Which is better?
Singletrack ideally. Which trail is best in Glentress- any mix n match short cuts?
Yes I will be paying for parking and putting money in the cafe 🙂
Both? You can ride all xc trails at both, it is about 60 miles if you ride between them as well. Failing that a hybrid of the red black at Glentress with a finish of the xc loop at Innerliethen.
If you have to pick one, do intervals and get fitter 😉
For a short cut take black to top of Britney Spears, climb to radio mast then follow shortcut path fire road down to spooky woods (un signposted sharp left off the fire road)
Do spooky woods and continue following red. anyone know if motorway is back open?
Park at Inners, do a lap of the red.
Take the Inners-GT link as far as Cardrona and then do Gypsy Glen going up via Cardrona Forest. This brings you into Peebles. Have lunch at one of the many cafés/pubs.
Peebles to GT Buzzards via Janets Brae. Aim for Spooky Wood but pass by an meet up with the Boundary Trail.
Do Black until half-way up Redemption then short-cut onto the Red, follow this back to the café. Have a break.
Easy spin back to car at Inners.
Obviously this assumes you are as fit as you post 🙂
Trailcentrewise, Glentress red imo. More variety, more actual descending comparing red to red, better for a "first hit"- better sightlines etc so you can see what's coming and ride it harder first time, inners has quite a lot of bits where knowing the trail is pretty essential to make it work well. Also GT is easy to link up bits off the different trails, cut loops short or expand or repeat bits etc.
As soon as you get off the map, Innerleithen is the king, the dh and enduro trail network is amazing. I mostly just use the xc trails as links to the good stuff now. Also if it's this weekend I think there's spaces on the uplift...
I'm a big fan of Glentress - even the blue is a hoot. From Berm, Baby, Berm to the bottom it is just brains out fun.
I like the red too - Spooky Woods is OK but not as great as people make out but blasting down Spooky Woods and the likes Hit squad, Super G, Magic Mushroom and Pie Run all on one go is ace. The climb back up isn't too bad either,
We had a week in Peebles last July and I couldn't believe how empty the place was even on the nice sunny days that we rode it.
I wasn't so keen on the black which felt like a slog however the section called the Bitch was ace fun.
Didn't get chance to do Inners because I was with the other half who wouldn't have enjoyed that really.
Will you be able to cope with the people on Santa Cruz, Banshee, Knolly etc bikes, possibly wearing colourful kit that you deem to be fashion bikers? Afterall places like Inners and Glentress will attract them. 😆
Inners dh trails running sweet the other night
IMO... Innerleathen is a trail of two halves, bottom loop is compleat in different in character to the top loop (over Minch moor) thought inners was much more downhill biased than xc trail if you see what I mean.
Did glentress the day after, red then back round on the blue. Brilliant. Just really really nice riding. More my style if you like. Didn't think spooky woods lived up to the hype, it was still blooming good fun though!
I did prefer glentress....
For a short cut take black to top of Britney Spears, climb to radio mast then follow shortcut path fire road down to spooky woods (un signposted sharp left off the fire road)
This is madness!! 😀
I do the exact opposite for a short-cut, ride up the red climb but by-pass the turn off to Spooky woods and continue out onto Boundary Trail to do that, Shane McGowan, Leithen Door etc and on down Deliverence. Various options to short cut after that but that descent from just below the mast to the bottom of Deliverence is my favourite bit of Glentress.
I'd say for bang for your buck( time that is not car parking fees). Do Innerleithen XC in the morning, get in the car and go to GT. Ride up to Buzzards, have a play on Berm Baby Berm, then ride up to the top of Spooky wood, follow the red till you get to the road, back up to Buzzards and ride the blue back to the cafe. Some bits of the black are ok but doing this I reckon you get to see the best bits in a day.
Personally I probably prefer Inners but Glentress has the better variety of trails.
Inners is a lot less busy and you can take your time and explore all the non-waymarked bits. I've learned a lot more riding at Inners than Glentress.
You can't really fault Glentress from variety though
Think that sums up Glentress nicely though, everyone likes different bits and it's possible to cut it all up and paste it back together however you want.
Though tbh for a first time, just doing the red makes most sense. I don't rate spooky but most folks enjoy it the first few times. Only thing I would do, is do the black descents bitch, XX and wormhole instead of the red descents lombard street and the matrix. (you can easily pedal back up and do both), and then ride back up from the top of Magic Mushroom, to do Pie Run and Mushroom Pie.
If it's your first time in the Tweed Valley just go and ride at Glentress, you won't be disappointed with the red.
Next time go and explore Innerleithen, last time we went we went Northwind pointed us in the direction of some of the unmarked trails which were a lot of fun and made the way marked red much better.
Both are good but for a first time visit then Glentress - the red is the obvious choice but after that give the blue a go, it is alot of fun despite it "only" being a blue.
Spooky Woods is OK but not as great as people make out
Well said!
If you want minimum faff, I'd do Inners, then go and have something to eat in Innerleithen itself, and then do Glentress red.
Glentress red is too short to think about only doing that.
[quote=robinlaidlaw ]
For a short cut take black to top of Britney Spears, climb to radio mast then follow shortcut path fire road down to spooky woods (un signposted sharp left off the fire road)
This is madness!!
I do the exact opposite for a short-cut, ride up the red climb but by-pass the turn off to Spooky woods and continue out onto Boundary Trail to do that, Shane McGowan, Leithen Door etc and on down Deliverence. Various options to short cut after that but that descent from just below the mast to the bottom of Deliverence is my favourite bit of Glentress.
+1 for that.
Easy GT red route extensions
1) Zoom or Bust From the top car park, follow the signs for the red/black up the fire road. Carry straight on where the red and black split (by the wallride- the red doubles back). Before you get to the black, you pass a very obvious but not signposted trail on the left. At the end, turn left down the short fire road descent, then left again at the T junction and go up the hill back to the car park. Nice singletracky, more natural feeling trail with roots and corners and that. Don't cut the corners or ChrisL will **** you up.
2) Bits of blue, they're ace. When doing the red worth climbing back up after Sair Fecht (short sharp climb), then going down Electric Blue which takes you back to the red anyway in a nice simple extra loop.
3) Laps of Berm Baby Berm- you ride past this on the red route anyway so rude not to. Yes it's just digger-built motorway, berms and jumps. But it's good motorway 🙂
4) Red + Black. At post 45- end of hit squad hill- you can either shortcut down Pie Run, or climb up to the Matrix/Lombard Street reds / XX/Bitch blacks. And whichever of those 3 options you take, you can just ride back up the fire road to post 45 and go back up and do the others. Especially going up from the top of Magic Mushroom back to post 45 then down Pie Run and Mushromm Pie gets you a stupid amount of extra (fairly flat but good) singletrack for a short climb.
[quote=Northwind ]going up from the top of Magic Mushroom back to post 45 then down Pie Run and Mushromm Pie gets you a stupid amount of extra (fairly flat but good) singletrack for a short climb.
Mushroom Pie reminds me of one of those Escher diagrams....
scotroutes - MemberMushroom Pie reminds me of one of those Escher diagrams....
There's a perfectly rational explanation- at innerleithen, there's a bit on the old XC climb which is uphill in both directions, the gravity balances out.
Or after the Bitch, but before the Wormhole, look for a crazily steep trail on your left.
If its dry hang on and have fun, if its wet hospital food is much better than it used to be!
robinlaidlaw »
For a short cut take black to top of Britney Spears, climb to radio mast then follow shortcut path fire road down to spooky woods (un signposted sharp left off the fire road)This is madness!!
I do the exact opposite for a short-cut, ride up the red climb but by-pass the turn off to Spooky woods and continue out onto Boundary Trail to do that, Shane McGowan, Leithen Door etc and on down Deliverence. Various options to short cut after that but that descent from just below the mast to the bottom of Deliverence is my favourite bit of Glentress.
+1 for that.
I'll have to try that then.
Or after the Bitch, but before the Wormhole, look for a crazily steep trail on your left.If its dry hang on and have fun, if its wet hospital food is much better than it used to be!
Where does that drop out? I've seen it but never followed it as I'm usually tired at that point and didn't fancy having to re-climb it if I couldn't figure out where I was at the bottom.
It ends up at a little pond down towards the bottom of Good Game.
The start is crazily steep but it gets a little bit more sensible further down.
richmtb - MemberIt ends up at a little pond down towards the bottom of Good Game.
The start is crazily steep but it gets a little bit more sensible further down.
There's 2 lines there now,, the other has corners and roots and that (it was in the EWS stage Sticks and Stanes and is almost opposite the new exit from the Bitch, the older straighter one is a bit further along)
And then o'course you can just winch back up the fire road to rejoin the red almost where you left off.
I also rate the bit of blue after spooky much higher than the following red section, sorry no idea of names. Also if you keep your peepers peeled there is some more exciting off piste around this area.
Does the one off to the right as you ride from the foot of spooky towards the first blue descent have a name? Folk were calling it "natural spooky" but that makes no sense... But "the one off to the right as you ride from the foot of spooky towards the first blue descent" isn't very snappy.
Does the one off to the right as you ride from the foot of spooky towards the first blue descent have a name? Folk were calling it "natural spooky" but that makes no sense... But "the one off to the right as you ride from the foot of spooky towards the first blue descent" isn't very snappy.
"Mud and Roots" on Strava
b r - Member
Park at Inners, do a lap of the red.Take the Inners-GT link as far as Cardrona and then do Gypsy Glen going up via Cardrona Forest. This brings you into Peebles. Have lunch at one of the many cafés/pubs.
Peebles to GT Buzzards via Janets Brae. Aim for Spooky Wood but pass by an meet up with the Boundary Trail.
Do Black until half-way up Redemption then short-cut onto the Red, follow this back to the café. Have a break.
Easy spin back to car at Inners.
Obviously this assumes you are as fit as you post
Sorry, in English please 😆
That "Natural Spooky" is a giggle! Rode that last weekend. Also from Buzzards Nest, if you follow the fire road that goes up the left side (past the large wall ride that for some reason is cordoned off), look for a trail that drops down to the left, can follow that all the way in to Peebles. There is a nice drop off and steepish roll in on that too look out for. But that is a brilliant bit of riding! Will test your bike control..
[i]Sorry, in English please[/i]
If you read it with a 1:25000 O/S map its obvious 🙂
Hora - when are you up?
Now. Sat in a rough pub that sells my fave beer- Caledonian 80/-
Took abit of searching 😀
Apparently at Inners if you climb to the top by the Golf course is a track??
Does the one off to the right as you ride from the foot of spooky towards the first blue descent have a name?
I know it as supernatural
Apparently at Inners if you climb to the top by the Golf course is a track??
apparently there was some kind of little race there the other weekend
Enduro? Ah eady to find??? and follow? 🙂
well its all over strava, the stages that were raced are pretty obvious still too. the golf course is the kind of place you want to get shown round ideally as a lot of the trailheads are pretty much just gaps in the trees, at least the ones I know.
I find GT a bit of a zoo these days. Golf course routes at Inners are a bit soppy ATM.
How about Inners XC, but after Plora Rig, ride up the fireroad to the top of the downhill routes and do Cresta Run; as good a descent as anything in the Tweed Valley.
[i]Apparently at Inners if you climb to the top by the Golf course is a track?? [/i]
+1 Strava
Love glentress but inners is my fave esp with mc,dawn and gw