaded air shock were to go pop.
That Chiarain Path descent was the final nail in the coffin. I already had an on-one 29er built as rigid bike but with mudguards and racks for a tour I never did. 29er tyres in those days were narrow and largely knob free but I bunged on the best I could find and hit the dirt (or mud). Blisters and sore wrists followed so my ageing 26er inbred was resurrected and I had my first epiphany. A short, light hard tail was the tool for trail centres. Further a field it was a bit uncomfortable but the tide had turned. A longer, lower Ragley followed but another distraction had happened. Fat bikes. I got a mk 1 mukluk and suddenly I had achieved nirvana. No suspension = no problem.
The bikepacking bug had bitten too. The fat bike got toured up the western isles and the On-one 29er got toured round Iceland. Simple was the new bling.
2012 was coming to an end (thank god as it was a wet one) and a 29er seemed to be the way forward but something more versatile than the somewhat unyielding in-bred. So I hunted out a frame that would take big tyres and long forks. In 2012 these were few and far between and I seemed to be the only one interested in such a combination.
Things were about to change. In a bar in Minnesota a bunch of guys were drunk and talking about the next big thing. They invented it right there - a 29er with more trail to make it fun but 3" tyres to take the sting out the bumps without the need for expensive, high maintenance suspension. The Surly Krampus was born (note:- the above is true, they told me). Within a few short years "plus" was the new thing. All the big names were talking about it. All the mags were slagging it off then praising it by random turns. The Surly boys just smiled, leading the change / charge once again.
I got one of the first and I forgot suspension, once and for all.
May 2013 saw me in Torridon - that mecca for mountainbiking that I had only visited briefly in 1997. The descent to Annat is seen as one of the maddest and rad-est in the UK. On my five it would have been a blast. I'd have maybe got a strava king of the drops. I don't know, I don't care. On the Krampus it took ages, it was hard, I fell off. You felt every bump; everything I put in, I got out. At the bottom I was wrecked. It was ace.
And it was safe right? I was going slow, picking my way down and round stuff, not blasting through. 4 days later it broke my collar bone.....
By this time Bikepacking was in full flow and people were coming to the same conclusion - less is more. Less things to break, less chance of them breaking. Suspension had lost the plot. Bikes had more and more pivots, forks needed a strip down every other ride and no-one saw the joke. Ask a club level motocrosser how often they service their forks and they will reply:- change the oil, once. In five years of hard use....
But plenty people bought the dream and the manus were scared that rigid bikes would catch on so they reinvented them to suit their marketing plans. The boys at Surly just smiled and sold every Krampus they could make.
Its not mainstream though and never will be. I was at Hamsterley trail centre last year on the Jones. As I packed up two guys on SC bronsons were getting ready to ride. They eyed the weird forks and bars. "Are you riding proper trails on that?" I thought back to that years Highland Trail. Sutherland, Assynt, Fisherfield. Maybe they had just come back from the Alps so I avoided the inevitable pissing contest. "Aye if you've the patience" They weren't convinced but they were half my age.
Rigid works. Its slow but seems fast. Descents take longer. This is a good thing. Its simple, it looks good. In 1988 we rode rigid 'cos there was nothing else. We didn't care and we didn't miss what we didn't have. We never asked if it was Ok to ride this trail on a rigid. We rode it. We didn't die.
Others jumped on the none-bandwagon. People started to look at what people really wanted out of a bike, not what a marketing company felt they could sell them. Take a bow Jones, Stooge, Surly et al.
A mate who is into vintage motorcycles summed it up - "the better you get the worse a machine you should ride" Countering hordes of sports bike riders who upgrade there machines every year as they 'improve.' Anyone can ride a modern sports bike fast. Its boring. Its hard to ride a rigid / girder pre-war side valve quickly but its the most fun you'll have on a motorcycle trying.
Its easy to ride a rocky descent on £5k enduro mountainbike. Its hard to ride a rigid bike on the same trail but its the most fun you'll have on a bike trying. Don't believe the hype (or the marketing lies). Ride Rigid. Less is more.
I got a shock when I discovered this run of good weather was set to continue throughout the week I'd booked off work, normal service is for it to last right up until I leave work and then turn into a seasonal deluge. To be fair a couple of days of thunder storms and heavy showers was predicted, followed by a return to full blown sunshine.
I left it until Sunday lunchtime to depart, this being the (allegedly) latest time a storm may develop. Heading west towards Callander (Route as per March BAM) it was still quite grey with numerous random drops of rain landing on me. However heading north up NCN 7 the sky cleared and the sun came out. This is a great route and with a bit of imagination can form part of a long route north which uses only back roads, this cycleway and good tracks.
Eating tea in Killin I noticed a rather black cloud rolling over Ben Lawyers, unfortunately close to where I was going. Sure enough on leaving town the heavens opened and the hour spent climbing over the Ben Lawyers road was done in heavy then steady rain. It cleared on the climb out of Glen Lyon over to Rannoch and after a few more drops looked like a pleasant evening was on the cards. My stop for the night was near where I was for May bivvy 2, about halfway along the Old Road to the Isles which runs from Rannoch to Ossian.
The Old Corrour Lodge - formerly a hospital / hospice for TB sufferers - A more remote spot you'd be hard to find. Blackwater Res in the distance.
This evening also marked the start of the 2018 midge season. It had been quite breezy until I set too pitching up, whereupon the wind died and the little beggars appeared in force. Later on the wind returned so I was able to strike camp without being chased away from this fine place. I was horrified to discover some timorous wee beastie had tried to make a tasty snack of my over priced ESI grips - one was covered in teeth marks and worse it had had a go on the draw cord on my fuel cell!
Morning view
Breakfast number two was had in the Corrour station café then it was a steady but lengthy pedal out past loch Ossian down to Fersit and then on to Spean Bridge via the East Highland Way. Tourers take note - if you have a bike with a reasonable amount of off-road capability this is a fine way to travel north missing out the gruesome A82 or the dull A9 cycle route. At Loch Lagan, you can turn right and head up towards spey side as an alternative.
For me it was Fort Augustus and pizza. Ironically I was heading the other way up the Great Glen than usual but thanks to a north easterly still had a headwind. Fortunately most of the route is sheltered so no big deal. After pizza I continued north east via the new cycleway which parallels the B862 (Also a Wades Road). Annoyingly its not actually open despite there being no signs to suggest this as at one point I ended up cycling through the Glen Crow Hydro-electric scheme base camp. Once finished it will be a nice alternative to the road which does see quite a lot of traffic. Its also a huge climb (30-350m) and not satisfied with that I continued further uphill via the South Loch Ness Trail.
Looking west towards Fort A and Kintail.
A mate put me onto this and its a quite a nice route with a good made path that seems like its not really being used despite lots of posh signs. I followed this for a few miles then rejoined the road as my route was taking me east. If you are continuing towards Inverness its a good route with quite a bit more trail, including the 'Fair Lads Pass' - a nice singletrack (ish) descent after another fine climb up the corkscrew road.
At Farr I picked up the wee road over the hills to Tomatin - another substantial climb but now with a stiff tailwind. It was getting a bit late by now, the sun was setting and it was also blissfully chilly after the heat of the day. From Tomatin I headed south over the Slochd and camped down by a fine Wades bridge over the River Dulnain on the old route of the Sustrans NCN 7
I've always fancied stopping here but never needed to previously as friends used to live in Aviemore.
Many years ago I was involved in a project to re-furb the bridge and do up the approach track along the old military road as part of the development of NCN7. The signs now show this section as for 'mountainbikes only' which undersells it. Pity Sustrans can't chuck a few quid at the track to sort it as its a far nicer route than the road. In any case use this instead of the road if you are in the area - its a bit rough in places but fine for 40mm or more tyres.
After breakfast in Carbridge I followed another abandoned section of NCN7 over to Boat of Garten and then various trails through the woods to Aviemore. I Called into Bothy Bikes to Chat to Dave for a bit. He's sold me quite a few frames and sundry bits over the years and its kind of my local bike shop, given that my actual local bike shops aren't remotely interested in stocking the kind of bike stuff I favour.
Dave mentioned he had recently done the Minigaig / Feshie / Geldie circuit. I've done a variation of this from the south and its a cracker - 50 miles of continuous off road with some great riding. I was aiming for home so suddenly the Minigaig seemed like the perfect route choice.
There are various ways south avoiding the A9 cycle route. The Minigaig pass is one of the lesser known (and harder) ones. Its best accessed from the north via Glen Feshie as the lower part of the route on this side is now little used and very hard going. No fun on a hot day! Instead bear right just after Feshie Lodge up a big climb on a stalking track right up to 847m. There is then a steep descent and steeper climb up to an unnamed trig point at 912m.
A place of good views
From here its a case of following the ridge line west towards the summit of the minigaig pass itself. There are various lines through the short heather but you can ride pretty much anywhere up here.
The descent off the pass is nice - a wee tussocky, rocky path which was near dry today. I Passed a couple of walkers setting up camp early beside the burn at the halfway point. I've noticed walkers tend to stop at tea time rather than going until last light but it was prime sunbathing weather so who could blame them.
The final descent is pretty steep and I impressed myself by riding it nearly clean (One burn crossing defeated me plus a nav error which saw me go straight on at a hairpin...).
Thereafter it a was an easy run out of Glen Bruar and down the riverside trails from Blair Atholl to Pitlochry. As luck would have it a train was due in shortly after I arrived so I jumped on to avoid a long road ride the next day.
