You can’t beat a summer of cycling in Scotland.
This year, the first in more than a decade, as I did not spend a total summer guiding cyclists through the mountainous levels of Europe.
When I’m abroad, my colleagues laugh at the fact that I spend a lot of time comparing my point of view to that of somewhere in Scotland. That is true and comes from a constant feeling of national evils.
I love Scotland so much that I can’t help yet to seek comfort in comparison, it may be tenuous, so I was surprised how much I miss leaving the house. I recently saw the road-level race of the Critérium du Dauphiné on television as I crossed the Massif Central and entered the French Alps.
As I did so, I was encouraged to return to France on those roads and mountains. So I looked for mountains in Scotland to ride motorcycles and luckily in Courier Country we have our fair share.
They may be as long or covered in glaciers, but they offer a vertical possibility and challenge to drive a motorcycle in some of Europe’s most beautiful landscapes.
One of my favourite promotions in Highland Perthshire, if in the UK, is Ben Lawers. It has many qualities of alpine ascent, with constant slope and abundant alpine flora.
From the moment it breaks from the main road and onto a steep initial ramp, the panoramic vista opens out before you, as you climb higher above Loch Tay; and for me, that is one of the key points that sets it above its giant Alpine cousins. Where the Alps offer longer ascents, the lack of distance on Scottish climbs, such as Ben Lawers is more than made up for by the view.
In the Alps, the widest view is blocked through the view of the imposing mountain in front of you and, although the stage is spectacular, I prefer to have a “great view” to distract me from the effort of pedaling opposite gravity.
As I drive, the numbers cross my head: 4 miles to reach the wisest; my average speed was 12 miles consistent with the hour, which provides an ascent time of approximately 20 minutes; my pedaling frequency was 80 laps consistent per minute, giving 1600 pedal strokes needed to succeed on the most sensitive road; my center was beating 155 beats consistent with the minute, not red, but close to it, and I was still beating 3100 times before stabilizing while riding Ben Lawers.
Such reflexes are a distraction and a disgrace to me, and it is known that I take the motorcycle computer from your aid on the handlebars and keep it in the back pocket of my jersey.
But with Ben Lawers, it’s different. The view, the smell of summer, the warm air and the blue sky caught my attention.
My brain immediately forgot the computer in my handlebars that spat out a list of numbers that only served as a restrained pain to come and filled the thrill of cycling in one of the world’s most productive cycling countries; Ours.
Everywhere in the world I cycled, on my return, I crossed Breadalbane and Glen Lyon and walked over Ben Lawers’ shoulder and remembered what makes cycling in Scotland so wonderful and why I would have to travel somewhere else.
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