It’s almost exactly 48hrs since I finished the Cairngorms Loop. Mountains are still in my thoughts. All the time. I’m dreaming singletrack.

I’ll write a proper update later this week, but here is a distilled version:

• Start. Cold. Sunny. Surreal
• Ride. Soak up landscape
• Talk. Meet great people.
• Ride. By myself.
• Ride. With people again.
• Hike a bike.
• Snow. 
• Epic, epic views
• Dark
• GPS failure in the cold
• Map nav at night, negotiating landslides
• The lure of the bothy
• Frozen bike
• Wildlife
• Best breakfast ever at Tomintoul
• Sunburn
• Berms to Braemar
• Last push
• Exhaustion
• Camaraderie
• Definitely not shedding a tear while whooping on the final descent
• Photos
• Beer

Thanks to:

• Steve for organising
• Jenn for Friday night chat, and general aceness
• Every other rider I chatted too
• Especially Rob, who became my best friend for the weekend
• Garage Bikes for fettling my bike. It worked flawlessly (except for seized gears at -8. I’ll let em off for that one