Ride It Callander Extra Long Route.

Right after last weeks shitey weather I wanted to take another shot at doing the ride I wanted to do last week but couldn’t because of the weather. Up this time is the Callander extra long router of 42 miles and 5500 feet of hill climbing. Last time I got a chance to do this was in 2012 when the weather was like today, sunny I also made a slight change to the route to avoid the Rob Roy Way route which I just hate as I have to walk it as it’s far too technical for me. The new route had me riding on the fire roads pretty much all the way round with a small stint on the A81 a far easier route for me It was then up to Brig o’Turk and up Glen Finglas Hill which is a bitch of a hill to have towards the end of your ride, a few feet shy of 2000 feet high. All in all a good days riding and now I’m tired.

Evans Cycles Ride It Callander Road 2015.

So its day 2 of the Evans Cycles Ride It event in Callander and today is the road event. 3 courses to choose from rather than the 2 for the MTB, we have short, medium and long, I signed up for the medium of 55 miles. Its been raining since yesterday and that meant that today was going to be a very wet ride so full wet gear on today. I’ve done the short version of this but not the medium, the short has you ride up Dukes pass and down to Aberfoyle only once and back to Callander. With the medium you do a figure 8 and ride up Dukes pass twice, one loop around Loch Venachar and the other around Loch Katrine. This was a tough ride and the rain didn’t help, glad I didn’t do the long route!, by the time I got to the end of the event I was pretty wet. This would be a good ride on a warm sunny day but anyway 55 miles knocked out over 4000 feet of hills, not too shabby

Evans Cycles Ride It Callander MTB 2015.

Well I did sign up for the long route but the weather this year is just atrocious! Last year I was riding in the snow and was able to do the long router but not this year. About 40 mins in just after the first feed station the weather just took the piss with gale force hail storms, it got so bad I had to stop and hide under a tree, along with everyone else. Thank god I took my wet gear, but that didn’t stop me getting wet a cold. Last years section where I crashed had been removed so I made it to the second feed station unhindered. This is where the long and shot routes split, I decided to cut my losses and took the short route, it’s still pissing it down and I’m riding the road event tomorrow and want to be in one piece for that.