So who's going to the Glentress Enduro.
It looks like a fun course, good mix of familiar trails and some new stuff I won't have ridden before.
The weather looks like it might be good as well. Its just a shame is the same day as 10UTB
So who else is coming?
Was supposed to be... But the guy I was going with now can't make it, so IF I can even manage to get up there I'm going to be Billy No Mates.
Boo 🙁
Yup, I'm going. Looking forward to it. Anyone got any clues on the course / stages?
There's a video and maps and stuff linked from the confirmation email, I think.
I'm going... Really interesting mixed course, bit less deadly than the innerleithen enduros I reckon but balanced out with timed climbs of ungodly brutality 😯 Really looking forward to it but I think I'll struggle for fitness a bit...
Pigitch, full route is on the Tweedlove website.
As ever, I'll be on a beat-up white-ish Hemlock, say hi if you see me and I will immediately forget your name 
timed climbs of ungodly brutality
From the course map it looks like they are using the steepest fireroads in the forest as the time climbs - and they ain't short!
Four descents, two of which are "natural" two of which are trail centre. Berm Baby Berm + Electric Blue is one of the trail centre sections. Spooky Wood + Super G is the other.
Saturday will let you practice the climbs and the natural sections.
I'm torn between taking my Superlight or my Blur LT
Actually you can practice nearly everything on the Saturday, you've just not to expect special treatment on the public sections
If I was doing it I'd be on my Anthem, but after seeing the two climbs I'm quite happy that I'm not 😉
Thanks Northwind. Found the link now. Brown Trout will be interesting. Could be complete mayhem! It was very muddy and slick last week but hopefully it will dry out a bit before the weekend. Those climbs look hard.
Have a good one. I'll be on the old Spesh Pitch slogging up the hills and not going much faster down them!
If I make it I'll be on a (slightly) less beat up black Hemlock, being generally slow all the way around.
Take it Brown Trout is steep and muddy then? What's the other natural descent like?
Brown Trout is tight, steep, rooty and muddy but hopefully will dry out a bit.
Ho Chi Min is a faster version, not as steep. Zoom or bust is fast and rooty. Not sure what the Fort is like.
I am kind of tempted, not sure if it is sold out or not though. I don't recognise quite a few of the trail names, like the wall and shallow grave. What I think is ho chi minh (tower trail footpath?) was seriously boggy 2 weekends ago so will be interesting after a lot of riders have passed over it !
I'm going too. Really looking forward to it! Should be different from the Inners Enduros.
Troot was wet but in really good condition yesterday... Still muddy, but not as skitey as I'd expected. Definately worth doing a practice run if you can- it's not long or hard to get to and it'll pay off as there's a couple of nadgery corners. Should be a bit drier by the weekend.
Ho Chi Minh starts off with a pedally slightly off camber traverse with litle roots in, then is more or less a muddy wide footpath that goes straight down the hill. Not hard but hard to ride fast, I think. Some pretty muddy spots...
I've not done the fort descent, anyone know that one?
Northwind, is broon troot easy to find? I fancy having a play one night this week.
Drop us an email- it's not hard to find but you need to know where to look. (OK, so that's maybe a wee bit precious but it's still a secret trail to me even if it's in a race route.)
You might aswell give out the directions now, got a feeling it'll be a tad ****ed after having race traffic down it
Nah, it doesn't look it but it's well built- and just look how Steve's trails over at innerleithen stand up even with winter racing. Think it'll have some new cheeky lines by monday though...
If it's not taped just take the UK Gravity approach and send it down a straight line from start to finish 😉
can somebody strava the course please as i cant make it.would be fun to try course and get a time though.
Daft question .. but will this affect the Black Route on the Sunday as we were planning this and are too rubbish to race
It might... There's a short section on the boundary trail. TBH it'd be unneccesary to close the whole thing for that, but you never know.
GT's going to be pretty disrupted over the next 2 weekends, lots of closures for the GT7.
If anyone needs an entry, I can't make it so if you pretend to be me you can have mine... 🙁
Brown Troot has been a "secret" trail for years, I think my grannie rode down it during the War.
I am really tempted to sign up now. I've never raced before and its giving me the fear. I've never ridden broon troot and have only heard it talked about in hushed, revered tones, is it really that gnarly?
I've never ridden Broon Troot before either, but given I survived the Innerleithen Enduro, I'm willing to take anything Glentress can throw at me!
I signed up, boom.
Get in... What's the worst that can happen? Death? Yeah, probably death, that's pretty bad.
Broon Troot's tricky by GT standards, especially when wet, but it's also relatively slow (and soft!). If you're a decent bike handler and used to a bit of mud you ought to do fine... But like I say, well worth pre-riding it if you can, it'll pay off- there's some tricky wee bits but also there's a few sections where gear choice or line choice aren't that obvious until you've screwed it all up.
It is fab though.
Yup im goin. Where's the link to the route on Tweedlove? Unless its in the pre race notes PDF that won't open for me at the moment!
Anyone know the script on Saturday for practice, is it start from the Hydro or just ride around GT ourselves knowing which bits of trails to look at?
Park in the trail centre on Saturday and just ride round the natural race stages which should be signposted and taped. The normal trail centre sections will be open to ride but obviously you will just be sharing the trail with everyone else at GT
Thanks for that richmtb. Got the race notes downloaded eventually with the map so all sorted...
Looking forward to the descents, a good mix with different challenges. Climbs are brutal though, steep fire road nastiness. Will be dropping one of them for sure!
On the plus side most of the climbing is over and done with fairly quickly.
Tyre choice will be interesting, something fast will be needed if it stays this dry - was riding a few of the sections today and it's dry and dusty! Not sure if anything there really needs a High Roller.
Was going to enter it, but found a crack in my frame when cleaning the bike up for the Summer yesterday. So it had to go back to the lbs this morning.
I'm in. Be warned that first timed climb is an absolute killer!
I need to stop reading this thread 👿
I'm marshalling. Have ridden the course but racing it's not for me. The 'Fort' is steep and techy but nice with a rock drop which is optional.
See ya Sunday! Should be ace! 😀
Got my BlurLT fixed and a spare back wheel with a Crossmark on. Cannae wait!
Tyre choice will be interesting, something fast will be needed if it stays this dry - was riding a few of the sections today and it's dry and dusty! Not sure if anything there really needs a High Roller.
Well the tower trail which is what I think is called Ho chi minh was a peaty boggy mudfest 2 weeks ago, not sure how much it can dry out by now, and with 200 riders could be fun if it is still wet. I use the same tyres all the time anyway, but I'm not exactly gunning for top spot!
Broon Troot's tricky by GT standards, especially when wet, but it's also relatively slow (and soft!). If you're a decent bike handler and used to a bit of mud you ought to do fine... But like I say, well worth pre-riding it if you can, it'll pay off- there's some tricky wee bits but also there's a few sections where gear choice or line choice aren't that obvious until you've screwed it all up.
it looks good on youtube vids, I used to love the steep rooty stuff but am very out of practice now.
I'm going to give it a ride tomorrow afternoon. I'm a bit confused by the race notes saying you need a number on teh bike to practice these sections from 12pm on saturday, but signing on starts at 4pm, and they are unmarshalled on saturday anyway. THink I'll also give the Fort a ride though don't want to tire the legs out too much getting back up to the car, can't think of a way round that though.
If you see someone on a black ASR5 wrapped round a tree, peel me off 😉
I was out helping tape a couple of the Enduro descents yesterday and Broon Troot is drying out quite nicely. The descent back to the Peebles Hydro looks rather nice too. 🙂
Did Brown Trout last night for the first time, it's bloody tricky! It was dryish but hopefully it'll dry out some more as the rooty sections are mental!
I've never ridden Broon Troot before. It looks ace, more slow and tech skill than balls out bravery required by the looks of it (from my extensive studies on Youtube) Kind of like a tough bit of Drumlanrig. Looking forward to it!
Kind of like a tough bit of Drumlanrig.
Way harder than anything at Drumlanrig. Real arse clenching stuff with absolutely lethal roots in the wet. If I crashed or dabbed, I found it nigh on impossible to get going again.
oh well that might be the stage I get dropped then!
It's a good bit steeper than anything at Drumlanrig!
Rode a few sections the other day, everything drying out a fair bit so a Crossmark on the back may not be a bad shout.
is there anything really sketchy on the Fort section, in case I don't get to practice it in time?
Way harder than anything at Drumlanrig. Real arse clenching stuff with absolutely lethal roots in the wet. If I crashed or dabbed, I found it nigh on impossible to get going again.
I guess Youtube makes everything look easier! Oh well I'm sure it will be fine.... and breathe!
is there anything really sketchy on the Fort section, in case I don't get to practice it in time?
There's one optional line that has a drop on it which is probably not rollable on all lines and it's followed by a steep and narrow corner. There is however a rollable line over the drop and a chicken run for the drop and that whole bit is an option that'll be well signposted.
There's a couple of moderately steep bits elsewhere on that trail too but nothing else that's likely to scare anyone who's just been down Broon Troot. 🙂 It could be pretty nasty in the wet too, but it should be fine on Sunday.
Mainly the Fort looks like a really nice bit of trail. Bear in mind though that I have only walked it so it may be entirely different when experienced on a bike.
I guess Youtube makes everything look easier! Oh well I'm sure it will be fine.... and breathe!
I saw somebody scoping out Broon Troot yesterday - "bonkers" was what he said and it seemed to have knocked his confidence about entering the event a little... As others have said it's tougher than any of the waymarked stuff at Glentress, but it is a nice trail. It's more like some of the technical Alpine singletrack offered by places like Bike Village than most stuff I know of locally.
It's more like some of the technical Alpine singletrack offered by places like Bike Village than most stuff I know of locally.
Well I have a week with Sam there in August so I'll class it as practice 😉
thanks Chris
The good thing about Brown trout (in the context of a timed stage) is that it's pretty short. only feels like 2-3 minutes of trail. If you come off, just run with the bike for a bit and you'll not lose much time.
Hi Bigjim, Mrs Ivnickkate tells me that race numbers are not required for practice. on Saturday.
Broon Troot was mental right enough, hopefully I won't hold up to many people tomorrow!
Nipped down for a wee practice today, got the fort descent and Horrible Climb #1 sorted. Dry as a bone, there's places where the surface is so loose and dusty it's got less grip than mud. Fantastic... It's going to be a great day I reckon!
(also the registration people gave me a choc-ice)
Get down first, kick up lots of dust and blind the competition, that's my tip.
Had a go on the new bits of the fort descent today and its a truly ace bit of trail, everything is so dry and fast at the moment!
Marshaling tomorrow so will need to look out the factor 50 if today is anything to go by 😀
yeah it is pretty loose and dusty by and large. Wish I'd ridden broon troot before today, won't be doing it much justice tomorrow! that ditch at the very end might catch some out too!
Well... That was really bloody good! Not that I was troubling the podium but had a grand day out, they put on a brilliant show for us. Thanks folks!
Hi Northwind, re: choc ice, you're welcome, glad you had a great time.
If anyone has lost items please mail me with details and we will hopefully be able to send them.
A top day out! I feel as though I was really looked after too, the deck chairs, water, cake , bananas etc. v
A very chilled atmosphere too. Great mix of trails, friendly marshalls etc etc . Loved it!
It was a great course. The weather was amazing a bit hot climbing in the sun! I was absoultely hanging by the end, I hope they run the event again next year it really was good.
It was excellent fun, top event. Roll on next year!
Quite interesting looking at the times/ranks. I did so much better on the climbs than the descents time-wise, but was really struggling with the legs afterwards which probably cost me more time on the pedally descents.
And Chris Ball did broon troot [i]how[/i] fast?!!
Cracking event!!! realy well organised and the trails were great.
Had a massive off on the very last corner of the fort descent but some how managed to land on the road with both wheels, then I bounded off the bike! Was so lucky!!! 😆
anyone know if there was a photographer taking, um, photos?
Ian Linton was about taking photos and Calum Darling was filming for Tweedlove.
bigjim - MemberAnd Chris Ball did broon troot how fast?!!
Pff, only a minute faster than me.
...
Which would be more impressive if it weren't a 2-minute stage!
Anyone know what happened to Crawfy?
Pff, only a minute faster than me.
Think you would have needed a calendar to time me down Broon troot!
Crawford punctured twice, I had a chat when he was fixing the first one at the top of Super G, and he said he was going to cruise around from there and get back to base for a few beers (at least I think that was it sorry Crawfy if I read that wrong - sounded right to me ! And sensible)
Dan at Marshal 7 did report some pretty impressive flying skills across the gravel road at bottom of Ho Chi Minh tho.
(why do I always want to type Ho Chi Minch ? I think that's the underground NVA smuggling route from GT to Innerleithen)
yeah word on the putting green was CCA was on a spare bike running tubes and had 2 flats as above.
Think you would have needed a calendar to time me down Broon troot!
me too, I totally stopped at least twice going down it, unsurprisingly had it dropped.
Does anyone have some links to the photographers that were dotted around the course on Sunday.
oop's I should have read the whole thread!!
Thanks to all the Tweedlove team for a great event. Really enjoyed it. Only one minor 'off' of the day was right in front of the photographers at the bottom of the last stage. D'oh!