SS1000 April 2005

Well we left Glasgow at about 5.45am and unfortunately Chris's bike had a fault with the back wheel alignment and had to drop out at Tarbert and I carried on alone. The weather up the west coast was as near perfect as one could hope for with hazy warm sunshine and great views, causing me to stop quite often. I stopped every 200 miles for fuel, or slightly more often if the rules called for it (you have to get a receipt at each 'corner' to prove you took that route). The run across the North coast was marred by a strong crosswind and by the time I stopped in Nairn (7pm) the light was fading fast and I opted to run down the main roads as it was getting misty and I couldn't see the road.

They say the SS1000 is a months riding in a day and that rings true. I dropped the bike 3 times (cost - 1 indicator and a couple of wires) but had very few scary moments.

All in all it was an experience, not one I want to repeat although the far NW of Scotland should be on everyone's 'Must see' list. Views to savour, friendly locals and great roads.

Fuel 1- Invergarry - 198 miles
Fuel 2 - Ullapool - 205 miles
Fuel 3 - Thurso - 145 miles
Fuel 4 - Helmsdale - 85 miles
Fuel 5 - Aberdeen - 170 miles
Fuel 6 - Clarkston - 198 miles

My plan was to complete the SaddleSore 1000 following the coast of Scotland, leaving from Glasgow in the central west and heading in a clockwise direction up the West Coast, over the top and back down the East Coast returning home. My GPS program (Garmin City Navigator v6.5) told me that it was just over 1000 miles and would take around 20 hours). I left home at 5am on Thursday 31^st March 2005 and arrived back at 12.35am the next day having covered 1000.5 miles. These are the facts however I feel I should explain some of the background to the route and the challenges peculiar to riding 1000 miles in 24 hours in Scotland.

Firstly we need to look at the feasibility of actually riding 1,000 miles in the UK without either doubling back or doing a circuit. Given that Britain is an island measuring about 1200 miles long by 300 miles wide (93,000 sq miles) you can see we have a problem. Add in that we have 60 million people occupying that area, you can see that we are slightly more crowded than the USA. Now take into account that Scotland is 30% of the UK (but only 10% of the population) & under 250 miles of freeway, the challenge of the SS1000 becomes just that little bit harder.

Fortunately, Scotland is blessed with thousands of miles of back roads and stunning views which make riding all a day a pleasure. The West coast is very rugged and infolded so whilst it is 192 miles from Glasgow to Durness in the far NW, the shortest distance by road is 279 miles but the coastal route is 465 miles! That would seem to make the whole enterprise easier, however we now have to examine just what we in the UK call ‘roads’.

We have Motorways (Freeways) in Scotland but only in the Central Belt and I was determined to avoid most of these, at least on the way north. Next we have the 3 main classifications of roads; A, B and C. A roads are main roads between cities and towns and are usually 2 lanes (each way) of decent width often with a barrier or ‘reservation/median’ dividing the highway. B roads are narrower, normally only 1 lane without median. C roads are narrower still and are often unsuitable for trucks and buses. In the rural areas, however, these rules are slightly different.

An A or ‘main’ road aka intercity route in the Highlands is usually 1 lane in each direction but only just wide enough for 2 trucks or buses to pass ….. slowly. The more remote you get, the worse they are. I was riding ‘A’ roads that were, in the main, “Single Track Roads” ie one narrow strip of rough tarmac with “Passing Places“ to the side every few hundred yards. These roads have no markings, kerbs, lights, direction signs, fences but they do have sheep, deer, cattle and the occasional goat wandering about. Many roads look great but wind their way around inlets and hillsides and as you ride along you run the risk of meeting anything from a little old lady in a Honda Civic to a delivery truck coming in the other direction. Humm!

The oddest thing about this challenge was not how difficult it was but how easy. Looking back on it, the whole affair was quite straightforward mainly because I planned it to a fine degree especially all the fuel stops as the Highlands may be beautiful but they’re not heavily populated and given the route I was taking I could have been stranded for many hours (or had a very long walk) just reach a house never mind a fuel station. The toughest part of it was the mental aspect, what do you think about for nearly 19 hours of solo riding.

This question was put to me by a work colleague who is a fellow biker. Well, the first hour or two I was following a route I know well so I was “concentrating on trucking right” easing myself into the day and not thinking about just how bloody far 1,000 miles really is. Once the first 200 miles was under my belt, along with the first fuel stop at Invergarry, I was getting into the wonderful scenery that was changing in character with every 50 miles, from heavily wooded areas and managed forests rising up into the mountains still with some pockets of snow, passing viewpoints where you can see down a couple of thousand feet into the valleys and over to the sea. As I climbed higher and went further North, the roads got tighter and twistier and straights became the short bits of tarmac that join corners onto each other and I had to concentrate on that ribbon of black and grey.

I was keeping a close eye on my speed. On my 200 mile test run the previous week it had been rather wet and I had maintained an average 50mph including stops but after that relatively short run I was so tired that I slept for 3 hours once I got home so I can hardly imagine how I would have managed 1,000. Fortunately it was dry and warm (max 12C, 54F) and the roads were perfect and I was maintaining a rolling average of nearly 70mph (lets not talk about speed limits) but I had to concentrate hard on the corners as positioning is everything.

These roads are the main routes and carry every type of traffic from logging trucks to tourists and as bikes tend to hover over the white lines on right hand bends there is a real danger of being hit as you lean over onto the other side of the road. This required yet more concentration as visibility round most corners was very limited. There were loads of occasions where I had to duck left to avoid a collision. Then I passed this sign

which means “Road Narrows” and an already tight twisty road got even smaller.

	Oregon	UK	Scotland
Area	98,386 sq miles	93,282 sq miles	30,418 sq miles
Population	3,521,515	59,247,000	5,200,000