well i was out riding at glentress yesterday. i’ve been busy so it’s been a while since i’ve been round there. went round the red route and there has been a lot of trail maintainance going on. some of it good, some of it terrible!

some of my favourite features have been removed or paved over! when did this happen? fair enough some changes have been good, such as a new chicken route in “the pie run” to help you get up that short steep horrible rooty section just after the sharp left (while maintaining the original route if you want a challange)

but the incredable corner – that was just a mass of roots – just before the “m” shaped log pile you can ride over in “magic mushroom” has been completely filled in with gravel to make a smooth (boring!) corner, and the log pile has been removed! in other sections gravel has been added to cover trail features, roots have been removed, etc. are they trying to make glentress more boring?

don’t get me wrong, i was very greatful for the gravel they added to fill in braking bumps and general low-key trail maintainance, but why the rest of it? insurance? wanting to appeal to less skilled riders? wanting to get people round the hill faster? just seems to me that it would have been just as much effort for them to build chicken routes around the features rather than filling them in or removing them, that way keeping everyone happy.

of course, this is possibly all old news, it has been a couples of weeks since i’ve been there. what do you guys think?

Ah I remember that rooty corner before the log pile, was good fun 🙂 Especially doing it in pouring rain!

Seems fairly common to just pave over the good bits or replace them with raised “north shores” cack…

i am surprised they didnt consult you first.

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/glentress-dumbing-down

ah, thanks. i suspected someone might have ranted about this alreadcy, but i couldn’t find anything.

What a pity, couldn’t trail centres just add chicken runs to features that are a bit tricky for some?

I think a lot of weekenders would fall off on that rooty corner tbh, so maybe it’s a good idea to make the red a smoother trail from that pov.

It would be good if the polishing of the red was balanced with some new, harder, stuff on the black. The rocky step down into the trees on the way back in is the only thing added to the black that I can think of in years (not counting the up and down bits to the Buzzards nest).

* yawn *

I just want to go back to Glentress 🙁

I just want to go back to Glentress

That’s what I was thinking!

Let the moaners compare GT to the trails local to me and then they might be a little more grateful for what they have up there.

Seriously though, sounds like they’re turning “black” features into “red” ones – and also like they’ll re-erode in time.

That’s what I was thinking!

Let the moaners compare GT to the trails local to me and then they might be a little more grateful for what they have up there.

Yeh, i agree! Although the Peaks are still fun 🙄

“a lot of weekenders would fall off on that rooty corner tbh”

Isn’t that the point of obstacles? I’m perfectly happy that moderate trails have scary obstacles as long as their avoidable so you can opt in or out depending on confidence – gotta have something to work up to. Simply replacing tricky bits is a duff idea IMO. Maybe they buried the roots because it was killing the tree?

I’d love to visit the 7 Stanes but it’s a long way from here.

i really liked that corner, it made me smile if i made it round or fell off, it’s a pity but i’m sure once it’s ridden in new challenges will appear

I’m just shocked that the place is not called Glentrees. Only just spotted this important fact.

That rooty corner had realy erroded the last time I was there and defo needed some work on it, but not sure filling it all in is the best, but it may well erode again to be fun (it seemed to me to be rain damage rather than riding). And sorry to hear that the logs have gone 🙁

The corner was a giggle, but a bit of a mess really. Don’t have a strong objection to it being tidied-up. The logs were just rubbish. Misplaced and a bit pointless – no loss there.

you’re all such a bunch of ungreatful mungers – maintain the trails yourself if you dont like them

They should have just left it – there was already a chicken run.

hmmm………

I quite like the scaelectric type of trails at trail centers, if they were “natural” then there’d be no point.

If you want roots just go looking in just about every woodland in the country.

If you want rocks go to the Peaks

If you just want to ride at silly speeds down one way trails without having to wory about washing the bikes afterwards, go to a trail center.

I agree with smee 😮

I agree with Nina 😉

first time i went to glentress i had just bought my new rigid singlespeed bike and was getting back into biking after a break of 8 years (having not been very good previously) while simultaneously riding clipless pedals for the first time. now apart from falling of twice still clipped in while completely motionless going uphill and pushing one bit of uphill i rode the whole of the red with nae problems. bludy hell i thought i was a riding god! i think glentress is liked by a lot of people because it is flattering and that rooty mess certainly wasnt flattering me the last time i did it. i did however think it was one of the most interesting parts of the red and they should have been kept, maybe toned down a little, but kept it.

anyway it’ll wear back down again and like people said if you want to spend all day sliding sideways on roots then go to drumlanrig. you should hear what rik has to say about the seven stanes.

drumlanrig’s no that rooty 😕

Magic Mushroom was falling to pieces in many places. It was an old bit of trail, it sees a lot of use (both the red and black go along it) and the ground under it is pretty wet. After the damage it took over the winter the FC decided to do a lot of maintenance to it. Given my experience with the Pie Run I expect that most if not all of the roots covered over during any resurfacing work will start to show through in not too long.

Every time a section of the red at Glentress gets resurfaced there are moans about it being dumbed-down but after a few months the trail wears in and it’s usually much like it once was – albeit hopefully with fewer braking bumps (or in the case of the cartwheel corner without the big wheel trap/hole just at the exit)…

There never was a built chicken run around the cartwheel corner on Magic Mushroom, though as the corner itself got more and more eroded an unofficial chicken run or two started to appear. Unofficial chicken runs and straight lines unfortunately hasten the erosion of the main trail where they leave and join it so are not good ideas. Presumably the FC reckoned that the cartwheel corner should be an achievable obstacle for most riders so decided to rebuild it in that manner rather than adding a chicken run to something that was getting progressively nastier. As I said, be patient and I’m sure the roots will begin to show soon.

And please folks, consider that maybe, just maybe, at least one or two people who work for the FC at Glentress are actually really keen bikers and know a thing or two about (re)building trails. 🙂

GW – rootier than GT perhaps, no?

Rode Drumlanrig at the weekend and it was fantastic; nice technical, twisty singletrack in some beautiful forests! Add to that the quiet trails, glorious sunshine and a warm welcome from Rik and I’ll be going back, even when it’s £4 to park up and ride!

drumlanrig’s no that rooty

maybe not, i have limited experience and it was pouring wet when i went there and my grips fell off so everything was a bit enhanced!

Drumlanrig isn’t overly rooty, but it is a hell of a good place to go and learn to ride roots.

will – Member

That’s what I was thinking!

Let the moaners compare GT to the trails local to me and then they might be a little more grateful for what they have up there.

Yeh, i agree! Although the Peaks are still fun

Peaks kick ass.

Drumlanrig – hmmm.. sorry, I just don’t think it’s very rooty at all really unless you’re only used to trail centres, but worse than that, all Drumlanrig’s corners are built practically the same – 1 lap feels like groundhog day.

Smee – why on earth would you go to Drumlanrig to learn to ride roots when you live where you do?