This is Scottish mountainbiking...

MTBscotland forum ride; Calander,

You get epic days...This was an Epic epic...
sunday past i picked up friend Andrew and we drove an hour up to Callander-gateway to the Highlands where we met Tom and Pat near the great named village of Kilmahog...
Andrew planned a day of a loop around Ben Ledi with promised great descents after some trail exploration...we met at a forestry car park in the Queen Elizabeth Park...



a gravel trail took us down to the lochside along Loch Venachar to Little Drum...

where we left the main road and climbed a trail called the postman`s grove...very steep in places it was a real workout...


but the views as we gained height were rewarding...the Menteith Hills...

up we went...1st gear all the way...

a breather as the trail levelled then we contoured west around Glen Finglas Reservoir




we dropped onto an old tarmac road down to the lochside...




the view down Glen Finglas...

and a lovely stone direction monument...

click on the pictures and you can read the descriptions...





oak?...

refreshed we rode north on a track signed to Balquhidder...an old right of way...


you can see the track as it winds all the way up the Glen to the top of the centre of the picture...

again another tough climb...


we then left the track on a faint line through the heather signed for Balquhidder...

over the top and this view...Rob Roy Macgregor country once...

then around a 4km descent...glacial mounds left from the ice age...but often riding in low gears as very wet and alot of walking across burns that had cut through the peat...this "descent" was hard work but still fun...






it got a bit messy for all of us as we got tired riding this but we did get onto some more rideable singletrack through the heather...




the view down below in the glen was nice...


after this techy riding workout an early lunch was declared and after a feed and water we descended down to a track which felt very smooth after the last half hours riding...




then the real hard work of the day started here near Immeroin farm...

only a 1km...but up a really steep path..time to hike-a-bike with bikes on shoulders through the ferns...



the view west across the glen was superb...

back on the bikes and over the hill and the another fantastic view east down over Loch Lubnaig...for years i have looked up to here from the A84 below driving to the highlands and wondered what was up here and now i was about to find out...

we descended down through heather to emerge on a bit of major deforestation...

descending a very steep and very muddy track we were covered in mud at the bottom...
check the bikes!...


you will see this on the film i made...a short sweet descent to the lochside...

there was a lot more descending to come but we had some hieght to the start of the main descents after some fast descending on fireroads so again it was a long winch uphill...

now we were getting tierd,everyone had a tough time during the day be it on the climbs,descents or technical riding or later a mechanical but this is where riding in a small group you help each other through...good bonding of friendships...
the scenery and views between firebreaks helped forget about the legburn...

a waterfall made for a nice rest point,refill of water bladders,chocolate and winegums...

refreshed we pushed on for the top...

and under the shadow of Ben Ledi was our reward...the descent into Strathyre Forest..

cameras switched on we sped down a fire road onto a cracking trail which got nice and technical and steep at its end...

next we dropped down into the forest,lots of rocks and roots to ride over...i love this stuff and love it on the hardtail...


the sharp edges of a drainage convort caught caught out Andrew and Tom who pinch flattend...gave me time to take some pics and look at lines down the 3rd descent...




a local rider came down and after a quick chat dropped down the trail showing the line to take,i still messed up my descent while Andrew cleaned it first go,while Tom fixed his flat tyre above a big waterfall i pushed up and re run it cleaning the awkward rooty corner...was a real techy descent...


all rolling again we sped down onto a cycleway and a lovely ride through woodland singletrack above the river back to the cars and into Callander for a well deserved fish supper...what a fantastic days riding with great company through tough going at times for amazing descents at the end...thanks to Andrew for organising and great navigation up in the hills...heres some stats from Toms garmin;


Time: 08:28:24
Distance: 29.34 mi
Elevation Gain: 3,562 ft
Timing
Time: 08:28:24
Moving Time: 04:57:01
Elapsed Time: 08:28:24
Avg Speed: 3.5 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 5.9 mph
Max Speed: 29.3 mph
Avg Pace: 17:19 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace: 10:07 min/mi
Best Pace: 02:02 min/mi
Speed
Pace
Elevation
Elevation Gain: 3,562 ft
Elevation Loss: 3,581 ft
Min Elevation: 298 ft
Max Elevation: 1,427 ft

heres some film of the descents...music by Big Country...



and a film along the riverbank back to the car...