Holiday at the Hydro - Part 2 - Innerleithen

Report

Black, blue, green, orange and red. Mix them all together and what do you get? A tailor made trip round Glentress.

 

Summary
Highlight: Going off-trail from Jenny's Brae back to the Hydro.
Lowlight: The 'groundhog day' pedal up Shieldgreen Kipps in the rain.
Ride Rating: 7/10

Stats
Date: 16/10/10
Pedaling time: ? hours ? minutes
Distance: ? kilometres
Max speed: ? miles/hour
Total ascent: ? metres
Puncture count: 1
Bike shop: The Hub, right at the trail head
Cafe: The Hub, next to the bike shop
Riders: DH, DI, RI, AS, FS and AW

Driving from Glasgow
Distance: 54 miles
Travel time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Directions: Google Maps

Holiday at the Hydro - Part 1 - Innerleithen

Report
This weekend saw a wee holiday from work on the Friday with the plan set for heading down to Peebles for a couple of days. A couple of days biking is good but add in the palatial surroundings of staying at the Hydro and we were all set for a cracking last weekend away for 2010.



All we had to do on the Friday was pedal our way up the cross country trail at Innerleithen. As soon as we left the car park in the rain we started going up and about two hours later we reached the wind-swept summit of Minch Moor. A lot of up, with some more up added for good measure, but at least the rain had stopped.



The climb does give you a great view over the Tweed Valley but it was a tad cold to hand around so it was on to the fun part of the ride which was grin-inducing from the off.

The twisting bermed descent across the moorland with some small drop-offs, all on a pretty much perfect surface, was over all too quickly. It's a few minutes of what mountain biking should be.

The remainder of the ride down was nice but not spectacular until you get the the last part of the ride at Cadon Bank. This is the Alton Towers of cycling. With one rollercoasting table top and bombhole after another, the sense of speed on this steep section is incredible. At two kilometres long, and taking you right to the car park, its the perfect end to a ride even if you are a bit numb at the bottom.

Tomorrow it's Glentress.

Summary

Highlight: The rollercoaster ride of Cadon Bank - the laat bit of the ride, but worth the wait.
Lowlight: The seemingly never-ending 2 hour climb in the drizzle to the summit of Minch Moor.
Summary: A lot of up but two really nice and distinctive pieces of down on the way back.
Ride Rating: 7/10

Stats
Date: 12/09/10
Pedaling time: 3 hours 30 minutes-ish
Distance: 18 kilometres
Max speed: ? miles/hour
Total ascent: 440 metres
Puncture count: 0
Bike shop: i-Cycles and Alpine Bikes in Innerleithen village
Cafe: Shops in Innerleithen village
Riders: DH and AS

Driving from Glasgow
Distance: 59 miles
Travel time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Directions: Google Maps

Dirt School

Today saw us head down to Peebles for a skills course at Glentress with Dirt School's Andy Barlow. The morning was spent at the Freeride area where we were introduced to pulling manuals, loading over jumps and getting take off on jumps.

After heading back down to the Hub for a spot of lunch, it was back up to the Freeride area to practice drop-offs and then a quick spin up to Spooky Woods to put it all together and get some tuition in cornering round the berms.

The full day of Andy's expert tuition and pactience at our obvous lack of talent flew by and the results were instant even if the techniques hadn't quite been mastered. Riding back to the Hub (for some of their excellent Banoffe pie) on the Blue trail was much faster, flowing and fun than it had been when we took the route only a few hours earlier.

A great day was had by all and we can't recommend Dirt School enough so book your course today!

Summary
Highlight: Instant improvements in pretty much every area.
Lowlight: Realising that you've been doing it wrong all these years.
Summary: Expert friendly review of existing skills and teaching of new ones.
Ride Rating: 10/10

Stats
Date: 11/06/10
Pedaling time: Course runs from 9.30am - 4.00pm
Distance: N/A
Max speed: N/A
Total ascent: N/A
Total descent: N/A
Puncture count: 2
Bike shop: The Hub on site
Cafe: The Hub on site
Riders: DH, RI, AS, FS and AW

Driving from Glasgow
Distance: 54 miles
Travel time: 1hr 30mins
Directions: Google Maps

Mabie

The Easter Expedition with Dirt School at Glentress got hit where it hurts after an unseasonal dump saw the trails covered in a foot of snow. After being forced to cancel at the eleventh hour a hurried change of plan was put in place to head to one of the Seven Stanes in the West. Travelling South of Dumfries we arrived at Mabie which was to be our home for the day.

The first proper ride of the year got under way in perfect Spring weather with a ride past the Ghost Stane and along the red graded Phoenix Trail but if you want to see everything that's on offer then take a look at the official trail map.

The route has some nice riding through mixed woodland and offers some great views of the surrounding countryside from the top of the climbs. A variety of fast flowing trails combined with a few rocks, roots, jumps and drop-offs made for a great 'classic' day out even if it didn't have some of the iconic parts found at some other rides.

The cycle was finished off with a very quick visit to the orange graded Mini X area. As usual we were rubbish and put to shame by the kids that were quite happily battering over the dirt jumps.

A cross country drive later and we were cleaned up at our Peebles accommodation (well Dirt School was off but the night out was on) and out for a curry. So at the end of the day, a nice wee Easter break was had by all.

Summary
Highlight: The twisting ride down the Descender Bender
Lowlight: The leg sapping Elevator
Summary: Nothing too strenuous for the year's first ride and a good mix of up, down and twisting singletrack.
Ride Rating: 6/10

Stats
Stats for this ride suffered a bit from the GPS logger battery running out so some are a bit of an estimate.
Date: 02/04/10
Pedaling time: 2 hrs?
Distance: 17km?
Max speed: ?
Total ascent: ?
Total descent: ?
Puncture count: 2
Bike shop: The Shed on site
Cafe: The Shed on site
Riders: DH, RI, AS, FS and AW

Driving from Glasgow
Distance: 82 miles
Travel time: 1hr 45mins
Directions: Google Maps

Easter Expedition

The Easter holiday has been booked and it'll be a wee trip to sunny Peebles. We've booked in with the gents at Dirt School to see if us old dogs can finally learn some new tricks at Glentress.

Should be a great day out, assuming all the snow is gone by then.

Kirroughtree

Finding myself down Dumfries way last week, I took the opportunity to pop along to one of the farthest from Glasgow 7 Stanes - Kirroughtree, the home of the infamous McMoab.

Now I had to hire a steed for this jaunt as I didnt take the Dawg with me, but there is a small if functional bike shop at the car park, where they offered to lend me a nice Orange 5, for £40. With my CCard in their mits and my feet on the pedals I headed off to the trails..


Route
I did the Black Craigs route, which is the longest available at the park, which took me around 4hrs. A very nice route, if a touch long for my lardy ass, 95% ST, with only a few dods of fireroad to suffer. McMoab proved far too tricky for me, more a walk over the rocks than a cycle, but a nice diversion from the normal track all the same. This route differed a bit from normal 7Stanes fair, not so many berms or tabletop jumps, more emphasis on single track. Some buggering big hills mind you.

Mr McMoab

Summary
Highlight: "The Twister"
Lowlight: My lack of fitness, I was ready to call it a day with 3km to go.
Summary: Another triumph for the forest commission - shame it is so far away!
Ride Rating: 8/10

Stats
Date: 7/10/09
Pedaling time: 4hrs
Distance: ?
Max speed: ?
Total ascent: ?
Total descent: ?
Puncture count: 0
Bike shop: At the car park (opens from 10am)
Cafe: Lots of choice in Newton Stewart and their is one on site too
Riders: DH

Driving from Glasgow
Distance: 86 miles
Travel time: 2.5hrs
Directions: Google Maps

Dalbeattie

Route
No GPS mapping was done for this route but you can always grab the official 7 Stanes trail map.

Review
Highlight: The Slab
Lowlight: No cafe at the end
Summary: Great variety of natural and man-made terrain with something for everyone
Ride Rating: 9/10

Here's some video of bottling the Slab and going over the Terrible Twins.

Stats

Date: 02/05/09

Pedaling time: ?

Distance: ?

Max speed: ?

Total ascent: ?

Total descent: ?

Puncture count: 2

Riders: SC, DH and AS

Driving from Glasgow

Distance: 95 miles

Travel time: 2 hours 10 mins

Directions: Multimap

Links

Dalbeattie on the Forestry Commision's 7 Stanes site

Kirroughtree

Route
Get the 7 Stanes trail map from here.

Review
Highlight: Huge slabs and ridges of exposed granite, linked by boulder causeways? It's got to be McMoab.
Lowlight: ?
Summary: As the Forestry Commision says, it's home to some of the best technical singletrack in the country including the legendary McMoab for which skill and nerve is mandatory.
Ride Rating: ?

Stats
Date: ?
Pedaling time: ?
Distance: ?
Max speed: ?
Total ascent: ?
Total descent: ?
Puncture count: ?
Riders: RI and SC

Driving from Glasgow
Distance: 111 miles
Travel time: 2 hours 38 mins
Directions: Multimap

Links
Here's what the 7 Stanes site has on Kirroughtree.