The sun was out and the so called Red was riding Fast
On one of the many rock slab/gardens someone took a header- they said they were all OK when we went past! We then went on to have 8 (yes 8 crashes form the same 2 bodies in our group)
Anyone else have any issues?? 🙂

Ouch!

Out of curiosity, how busy does the uplift get at weekends?

I rode it last summer, only casualty was my brake pads, went through a set on the way down, i was riding very slow round some of it, great fun, looking forward to my trip this summer! new bike to play on this year!

you say "so called red" you saying its easier or harder? was thinking of giving it a go this year and taking my girlfriend aswell but she is currently gatting to grips with the likes of mabie red

It's a red downhill track not a red XC trail – so Mabie Red is probably not the best to compare it to..in fact it probably isn't close enough to an XC red to be comparable…it isn't as hard as the main DH trail but it's not the sort of thing you could ride with confidence if you mainly ride blue XCs…

we were on 2 hardtails and 2 6" sussers
1 HT got down with only 1 puncture
1 Ht got down with no punctures but 4 crashes and a different speed to first HT!
1 full susser got down no probs
1 full susser had 4 falls and a differeing speed again!

Its definately not a Red XC- its tougher in my opinion
We rode Laggan Red and then came to Fort Bill for another Red- we didnt realise it was a Red DH- we thought that Nevis had made the Red to get revenue and numbers up- thinking a Spooky Wood style track was in place!
Its fun but not something I would do run after run on
tyre pressure will be critical I would suggest if your not on DH casing tyres

it was a glorious day and it wasnt that busy and there were areas where you can pass others of the board walk

mmmhhh ok re-think needed, we will be up next week for the world cup and can take a look at it with a view to going up later in the year, as were not taking bikes to the worlds

kinda gutted tho if it is as hard as some say was hoping it would be a good way to get into lift assisted runs for her

Make your own mind up……it is great fun though 😀

was a mate of singletrackrocks – hospital over night

"It's a red downhill track not a red XC trail"

No it isn't, it's a red graded trail, graded the same as every other FC-affiliated trail and the same as the Witch's Trails and 10UTB. According to Nevis Range themselves, from their trail map, "Fly with the witch… A nevis range gondola ticket lifts you to full-on descents, the Extreme Off Beat Downhill and the XC Nevis Red.". No idea where this chat of "red graded downhill tracks" comes from.

Great place to ride but I think it's obvious they've graded it red only to try and attract more riders, not because of its actual difficulty… Or they got carried away once the shovels came out and couldn't resist all the bedrock. Compares in a lot of ways to McMoab, on the rocky stuff, and that's proper black with added pirates. Think the best match I can think of though is the Bitch at Glentress- rocky, steep and steppy in places. There was a few unhappy people on hired Hardrocks when I was there. In fact there were a few unhappy people on Alpine 160s and Meta 6s

It's a red & graded correctly imo. Just because its in Scotland & all downhill doesn't effect the grade.we met the trail builders at last years wc & they were Amazed at the press grading it near black. They Even agreed to us riding it before the official opening. I cleared it on a carbon zaskar with no issues. It was also the best bit of riding ive ever done but not difficult, Ben Nevis is harder.

1st time at Fort Bill at weekend. Amazing! Quiet, no waits. Red track is tight, and rode with seat slammed down, and not much pedalling required – not many XC tracks like that around!

The Black run is smoother, but burly as. Scotland DH boys there, and they seriously shred it. Until you get your eye in, it eats bikes! Got 5 flats in one day (Maxis Minions next day, and not landing on rocks solved that). But all boys in group requiring running repairs each day. Nomad loved it – but a V10 or similar would be a dream result!

Also dude come off on Black run and got winched up to Gondola. Talk on the track it was a broken arm / dislocation. Not ideal at all.

SINGLESPEED were you there with guy on Froggy?
Just wondered how the Froggy got on- still fancy one even though I have ordered the CCDB for my Spicy.
Will it be worth a frame change??????

My mate fell off at the bottom, but walked away – he lost it later with concussion.

Didn't see any casualties on the Red, but saw the guy being strapped to the stretcher on the Black.

The lad who went to hospital and the lady in the med room said it was a broken finger, ribs and I can't remember if it was an arm, or leg – it was on a relatively smooth section too. He'd ridden before, but it was his first run of the day.

I spent a load of time talking to a guy on a Froggy (Southerner) – small world if it's the same bloke.

We were the odd looking bunch on:

3 x Spesh Enduro's
2 x Trek Remedy's (although one broke, so was swapped for a hired Big Hit)
Reign X
Orange 5
2 x Spesh Pitch's
Marin XC bike?
Spesh FSR XC
Marin Wolf Ridge/Scott High Octane – same rider

Some of us – I'm behind the camera

Don't know if it's just me, but at about 6mins 25secs on that Youtube video, there seems to be a lot of loose stone filling in the gaps between the rocks that isn't there any more, making that one of the trickier sections.

Could be wrong.

Hmm i'm hoping to give this a shot on the Monday following the world cup (Track hopefully open pm) will be a lone rider (Not ideal) so if anyone fancies coming along let me know 🙂

Artist I remember you guys 🙂 think we met on your 2nd run? Nice photo!
We were
Yeti HT
Haro HT
Lapierre Spicy
Giant Reign
Diane- give it a shot – its fine- if you do have a mechanical or anything else nobody can miss you as its a 1 line track! 🙂

rep341 – Yea that was our group.
2 x New Nomads
1 x Froggy
1 x Orange 5

Mate loves his Froggy, just put new wheels on it for Fort William. With Maxis Minions and DH tubes weighing in at 37lbs, with all mountain / XC tubes and tyres he was saying it is 33lbs.

His Santa Cruz super light is getting warranty at the moment, so he has been pedalling it every where and the more he rides it the more he loves it.

Talk to Bike Trax in Brentwood. They may beable to get a demo one if for you, if not I am sure mate will drop his in if you need sized up. But they have demo Nomad and trek Remedy (and most other santa cruz bikes)www.biketrax.com

Looks fairly tame, but looks like a proper DH course, actually getting down a hill rather than seeing who can nail 15ft air over manufactured doubles. Nice. Might give it a go soon. How much is the uplift? I'd build up my 6" bike but it looks like it should be fairly nailable on the NRS, maybe with the 130mm forks on.

Agh a Froggy does sound nice idea! CCDB on way now and its too late to cancel!- Guess I will run that and see- but I always like a new bike 🙂

Check out the Black run here (Love the commentary)He makes it look allot smoother than it really is, as he is spending allot more time in the air that the clip shows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9ARlglIUTE

CCDB – Will be awesome, any way if you want a Froggie – you really need a Nomad!

Uplift – £28 per day from 10am to 3:45pm. Cheaper deals if you by multiple days, or weekend ticket.

Coffeeking – The 6" bike will be much more suited to Fort William, the bigger the brakes and suspension the better! Bash guard recommended as well. The Orange 5 smashed his large chain ring to bits on a rock.

Looks ace can't wait to try this.

OOOh that black looks like a test!

£28 a day is a bit on the steep side, I only paid twice that for a 2 week lift pass in the alps last time 😯

6" would probably be ideal but would mean swapping of some componentry, might be worth while for such a run I suppose!

Or £12 per run. World cup XC course at bottom as well.

£12 per run? Surely you can do more than 2 and a bit runs in a day?

15min up in the gondola, and if you ride like the Scottish Down Hill team on the current track – sub 5min down.

6 plus laps possible for us common people – but depends on how fit you are.

My forearms and hands were screaming by the end of each day!

Was there on sunday and had a blast. None of this full suss nonsense though, a hardtail was a hoot. As Gok Wan would say, "Its all about your confidence." There is nothing harder than anything on any other red, just more of it and in much longer sections, which can be intimidating i suppose. Be wary of the water splash after the sandy berms, the only greasy spot the whole way down. Grip is excellent everywhere else, even the boardwalk. Dont be put off by the downhill red talk, just a cracking long red descent.

doh, dibber trouble….double post.

Ah you mean £12 for one go up in the gondola?

£12 one trip. £28 for one day, as many as you like.

yep discloted shoulder and broken arm for the fallen rider on WC DH course.

Singlespeed you on the Grey Five…and driving a hire van?

The Orange course seems to have had some significant work over the winter….a few new sections, and seems a bit more trickier than prevous years.

Glorious weather and track fast'n dusty.

Hay Leeph – I was on the White Nomad but with the guy on Grey five and in the Hire vans.

Hats off to you boys on the XC bikes going down the Orange course. Good effort.

That was me on the 224 World Cup & driving the black beemer parked opposite your vans.

"6 plus laps possible for us common people – but depends on how fit you are."

8 laps of the red using the bottom of the proper DH to finish each one in a day for me on my Soul, and I'm not in great shape. It's just a case of not spending time fannying around, get off the trail and back in the gondola, and eat and rest if you want on the way up, instead of sitting around for 30 minutes then moaning about queues like some were doing 😉

rep341 – Member
Artist I remember you guys think we met on your 2nd run? Nice photo

Cool – still trying to picture you.

Singlespeed………..

The guy (slightly foreign looking if that makes sense without offending?) on the grey 5 seemed like his brakes were on metal first time we saw him – were they?

Was one of the Nomads green?

I was the bald guy who came and spoke to some of your group late on Sunday with the Enduro S-Works (spoke to the guy with the froggy Sat & Sun – blonde hair, southern accent???)and had to shoot off as my mates were waiting for the last run. 😀

Hay The Artist,

Guy on Five – put new pads on his bike on Saturday (went through some on Friday)He is English man through and through, but has that foreign look to him! (I am from NZ – unless you talking about me? – may have been fanging around car park on the orange five)

My nomad White, mates Yellow both Mk2, with talas R36 upfront. But there was another green and white one there at some stage over the weekend. Hopefully new stickers for my nomad arrive tomorrow, so should be a little more bespoke!

I remember you now – and your nice S-Works ride!

Of three days riding, went down the red run twice. So 6 plus runs is in relation to the WC DH run.

Jon – on the froggie, good essex man.

Cool – good to have met you/your group if I didn't speak to you directly.

Fort Bill officially rocks – we all left completely stoked.