← All eventsEtape Loch Ness
106km closed-road sportive around Loch Ness. Timed, ~1,370m climbing, key climb to Glendoe Summit. Single hard day effort, not ultra-endurance.
Fully closed roads the whole way around Loch Ness, and one of Scotland's biggest sportives with over 4,500 finishers. 106km and 1,372m of climbing, a single lap out of Inverness and back, held in late April.
The loch's south shore is exposed and often into a headwind. Then Fort Augustus tips you onto Glendoe, an 8.4km climb ramping past 10 percent. That's where the day is won or lost.
It's not an Alpine epic. It's one honest hard day. But a short, vicious kick up Aldourie Brae, 5km from home, makes sure you earn the finish line.
Who finishes, and how
Patterns like these, drawn straight from 2026 race data, are baked into how Beina coaches you for this event.
Is Etape Loch Ness for you?
- Riders who want a famous setting without the traffic. Closed roads around Loch Ness make a big day feel like an event, not a fight with cars.
- Cyclists targeting one hard century, not an ultra. Three to five hours of honest effort, on fitness most amateurs can realistically build.
- Steady climbers who pace well. The day rewards riders who reach Glendoe with legs left, not those who burn matches on the south shore.
- Anyone chasing a chip time. It's timed on closed roads, with a King of the Mountain segment on Glendoe for the competitive.
Training plan for Etape Loch Ness
A training plan for Etape Loch Ness isn't a generic base build. Beina reads the event's exact demands, looks at your specific profile and the time you actually have, and maps a highly adapted plan to the start line.
- 106km of undulating Highland tarmac with about 1,372m of climbing, three to five hours of sustained effort.
- One genuine climb: 8.4km to Glendoe Summit, averaging 5 to 8 percent with ramps past 10.
- An exposed south shore, often into a headwind, that quietly drains the legs before the climb arrives.
- A short, vicious kick up Aldourie Brae 5km from the finish, when the legs are already gone.
- Sweet spot intervals as the backbone: 2x20 or 3x15min at 88 to 94 percent FTP.
- Threshold climb repeats, 3x10min at FTP on a hill, to build Glendoe-specific power.
- A 20min threshold effort on a gradient, simulating the 20 to 35min Glendoe climb.
- A weekend long hilly ride of 3 to 5 hours, with the climbs ridden at tempo.
- Built from your current fitness and the time you actually have
- Adapts every week as Beina learns how you respond
- Syncs your sessions straight to Garmin and Wahoo
- One clear next session, never a wall of spreadsheet
