Took advantage of the good weather and.... oh no, wait that was Clubby
But I also headed to Ballater today to ride "Heartbreak Ridge" for the first time (apparently from Monday its closed for a few weeks for trail maintenance), and to see what the route to Mount Keen was like from the Ballater side (short answer = sh*te!).
After pushing up most of the climb out of Ballater (the Joy's of single speed!) I headed off on a track to Mount Keen, which basically involved more pushing, negotiating the various streams criss-crossing the moorland, and falling into boggy swamps. Lovely.
By the time I'd almost reached the foot of Mount Keen I'd been slogging it out for nearly 2 hours, about 10 minutes of which was actual riding! I have to say the big hill did look quite imposing, with its snow covered sides and the top shrouded in cloud, and the distant track winding it's way upwards. At this point I decided I was definitely NOT! going up there today, no way was I pushing uphill for another hour and a half-ish only to have a view of feck-all from the top! Yeah the cloud might clear in a few hours, but Mount Keen will still be there another day.
So I retraced my route and headed up to the start of Heartbreak Ridge, which mercifully was mostly rideable in the one cog
The trail itself is long, very long for mostly downwards, I found myself grabbing a few seconds on the saddle to rest my legs whenever I could.
The section of rock slabs just before entering the tree line was "interesting", more a case of holding on than worrying about speed.
So some stunning scenery in fantastic weather, crappy route choices, and a trail with a sting in the tail to finish off with.
You're right Clubby, it's good to be back into the mountains again.
after 2 hours slogging away pushing the bike I felt like joining this poor guy...