Spring is coming to the Highlands, and we start to think about biking rather than skiing. In preparation we have built a new covered storage space for five bikes, and equipped it with locks, cleaning and repair facilities. We’ve included a bike workstand, so no more turning bikes upside down to fix punctures! We acknowledge the generous support of Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (https://dmbins.com/) who have funded half the costs.
We have posted in the past about the many exciting routes in this area (see https://tinyurl.com/2tw5np28), and will post more in the future. And of course many visitors will arrive with their own bikes, ready to go. But for anyone needing to hire (or even buy) a bike while they are here there are two really good shops in Kingussie. We use and recommend both of them – Bothy Bikes (https://www.bothybikes.co.uk/) and the Wee Bike Hub (https://www.facebook.com/weebikehub/). David at Bothy Bikes has particular expertise in sourcing and maintaining e-bikes. Indeed all his hire bikes are now electric. We must admit, some assistance is nice on the hills round here.
Once you’re here, with your bike, it’s well worth making the time on a Tuesday evening to head out with Cycle Friendly Kingussie (http://www.cyclefriendlykingussie.org/). They have done a lot to make this end of Strathspey a good place to cycle, for both locals and visitors. Indeed they recently received a Gold Award from Cycling Scotland for their work.
Of course you’ll see a lot of focus on the web sites we’ve linked to on mountain biking. But the Cairngorms and Monadhliadh also offer some superb gravel routes, both long and short. Not every ride has to be gnar.