I’m new to your site, so not sure of the etiquette, or if I am posting in the right area. Please move this if required. thanks

I’m looking for some advice on where to ride, who to hire a bike from and if there are any groups, or guides I could connect with to show me around.

I will end up in the Edinburgh area June 2. I fly home on the 5th.
I was thinking of doing the Scottish Borders – Peebles, Innerleithan, Glentress area.
Realistically I have all day 3rd and 4th free. Maybe the afternoon of the 2nd.

I ride AM and XC, Do some XC racing, Very fit, Technical ability is great for climbing and descending- big jumps i don’t do.. 2′ drop is ok. gaps and stuff is beyond me (xc roots).
any ways, it feels funny to throw up a bio on myself, but wanted to give anyone interested a feel for my abilities.
My Personality (wow this sounds like I’m on a dating site) is laid back. I love being on the bike- Pedalling or Hammering.

And I would love to ride Scotland- I am ditching my family to go ride for 2 – 3 days. And I am over 35.

Any suggestions for bike hire- I notice Alpine Bikes seems to be popular.
I may have left this too late for a guide, they seem to be booking up months in advance. I also realize I am riding mid week when most of you are at your jobs working.

Anyways, any assistance, or helpful advice is appreciated.
I hope this is appropriate.

Sincerely,
Brent

If you can’t do big jumps and drops over 2′ stay away from Glentress, or as the locals call it, Gnartress.

Hire a car, or even take the train, and head North to, say, Torridon; you could be there from Edinburgh in only several hours. In the journey you’d see far more of what Scotland has to offer, see some proper mountains, and ride some real terrain.

Mind you, the weather could be foul and you’d hate every minute…

You can hire a good high end bike at Alpine Bikes at Glentress, though not super cheap. You are well located in Edinburgh for some good riding such as the trail centres you’ve already listed, but also some great natural riding, which may or may not be very feasible for a stranger to the area on a short time scale. There are a lot of people on this forum in the area so it’s likely you’ll get some more tips/riding buddies. It isn’t too likely I’ll make it on a weekday but I’m sure others will.

You’ll just miss the Tweedlove biking festival sadly http://tweedlove.com/events/2013-events/daily-diary

If you can’t do big jumps and drops over 2′ stay away from Glentress, or as the locals call it, Gnartress.

You can safely ignore that advice. Nothing gnarly about GT.

You can safely ignore that advice. Nothing gnarly about GT.

+ 1

Duane – have you actually ridden GT? – We often ride it & most of it is so smooth a rigid would be fine.

It is a great trail tho – very fast & has plenty variety.

Enjoy! 🙂

Yeah, I think someone might be confusing the symbols for feet (“) and inches (‘)… 😆

If you can ride on any of the three mountains that I am looking at while eating my lunch, you can ride around Glentress!

It’s a shame you’re over for such a short time- the best riding is in the Highlands. If you’re fit enough you can do both in the day- do Innerleithen first and see how you feel afterwards (the climb is long and steep).

If you’re able to hire a car then I’d recommend driving over the Ben Lomond and riding that on your first day. It’s a munro (one of a few hundred mountains in Scotland over 3000ft) and is a great representation of Scottish Highland riding. However, it is very technical in places. It’s about 1 hour 45 minutes away (an extra hour on Glentress) and you can drive there, ride (or, for about half the distance, carry- there will be a fair amount of pushing) your bike up then ride back down and be back in Edinburgh for tea.

This ride is only about 8 miles and you go up the way you go back down. It’s brilliant fun and if you’re technically good the descent is 100% rideable. The climb is 50% rideable. You will need to hire a bike with around 5-6″ travel for it though. The views are stunning too. If you need any route advice then e-mail me on lleebb76 at gmail dot com and I can give you more hints and tips.

The roads to it are “interesting” if you’re from the other side of the Atlantic- my American in-laws joined us for a tour round there a couple of years ago and they were surprised how small the roads were!

I’d love to show you round but I’m away that week in the US.

Here’s some photos from our attempts at it in the last few years-

A day at GT (hire bikes from Alpine in GT) would be fine. Black in the morning and then red (plus playing) for the afternoon.

You could make another day by parking in GT and then riding over to Inners for a lap of the Red and returning over Gypsy Glen etc.

Try this site for working a route out plus the usual Forestry sites:

http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm

Thanks for the tips already- Much appreciated

Binty – welcome to the forum. Expect a lot of sarcasm here – but overall genuinely nice folk to meet up with.

Anyway you’re arriving in the first week of Tweedlove – sort of a festival of biking based in the borders. You may find something in particular to pique your interest here:

Home

There’s lots going on.

Overall though – sure you can go further afield and get bigger hills etc, but for 45 mins from the Edi airport, I guess it’s a balancing act.

Anyway, bike hire wise – Alpine at the trailhead in GT, and another branch 3 mins cycle from Innerleithen trailhead. They have a good range of stuff, Trek’s at all budgets and some quirky British stuff (eg Orange – I’ll get flamed for that).

Personally if I had 2 days starting from Edi – I’d stick to the borders.

You dont really need a guide. If you really want one then I’ve used these guys for tuition (but they also guide):
Andy from:
http://www.ridelines.co.uk/

Also:
http://www.dirtschool.co.uk/courses/info/private/

(another Andy!)

Otherwise, I’m sure someone local is game for showing you round.

Note that Scotland can have some pretty fickle weather. A friend of mine took his bike up Ben Lomond last weekend and was wet, cold and less than impressed. He is fit and strong but it was a 2 hour walk/carry up then 30 minutes back down again. “Proper” hills are ace in fine weather, but…

Quite simple really…..go to GT and Inners, hire a bike, ride and if there is an obstacle/feature you do not like the look of just get off and walk 💡 You will still enjoy yourself.
If you are fit and can read the trail map then it is easy enough to join sections of GT blue and red to make up an interesting ride. Easy enough to add a few bits of black if you do not fancy the whole thing which is basically a 6mile climb followed by a 6 mile descent back to base 😆
Assuming Alpine are still hiring them a Trek EX would be a good safe choice of bike to hire. As has been said a hard tail bike is adequate but you are on holiday so spoil yourself 😆

Innerleithen also starts off with a stupid(imo)big climb but once up onto Minch Moor the views on a good day can be awesome. There are one or two dodgy drops but there are “chicken” runs by the side of them for those of us who are not “rad/knarl” enough to “get air”. ❗

There are a lot of wind up merchants on here, lots of good people as well. Someone local to Inners/GT may offer to ride with you but the trails are all sign posted, just follow the blue posts with coloured arrows on them.

All you need to do is sort the wheat from the chaff 😉

Spent a week in Spain on a biking holiday with 2 Canadians from your area. One was called Alain ???? And was a manager of steel rope mills and the other was a Porche driving vet who’s name escapes me.

PS….age is irrelevant, my son is 33 this year 🙄

A local web site http://www.mtb-borders.com/

Contact the guys at Alpine, I am sure they can hook you up with someone local.

Trail maps can be downloaded from here; http://7stanesmountainbiking.com/Glentress—Innerleithen

Waterproof ones can be bought at most trail head shops for a few pounds.

If you can hire a bike, then jump on a train to Stirling (about 45 minutes from Edinburgh), I’d happily skive off work for a day to show you around some of the best natural trails that Central Scotland has to offer.

Check the MTB forum of http://www.stirlingbikeclub.org.uk for pics and drop me an email or a note on here if you’re interested.

Craig 😉

p.s. I am in no way fit, nor particularly handy on a bike, but I can shout directions really loudly from way back there. 😆

If you’ve ridden Squamish area, which I assume you will have if from Vancouver, then you will be fine at glen tress or inners

If you need a guide you can’t get better than Andy at Go Where http://go-where.co.uk/

Tweed valley is going to be the best combination of riding and easy organisation. Close to Ed, bike hire straightforward, good 2 days riding guaranteed. Really, though, it’s not what Scottish riding is all about. And coming from BC the trails might appear a bit on the ordinary side.
To get stuck into some real hairy-arsed Scottish biking you need to head north, as said. Just depends on whether you can be bothered with sorting transport, bike hire, prob a place to stay etc. Braemar is a good spot for some big rides into the Cairngorms, just to throw another destination out there. Not too bad a drive from Ed, 2 1/2 hours or thereabouts iirc.
Stunning area and a base for a few classic routes.

+1 for Trekster & all the other positive contributors.

Shining example of what it’s all about.

Enjoy your time here, pray for sun.(ish)

http://Www.scottishriders.co.uk

Terrific info guys. Thanks
Yes, I have ridden Squamish on my xc bike, so sounds like it is all game. Turns out I was able to get a day with Andy at Ridelines- he came highly recommended from Darren Butler in Vancouver. So after the monday June 3 with him, I`ll head out on the 4th for some exploring.

Sarcasm is ok. I am used to NSMB.com- a tonne on that site.
Age– haha Yeah I was testing the waters..46.

And slightly off topic, a local trail builder on Burk Mountain and rider is Vic, who at age 72 can count how many days he does not ride in a year on one hand. Ride Like Vic. And he rips it up and down.