Bithdays and Berms

The big 4-0 arrived for for one of The Rusty Chain today so a day at Glentress seemed a fitting way to spend it. With not a cloud in the sky and the sun beating down (yes really), seven hours out on the dusty trails was a great way to get the first visits to the 7stanes this year under our belts.

A quick coffee at The Hub and then it was a huff and puff up from the Trailhead to Buzzard's Nest Car Park, and then onto the Red Route and up, up, up to the top of Spooky Wood for some birthday flapjack in the sun. To be honest we could have quite happily sat taking in the views and topping up the tans for a few hours but then again the Spooky Wood Descent was literally just round the corner.

Being a bit rusty Spooky Woods was left behind in no record breaking times and it was down the Red Route and back to the Hub for lunch.

The afternoon saw a trip to the Freeride Park and included a ride down Glentress' latest addition, Berm Baby Berm. It's only been open a week and not yet marked on the official trail map but you find it just after you cycle past the North edge of the Freeride Park. As the Forestry Commission put it this new bit of the Blue Route is "700m of bermy, flowy, occasionally jumpy and pumpy singletrack to take you from the exit of Blue Velvet back to the Buzzards Nest carpark. It replaces the forest road descent and will hopefully put a smile on your face."

It was nice and fast flowing, with a surface that was more like a skateboard park than a forest trail but then again there can't be many that have riden it before we did. Nice to see those Trail Fairies have done Glentress proud once more!

Riders: DH (age 39) and AS (age 40)

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

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.