the moose

MarkO and I will be riding the above on Sunday morning - anyone welcome to join.

Only thing is, we're heading off at 7.30am.

Hope to see some of you there. PM either of us for further details/phone numbers etc.

SiPie

The Red Route

Part-timers


No worries re the time..... it'll still be mobbed anyway

Get back to nature, you man-made trail riding ponces

the moose

I've got two hours and then have to head back to N Yorks. No time for mapreading. And anyway, I'm doing off-the-beaten-track stuff the day before.

Joining us then?

MarkO

Actually, it'll probably be a red/black/blue mix-up, I suspect, 'cos Spooky Wood's still not finished yet (and the boundary trail's too good not to ride). Doubt it'll be mobbed on a wet weekend in October, though. 7:30am shouldn't be so bad either, as with the clock-change my body will still be working on BST until the middle of the week.

SiPie - I've never seen you at GT ever, so why not make the effort. You're there so rarely it'll seem like natural trails to you.

MarkO

Actually, here's a thought - we could ride the secret trail (although I suspect it'll be too boggy). You ever ridden it SiPie? I'd love to see you show off your natural-trail riding skills by clearing it.

SiPie

Glentress just not my sort of thing mate..

more my kind of thing...I'm on the rocks!

I like to still think of MTB'ing as being a quiet chill out sport away from it all........I started on my Giant Boulder at 21 yrs old and at 35 I'm getting a bit passed seeing if I can still clear the treble and like to ponder my way around Traquair or Cardrona or make the drive down to the Lakes away from the rest of Glasgow that has driven down to Glentress

Enjoy your ride tomorrow and yes MarkO the pic was last year at the top of Cardrona

MarkO

SiPie, I've seen that pic before.

We could always do Traquair if you fancy it (it's 2 miles from my house instead of 5 ). Much more natural trails...

ozzy

I hope you rode up through the heather rather than that man-made track

There's nothing wrong with a blast down Glentress every now and again to blow the cobwebs away.

It's my Mum's birthday on Sunday, so don't think I'll make it down. + 07:30 start would be a shock to my system

MarkO

Absolutely. It has its place, just like natural trails. Glentress is <ronseal> - you'll rarely finish a ride there without a grin on your face. And, despite SiPie's claims it's not 'mobbed'. Sure, you might see a few peeps out there every now and again, but if there was nobody to overtake on the trails, where would the fun be? (only downside being now that I can't slag 'those poncy full-suspension bikers' for being overtaken by a hardtail now I'm on a full-bouncer myself... )

I reckon it'll be deserted at 7:30am anyway.

SiPie - I take it you'll be up for a ride at GT in Jan/Feb when it'll be empty?

SiPie

Whooooh Guys

Don't get me wrong, GT is a fantastic facility. I was down every Saturday/Sunday from around 2000 - 2002.

I'm off to New Zealand on Boxing Day to do the wedding thing, so I'll be back on the 31st January and I will meet up with you guys....

It's long overdue and although I moan about it, it ain't too bad a place to be

PS The Banana & Fruit cake in the Hub is almost worth the trip alone

MarkO

Have you ridden Traquair? Makes the black at GT look tame, much more natural and technical, and much quieter too ('cos most Glentressers who go there get the scare of their life and don't go back, and the hardcore guys are mostly on the DH course).

Nah, has to be the spicy fruit.

the moose

Bollocks, the carrot cake wins every time.

Oh, and the Innerleithen XC route DID scare the bejesus out of me. As MarkO says, much harder than the black at GT, esp the gnarly rock garden stuff. Mmm, wet muddy rocks .... it just doesn't get any better.

SiPie

Tentatively in SPD's on a rockhopper comp A1 around 6 years ago (presume you mean the section that crosses the fire road, just before you pop out right down at the bottom)

I'll happily admit to being **** scared. The bit where you dive down into the trees again after crossing the road, is just plain madness, and when you go to watch the pro's doing it, they just fly off it

I first rode the black at GT (around the time when it wasn't quite officially opened...so there were still large chunks of un-broken rocks, lying around) and I was expecting it to be technically more challenging, but you are spot on..... Innerleithen knocks bits of it...loads of sawed tree limbs that seemed to beg you to impail yourself on them

Noticed the nice (but tame) wee path up at Traquair at the top of Minch Moor, just to the right of the Southern Upland Way.......thought they were trying to discourage cyclists from Traquair (national DH course excluded) & Cardrona and leave these forests for walking & horses, then get all the cyclists to Glentress ??

unclebuck

Glentress = the Disneyland of mountain biking LOL

ozzy

It could be worse; could be the Eurodisney of mountain biking

MarkO

No, that's the DH course. Only a psycho would ride that on SPDs (although Emma Guy from the Hub won the Scottish DH nationals a few weeks ago riding a 223 with platform SPDs. ).

Far from it - it's now part of the 7Stanes. Shows how out-of-touch you are.

Traquair XC is a newly developed XC course incorporating the Minch Moore climb and with much more natural-style trails but also some excellent sections of fast bermed descending and technical rocky sections. The last part (Caddon Bank) is just awesome - like a massive rollercoaster, real Disneyland stuff. It's like Glentress, but they've learned a lot since the Red/Black were built, so it's very much less manufactured and it's also far less crowded (and loads more technical, so it should stay quieter too).

MooseRacer

Most of the DH'ers use SPD's, and I've ridden that course many a time in SPD's

super_si

i started biking again last week. I want to Dalby forest but i was propper fooked after 30mins. Didnt realise just how demanding it could be!

Philip Attaway

30 mins

the moose

Depending on the weather, I'll be doing either Dalby, Stokesley, or Guisborough tomorrow.

Unless it's really crap weather, in which case I'll be mostly eating pies.

Philip Attaway

I am going to Coed y Brenin for a long weekender November 19 for the first time if any one fancies meeting up?

I hear there are lots of corners

MarkO

Thought I might attempt another SN MTB meet, so I'll resurrect this thread again.

I'm probably going to be riding Traquair XC at about 9:30 this coming Saturday if anyone's interested in meeting up?

the moose

Love to, but I'll be building a table football set for Mrs Moose's birthday.

MarkO

Ah well, guess we won't have any of the Scoobynet slowcoaches holding us up then.

MarkO

Anyone fancy meeting up for a SN ride at Glentress/Traquair on the weekend of the 19th March?