When the Glasgow Worlds were announced there was only ever one woman for the job of writing our guide to the great Scottish city of Glasgow: Katie Archibald. The Olympic gold medallist, local hero and talented wordsmith was our first call. Happily, she said yes. Over the next 10 pages she’ll take you to all the best haunts and epic climbs the city has to offer, to make the most of a trip to the Worlds this summer, in her usual joyful style, while local Torvelo Race Team rider and CW reader Liam White models. Glasgow, here we come.
THE DSM LOOP
DISTANCE: 80KM | CLIMBING: 1,043M
I call this the DSM loop because it passes a DSM factory. Did you know that DSM exists not just as three letters written across a cycling jersey, but as its own entity? Neither did I, until I saw its familiar swirly logo on a massive warehouse in Dalry.
It feels nice to have a touch of the WorldTour, albeit as a faceless facility of mass production, close to home. I don’t know what it produces, but if likeability was a driver for its cycling sponsorship then, kudos to that PR team: I like them a lot! (I hope they don’t make guns.)
Going through Dalry is a means to an end on this ride and that end is two opportunities to recognise your place in the world; first on the Fairlie Moor Road and second on the Old Largs Road.
The Archibalds have debated the way to ride over the Fairlie Moor by asking if bike riding is about putting yourself through as much pain and suffering as possible, or about experiencing something of the world on two wheels. I’m usually in the former camp, but it would take a true sadist to promote going west to east over the Fairlie Moor. West to east
