G is for Gravel

Gravel track in Lennox Forest As another one of my lockdown routes, I decided to have a look at a curious gap in my knowledge to the north of Glasgow. Although the road to Lennoxtown is one I've ridden many times on the way to some Crow Road torture, I'd never done much looking around. Just to the south of Lennoxtown itself sits the Lennox Forest, nestled within which are a fairly scary old psychiatric hospital, and the Celtic football club training ground.  Like any quest for gravel riding, my first obstacle was trying to find an interesting way to get there from the city. My route of choice for this ride was to nip up to the Forth and Clyde Canal at Maryhill and head out towards Torrance - not exactly rugged off-road riding, but still an improvement on tarmac. From Torrance, I'd head up towards the waterfalls at Blairskaith on some pleasant single lane back roads, before beginning the climb proper up to Lennox Forest.  When the track leaves the tarmac, it's a bit of ...

Gravel tracks well within Glasgow postcodes. On the evening of Monday the 26th of March, 2020, the UK was placed on lockdown to try and stem the spread of the Coronavirus. Thankfully, the conditions of the lockdown allowed people to go outside for one period of daily exercise, within the locale of their home. This meant an end to driving up the road to places like Loch Ard or Inveruglas to start a ride, and would mean that for a city-dweller like myself, any gravel riding opportunities would be pretty severely restricted. Not to be disheartened, I decided it was time to set myself a wee challenge, to see what I could find on my doorstep and try to get onto whatever dirt was available. My initial thought was to try and limit rides to round about 50km, so as not to push myself too far, and to make sure that if things went wrong, I would be able to walk home without too much difficulty. Thankfully, also being a trail runner meant that I already had a bit of a familiarity with ...

At the top of the climb above Ardvorlich. I was faced with an unfortunate set of coincidences - just as the first cases of Coronavirus were starting to appear in the UK, my replacement CGR 725 was finally ready to see some trail action. With an afternoon to spare and some decent weather in the forecast, I drove to Inveruglas, about an hour from my flat to the banks of Loch Lomond with the hope of getting a wee spin round some promising lines on the map. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but this would be my last opportunity to make a real break from the city and get a good gravel adventure in before the lockdown put restrictions on peoples' ability to travel. Inveruglas is a popular wee spot, both with day trippers out on a jaunt looking for a view over to Ben Lomond, and with hillwalkers setting out for ascents of Ben Vane or Ben Vorlich. This ride would also be my first real adventure trying out my new Garmin Edge 530, and more specifically, trying out its navigational...

Bikes parked in snowy conditions With a new bike arriving, inevitably the first couple of outings have to be "breaking in" runs, up and down local cycle paths and canal towpaths just to make sure the brake pads are bedded in, the gears are shifting nicely, and no unwanted noises are emanating from hidden corners of the frame. Eventually however, the time comes when the trial runs have to come to an end and the bike has to get its tyres dirty and get tried out on some real terrain.