CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Events, rides etc.

Pay to see me suffer, to help ease the suffering of others

(16 posts)
  • Started 11 years ago by Wilmington's Cow
  • Latest reply from tammytroot

No tags yet.


  1. I've decided that I might as well try and get some good to come out of me riding the Bealach Mor in September, so I'm going to be riding in support of St Columba's Hospice. They do wonderful work providing support and respite care for those in the advanced stages of terminal illness, as well as giving much needed help to family and carers. My wife's mother spent the last few weeks of her life in a Columba's respite home, the work they do is just astonishing. And while we still need funds and efforts to cure those illnesses, while they still exist we have an absolute need for organisations such as this.

    No pressure at all to donate (I'll freely admit that I'm generally choosy about donating to random things because I donate a lot of time and money to a few charities already and no-one can donate to absolutely everything that comes their way!), but if you feel so inclined the JustGiving page is here.

    And that's the absolute last I'll bring up the charity side.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  2. kaputnik
    Moderator

    It's a worthy cause close to my own heart. Have some pounds.

    But - I fully expect you to pedal every painful revolution of the way, no bailing and pushing!

    Posted 11 years ago #
  3. Uberuce
    Member

    Doing the Bealach without having to pull into passing places to let oncoming cars past is a fearsome prospect.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  4. It's kind of my insurance policy against bailing. And for once I've been a bit more serious about getting some miles in, as well as some gym work, to make it more bearable. I also have my plan to start as early as possible and latch onto various groups for a tow as they go past me.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  5. paolobr
    Member

    Often thought of riding the Bealach, we've decided on a couple of other rides this year (Tour Ride, Skye Beag). Maybe next year...

    Inclined (is that a pun?), so clicked and confirmed. Enjoy!

    Posted 11 years ago #
  6. Baldcyclist
    Member

    I would dearly love to ride this event, alas I don't imagine my lungs would ever allow it.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  7. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    Bump, and good luck when this comes round. I've only driven it and it is ridiculously long and steep.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  8. steveo
    Member

    Just seen the route profile for this, it looks like a ridiculous stalagmite in the middle of a cave.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  9. Yeah, and the thing is you're looking at that and know the hills around the middle bit actually aren't that small, and some are very steep, which just makes it all even scarier.

    Haven't decided if it's a good thing yet or not that I know how much it hurts from having done it 5 years ago.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  10. steveo
    Member

    I think that the profile would be worrying enough with out the big climb.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  11. Should say, thanks to all who have donated. Already over a third of the aimed for target raised. :)

    Posted 11 years ago #
  12. fimm
    Member

    "the route profile ... looks like a ridiculous stalagmite in the middle of a cave..."
    LOL
    Pretty good description...
    This is the Bealach Beag route, more or less, I assume (I don't know where they start from).

    I confess, I had to get off and push. :-( In my defence, there was a filthy headwind blowing straight down the steepest bit. I could have dealt with the wind, or the slope (which actually wasn't that steep) but not both at once.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  13. Instography
    Member

    What's that big lump in the middle?

    Put a granny ring on. I can confirm that you can stay upright at less than 3mph allowing you to truthfully say that you cycled up any hill.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  14. fimm
    Member

    That "big lump" is the Bealach...

    I'm well aware that I could have got up if I had lower gears - I have a normal standard double on the front with nothing particularly low at the back. I'd probably have been fine on my cheap and nasty mountain bike (though the rest wouldn't have been so much fun...)

    Posted 11 years ago #
  15. Uberuce
    Member

    I did it on a venerable but high-end MTB with 20" of bottom gear, which I considered admitting defeat to use, but as Insto said, still leaves that box ticked.

    I was feeling pretty good about myself until three chaps on road bikes came up, one of whom had big-ringed it. Even right across the block that's probably mid 50's.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  16. tammytroot
    Member

    Take spare brake blocks for the descent! You might need new rims after as well.

    Posted 11 years ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.


Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin