Spent too long doing useless stuff today, ie anything that doesn't involve the bike so decided to sneak a quick ride.
I've just bought a wee book "The Cyclist's Guide to Hillclimbs on Scottish Highland Roads" with the best climbs in the area. As it turns out I know quite a few of them and I intend to ride as many of them as possible over the next few months.
Anyhow it turns out there's a worthy one on my doorstep. Heights of Docharty (P40). Nice and short at 3kms and 228m of climb.
It starts off easily enough but quickly ramps up. When I was fitter I have ridden the first part ok on my singlespeed, so equipped with 3 speeds, it should have been a breeze. It wasn't. However that was more because of trying to put a bit of pace on to reach the passing places because cars coming down the hill didn't appear to possess brakes and the road is one lane wide with high banks.
Then there's a short flat bit which allows a bit of speed for momentum up the next bit. I got all of 3 or 4 metres past my usual point of failure when I had to get off and walk. I simply could not turn the pedals and after a stop I could not get enough momentum for a restart. It's so steep that the bike was sliding backwards with a locked front wheel if I didn't keep the pressure on. So that was about a 250 metre push until It got sensible again.
Conclusion - Fail. Must try harder next time. I think I'll do it when it's quieter when I can use a slow steady pace. Having to sprint uphill to the passing places probably burnt me out.
There was a bonus though. Once I got to the top I reached a track...
Should have brought a mountain bike.
That water is deeper and faster than it looks. I was going to simple wade across but thought better of it when I remembered I wasn't wearing my sandals.
I headed along the track because there were a couple of features I wanted to check. On Google Earth the left hand one of these looks completely circular. Considering it is very close to the remains of Neolithic hut circles I wanted to check if it was a chambered cairn. I couldn't see any definite signs that it was, and it is not marked on OS maps or RCAHMS, but I still wonder.