Gravel ride in Aberfoyle

Last Sunday, the 21st of November, Ruben organised an "away day" with the off-road section to tackle the Dukes Weekend route. Twelve of us joined on a beautiful morning in Aberfoyle, including Paula, who was tackling her first ERC ride. As seen in the photo below descending down to the Katrine aqueduct, Paula kindly agreed to write up a blog about the ride.

For those interested in the route, you can get the GPX file here: https://connect.garmin.com/mod...

"My friend Yolanda has been telling me for months to come and ride with ERC so last Sunday I bit the bullet and we headed out of the city on a bluebird day to Aberfoyle with other club members for some gravel. It being my first ride with ERC and my first gravel ride, I definitely had some nerves to start off with.

These quickly eased as we pedalled off up the first big climb of the day towards Loch Venachar and I began to realise why Aberfoyle is also nicknamed ‘Gravelfoyle’. The route took us on lots of varied terrain, but mostly fire tracks and wider single tracks which was the perfect combination for a gravel introduction! I felt very welcomed within the group, despite being a little more nervous about descending as quickly as some of the more seasoned members!

Special thanks to Euan and Ruben who gave me some great tips for gravel riding and the rest of the group who always made sure we regrouped at the turn-offs. As the day went on, I realised that my bike actually can take me over lots of bumps and lumps and that letting go on the descents is fun and actually less scary than I thought!

The views were endless all day, and spirits were high, making even the technical repair stops enjoyable. After a solid 1000 m of vert and 62 km of beautiful riding, we dropped back down into Aberfoyle with chilly toes, ready for coffee and some cake. It was a great first ride with ERC and a great first gravel ride – I’ve been looking at gravel routes and blogs ever since and feel psyched to hopefully get out more with ERC"