Righty, seeing as I’m probably moving back down south in September this is probbaly my last free weekend to do what i like and the only time I’ll get to do Scotland without a flight to Spain being quicker. Just about to sling the Pitch and a change of underwear in the back of the car and head north across the border under the cover of darkness.

Vague plan:

Sleep in a layby tonight

GT Black tomorrow morning
GT Blue in the afternoon (possibly red instead depending on legs).

Sleep in a SYHA if there’s room tomorrow night, if not then shower at GT and head back up the hill for a Bivi. Does anyone know anywhere relatively safe to leave the car?

Sunday:
No idea, if I do the Red tomorrow afternoon then it’ll be the blue before breakfast, otherwise it’s a morning on the Red.

Which leaves me the afternoon at least. What to ride somewhere around the A68? Should probably be a trail center as I’ll be on my own and liable to crash!

Unless anyone happens to be doing a group ride and doesn’t mind one other tagging along?

I am out for the weekend.
You would be welcome to use the house instead of having to kip in a layby etc.

Failing that, Jimmy and I are off to Kirroughtree and Mabie including camp(ing) night. You would be welcome to fill the gap in the 3 man tent.

Innerleithen????

Innerleithen????

Is the most likely contender, not sure why I didn’t think of it!

Bivi up gypsies glen for nice dawn/downill?

2nd vote for Innerleithen, there’s a bothy about 300m off the climb as it crosses the southern upland way.

Gypsy Glen also a good shout, bivvy in the heather just off the top.

The B709 provides some nice spots to bivy close to the road and running cleanish water. I’d ride at Inners the day after.

Cheers for the tips, I’ve thrown the bivi bag, tarp, hammock in the back to provide options 🙂

If anyone sees a guy on a green pitch with lyriks, reverb and stupidly wide bars looking (not) very gnarr, say hi and if I’m still carrying the stove I’ll brew up some tea!

I’m back!

Slept in GT car park Friday ‘night’, well from 3am to about 6 when the sun came up, then drove into innerleithen in search of bacon eggs sausages and milk. Co-Op bacon is rank!

Saturday morning did the Black run, which is pretty cool, but not the most inspiring (or black?) of trails, there’s really good bits, but they did seem to be bits rather than whole trails, just lacked something, neither fast nor technical enough to be either and not going the Stainburn way and making is completely unique to the geology/landscape.

Dossed about in the car park for a few hours cooking a leisurely lunch on the trangia, reading Dirt and generally waiting for the heat of the day to pass. Then went up and did the red. Now that’s a fun trail. Whereas the black seemed to be lacking in any kind of coherent theme this ones like having a mate who’s just that little bit faster than you riding 6″ off your rear wheel. This is what I like about trail centers, apologetically man made, berms so deep the lip is vertical and however fast you run into them you’ll just come out the other end grinning, and even faster!

Draped the tarp over a fence Staurday night and slept like a log.

Sunday rode up the red as far as Betty blue then followed that down again. Again, like the red it’s apologetically man made and brilliant as a result. Only 2 things wrong with it, the motorway section (why?) , and the bridge into the start of a section before the car park (berm baby berm?), yea, lipped my handlebar trying to take it as a flying start and miss the groups chatting at the entrance which ended with me clouting my elbow into the opposite side of the bridge, quite painfull and will teach me not to jump ques!!

Then headed over to Innerleithen. the person who designed that trail is either a masochist or a genius, my legs still aren’t sure which! The climb from the start just never seemed to stop, maybe it was the 75km already in my legs, but those rock steps on the climb almost had me in a tantrum! Redeemed itself with the ladder drop halfway up, then the fireroad gives the illusion of progress after looking at the map for what seems like an hour and barely moving suddenly you’re at the junction and deciding “yes, I really do want to do more climbing and go right to the top!” and it’s well worth it, that decent has got to rank amongst my favorite bit’s of trail anywhere, utterly, utterly bonkers fast, big berms, flat turns, drop offs, table tops. Did the deigned deliberately make the climb absolute hell for the first mile to dissuade people from riding ‘his’ trail? Seems like it.

Then there’s Caddon bank. Table tops the size of houses (or at least HGV lorries sideways). Riding it blind I wasn’t jumping many of the big ones, and being my luck the few small ones seemed to have cliff’s as downslopes which lead to some brown trouser moments! Seemed to be punctures left right and center from the guys on the uplifts. I reckon I could have gone into business selling tubes and CO2!

All in all I’ve gone from being slightly trail center sceptical (I’ll got to Dalby if everything locals too wet to be rideable, and Stainburns good but very short) to being completely sold on the Scottish way of doing them, no wonder there were 12 year old kids who frankly embarrassed the grown-ups on the climbs, with stuf like that on my doorstep I’ve been out there every night after school.

Glad you had fun.

Aye, a lot of folks take what we have for granted, for sure. Need to get to inners again soon.

Good up here isn’t it – we moved up a couple of months ago, and great to have Inners/GT near enough for evening rides 🙂

tbh I think that the black is so named at GT because of its remoteness and most probably to keep novices away. Plus most trail-centre folk are put off by the need to ride up two hills (Tower and Redemption) in one day 😳

1 day, I shall too grace the homeland with my biking prowess. Hehe!

Glad you had fun, but 75km and table tops on CB?

al
tabletops,’tis true ,don’t be so cynical
http://7stanesmountainbiking.com/Glentress—Innerleithen/Innerleithen-XC
Edit
Though I did initially wonder from the description if he had done some of Make or break too.

Wouldn’t have called them that myself!

OP was it you with the spoke nipple washers? I could use some.

Quite probably, I gave up trying to source the sapin ones from chicken, they’ve either been in stock then never turned up, or not been in stock and will be 2 weeks, then 2 weeks (etc). just ordered from some ebay usa instead.

OK, 7.5t truck then at least :p 1 min in (not my video, i stopped to lend a guy an innertube and had to climb out of one so it felt big and vertical even if the fisheye helmetcam flattens it!)
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvQWNvtnkyI&feature=related[/video]

Well if you want to sell 32 or 56…

Wowzers. That vid makes it look so flat! How bizarre.

but those rock steps on the climb almost had me in a tantrum

+1 hate those, worth it for the downhill though

Well if you want to sell 32 or 56…

He’s seling them in packs of 70 for a few dollars, think they were listed as sapin equivelent or somethign like that.

Wowzers. That vid makes it look so flat! How bizarre.

I know, wierd isn’t it, makes them look like molehills when infact the biggest must be approaching 20ft?

Al – the very first straight at Caddonbank has a long tabletop at the end.

Fair enough, ages since I’ve been!