‘Til Next Time

We finished our ride yesterday with a welcomed “spin out your legs” ride along a section of the Caledonian canal.

After five days with a lot of ascent, yesterday’s ride had a total ascent of 70 feet, Sweet! Even though my Garmin cycling computer estimated that I only expended 200 calories (as compared to nearly 1,600 the day before), I still was all in on a hearty Scottish brunch.

The Caledonian canal links a number of lakes (“lochs” in Gaelic) in the Scottish Highlands so that boats can go across the middle of Scotland. Our ride started in Fort Augustus, on the western edge of Loch Ness, where a series of locks raise boats into the canal:

We saw the typical stunning countryside along the way:

And reached the turnaround point at Loch Oich:

After spending the rest of yesterday in Inverness, we’re now on the train back to Edinburgh. Waiter service at our seats, a nice breakfast with real silverware, an excellent WiFi connection and beautiful scenery — this ain’t Amtrak!

Scotland has long been on our bucket list. This trip has whetted our appetite for more Scottish adventures. The culture and scenery have been spectacular and all of the people we met were so nice and welcoming. As an added bonus, just like in the Tour de France where spectators cheer on riders during mountain climbs, we even had a few locals encouraging us on difficult climbs:

We also learned a lot about Scottish history. I especially enjoyed our visit to the Culloden battlefield where, in 1746, King George II’s army defeated (“slaughtered” is the more appropriate word) the army of the rebel Catholic Stuart dynasty Prince Charles in the last battle between the English and Scots. I know that I am in danger of crossing the “Cliff Clavin line”, but did you know that the phrase “laughing one’s head off” derives from the execution of Simon Fraser, one of the Scottish generals at Culloden? The English built wooden stands for thousands of spectators to watch his execution. As Fraser’s head was being put onto the chopping block, a portion of the stands collapsed and nine spectators were crushed to death. Fraser started laughing and apparently continued to laugh until his head was removed from his shoulders.

Despite this being a great trip, I have created some controversy with this blog. In addition to offending the niche cardiologist subscriber to this blog, I have also apparently upset another niche subscriber group — my wife. Mary does not like me writing about her cycling abilities. In her view, she is not a natural athlete; her riding ability is instead a “defense mechanism” since she long ago learned that its “sink or swim” when it comes to athletics in the Cooperman family. Yes, I will admit that the first time she ever skied, I took her to the top of the mountain, said “follow me” and skied down. And the first time she went mountain biking, our friend Rob and I took her down a trail which in the winter was a triple diamond ski run. But Mary, I have three words for you — statute of limitations. We were in our 20s then. I am now thankful that my completely badass cyclist wife will occasionally wait to allow for some proof that I am able to cycle in the same time zone:

A few final thoughts about our trip. This is the third time we have gone on a Trek Travel trip (owned by the same company that makes Trek bikes) and we highly recommend this outfit. Of the 16 guests, six were on e-bikes. I think e-bikes are great since it allows most anyone to enjoy traveling by two wheels. One of our e-bikers said that he actually hates cycling and that his training for this trip consisted of going to one spin class. All of them had a great time.

But if you are on an e-bike, do mind your cycling manners. One guy insisted that he expended as much energy as the rest of us on our hilliest day, despite his e-bike allowing him to go at a steady 17 mph pace on our steepest climbs (we had lunch before one steep climb and most of us ate lightly as we did not want to barf on the way up; he had a big ice cream dish before getting on his e-bike and zipping away). And every time I passed this guy on a downhill or flat, he would clearly get upset and pass me on the next uphill as if he was putting me in my place. I felt like shouting at him “how’s that motor working out for you?”

The ten of us regular cyclists were of varying abilities and cycling strengths, but we all agreed that cycling is a great way to travel. Mary and I have a long bucket list of cycling trips we want to take. Thanks for following along. Until next time….