Crispin’s
Guide to Stirling Cycling – General
The Whiteknuckle Ride – September 2001
As I'm weak and easily led, I was bullied
into doing September’s "Whiteknuckle ride". This is a 200km (132 mile) Audax organised by Duncan Peet and
includes a mere 2200m (7300ft'ish) of climbing.
For those that don't know, an Audax is a
non-competitive ride following a set route at an average speed of between 17
and 9 mph. Sounds easy until you
realise that this includes all stops, sleep & navigation and longer
distances have the same speed limits at short ones. Fancy 800 miles in 90 hours and you too can ride from Edinburgh
to London and back again in three days.
Hilly rides get Grimpeur points.
The Whiteknuckle ride gets two of these. You don’t need many more points to get a certificate to show to
your friendly psychiatrist.
The start was from Callander, so I cycled
across on the Saturday evening to stay at the Trossachs Backpackers
hostel. George Berwick kept everyone
amused with his stories - 600,000 miles of roughstuff cycling has left him with
many tales to tell. I lined up at 8am
with 20 others and then proceeded to cycle along Loch Venacher and up &
down Glen Ogle to Killin (controls 1 & 2).
I always struggle at this point to choose a sensible pace - experience
had trained me to hang around near the back.
Along south Loch Tay I found myself riding with two others (Warren and
Ester) who became my companions for the day. At 43 miles I was allowed a
tea-stop at the Sailing centre at Kenmore, before we started the 1500ft clim of
Glen Quaich. On a previous ride, I
melted my rim on the descent; this time I could climb it :-)
We made the third-control at Amulree,
where Duncan was basking in the sunshine stamping cards (it can be a hard life
organising things). Through Sma Glen to Crieff, up and over the horrible lumps
out of Muthill and then up and over Sherrifmuir. The descent took us to another control at Corrieri's. The time was now 4pm and I was allowed to
eat a cheese sandwich here by Warren, who did not like wasting time when we
could be riding. I got my own back over
the next few miles by not shouting directions until Warren had passed the
junctions.
The next climb was Earl's Hill. This climbs to over 1000ft and is
sharp. I can normally do this at a
reasonable rate but for some reason was barely able to make walking pace in
places. Must have been the fact that I
was knackered. A rough descent to Fintry,
up to the Top of the World (with a name like that it must be another hill) and
a horrible potholed decent took us to Arnprior, along beside the Lake of
Monteith, left into Aberfoyle, and over the Duke's Pass (600ft of climbing). My companions left me here as I was no
longer needed for my local knowledge.
Cycling can be a hard game - Darwin would have learnt a lot. The last 7 miles were easy - well, sort of.
So there I was, back at the start - 7:30pm
with darkness just minutes away, 132 miles on the clock, 2200m of climbing in
my legs and a very chafed backside. I
was not as far behind as I had thought: the first riders had got in just after
6pm and the main mob got in at 7. When
I left at 8:30pm, there were still 5 missing and it was dark, but apparently
everyone finished in time.
So, why is it called the Whiteknuckle
ride? Probably, because this is the
colour of the rider’s fingers once they have released them from around Duncan’s
neck. Any other suggestions?
For next year, the 100km route is scenic.
Further information on Audax UK and a full
runs list can be found at http://www.aukhawk.demon.co.uk/
Crispin Bennett - © December 2001
Crispin’s
Guide to Stirling Cycling – General