This Sunday, some the world’s top male cycling talent will line up on Aberdeen’s Union Street for the start of the 2022 Tour of Britain.
It is a prestigious occasion; Aberdeen has hosted the event before but never the opening stage – or Grand Depart as it’s known in the francophone circles of road biking.
It’s a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, so as a keen cyclist I’ll be there to watch the riders roll across the start line opposite HMV.
Not that I’d want to take part; I couldn’t manage the 112 miles uphill to Glenshee quite as rapidly as the top-level athletes on show this weekend.
Nor do I wear as much lycra – I’m more of a shorts and T-shirt kind of cyclist.
In fact, faced with a 112-mile ride, I’d much rather spilt it over a couple of days, with an overnight stay in a rustic B&B complete with hot shower and fresh sheets. Throw in an evening meal at a local bistro, and I’m sold.
The Tour of Britain guys may enjoy sweating it up and over the Cairngorms, but I prefer my cycling to fit a more leisurely pace.
The rise of the laid-back cyclist
I’m not alone. The bike paths and cycleways of the north and north-east are filling up with day trippers and multi-day adventurers alike.
On a recent four-day ride from Loch Lomond to Inverness, I met people of all ages and abilities enjoying the spectacular scenery, whether along the southern bank of Loch Tay or coasting down the Drumochter pass to Dalwhinnie on the mostly car-free old A9 road.
In response to this surge in popularity, a new breed of cafe and restaurant has emerged – the bike-friendly one.
Some are tucked along an expanding network of dedicated cycling routes and wear their cycling colours proudly. Outposts such as Banchory’s Ride Coffee House on the Aberdeen to Ballater trail, for example, which services cyclists tackling the path along the old railway line.
Then there are the town cafes such as Escape Route in Pitlochry or Velocity in Inverness that cater to cyclists and outdoor types, but by no means exclusively.
These are places that love cyclists; Velocity, for example, hosts bike workshops. But they are very much for everyone.
What are the two things all bike cafes must have?
But across the gamut of bicycle cafes, there are two things that unite them. Something very dear to the heart of all cyclists. Two things that if they were not done well would result in a wide berth from everyone on two-wheels.
And what is that?
“Large amounts of coffee and cake,” explains Kevin Grant, the owner of Escape Route on Pitlochry’s Atholl Road.
Cyclists – and I include myself in this – crave cake whether after a long ride or at a mid-ride break.
Which is why Escape Route and every other bike-friendly pitstop has a wide selection of sweet bakes.
We cyclists are also coffee snobs. Kevin says it has a lot to do with the caffeine kick but also because most pedallers are used to getting the good stuff.
“People migrate towards places that serve properly good coffee on a regular basis,” he adds. “And that’s what we do.”
The road to fantastic coffee and cake at bike cafes
The role coffee plays as a central tenant of the cyclist’s worldview is underlined by Escape Route Cafe’s roots in a coffee machine Kevin used to have in his bike hire shop next door.
The machine was such a draw that Kevin eventually hired baristas and opened a coffee bar.
That led to the cafe opening five years ago. Along with fantastic coffee and cake, it serves up energy-boosting sandwiches, smoothies, meals and everything else you need to refuel the legs.
I can personally vouch for the restorative qualities of Escape Route’s full Scottish breakfast.
After a damp night camping just outside Pitlochry on my recent ride, the giant plate of egg, sausage, black pudding and bacon was just what I needed for the day’s push to Aviemore.
“(The cafe) is aimed towards that active person, whether they’re walking or cycling,” says Kevin, who estimates about 70% of his business is non-cyclists.
“And if they are cycling, they want to get a good feed and get on the road, but also have something that’s fairly large quantity because cyclists can all be hungry people.”
A local hub for everyone
There is another aspect to bike-friendly cafes that sets them apart. They act as a local hub because they are often run by cyclists themselves.
Juliette Burnside – who with her husband Simon, runs Ride Coffee House in Banchory – recounts the crowds that gathered at 4am to welcome world-record-breaking cyclist Josh Quigley, who finished a 2,179-mile ride at the cafe in September last year.
It was the furthest anyone had cycled in a week, and an exhausted Josh received a rapturous reception despite the early hour.
“So many people came to cheer him on,” says Juliette, who made sure the cafe was open and serving food. “There were families and people with banners. It was really good.”
Are e-bikes considered cheating?
The community spirit around cycling is helping to bring it to an audience already more receptive to the pastime in the wake of the Covid lockdowns, when cycling was one of the few excuses to get out and about.
Meanwhile, both Juliette and Simon say the rise of e-bikes has widened cycling’s appeal to families and older riders who might not fancy a lung-busting slog up one of Scotland’s many inclines.
These are also the sort of groups that expect something better to eat than a squished egg and cress sandwich dug out of the bottom of a pannier bag.
“We have a lot more varied types of people coming in on e-bikes,” says Juliette, who praises the electric steeds for boosting her customer base.
In Pitlochry, Kevin overhauled his Escape Route bike rental business two years ago to only offer e-bikes.
“On normal bikes, everyone has a bad time,” he says. “With e-bikes, everyone goes, ‘Oh my God, that was great fun’, because they are able to ride together, chat together and still get exercise.”
And for anyone that says e-bikes are cheating?
“Well, wearing shoes and eating food is cheating, so everyone’s doing it,” Kevin jokes.
New Spider on a Bicycle owners bring bike cafe back to Aboyne
In Aboyne, there is more evidence of the cycle cafe’s rise: Spider on a Bicycle is to reopen its doors this month after recently changing hands.
The cafe’s new owners Charlotte Le Roy and Andy Melnor are keen to preserve the cycling-friendly ethos cultivated by the previous owners while bringing their own touch to the venue inside the old Aboyne train station.
Charlotte is a former customer of Spider on a Bicycle that jumped at the chance to take over. She is a keen cyclist herself and knows the value of a good cafe pitstop.
“We will try to bring the food that cyclists want and are craving for – it’s a place to get your caffeine level back up and protein back in your system,” she says. “And it’s in such a good location, with so many nice cyclists and other people such as walkers and hikers.”
But as the cost-of-living crisis affects hospitality across Scotland, cycle-friendly cafes have one extra challenge to contend with – winter.
Charlotte aims to do more events as the nights draw in and cycling prospects dim. But she also knows cyclists are a hardy bunch that are brave enough to go out in the cold.
“You’ve got to when you live in Scotland,” she says. “You can’t just go out when it’s sunny.”
For a list of 6 of the best cycling cafes in the north and north-east, including Ride, Escape Route and Spider on a Bicycle, click here.
Conversation