Viewing 34 posts - 1 through 34 (of 34 total)
  • Glentress = Amazing week!
  • LMT
    Free Member

    First time in Glentress with OH last week, we stayed at Craiguart, i can’t remember who recommened this place. But it was spot on, Really impressive views of the landscape, right on the doorstep of the trails. Friendly host, great breakfast and everything a biker needs be it mtb or road, was that happy with the everything we booked another week for september.

    Trails? well the blue isn’t really a blue, OH struggled with the climbs and it really showed her weakness in climbing, the downhill stuff i would say half blue/red but a great laugh. I rode spooky wood, which was just an amazing piece of trail. Still buzzing was a great week on the bike. Was asked to fill in a questionaire at the cafe one day about developments, i had to say to the guy handing it out that i couldn’t fault it as it was such a great place to go play bikes as my OH puts it.

    Will post some pictures when i get chance.

    smell_it
    Free Member

    You certainly sound like you are still buzzing. Get the pic’s up 🙂

    You are prepared for the usual suspects to point out that you didn’t really have fun and argue about your trail analysis. Oh yeah, highlighting the oh’s climbing abilities may make you a racist, sexist, homophobic, left wing, Tory, 😉 at least you didn’t mention the coffee at the cafe.

    LMT
    Free Member

    Funny you mention the cafe, we had macaroni cheese on wednesday and tbh it was great quality, on saturday it was awful just bland.

    OH accepted she couldn’t climb well, we got back in the early hours this morning, first thing she did was go onto wiggle and ordered some mtb slicks. Im under instructions to dig her old mtb out of retirement build it back up and she is going to start cycling to work its a big hill climb there, but downhill coming home.

    At home looking for a biking buzz, hhmmm towpaths is all thats on offer.

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    jonba
    Free Member

    Blues vary, from what I remember the on blue at Kielder has some ridiculous climbs. You do get a good reward at GT though which is what makes all the trails up there so good.

    I find that when I too my wife the difference in the grade of the blue is speed. If you go fast and take the jumps then it is easily the same as a red for other places.

    What we really need is a better system. Blue,red,black doesn’t cut it. You can get a red/black which is just hilly and long (Kielder) through to one which is short and very difficult (Dalbeattie). They should just grade the technical aspects and put in numbers for distance and height gain.

    Still glad you enjoyed it. Not been since October. I’m waiting for my bike to be fixed and I have a day planned in mid June.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    FWIW GT’s blue is pretty much textbook blue, but trail grades are messy as there’s so much variation, no equivalence from one place to the next really. Bit of a shame.

    Brilliant though isn’t it- I think we get a wee bit blase about it but I’ve hardly ever had a bad ride at GT, my first trail centre ride and my last and about a million inbetween 😉

    cazum
    Free Member

    i didn’t enjoy my 1st time at GT a month or so back! (was guided to the black! a black thats only a bloody black due to its length and ridiculous amount of climb to descend ratio.

    next time i go only red/berm baby berm/ freeride and the very last section of black will be getting done.

    i found the cafe to be very expensive for not great quality but again that may have been an off day….

    its not put me off trying again but just the black run! lol

    on the other hand 2 weeks ago at laggan wolftraxx was the best day’s riding i have ever had! climb to decend ratio about perfect and 1 section of climb that i actually enjoyed (a first for everything!)

    am sure there are people out there that actually enjoy the whole black at GT but it wasn’t for me 🙂

    mindmap3
    Free Member

    LMT; glad you enjoyed it. We’ve got a week in Peebles in a few weeks and I can’t wait. The other half isn’t much of a cyclist so I may have to do a few early morning rides whilst she sleeps. She can get round Cannock ok but isn’t that confident, but she’s getting more used to it.

    RobHilton
    Free Member

    ridiculous amount of climb to descend ratio

    And there was me thinking that’d be 1:1 if you start and end at the same point…

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Rob Hilton – Member

    And there was me thinking that’d be 1:1 if you start and end at the same point…

    Quite a lot of GT black is spent riding up a down escalator.

    RobHilton
    Free Member

    Quite a lot of GT black is spent riding up a down escalator.

    :mrgreen:

    Warning to pussies lazy mamils: Avoid GT black as it requires putting in some effort.

    LMT
    Free Member

    mindmap3: my OH is pretty much the same, she handled CYB blue and the new trail at FOD which she loved, she really struggled at Cannock not as friendly as it used to be, but i keep trying.

    You can park a bit futher up the hill at GT next to the Go Ape, or even futher up but means you have to climb to get back to the car. Not always a bad thing, i like a good climb.

    mactheknife
    Full Member

    Rob Hilton – Member

    Quite a lot of GT black is spent riding up a down escalator.

    Warning to pussies lazy mamils: Avoid GT black as it requires putting in some effort.

    Probably the only trail i have not enjoyed. So much of a slog for hardly any payoff.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    I think it’s more about value- smiles per mile. The black’s climbing can feel a bit much for the return, compared to the red (especially since the bits at the end can be rolled into the red route) I really like it but it’s a different sort of ride- you need to put a fair amount in to get much back out.

    yunki
    Free Member

    Oh yeah, highlighting the oh’s climbing abilities may make you a racist, sexist, homophobic, left wing, Tory

    FWIW, I was going pull him up for being in the closet and transposing his insecurities onto his ‘beard’..

    stevious
    Full Member

    I see the black as one of GTs strengths. Sometimes riding up a hill is its own reward.

    captaintomo
    Free Member

    LMT- Were you the guy chasing me down the last section of the red route and had a chat to at the end? It could be because he had a wife, had an English accent and was proper lovin in.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    Glentress blue is ace. I don’t think I’ve ever grinned as much on a trail as I have flying down Electric Blue.

    LMT
    Free Member

    Might of been, was on a speshi camber, OH on Canyon Nerve.

    I know when i left the OH at buzzards nest car park while i went to do spooky wood she had a quite a group at her table when i got back, hardly missed me at all.

    bigbadbob
    Free Member

    Please please please, if anybody is staying in the Peebles area for a few days, please try Glentress, it is a great centre, BUT PLEASE try Innerleithen Red Route, you will get so much more out of the ride – technically and physically than at Glentress. They are both great routes. Please try them both. Once you have done Innerleithen, you will know why.

    Bushwacked
    Free Member

    I love GT – great place.

    If you think Spooky wood is great try Hamsterley’s Section 13

    LMT
    Free Member

    Planning on doing inners on my next trip up, well thats the plan!

    cazum
    Free Member

    man! i must be lazy to not enjoy climbing about what say 18km of a about 27km circuit…. the 1st part of the black is about 14km of climb! just to reach the top then down a bit climb down a bit climb and so on! not really my cup of tea tbh

    you have to climb to earn the gravity tolkens but once earned i want to make sure am getting my moneys worth! been told the red is much better!

    LOVED LAGGAN! the black is a proper black VERY techie!

    Diane
    Free Member

    Mindmap 3 – take your OH to the top car park and head off for the green – lovely and flowing – not technical but great fun!

    jonba
    Free Member

    I love the comments about GT black. I always thought the ratio of climbing to descent was pretty constant. FWIW I love it. We normally try and combine the black and red into a nice size loop. Either on their own is pretty short.

    Innerliethen is really good as well but again to go and only do the red is a shame as it is so short.

    As I drive 2+ hours to get there I generally try and mix and match and do as much as possible. A red black GT combo and Innerliethen should be doable for most people who are reasonably fit.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    I find inners red relatively uninspiring, it just lacks a bit of variety and it seems to throw away quite a lot of its gravity on fairly featureless high speed trail. Gravel and berms and jumps and steps. The good stuff is good though, and the black is class. And it has a pretty interesting climb which is always good.

    But if you get into the offmap stuff and the dh trails it’s an incredible place to ride, you could spend days there and barely cross your tracks or touch the trailcentre routes other than the climbs. Mint. I think most folks avoid the downhill as it’s “not for us” but there’s a huge amount of first class riding in there for a black-route type rider on a decent trailbike.

    fasthaggis
    Full Member

    FWIW I love it. We normally try and combine the black and red into a nice size loop.

    Yup ,we always loop them up.

    Must be an XC thing 😉

    coogan
    Free Member

    The DH trails at Innerleithen are ace, not all mega jumps and doubles, some fantastic tight and twisty trails. The other DH stuff over the river is bloody fantastic too. Steep!

    Spaceman
    Free Member

    I was up GT today with my other half who is very inexperienced/nervous on the downhills, rode the blue which I have never ridden in its entirity before, she loved it, just right for her skill level but like someone said above if you go faster it gets more interesting and offers something for the more experienced rider.

    Betty blue is a great bit of trail which I had never ridden before (apart from the very bottom bit where the secret trail joins it) when doing the red now I think I’ll occasionally detour onto this trail at the bottom of Spooky Wood instead of going down the next red section, I’d recommend it.

    The cafe is poor imo, had lunch there today and it was expensive and a bit meh really, food not great. coffee is far better than when it first opened tho.

    Innerleithen has to be on the to do list for anyone coming to the tweed valley for a weekend, the red is fantastic. Caberston is the best riding in the area mind!

    jonba
    Free Member

    Must be an XC thing

    I think XC is the new riding bikes without complaining when the path goes up not down 😉

    If you are fit enough you can sprint up the ups so they feel as exciting as the downs 😉 I still maintain that the black has as much down as up.

    franksinatra
    Full Member

    I find inners red relatively uninspiring, it just lacks a bit of variety and it seems to throw away quite a lot of its gravity on fairly featureless high speed trail.

    Really? I guess it shows how different people can view the same trail so differently.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    climb at laggans a bit crap though…. at least glentress and inners have interesting climbs.

    mindmap3
    Free Member

    LMT; I’m planning in popping down to the FOD in the next few weeks. Hopi g that she’ll enjoy that a bit more than Cannock which does seem to be attracting a few bell ends these days. I’ve been riding there a while and people were pretty friendly, now it just seems to be full of people on a mission not giving a monkey’s about beginners etc.

    Diane; thanks for the tip. She quite enjoys it but does get put off by people riding super close to her or anything that looks a bit scary. Hopefully a few good lie trails will be the way forward.

    Inners is definitely on my list whilst I’m up there. I can’t wait I’m really looking forward to our time up there.

    LMT
    Free Member

    Yep cannock is a bit like that most weekends, luckily i get a day off in the week and tend to go midweek when its alot quieter and much more fun, and less knobs about!

    FOD is good but gets stupidly busy if there is a hint of sun in the sky, great trail though.

    Ive just converted my OH old mtb, into a hybrid for her, its an old giant xtx ex, great bike but she perfers her canyon now. Just waiting for the new slick tyres in the post.

    the_lecht_rocks
    Full Member

    how was the weather – nowt like GT when its sunny and loose 🙂

Viewing 34 posts - 1 through 34 (of 34 total)

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