[Closed] Glentress Black

A long red with a couple of short rocky sections

Long slog up the way, or long going down too? And if the latter, is it fun?

What onion said^

Just longer not that technical

Ok thanks.

I seemed to be in the minority in that i absolutely hated it. It seems to have a serious load of climbing for little payoff.

The new trail that was built for the EWS that links into a few more established trails is the daddy 🙂 not sure of the names but starts just where you turn off the top fireroad climb to start the original red route.

Oh and Innerleithen is worth the few extra miles along the road.

Its a must-do I'd say but there is better stuff there if you mix up other bits of trails and some off-piste stuff. Worth it probably for the view at the top...

One of the blokes used to guide/instruct there and, so he tells us, knows the place well, so hopefully we will see a lot of it in two and a half days. This one has been pencilled in for the first ride.

Does this bloke not like you very much??

🙂 dunno - Is it that bad! Probably just going with the majority consensus.

Go with the majority, you might love it. I am happy to accept my minority grumpy status. 😆

There is better than the black, i'd rather ride inners or do gypsy's glen

I'd rather ride round my back garden.

Im done, saying no more, sorry 🙂

I rode there with my brother a couple of months back and its his local centre he rides weekly.

We rode a lot of the EWS stuff and a couple of off piste bits then the red back down to the car park for speed. Was okay but there was a lot more climbing than I'm used to in the Midlands!

mactheknife - Member
I'd rather ride round my back garden.
Im done, saying no more, sorry

yet you recommend Innerleithen? The XC there is like the poor relation

forget grading.
GT black is good. it's nothing like GT red.
quite a bit longer
much rougher
much more physical
feels a lot more natural
The climbs are far harder and actually reward good line choice in places.
loads of nice natural jumps instead of tailor made ones.
the fitter and more skilled a rider you are the more you'll enjoy it.
if you don't have any fun riding it you probably don't really like mountainbiking in general.

I like the black. You probably won't see another rider once you leave the red - and it'll be heaving at GT as its half term round Edinburgh...if your mate knows the place you'll see all the good bits don't worry about the petty bickering on here...

Cheers fellas, guess I'll just have to wait and see. As long as it's not trickier than the stuff I'm used to, which it doesn't sound like, that's probably what I really wanted to know 😀

There is better riding at glentress than just going round the black. Bits of it are good though and you can use it to link the good sections of off piste together.

A good loop incorporating best bits I do is:
climb up from bottom to top car park
zoom or bust
red climb and climb to mast
trail fairy plan (probably a bit muddy now)
black climb back to mast
boundary trail to 5 year plan
5 year plan
brown trout
black route back down, or alternatively back up climb to top car park and then zoom or bust down to the fort and back along the river if you still have some beans left.

many more variations possible!

some of the off piste bits above are significantly trickier and steeper than the black route though.

Thanks bigjim, duly noted.

I really like it as a loop... Yep, it's mostly untechnical but it's got a nicely clapped out charm and character, some really nice riding... There's better trails in the forest but it works well as a complete lap imo. The descents do mostly need some real effort to get the most out of.

bigjim's lap is good too, it'll feel like a pretty different ride. though I'd suggest mark/mast of zorro instead of trailfairy plan (trailfairy plan's real name is b side but it gets called both) Starts in more or less the same place, ends on the same trail.

I'd definitely rather do gt black than inners red. But that might be controversial 😆 I'll be around GT red on saturday (me on a big blue and black BMC, my brother on my grey ragley ti), give us a shout if you see us! Probably inners or golfy way on sunday.

What bigjim said. Except I would possibly swap out trail fairy plan for Mast of Zorro. Far easier but lacks the mud. Also if you decide to go down the rest of the black after Brown Trout then ride Ponduro after the Bitch (First trail on the left after the exit of the Bitch).

Ta. If there's one called Brown Trout we'll have to include that at some point.

I'll keep my eyes peeled Northwind - similarly, if you see a robustly built chap coughing and spluttering (uphill) or sliding about and braking far too late (downhill) aboard a blue Bird Zero then feel free to point and laugh 🙂

Get off the map to actually have fun. Black is mind numbing, I've only done it once

[i]forget grading.
GT black is good. it's nothing like GT red.
quite a bit longer
much rougher
much more physical
feels a lot more natural
The climbs are far harder and actually reward good line choice in places.
loads of nice natural jumps instead of tailor made ones.
the fitter and more skilled a rider you are the more you'll enjoy it.
if you don't have any fun riding it you probably don't really like mountainbiking in general. [/i]

+1

You'll be back by lunch-time with a big smile on your face. I like it, especially the Boundary Trail and Deliverance, and even better in the dark 🙂

Though take a copy of the map with you, in case you do have a problem you'll realise where you are if you need to bale etc.

[i]Get off the map to actually have fun. Black is mind numbing, I've only done it once [/i]

Yes Dan, but you'd rather push up a hill than ride up it. 😉

I've only done it once

He sounds qualified 😉

Once was enough 🙂 B r loves hard pedalling though, he's a masochist!

I like the black. Climbs are physically tough so a good challenge from that perspective. The Boundary Trail from the mast is brilliant. Either do the whole thing or cut off at 5 year plan and then into Deliverance which is one of my favourite man made trails anywhere.

Redemption climb can FRO but afterwards No More Ewok, Double X & The Bitch in a one'r is brilliant

It's a damn sight better than Spooky Wood!

I like the Black. But nowadays I do some f it and mix in a bunch of the off piste stuff. Can do a good 20 odd miles. Big climbs, but big descents.

Although I prefer Innerleithen, same again, do the main route and the mix it up at the end with the hand cut trails and rattle down some of the DH runs. I like a bit or Cresta Run.

I like it. You can mix it up a bit on the way back in and climb back up to do bits of the red and blue which is well worth it.

I only go up there about once a year so to make the most of it do some of the other trails as well at GT and Innerliethen. If you are fit you can get round the black in a couple of hours leaving enough time for Innerliethen and then the red/blue.

BoardinBob - Member

Redemption climb can FRO but afterwards No More Ewok, Double X & The Bitch in a one'r is brilliant

Finish the job and go right down to the ponds. I miss the big stupid X but building former ewok/ex XX into a single trail was a Good Idea, those 4 trails are more than the sum of the parts for sure.

(aside; we were looking for a new name for that; I think I might have just found it)

MussEd - Member
I like the black. You probably won't see another rider once you leave the red

I don't know, usually when I ride it I bump into a reasonable number of other riders. There's always the same conversation though - "wow, I never usually see anyone else out on the black!"

thegreatape - Member
Ta. If there's one called Brown Trout we'll have to include that at some point.

Nope, there's no trail by that name at Glentress, sorry. Though there is one called Broon Troot, which may have been misheard by an uneducated ear. 🙂

I like the black but the fun it provides isn't quite as obvious and in your face as the red's. One of the reasons it's not particularly black by comparison to other black-graded trails is that it predates the way the grading system is generally used these days. I think it was considered black partly on length and effort required, rather than purely on technical skill required.

I definitely like it. I love deliverance and soor plumz. Yeah, there's quite a bit if climbing in there but I wouldn't say any of it is really that bad. I'm a big fat biffer and I've never had a problem getting round.

grading is great for noobs, geeks, climbers and skiers.

Ignore it and make your own mind up if you have even the slightest ability to manage independent thought.

Even the green is fun at GT.

Finish the job and go right down to the ponds. I miss the big stupid X but building former ewok/ex XX into a single trail was a Good Idea, those 4 trails are more than the sum of the parts for sure

Yip, always throw in Super Steep at the end. A brilliant 4 section trail.

Northwind what is the big stupid X you are talking about? I remember see-saws and stuff at ewok. Also why did they close off the new exit to broon troot? It was really nice but maybe that's just because it was freshly cut loam when I rode it.

I'm not a huge fan of zorro, bit too straight for my liking after the couple of switchbacks at the top, you lose a lot of height for not much cornering fun #moanduro

you lose a lot of height for not much cornering fun #moanduro

Do you do the two sections after Zorro? Immediately after Zorro spits you out on the fireroad, head up about 25 feet then cut left into lovely natural steep switchbacks. Drop onto the fireroad, slight up hill sprint then a sharp right at the corner into some proper natural old school xc stuff. Lovely.

Not sure what you guys are on about, GT black was a barrel of laughs in the wet. Parts of it felt like you were riding down streams.

Sure, it's not the most memorable trail centre loop out there but I found it great fun in the poor weather that we had.

bigjim - Member

Northwind what is the big stupid X you are talking about? I remember see-saws and stuff at ewok. Also why did they close off the new exit to broon troot? It was really nice but maybe that's just because it was freshly cut loam when I rode it.

The Xs that gave XX its name, at the top. Sadly pretty much crumbled into dust.

The Broon Troot exit was an EWS-specific I think and had to be closed after the race, EWS have some funny ideas about our trails being their trails.

Do you do the two sections after Zorro? Immediately after Zorro spits you out on the fireroad, head up about 25 feet then cut left into lovely natural steep switchbacks. Drop onto the fireroad, slight up hill sprint then a sharp right at the corner into some proper natural old school xc stuff. Lovely.

Yeah, the middle bit is nice, the lower can be when it doesn't have a river running down it!

"Sliced the bugger right into the rough on the 9th today Nigel"
"Oh.. bad luck! I only play out to the 7th, then play 13-18th so I can get back to the clubhouse for a quick couple before she has dinner on the table"
"haw haw haw"

I'm heading there tomorrow & thinking of doing the black too - I usually start off on zoom or bust then back round the red missing out the bottom end of it & back up again to top of spooky woods then back down the blue via the jump park bit - think I stumbled (literally) down broon troot once with a mate of mine who's more familiar with the place but personally i'm not clued up enough on the unofficial trails to knock out a decent day of it all... not been round the black for years & last time I was on a Santa Cruz Chameleon running a 34 ring up front with a 12-25 at the back on 2" tyres, fun at the time but a bit of a slog & I could barely stand up straight the next day.

I'll be going solo on an old all black Heckler with a bright green helmet - although I can usually be heard swearing through bursts of heavy breathing from afar before anyone actually sees me...

What physical barriers have they put in to close the new bit of broot troot? I'm not a fan of the new bit anyway, it cuts the trail much shorter and it's too easy. The proper old way round, including the tricky woodwork and divots, was the best.

The Xs that gave XX its name, at the top. Sadly pretty much crumbled into dust.

I guess fundamentally I don't know what an X is in terms of a trail feature 😆

What physical barriers have they put in to close the new bit of broot troot? I'm not a fan of the new bit anyway, it cuts the trail much shorter and it's too easy. The proper old way round, including the tricky woodwork and divots, was the best.

There was some orange mesh, didn't notice if it is still there the other day, but there are lots of trees dragged over it too regardless. If it's too easy you aren't going fast enough 😀