Essentially Craig5 and I are off to watch the EWS practice day on friday, and two race days and we want to combine some watching and drinking with some riding. The basic plan being:

Ride out to a sweet bit of trail within a stage to watch for a bit, link up some nice trail to either the second or third stage, watch for a bit, ride back to peebles, drink for a bit. Repeat, and repeat again.

Obviously once the stage map has been produced, our ride route will be largely dictated by where the best places to watch are, but a list of cool and fun trails in the locality, in the mean time, will allow us to figure out where to go and how to link everything up once the map has been produced.

In short, any info on the cool trails in and around peebles would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance MW2000

Inners. Ride there and back along the new path, also, google gypsy glen.

Inners. Ride there and back along the new path, also, google gypsy glen

Could both feature in the race. Inners certainly will. I’m imagining day 1 will be GT/ Cademuir. Day two will be Inners/ Caberston or vice versa.

Judging by some of the building that’s going on I reckon one of the stages is No More Ewok, Double X, The Bitch, Super Steep (secret trail just after The Bitch)

Judging by some of the building that’s going on I reckon one of the stages is No More Ewok, Double X, The Bitch, Super Steep (secret trail just after The Bitch)

I thought that briefly but then thought shirley not, just too short and sweet. Also noticed some tree clearance on broon troot but also thought shirley not. I know one of the course designers and he won’t tell me anything :S

I might be totally wrong but surely the point of the ews is all the good trails near the route will be given over to the route? Would seem dumb to plan a course which left half the decent bits in the immediate vicinity out.

Innerleithen is well worth a visit though, if its not part of the course.

I thought that briefly but then thought shirley not, just too short and sweet. Also noticed some tree clearance on broon troot but also thought shirley not. I know one of the course designers and he won’t tell me anything :S

Yeah my other thought was starting at Broon Trout then climbing. Does seem like a long climb but not totally unlikely.

They’re definitely putting in a new end to The Bitch which looks to be a steep drop plus a new entry that flows better from the end of No More Ewok into Double X avoiding the initial steps.

TBH we’re building some of the stages and even we haven’t a clue what the big picture is 😆 Depends on whether the stages are closed to the public on the practice days too. I think the only option’ll be to wait for the maps.

PS nobody told me there’d be spectators! Please don’t boo me or throw things.

I think you might be at least 40% right there.Dangeourbrain! Obviously SOME of the sweetest trails in the area will be utilised for the EWS, but they’ve only got a handful of stages to play with and therefore only a few of the choicest descents to utilise.

My idea for this thread was to attempt to discover as many of the best riding spots (which obvs will include GT and Inners – I’m daft, but not that daft) as possible and then once the map is produced I can hit the ground running in planning a route based on where the EWS goes and what descents are nearby, to hit either at the start or end of the day, or between stages. Also, the more natural stuff, the better. I love reading maps!!

Find the Strava heatmap that was posted a few days ago and once the route map is posted look at how you can connect them.

Great idea br, tough to know what a worthwhile descent looks like just based on the amount people have ridden it… Some of the best stuff round my end has hardly anyone down it, then others are white hot with strava attempts. It’s a start, but STW forumites tend to provide a much better idea of local good stuff IME.

On Strava, explore and when you find the segments take a look at the length and height loss.

Can’t friggin wait. I’m gettin an enduro shifter. And and enduro dinger from the fridge. Screw the concrete. My legs ooh.