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I am in St Andrew's next week and will hopefully have a chance for a half day riding so looking for recommendations ideally ~1hr from at Andrews. I am looking for fun play trails rather than a xc type ride.
Muco thanks!
Ballo
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There are some lovely trails in Tentsmuir bug it's very flat so pedalling legs on!
Kemback wood above Dairsie looks to be riddled with trails and there's a bike shop just uphill in Pitscottie.
I think the obvious destination though is Pitmedden, it's heaving with MTBers whenever I winch past on the road, haven't yet visited on the MTB (I rarely get use of the car at the weekend 🙄)
ABF - anywhere but Fife, i.e. Perthshire
More than enough at Pitmedden. Conditions must be verging on dusty atm. I am heading up tomorrow evening - really looking forward to it.
Thanks guys, that's some good tips.
ABF – anywhere but Fife
Lol. Its beautiful but too similar to areas in my part of the UK (SW) for me to drive 9hr but family!
Fife is fantastic for gravel/easy xc and road type riding. Mountain biking (winch and plummet stuff), not so much.
The best bits of Pitmedden are in Perthshire.
Kemback is about 40 minutes pedal from St Andrews & has lots of fun trails. I've not been up since February though (post ACL reconstruction) so I can't say what's open at the moment.
The bike shop in Pitscottie is closed though.
Storm Arwen made a mess of a lot of the trails in Tentsmuir so it could be a wasted trip and it's flat as a pancake.
There are a few trails tucked away in Cairngreen Wood near Cupar, quite short but could be tied into a Kemback ride.
Pitmedden is 45 minutes away by car.
Ochils/Dumyat about an hour from St Andrews
There's Braefoot near Aberdour which is just under an hour from St Andrews. Pretty compact but there's some decent stuff there for sessioning. You could also try Blairadam which has some fun trails but is also fairly limited.
Kemback woods is the best riding in Fife itself, and it's close enough to St Andrews to ride to. Quite a few trails were closed by Storm Arwen but there's enough to kill a couple of hours. There's been some amazing new stuff built too.
PM me your email address and I'll send you some gpx files of my last rides up there.
I would second the vote for Pitmedden.
Pitmedden or Ballo both about 45mins. Ballo has longer DH and more variety depending on which side of the road you go.
Ballo has longer DH and more variety depending on which side of the road you go.
To expand on my previous comment . . .
For Ballo park in the middle (Hallyburton Community Woodland car park). Then you're perfectly placed to ride the flowy trails to the North and the more techy ones to the South. Pitmedden is nice but all the trails are really short and it requires more local knowledge to string a good ride together ime. Ballo requires a little thinking about how you get to the top of the (North) trails, then it's dead easy from there on. Don't forget Double-Yolker too which is between to 2 main sets of trails. It's a really fun place to ride imo, something for everyone
Kemback/Cairngreen for the closest to St Andrews
Pitmedden for a large forest (but yes you do kinda need local knowledge to string together).
Lomond Hills and Falkland Estate reasonably close too at Falkland.
Possibly not what your looking for but the Fife Pilgrim Way starts/ends in St Andrews too
I live on the edge of Pitmedden. Depending on timing around work/dad taxi duties I could possibly give you a tour round?
Riding from St Andrews then Kemback Woods definitely. Fairly gnarly in places, it's very much like a Japanese meal/how Arnold Rimmer makes love: small portions but oh, so many courses.
Driving from St Andrews then Pitmedden is head and shoulders above anything else I've found in Fife. You can park either in Auchtermuchty and cycle up - I find this always ends up with me doing tamer trails - or turn up the hill from Abernethy and park at the bottom of the more serious stuff.
Could very easily be tempted out to have a spin whatever you choose, I'm in Strathkinness and free all next week.
Went to ballo woods in the end. Brilliant. Only managed 6 runs due to my poor fitness and planning for refueling but just the type of trails I like. Thanks. Will try a few other suggestions next time I am up.