Anyone fancy a few days of voluntary trailbuilding, in the beautiful Scottish countryside, with free accomodation?
Have a gander: http://www.comriecroftbikes.co.uk/index.php?id=23
Theres already some trails at Comrie Croft well worth a ride, and you could help build some more - free hostel or camping!
I was thinking of heading up there on Saturday, is it any good? I imagine from the description its similar in size to Carron Valley, get round it in an hour?
Well I Like it - but then I had a bit of a hand in building it! Its similar in size to CV, about an hour round although you could easily spend two if you do the top loops a couple of times. Id say it has a much more natural feel than Carron Valley, a bit more old school with some real mud too.
Supposed to be sunny on Saturday too!
Did their 'Hairy Coo' race last year, and thought the trail was great, short lap, around 30 - 35 mins I think, but quite technical for my then fledgling skills - dying to get back up now I've more experience, e.g. lowering seatposts! Easily enough entertainment for frequent 1/2 day visits. A mate who's currently leading the Masters section of SXC had a weekend there last easter and thought it was 'awesome'. Believe the facilities aren't yet too brilliant for 'day-visit' riders, more for weekenders staying there, so take a few provisions. Great un-sung centre.
Well I tried Comrie Croft this weekend and all I can say is... red graded my arse!!! Maybe I am out of practice but some of the sections were way beyond my capabilities and spent most of my time pushing my bike up/down sections. I regularly visit the red at Glentress, carron valley and the red/black at Laggan but found Comrie a little too much for me on my XC hardtail, more suited to a full suss I think? My GF also fell off a number of times and is black and blue.
ah a real red then ...
Carron Valley trails are definitely should not be classified as red, with the exception of a 4 meter section of Eas Dubh at the kelpies staircase.
like all these gradings - you have to make a call based on weather, riding skills, hungoverness etc. A green can easily be a red when everything goes wrong and a black can be red when the conditions are good.
we should use the ski system of green, blue, red, black where trails can move one grade depending on conditions.
>we should use the ski system of green, blue, red, black where trails can move one grade depending on conditions. <
Eh? When did skiing start doing this then?
From the Comrie Croft website
The trails are an expanding mix of existing forest roads and hand built, dedicated singletrack which combine to give you an exhilarating ride.
All the trails are graded red with some black sections
describes it pretty accurately I would have thought - excellent fun in my view tho I woulldn't send my wife round it. The guys will give hints on lots of other stuff in the area from easy trails to full day epics so you can spend an hour or so there and then go and do some exploration to make it worth the trip.
A little gem in wonderful Perthshire scenery 
Comrie Croft was THE place to teach me that some features are better done off the bike, depending on your experience. I wouldn't put it on a par with, say, Laggan (black) but there are some good technical features.
Organic355 - sorry you didn't have a better time - think you'll go back? I Think it's one of those 'tame the beast' places; check out the 'Hairy Coo' website - the 'fun' race last year was just that (even with about 6 endo-style offs on the first lap! Road riders eh? :oops:)
also, if you want to make a weekend out of it - there is great riding in pretty much every direction from Comrie, St Fillans and Crieff.
great distillery at Glenturret as well, there is a trail at the back of Warehouse 1 up to The Knock that is covered in singletrack with some longer rides out the other end of the forest towards Monzie castle (there's a quarry with jumps there!) and further hill riding.
[quotesorry you didn't have a better time - think you'll go back?[/quote]
Not sure, I prefer my MTBing a bit more fast an flowing, maybe if I get more confidence/skill.
Dont get me wrong we had a good day, but it was a lot more technical than I expected.
Even the water crossing which I was looking forward too was a struggle:
Really steep downhill (over back of seat), rocky approach, then a 2ft drop into a fairly deep river. Maybe if you had enough speed you would launch off the rock and clear most of the river. As I was on the brakes on the steep I didnt have enough speed and had to bottle it when I saw how deep the water was. it was this or over the handlebars in the river!.
I should go back and give it another try, I thought Laggan was beyond me the 1st time, but went round again and loved it. Things are different when you know whats coming/what to expect!.
Must get up there again soon - good to have a more challenging course around.. Sounds like you enjoyed it in an envelope-pushing way O355.
I'm sure there was another topic here somewhere.... Oh yes, trailbuilding. Bollox, I'm at a wedding in Skye the June weekend - just have to take the bike along. August it is then.
Good to see so many of you are gettin out here and giving our trail a shot, and its very interesting to hear your feedback
In the coming months we are having a few trailbuilding sessions to create some easier lines to avoid some of the blacker stuff, so that should make the course a bit more accessible for more abilities.
In the watersplashes defence, it can be a bit of an optical illusion, it is well paved right through, so you can just roll it and pedal out the other side, but it does look a little scary first time out.
Its difficult to grade the trail as a whole entity, given the nature of the variety of stuff there, so whenever your up, keep popping in to let folk at Comrie Croft know what you think and we'll keep trying to adddress the issues.
Calling Cocodemer:
Is the build still happening from this weekend - had an e-mail from Colin McPhail a while ago but nowt since...?
Cheers.
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