West Highland Way #MTB Milngavie to Tyndrum
‘By bike is the only way to see the trail in front of you’ – San Kapil
Late last year top endurance rider and all round top bloke Rich Rothwell invited me along with several others to join him on an adventure ride – to mountain bike the West Highland Way in “A DAY”. (GULP).
The ride would be 96 miles of tough terrain consisting of 14,000 feet of climbing and a 7 mile stretch of ‘hike a bike’.
Well I accepted the offer and was ready for a new challenge which would push me physically and mentally further than I’ve ever been before and I would get to ride with some top endurance riders.
It would be a 6am start for the majority of riders but as I’m a lot slower than the top endurance guys I decided to start at 4am.
My choice of bike was my El Mariachi Titanium Rigid 29er which is just under 21 pounds so it would make the carrying section a bit easier.
As I left the Premier Inn at 4am for the start of WHW, my saddle bag collapsed and broke which had me back pedaling to the Premier Inn. I dumped the rubbish article with Breakers who had kindly offered to support my ride.
It was now 4.45am and I was finally on my way.
Milngavie to Drymen is flat and you ride through Mugdock Park very quickly which is fast and rolling. Once you reach Drymen it’s up toward Conic Hill and the first climb.
By the way I had gone in the wrong direction earlier on, picking up a sign for the John Muir Way, which is mainly road so I had to back track and was soon on the right path.
Balmaha to Rowerdennan was mainly riding with the occasional bit of pushing but nothing too major. It was raining, in fact it had started raining at 5am and my riding glasses were a pain to wear as I couldn’t see out of them and was soon riding without them.
Rowerdennan to Inversnaid- I waited at Rowerdennan for the other riders but there was no sign of them so I continued along the track that was a mixture of fire-road and singletrack. As I reached Inversnaid, I dropped down the steep steps to the hotel and looked for the WHW sign but it wasn’t to be seen. I continued along the road up a steep climb where I saw my first mountain goat. We had a little chat and he gave me some directions. Having climbed long enough and as I was beginning to doubt the direction I was heading in, a car approached in the opposite direction which I flagged down and they told me I was, indeed, going the wrong way and needed to head back down to the lock.
As I headed down the road, I climbed back up the steep steps finally meeting Rich Rothwell and Keith Forysthe who are two very fast endurance riders. We shook hands and swapped stories and were quickly back on the correct path.
Now this next section along the WHW was very difficult, so if you don’t like to carry your bike for the best part of 7 miles then you should catch the ferry that will save you from the torture. I can remember Rich telling me to hit this section as hard as possible and he was right. It wasn’t easy but it wasn’t the most difficult thing either. I spent most of my time carrying my bike in one hand whilst using the other to help steady myself on the slippy rocks.
After much heaving and puffing I finally reached the end of the ‘hike a bike’ section but was then faced with a ridiculous amount of water drainage channels all the way to Inerverarnan so it was ride 50 metres and push 1 metre.
Did I mention that it was still raining? in-fact it was throwing it down and I was getting soaked.
Inveroran – Tyndrum
I thought this section was fabulous and you could ride pretty much all of it, as it’s a mixture of landrover tracks and singletrack with an occasional push. Once you reach the top there is a sign for Crianlaich or Tyndrum depending on where you are staying. I was heading for Tyndrum so I climbed the hill and then enjoyed the amazing descent to the river where I picked up a singletrack path to Tyndrum.
I reached Tyndrum at 3pm having got lost twice and suffered one puncture.
I was now soaked to the bone and it was 3pm. The “Real Café” would be my resting place for fish, chips and coffee. Fortunately for me Breakers was there for support and handed me a spare pair of clothes, which I changed into.
My legs felt great but my body started to shake and felt cold.
I sat in the café eating my food and chatting to Breakers about the ride hoping that if I stayed there long enough, the rain would stop. Guess what!!! It didn’t, it got worse. I had to make a decision to continue or call the ride in.
My dream of doing the WHW in a “oner” wasn’t to be today on the 17th May which was the wettest day on record or certainly felt like it. I had been up since 3.15am and riding since 4.45am finally calling it a day at 3pm.
This was an amazing adventure that I enjoyed immensely. I am so glad I stopped when I did. My mind and body were in a great place and I felt unbroken.
I will be back to ride the best bit from Tyndrum to Fort William in June but also look forward to tackling it again in a “oner” with better weather, as it could not have been any worse.
We all met later on that night for a well deserved curry and raised a glass for Rich, Keith and Andy. Well done guys.
10 riders I think started the ride but only 3 had finished.
- Rich Rothwell 12 hrs 30 min x2 punctures
- Keith Forsythe 13 hrs 20 mins
- Andrew Howett 16hrs 30 mins
- Unfortunately John Buchan had fallen earlier in the ride trying to clear a 3 foot drop and damaged his hand so it was ride over for him.