4.75 miles, not a lot to a serious biker, or a serious walker, to us it was an achievement. I’m 61, Susan (age not disclosed) and Sid will be 70 in October, have not done any serious cycling for more years than we care to recall. Sid has done two weeks refresher training, me and Susan have done 5 weeks at the Ageing Well project, Edinburgh. The previous week we had walked up the route thereby allowing me to achieve on part of my ambition to walk across the Glen Ogle Viaduct. today (Friday 7th September) I was to achieve the other part – cycle across the viaduct. This time we started at the top of the glen.(See route)
Of course we had to stop at the viaduct to get photos 
my good friend and fellow Intrepid Sid and my Partner Susan took photos of me as I crossed the viaduct:
Recording this moment in my life for Facebook
The rest of the trip down to Lochearnhead went well as each of us conquered individual fears or problem areas. Sid improved his cycling so he did not wobble so much on starting, Susan got used to passing other cyclists and going up inclines and going down steep inclines, me I got used to starting, stopping, mounting and dismounting also my dread of going down steep inclines. 
After 3 miles we stopped and had our lunch while we planned our next stage. Do we cycle back up to the top or do we head down the steep inclines zig zag path and make our way to the car park near the loch? We all agreed that it would be nice to tackle the trip back to the top or at least make the attempt if all else failed we could make our way to the car. We duly started on our way back up - Susan “I’m not wanting to go up inclines” zooms away in the lead, closely followed by me (who soon lags behind) and by Sid who was back marking me. Susan and Sid were doing well, but alas as we approached the first gate I dropped into first gear and stalled on the incline, I did not have enough strength in my legs to move my bulk and bike up the incline. I might have made it on my 18 speed gear bike but not on Junior – YET. So new challenge accepted – once I feel fit enough and have done a bit more long distance cycling (if you call 4.75 miles long distance) I’ll be back to tackle the Glen Ogle Trail, this time from Lochearnhead to the top of the Glen – That’s a promise. We turned back to the exit and here it must be noted that the art of 
understatement is not dead in Scotland as the sign stated Steep incline and the path 
was darn near vertical. Susan and I opted to walk down the first third of the path, Sid (Mr Freewheel) said he would meet us at the bottom and promptly set of down the path – as we heard no scream we presumed that he got to the bottom ok. As did Susan and I when we finally did the freewheel down the last 2/3rds: 
We made our way to the car park and then left Susan to look after the bikes whilst we set off to collect Sid’s car. When we returned to the car park and after loading the bikes into the cars we made our way to the Lochearnhead Water Sports Centre where we enjoyed a great cup of tea and relaxed watching others do stressful thing sin the name of leisure. (all photos used by permission, all copyrights acknowledged)
