The Flying Scotsman Sportive

A chance to ride with The Flying Scotsman on the roads that created a champion. With event HQ in Galston (a short distance from Glasgow) The Flying Scotsman Sportive provides a great opportunity for cyclists visiting Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games RR to cycle a terrific route over the roads which were and continue to be the training roads of The Flying Scotsman,Graeme Obree.

The geography around Galston which lies in a valley is such that there is an abundance of rural roads many which rise steeply from the valley floor and cross over the hill tops. This provides a landscape where sharp climbs and steep descents are abundant. However riders can concentrate on their ride due to the relatively traffic free environment a point taken up by Graeme,

‘We are really fortunate that in and around Kilmarnock there are miles and miles of quiet roads where you can cycle till your heart is content and hardly ever see a car. When I cycled over the Old Faithful route recently, once I was off the main road, I came across 3 cars and a tractor in almost 2 hours of cycling – it was not too difficult to keep a count with such a low volume of traffic and that allowed me to really enjoy the cycle without the pressure from traffic”
Obree has chosen the routes to provide a challenging sportive event. ‘The climbs and descents are of the short to medium and sharp variety and will offer a stern test to all riders & I would strongly recommend that participants make sure they have appropriate gearing for steep climbs of the 1-2 miles with some very steep inclines and descents.’

The routes are can be viewed on following links.

Old Faithful - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3916781
The Beastie - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3916837

Entry is online at - https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/104682/The-Flying-Scots...