Do you do the two sections after Zorro? Immediately after Zorro spits you out on the fireroad, head up about 25 feet then cut left into lovely natural steep switchbacks. Drop onto the fireroad, slight up hill sprint then a sharp right at the corner into some proper natural old school xc stuff. Lovely.

Yeah, the middle bit is nice, the lower can be when it doesn’t have a river running down it!

“Sliced the bugger right into the rough on the 9th today Nigel”
“Oh.. bad luck! I only play out to the 7th, then play 13-18th so I can get back to the clubhouse for a quick couple before she has dinner on the table”
“haw haw haw”

I’m heading there tomorrow & thinking of doing the black too – I usually start off on zoom or bust then back round the red missing out the bottom end of it & back up again to top of spooky woods then back down the blue via the jump park bit – think I stumbled (literally) down broon troot once with a mate of mine who’s more familiar with the place but personally i’m not clued up enough on the unofficial trails to knock out a decent day of it all… not been round the black for years & last time I was on a Santa Cruz Chameleon running a 34 ring up front with a 12-25 at the back on 2″ tyres, fun at the time but a bit of a slog & I could barely stand up straight the next day.

I’ll be going solo on an old all black Heckler with a bright green helmet – although I can usually be heard swearing through bursts of heavy breathing from afar before anyone actually sees me…

What physical barriers have they put in to close the new bit of broot troot? I’m not a fan of the new bit anyway, it cuts the trail much shorter and it’s too easy. The proper old way round, including the tricky woodwork and divots, was the best.

The Xs that gave XX its name, at the top. Sadly pretty much crumbled into dust.

I guess fundamentally I don’t know what an X is in terms of a trail feature 😆

What physical barriers have they put in to close the new bit of broot troot? I’m not a fan of the new bit anyway, it cuts the trail much shorter and it’s too easy. The proper old way round, including the tricky woodwork and divots, was the best.

There was some orange mesh, didn’t notice if it is still there the other day, but there are lots of trees dragged over it too regardless. If it’s too easy you aren’t going fast enough 😀

BoardinBob – Member
you lose a lot of height for not much cornering fun #moanduro
Do you do the two sections after Zorro? Immediately after Zorro spits you out on the fireroad, head up about 25 feet then cut left into lovely natural steep switchbacks. Drop onto the fireroad, slight up hill sprint then a sharp right at the corner into some proper natural old school xc stuff. Lovely.

Mark of Zorro is the bit above the fire road. Not sure if there’s an “official” name for the hand cut bit after it but a few friends and I call it Brake Test.

glasgowdan – Member
What physical barriers have they put in to close the new bit of broot troot? I’m not a fan of the new bit anyway, it cuts the trail much shorter and it’s too easy. The proper old way round, including the tricky woodwork and divots, was the best.

Apparently it’s blocked with “post and rail fence and dead trees over full length of line”. The old way round hasn’t existed since they put the new fire road down that bisects the Redemption climb! The current finish to Broon Troot was put in as a replacement by the Trailfairies several years ago.

The woodwork got removed from Broon Troot as (a) it was rotten and (b) it was a massive drain on maintenance and inspection resources. Removing it means that the time that had to be spent on keeping an eye on Broon Troot could be spread between it and other interesting trails such as the Glorious Five Year Plan and B Side.

Everyone rode round the woodwork anyway! One of the original corners at the top of broon troot has almost disappeared too, a 90 right with a root in it, the short cut line which cuts it out is now the main line. Someone has been going through a different short cut further down too, either intentionally or accidentally, they’d knocked a load of cut brash onto the main trail, I stopped and cleared it, TOTALLY ruined my strava time. Might sue.

I like the Black too, feels a little more exposed than the manicured stuff. Last time I was there, a Sunday early September, I arrived just before 9 and had to queue for 10 mins for a car park ticket. Not really what I want on a day’s mountain biking.

Well, we did the blue on Friday evening in the dark, the black on Saturday and the red plus some other bits and bobs today. All of it perfectly good fun, apart from some of those climbs. Great curry in the Prince of India.

I did the black on Saturday too – really enjoyed it although I had forgotten how punishing some of the climbs are, it certainly feels like more than 17 miles although 3700 feet of climbing in that distance on a heavy-ish bike would explain why my legs were cramping up by the time I got back to the car… well, that & lack of fitness…. was gonna go round the blue for a leisurely spin afterwards but managed to lose my front wheel heading down the last section of Falla Brae & valiantly broke my fall with my knee to protect the bike from scuffage which curtailed that plan.

Seen a few hints of these magical secret trails everyone speaks of – as I was getting to the mast there were 3 men & dog heading down from there towards a gap in the trees on the last section of the climb, then another gap at the top bit of the boundary trail and another exit further round deliverance – from the mast down to redemption is a great section of trail so I dunno if I’d take a detour instead of doing that… need to wait for this knee to return to its original size & shape before that’ll be an issue though 😆

They’re brutal. I had to push on a few bits, but walking around there is pleasant enough! There wasn’t really any of it I didn’t like, but enjoyed bits like Double X, the Bitch and the Pie Run a little bit more than the swoopy stuff.