Journal

The Bealach Beag

The drive up to Applecross had been an uneventful jaunt through that amazing Scottish scenery we aften take for granted. From Fort William onwards the rolling mountains and lochs had become a bit like the background in The Flintstones – a never ending carousel of scenery. We’d gotten so used to travelling through the mountainous terrain that I thought I’d be underwhelmed when we finally got to the Bealach, but it was an impressive sight.

During the drive up, the climb over the highest mountain pass in Britain had three distinct sections, to me. The first is a long, steady climb that eventually comes to a right hander. As you round this corner you see the next stage rising to the left in the distance. Both of these parts matched anything I had attempted in training. The final reveal comes after another sharp right hander. It’s there that the sheer scale of the Bealach Na Ba comes into focus – the road climbs off into the distance, snaking it’s way up the mountain side with the summit out of view. If it were an Indiana Jones movie there’d be a lost temple at the top – that’s how ridiculous the road up there seemed.

I gasped at sight of it, my heart sinking at the prospect of trying to ride up the same road the following morning. Alec in Helensburgh Cycles had told me that the Bealach was tough, but it was the saw tooth series of climbs later on in the route that would really take it out of me. As our well laiden car struggled round the final hairpin bends in 1st gear, I begged to differ. If I made it over this I’d be lucky to have anything left at all.

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Picking up a gear

I recently had the gears ratios on my road bike changed in preparation for the Bealach Beag cycling event that’s coming up. The route features a climb over the highest mountain pass in Britain and the concensus was that it’d be exceptionally tough to make it up the climb and have anything left in the tank using the 25 tooth climbing cog that came with the bike. So in it went to Helensburgh Cycles to have a new spread of gears with a larger 28 tooth cog.

On the weekend I picked the bike up I set off on a training ride using a new route that would include some of the steepest climbs in the area. Taking me past Shantron Farm, the first climb on the road from Loch Lomond over to Garelochhead was the first time I used the 28 and it really made a difference. I knew within a couple of hundred yards that there was no way I would have made it up that hill with the 25 tooth cog driving the back wheel. It’s rare that you have an equipement decision like that validated so immediately, but as each brutal climb came on the route I was really glad I had the 28 to shift into if I needed it.

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Back in the saddle for 2012

Today I did my first road bike ride of the year, putting in a 27k there-and-back ride just to blow the cobwebs off both myself and the bike. When I set off, I didn’t know how much I’d have in the tank energy-wise, so decided to play it safe with a nice rolling route that I could turn back on at any time should I run out of steam.

It turned out that I was feeling pretty good out there and I could probably have tackled my usual Glen Fruin training loop I did so many times last summer as I was building up the miles. The weather was perfect for riding, too – cool and dry with some sunny spells thrown in for good measure, and the light winds didn’t interfere too much at all. Shortly after I set off I did feel like I should maybe have been out on the mountain bike, but you don’t often see road biking conditions as ideal as this so early in the year.

When I got to the north gate of Clyde Submarine Base I decided to try the climb up the hill there rather than turning back. It took me a bunch of attempts before I conquered that one last year, so in the first 100 yards or so I was thinking it might be a bit premature to be doing it, but mindful that I really need to improve my climbing this year, I just got on with it. I wasn’t fast, but I got up it and I have to feel quite good about that considering it was my first ride of the year.

Given that there are only 11 weeks until the Bealach Beag, my first event of 2012, I really need to put some quality training in every weekend until the clocks go forward. After that I can double up a bit and do some week night training and rides home from work, too.

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