GM IV Details & Itinerary

Originally Posted by Kilted Ginger

People, the guys organising this have spent a lot of time , effort and money, planning, riding and checking and riding these roads to make the day go smoothly and for everyone to enjoy it. Now is not the time to start suggesting alternatives, no matter how well intentioned.

HUGE Thanks to all the organisers for their efforts.

Agreed, the ride out route is the ride out route and people have put a lot of effort into creating it. "Why don't we do this instead?" at this point isn't helpful (not you Mabozzar I know that wasn't your intention, it's just a general comment).

However, coming back from Aviemore using the return route will still be 210 miles, so I don't think a few more drop out points is a bad thing so long as they don't change or inconvenience the ride-out route that has been decided upon.

So my offer stands, I'll still be going the way I said I would at Ballachulish (which is on the rideout route), and I'll be happy to lead people back if there are those who feel for whatever reason that they can't or don't want to go on. The organisers would just need to make people aware at Ballachulish of who I am and that the option is open to them, as visitors following along, they may not be aware of their whereabouts.

Hope that helps

Originally Posted by independentphoto

After all that time, all I can say is- sigh. Seriously tempted not to bother at all.

As it's clear you're dissatisfied with this year's GM then it's best that you don't go. Please remove yourself from the list so we can inform the campsite and give the space to another member that is in support of the GM.

[sv4me]

Originally Posted by stuartyboy

SV4ME, Christopher - it's entirely up to you guys if you want to do the loop all the way round - I'm only passing on what me and Dean discovered when we did the recce last week. The roadworks may or may not be there on the day. I can't see any mention on the traffic websites but on the Lecht we were sat with the engines turned off while they were moving pylons into place. I don't know if this is classed as roadworks or not so it may be why it's not listed? The 30mph stretch was a mystery tbh. It seemed to go on for miles and there was no work going on. IIrc it was the stretch between Tomintoul and Bridge of Brown. There was definitely no fuel pumps at Spittal of Glenshee and this is a refuelling point so you would need to be mindful of this. There is fuel at Braemar but they sometimes close early on Saturdays.

Christopher - I promise you that the route was definitely not picked from a map. They have been well ridden. As I said, Dean and me did the loop and it is simply too long for the majority of riders. If any of you can keep up with Dean then bear in mind it took us about 7 hours with only 4 short stops and we cut out the stretch from Killin to Dunkeld. Ideally, we would do the full loop but with 40+ riders, fuel and lunch stops, people might be in the saddle for between 10-11 hours. It isn't fair on less able or less experienced riders and we have to cater for the majority. Bear in mind also that if it rains on the day, it will be very long indeed and going across the Lecht in the rain is no fun at all.

On day 2, there is a very wide mix of roads including zig zags, switchbacks, rough gnarly and flowing roads. So this covers two days of varying roads and is very much a riders weekend

Can't say fairer than that

I'm well up for a marathon ride on the saturday as i'll probably have to miss out on sundays fun to get back home but totally agree it would be wrong to EXPECT the group to do it. Either way, should be a great day and i'm praying for sun

Originally Posted by stuartyboy

On day 1, the stretch between Spean Bridge and Aviemore is 52 miles of pretty much non stop twisties. The last time we did this as a group the people who had never done it before were amazed and everyone wanted to do it all over again. If you're not grinning from ear to ear at the end of this stretch I will eat my lid.

Shut up, just shut up....you had me at 52 miles of twisties lol

Originally Posted by sv4me

Shut up, just shut up....you had me at 52 miles of twisties lol

I did resist the urge to say I would eat my helmet TAXI!!!!!!

[sv4me]

Quite a talent if you could lol no need to take such drastic measures, i'm sure them roads are great!

Originally Posted by sv4me

Quite a talent if you could lol no need to take such drastic measures, i'm sure them roads are great!

Careful! Stuarty will start telling you how he'd not have to bend too far to reach

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Careful! Stuarty will start telling you how he'd not have to bend too far to reach

On a good day - I'm getting old lol

[sv4me]

Well this threads taken a turn for the worse

surely all this chat should be in the idle banter thread... not the details thread.

Originally Posted by fenjer

surely all this chat should be in the idle banter thread... not the details thread.

I blame the organiser.