Was there yesterday and a few sections of the red seem to have become mysteriously easier in the last couple of weeks (and it definitely isn’t due to my skill level suddenly improving). The big roots in the middle of the Pie Run (which I usually mess up) have been packed with earth so that they are now easily rollable and the big rooty corner before the log pile in Magic Mushroom has been completely buried so there are no roots there at all. A few other sections are looking suspiciously smooth, too. I understand that the trails need to be maintained and that there’s a need to attract riders of all abilities, bus surely the point of having some slightly trickier bits is to help improve rider’s skill level. It’s all starting to look a bit like Spooky Woods, which is one of the less interesting sections.
Don’t really know what the point of that was, but thought I’d get it off my chest.

bus surely the point of having some slightly trickier bits is to help improve rider’s skill level

or for fun maybe?

I haven’t seen the bits you mention so can’t comment specifically but I’m not particularly interested in improving my skills [or lack of]

And the black is getting busier. Agree it does kinda change the grading, skill level on red is now mostly blue, it may keep it’s red status because it is longish(?). Mind you lots of people will love it because it will be faster and not as scary.

Glad the wether is drying, time to get off the kitty litter and onto natural. GT is turning into a starter level trail centre, which is great for getting people into the sport/off their arses but will be hated by the gnarlmeisters.

i used to quite like those roots on the pie run, i felt cheated to see them filled in/covered over

They will soon erode again….

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/gt-oi-whos-been-fiddling-with-the-pie-run

Discussed there.

LOL at “gnarlmeisters”! I don’t think a gnarlmeister would be on the red at GT anyway, would they??

Root lust? Come and ride Blairadam or Pitmedden in Fife. More roots than you can shake a stick at.

They will soon erode again….

Darn beat me to it

Aye. It’s called trail maintenance and it’s apparently required when there are thoosands of bikes using the same wee bit of trail over and over again. Given the traffic, it’ll soon “wear in”. In the meantime, try riding somewhere else?

i wonder if the sheer volume of less skilled traffic and the FC health and safety has made of a dumbing down of a few tech sections. The trails all have to be maintained and iam sure they will wear bed in well. It has to be said – the trail-faries and Andy Wardman do a fantastic job at tress.

Drumlanrig is worth a trip if your a root junkie.

I don’t see it as dumbing down at all – merely repair and maintenance. some sections had ( and still have) braking bumps that go right thru the surface – this will / would quickly rip the trail apart so will need repair.

Black getting busier ? I would dispute that – certainly as regards the climb. I was there at 11am saturday and the car park was HOACHING fullest I have ever seen it had to park in the Red Squirrel. Did not pass a single rider on the climb, which is unusual, although passed a fair few on the descent (20 maybe).

There was some mtb’ing on TV on the Extreme sports channel over saturday. Perhaps why it was a bit busier on Sunday?

We left the carpark at about 1020 and we passed one group on the climb to the hut and met at least two others. Even met a pair and a single as i was fixing my puncture on deliverance.

Och well maybe I just hit a lonely patch on the black climb. Its still the best bet on a busy saturday at Glentress !

maybe you were over biked….

tra la la

*skips away*

The only reason that those trails were like that in the first place was because of bad erosion. I remember riding the places you mentioned when they opened and they were smooth with no roots exposed. They are just rebuilding them to there former states. The forestry commission does have to obey health and safety so you cant blame them if they want to fix trails and accident blackspots (I don’t know how many times I’ve seem someone in a heap at what was the rooty section of magic mushroom ). Also the new freeride hardly seem like a dumbing down (although they are temporarily closed for review). Oh and the ewok viliage was ripped down, but that was bacause sections of it had fallen down recently due to being rotten (and they are going to be building a replacement for it somewhere).

Finally does anyone know how the guy that crashed at the top of spooky woods on sunday is getting on- he looked in a bad way, knocked out and had bad cuts to his head.

the big rooty corner before the log pile in Magic Mushroom

Funnily enough, my mate fell off just before that section when I was last there. He was fine but a bit shakey, so we stopped there for a sandwich. We must have watched a couple of dozen folk negotiate those roots and at least half of them came off – some of them badly.

Certainly comparing it to the other Stanes red it does seem less technical – I enjoyed it more because it was faster and less techy but my other half said he found it a bit sanitised.

i was riding on saturday was a bit miffed at why the log pile on mushroom pie had been removed. i have ridden it every single time i have been on this trail and was a bit surprised to come around the corner to find it “missing”.
Quite a few features on double X and in the freeride area have also been blocked off. I guess this is probably due to health and safety but still, each feature had an easy-out which gives both the beginner and experienced rider something fun to do!
On the pie run i quite like the repairs that have been done as i always seemed to be in the wrong gear and end up messing up the rooty uphill part.

The ground that Magic Mushroom runs through is very wet. The trail there got pretty badly mangled over the winter so it became necessary to do quite a lot of maintenance. Given the expense and effort that rebuilding trails requires it’s not surprising that the FC decided to do a thorough job.

I expect that the cartwheel corner will wear in soon enough and its roots will reappear but it had obviously become too eroded for most riders (I of course cannot comment about the abilities of Glentress Gods such as yourselves). That was plainly obvious from the number of shortcuts that had started to appear near it.

I think we perhaps should also consider that these red graded trails were graded red when they were built, not after several years of hard use and erosion. Perhaps they’re not being dumbed-down to a sub-red grade but are being brought back to what red grade was originally considered to be?

Quite a few features on double X and in the freeride area have also been blocked off

🙁 Double X is probably my fave part of the black route. Ah well…

I believe that Double X will get rebuilt. Something (or some things) will replace that Ewok Village but they may well not go where the Village was, as that area is scheduled for felling/clearing.