ROLLING STONE

The Cairn O’ Mount is a climb that gets inside your mind and gives you sleepless nights

That’s better. I’ve just showered and eaten after being beaten up by a big, ugly lump of a climb that towers over an otherwise benign landscape of Aberdeenshire’s east coast.

The Cairn O’ Mount is notorious among local riders for the savagery of its first section. From the Clatterin Brig tearoom and the snow barriers that are lowered for frequent periods during the winter, the road dramatically pitches up, continuing this ruthless trajectory for several hundred metres before dropping down to a gentler gradient – a mere 14 per cent.

For some, however, it’s the climb’s final section that’s the real killer. This comes after a kilometre-long stretch of around six per cent and delivers one final blow to the solar plexus as it coils around a hairpin at 15 per cent.

I’ve ridden the Cairn a handful of times each year over the last decade, and familiarity has bred fear and contempt. The only time I’ve properly enjoyed it was the very first time, when ignorance of its topography was bliss.

It’s a climb that gets inside your head