Seems like all the mags have been out to the new trail centres in Northern Ireland, and they sound bloomin brilliant. It pains my soul to think about driving through Dumfries and Galloway to ride somewhere else, mind, but I’m wondering if this is my next holiday… Anyone ridden the new national centres and got any thoughts?

Northwind – Member
Seems like all the mags have been out to the new trail centres in Northern Ireland, and they sound bloomin brilliant. It pains my soul to think about driving through Dumfries and Galloway to ride somewhere else, mind, but I’m wondering if this is my next holiday… Anyone ridden the new national centres and got any thoughts?

Get the ferry from Troon then!.

Doesn’t seem to be running to Larne just now (summer service maybe?) Haven’t looked too deeply though!

What do you want to know?
http://www.mountainbikeni.com/
I’m not sure where you are based but you could always get the ferry from Holyhead or Liverpool. It would take about 2.15hrs max to get from the South side of Dublin to Rostrevor or Castlewellan on good motorways/roads. Plus you could squeeze in a spin round the short but excellent trail centre at ticknock.
http://www.trailbadger.com/trails/dublin-and-wicklow/ticknock-3-rock/

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mekofQWyJb0[/video]

Doesn’t seem to be running to Larne just now (summer service maybe?) Haven’t looked too deeply though!

Yup – seasonal service. Cairnryan it is over winter and the Belfast & Larne options are only a couple of miles apart there.

Coming over from Edinburgh so arriving into Belfast or Larne I suppose.

That Trailbadger website’s class, was looking at it the other night. I think tbh the job is going to be getting things down to a sensible number of rides, rather than finding enough things to ride. Which is a terrible hardship 🙂 So it’s mostly a bit of local knowledge to trim those down a bit. It’s probably Davagh and Rostrevor that have got the juices flowing but this is still just vague ideas.

Riding wise I’m not sure I’d bring the dh bike, more up for red and black trails… Any thoughts on rostrevor with a little bike? I’m hearing “massive jumps” which isn’t really my thing, but I’m happy enough rattling down innerleithen, fort william, antur etc without the Skills Compensator.

Everything I’ve heard aboutr Rostrvoe has been hugely positive, apart from the numbers clattering themselves at the boulder drop at the end.

Some interesting jumpy courses too, trails with doubles that have near vertical takeoff ramps – technique needed.

If that’s where you want to go Northwind, ferry to Belfast would be best. If you went via Larne, the road between Larne & Belfast you’d use to go south is largely roadworks and will be for a while as it is being dualled.

Rostrevor is a great day out. The main red route is a good 3 hours with great views then you could do the black ;which is really the same climbs on the red but a few different descents options. There are also 2 separate DH runs. DH1 is like a BMX track on steroids – big berms and steep table tops the whole way down. You’d prob want the big bike for DH2 but the rest is fine on a trail bike. There is an uplift service which takes you near the top of the DH runs or cuts out the first big climb on the XC route. There is loads of natural trails in the area.

Castlewellan is only a hour a way from Rostrevor. Not quite the same height to play with but definitely worth doing. Some nice woodsy singletrack with red & black options. Might be worth a stop at Tollymore for their fun skills loop (only about 2k though) or some of the natural trails.

Only been to Davagh once. Great fun. Different feel from the other two but much more remote.

If you are heading over contact one of the local websites:
http://www.mtbrider.com/forum.php
And I’m sure you’ll have plenty of people willing to show you around in exchange for a pint!

If you are staying in Belfast there is the short Barnett Demesne trail and v good dirt jump area OR the cave hill trail starting & finishing at Belfast castle.

Yup, ferry to Belfast is handiest followed by an hours drive down the A24 to the Mourne Mountains. Once there, the trail centres at Castlewellan and Rostrevor are well worth a look. Castlewellan is you’re typical trail centre fare as it Rostrevor, with the exception of the lower half of the red, which is pretty special. Great views too if you like that sort of thing. The official DH trails in RT are a bit of a sore point and pretty poor compared to the ‘natural’ stuff in the area. You can also head up over the mountain for some high speed real mountain biking. Still on trail centres and Davagh is something else. Fantastic sections of trail and unlike the others isn’t designed to slow you down 😀 One thing you’ll notice is just how tight trees and rocks are over here, makes it interesting to say the least.

But the best stuff is all homebrew. Cavehill in Belfast, Tollymore and Donard forest parks and Bigwood are all pretty close to the new centres and each offer a fun day out on the bike with all sorts riding on offer.

What are your choices, bike wise?

I’m hearing “massive jumps” which isn’t really my thing, but I’m happy enough rattling down innerleithen

There not that big, but they are badly designed which makes them tricky. If you did want massive jumps then you need to head to Helen’s Tower…
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zoP0NQIUJI[/video]

Can i just say (since it’s my local DH spot) that it would be a real shame if you never got to ride Cave Hill when you’re over. It’s worth the trip alone if you like gravity stuff and the weather’s playing ball and you don’t mind a push up.

Here’s the recent Redbull Fox Hunt winner, Colin Ross, riding down one of the several great trails ‘up the hill’. 😀

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ANESvtmOp4[/video]

Also, half of the Red Bull fox hunt course will be put ‘beyond use’ soon.

I mostly ride red’s and could convince myself that black was a good idea sometimes… I prefer Castlewellan to Rostrevor, it flows better and doesn’t have an hour and a half’s climb at the beginning/end (although there is a car park near the top and uplifts are available).

Give me a shout if you are going to Rostrevor, Castlewellan, or if you want to see some of the natural trails in Tollymore or Donnard Forest.

Also, half of the Red Bull fox hunt course will be put ‘beyond use’ soon.

The best bits by the look of it. Yup, the climb in RT is a bitch but that’s pretty much all the climbing done unless you want to do it again. A loop of the red/black in the morning to loosen you up followed by uplifts to DH1+2 after lunch would be a good way to get the most from RT i reckon.

These guys will show you round
http://notthesundayrun.com/wp/
Here’s what your missing, ride it every Saturday( well most Sats)

Euro – Member

What are your choices, bike wise?

It’s probably more a question of people I’ll be trying to convince to come with me tbh! It’s not going to be a downhill trip as that’d mean I’d be on my tod, but could be a trip containing a dash of downhill (my hemlock’s my allrounder and there’s not much it’s not up for tbh, so not taking the big bike doesn’t mean avoiding proper dh… )

But I just don’t enjoy jumps and super-groomed trails much, I like interesting ground 🙂

Northwind, kilbroney has a load of “off the trailcentre” trails, also on the way to kilbroney there is a super place called bigwood which held one of the recent enduro rounds and it is all natural trails with berms jumps etc and no manicured Kitty litter in sight. Trailbadger should behave some info on bogwood, Glynn O’Brien designed the bigwood course and I think he does accompanied runs also.

Ah now that sounds spot on. When I’m away from home I tend to default to trailcentres, just because they’re easy and it avoids losing a day walking around a swamp or something 😳

Also the bonus of bigwood is that there is not a lot of climbing, but you are on the pedals the whole time, it is a relatively short ride 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. but you can nip in and repeat some of the fast twisty bits