{"id":36494,"date":"2022-05-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=36494"},"modified":"2022-05-17T10:38:35","modified_gmt":"2022-05-17T08:38:35","slug":"wild-is-the-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/2022\/05\/13\/wild-is-the-wind\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild is the wind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Wild is the wind<\/h2>\n\n

Wind farms aren\u2019t just powering our net zero future, they\u2019re offering superb gravel rides in the present<\/p>\n\n

Words <\/strong>Sean McFarlane Images<\/strong> Andy McCandlish<\/p>\n\n

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Snow poles along the access roads indicate the possible severity of the weather<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Wind is priced into a British bike ride. While you might be lucky enough to ride with the absence of wind on a handful of days each year, the question really is about the severity of it. Outings where flags sag around their poles and smoke rises in a perfect vertical line seldom happen. To borrow a well-worn football analogy, our usually circular routes are a game of two halves, with the wind blowing into your face as often as it\u2019s giving a helping hand on your back. How many of us would say we enjoy the wind?<\/span> Other than the riders of the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team, carving up the Spring Classics in Belgium, I\u2019d imagine it\u2019s few. But how many of us can also honestly say that we\u2019ve no wind-assisted segment records on our Strava profiles? Wind is at the same time our worst enemy and best friend.<\/p>\n\n

Speaking of friends, and moving beyond bike rides, wind is a strong ally in our fight to save the planet \u2013 and our pockets. Harnessing its power to produce an increasing amount of our country\u2019s energy is a well established business across the UK, both on land and at sea. Data from the Office for National Statistics say that electricity production from wind in the UK grew by 715 per cent between 2009 and 2020, and in 2020 wind energy accounted for 24 per cent of total electricity generation. Almost half of that is generated on land, rather than at sea, and it\u2019s this that\u2019s been of particular interest to me of late when it comes to riding my bike.<\/p>\n\n

These massive wind turbines need substantial infrastructure, especially access roads, and it\u2019s these remote, unpaved roads that have long appealed to me as a gravel rider. I live in central Scotland, at the base of the Ochil Hills above Edinburgh and Glasgow, a place that, like so much of the country\u2019s rural landscape, has a smattering of wind farm sites crying out for bike exploration. And a story for Cycling <\/em>Plus <\/em>was the perfect excuse\u2026<\/p>\n\n

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The smooth, wide gravel surface is ideal for climbing, without technical challenges to tire you<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
Wind finders<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

My riding partner John and I would often gaze up at the turbines just to check the wind direction. We\u2019d not yet cycled up to them -Green Knowes wind farm to the east and Burnfoot Hill to the west \u2013 but seeing others doing just that we decided it was time to see what the fuss was about. We set about plotting a 55km circuit to take us through both sites and, given their lofty locations, it was no great surprise to find a route with a more than solid 1,400 metres of ascent.<\/p>\n\n

Our ride started from my home village of Dollar in Clackmannanshire, about 10 miles east of Stirling, and one of several villages lying at the southern base of the Ochils, collectively known as the Hillfoots. There are three things you can be certain of living here: death, taxes and knowing you\u2019ll begin any ride with a stiff climb into the Hillfoots.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Despite a main road tarmac alternative, we clung to the off-road focus of our expedition from the start and headed up through Glenquay. This part of the route is managed woodland \u2013 meaning it\u2019s managed for timber, conservation and biodiversity \u2013 which just so happens to be John\u2019s line of work. The tracks are different to those that service wind farms, with worse drainage leading to more mud, particularly in deepest winter.<\/p>\n\n

Soon enough Green Knowes wind farm hovers into view, the turbines pointing in such a direction as to confirm that today we have a northerly wind. At least today it was a destination in itself, rather than an over-engineered windsock. Opened in 2008, the wind farm\u2019s 18 turbines tear through the air daily.<\/p>\n\n

It contributed to renewables accounting for a huge 97.4 per cent of Scotland\u2019s electricity needs in 2020, with wind, both onshore and off, making up 72 per cent. It\u2019s enough to make you look at that block headwind in a new light.<\/p>\n\n

“We don\u2019t see the wind turbines as scars on the landscape at all, particularly as we navigate the pristine gravel roads in between”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

The Ochils have given us both so much pleasure over the years and it\u2019s great to see they are also playing such a fine role in the preservation of the country, and the planet. The widespread, short-sighted gripe about wind turbines is that they are eyesores and scars on the landscape, but we don\u2019t see them that way at all, particularly as we navigate the pristine gravel tracks in between. A place that continues to be hospitable and a grand day out on the bikes \u2013a win-win if ever there was one! Sure, we are making more of the tracks here than most, but they are fully accessible and free to use for the public, so maybe if the antis came up here then minds would be changed. Perhaps this will one day become a land filled with ebikes, of people enjoying this wonderful scenery powered by the turbines through which they weave.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

At the highest point, we\u2019re able to spot the second wind farm, Burnfoot Hill, behind us and to the west. It is perhaps closer than the hilly landscape suggests \u2013 they\u2019ve a habit of warping distances \u2013 but we\u2019re in need of some calories before heading there. Wind might be powering civilisation down below, but up here it\u2019s only sapping ours.<\/span><\/p>\n\n