[Closed] Glentress - Unrideable this weekend - where was the warning!

[url= http://www.7stanes.gov.uk/forestry/infd-69afrj#Glentress ]FC Route condition info here[/url]

"Trails: all open except for Wallrides section in Freeride Park "

Oddly the young lads were having a great time on the big wall ride on Sunday

I know they said slippery and Icy later in the report... Unrideable would have been better ......grrrrrrrrrrr!

I was out yesterday and got stuck in a snowdrift (a bit).

Funniest thing was I knew I'd been hammering the alcohol a bit much when the icy puddles kept reminding me of big glasses of gin and tonic.

Dry week this week (plan).

Look, i'm a long way away but i've seen the weather. And i've ridden at Glentress. Its on a hill, it gets quite high. Theres been a lot of snow and its been really really cold. Would it not have crossed your mind that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't a great place to ride ? Honestly. Sorry but seems to me that you need to MTFU.

Fortnight of freezing weather and fairly hefty snowfalls will almost inevitably turn to ice. Like the conditions site says - couldn't really be much clearer to my eyes. What more of a "warning" do you want them to "put out?"???

Coming soon to STW - "no-one told me Pope has Balcony and pointy hat", "someones should have warned me that bears defacate in dense forest before I stood in it". Do you want the Forestry to come round and wipe your hole for you as well?

[i]Glentress - [b]updated 9th February[/b]
Please note: the wallride on the Essentials Free Ride trail is closed until further notice. Sorry for inconvenience.

Hub café and bike shop: Hub café and bikeshop are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays until Easter (open rest of week).

Parking restrictions: Buzzards Nest Car Park, The Red Squirrel car park and the access road to these are [b]closed to vehicles due to snow.[/b]

Trails: all open except for Wallrides section in Freeride Park (closed until further notice for review of timber features) and Super G on Red Route - closed until 20th February for maintenance work with digger. See diversion info.

[b]Conditions: Snow on all trails - slippy and icy. From Buzzards Nest height and upwards the depth of snow makes riding v.difficult. [/b]

Diversions: Diversion at start of Super G on Red Route, via Betty Blue (Blue Route), rejoining Red Route at post 44 (start of Hit Squad Hill). Minor diversions on the final third of Electric Blue on the Blue Route until mid February due to timber flyover bridge construction and trail maintenance works.

More info: Contact Andy the MTB ranger on 07834 435380, or see the info board next to the parking meter at Osprey Car Park.[/i]

i rode at glentress on sunday. bits of the red, blue and other trails.

it was fun.

One could further postulate about what has become of the sport if people expect to turn up, whatever the weather and ride on groomed trails.

I really must try and get to a trail centre this year, if only to watch the people who ride there.

AS the others said - a bit of thought and checking the hub website and on here would have given you the clue.

Its on a hill, in Scotland and there has been a lot of snow. The trails get a bit difficult. Learn to think for yourself?

Hub café and bikeshop are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays until Easter

oh arse. I'm coming all the way from Spain to ride at Glentress at the end of March and the only days free to ride there are Monday and Tuesday.

Presumably you can still actually ride the trails? (though without a bike that could now prove to be problematic)

think there'a a hire shop in Peebles behind the Shell garage. Trails remain open.

exkinspain - yes you can ride the trails - its Scotland they cannot be closed. Other bike hire is available - there is a place advertises in Peebles but I have no idea what the bikes are like. Does Prosport in Innerleithan still hire bikes?

eckinspain - you can hire a bike from Alpine Bikes in Innerleithen (5 mins away - and close to quality trails too!) 01896 830 880.

http://www.glentressbikehire.co.uk/?Itemid=1

Probably worth contacting them and reserving something if you are coming all the way from Spain, eckinspain.

thanks everyone - I'll get in touch with Glentress and Alpine (I want to have a look at the Genesis Altitude in Alpine anyway)

[i]I really must try and get to a trail centre this year, if only to watch the people who ride there. [/i]

It is fun, but on no account must you postulate upon the fact that some riders may be wearing, in your opinion, excessive amounts of plastic fashioned into amour, to ride on what are essentially, as you rightly point out; very groomed trails... 😀

but, anyway, back to the OP, if a bloke the other side of the world could work out that maybe the trails after some of the heaviest snowfalls in a decade might be in a bit of a state, then perhaps it's not beyond the realms of possibility that you could have guessed. No?

i went to glentress a few years a go and someone hit a rock and fell off

there was no warning at all

next time i ride a trail center i shall be wearing some of nickc's plastic tea trays in case there are any other such hazzards

The trails at Glentress were meant to be pretty slippy at the weekend and unrideable in places but a quick call to the Hub (who are normally pretty helpful with stuff like this) or a check of the website would have told you what the trails were like.

Its hardly their fault if the trails are snowy/icy.

What's the country comming to if the council can't even be bothered to send a gritter lorry round it.

how about deciding for yourself if stuff is unridable?
if you went out on non-marked route there wouldnt be warnings would there?

[b]RIDING BIKES ON SNOW AND ICE IS GREAT MTFU OR STAY AT HOME[/b]

I'm with Lesanita2. I rode Glentress in December and turned/cutback early. I didnt fancy meeting the ground quickly. It was sheet ice on bends. Back then other STWposters/riders said it made the ride 'interesting'. I called it silly.

jeezus
it's scotland in winter and theres lots of white hills around there
i can see them from my living room
ffs
you'll be wanting road signs up next

common sence in short supply (marketing niech for brant methinks)

Maybe you can put a claim in for wasted fuel?

Get a grip of yourself man.

You went into the hills in February with no preparations and were surprised when it wasn't what you expected. Either prepare properly, make the best out of the conditions, or don't go into the hills.

The place is there to make things more accessible, not to remove your obligation to use your brain.

I guess the main thing is how far you're travelling to ride. I went out t'other weekend, into the darkest wilds of Surrey. I took a 20 minute train ride. The weather was repellent, the trails were hub-deep in freezing cold water ion some places, it was raining horizontally and was vilely cold. I blatted about for 2 hours, finishing up back at my door and leapt into a hot abth, where I spent the next two hours.

If I had driven for 2 hours to get to where I started the ride I would have been quite seriously hacked off. As it was there was not kcuh invested int he ride, so the fact that it was one to remember rather than one to enjoy didn't much matter.

Agreed that the trail centre thing is a bit wierd...

😉

That's typically inconsiderate of those 'thrifty jocks' for being too mean to instal under-trail heating 🙄

[url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/motherwell/7886929.stm ]They should be penalised like this lot ![/url]

Use some common sense maybe..

Lesanita2 if you had gone for a ride in the Scotish mountains or the lake district for example would you have expected someone to tell you that it wouldn't make a lot of sense to ride there what with all the snow and ice? No didn't think so. Suerely given the weather we've had it would have made sense to at least give someone a call to find out what the trails were like. Another fine example of the wrapped in cotton woll trail centre rider.

Think for yourself, don't expect everyone else to look after you.

...so anyway, I was thinking of going there tomorrow morning for a spin. Anyone been there this am ? must be pretty well melted now ?

carefull ian i heard theres a bit of mud on a corner somwhere

I think they should build a roof over Glentress to allow year-round riding in t-shirts and shorts.

And perhaps have an escalator to the top, and then a gently meandering path down to the finish with adequate padding on each tree to avoid injury, and removal of all pointy rocks and potential dangers.

MTFU.

One of the skills/joys of mountain biking is planning for what the weather/conditions will be like. You won't get it right all the time, but with a bit of experience you'll become not bad.

On the other hand, if you want spoon fed all the information then you've maybe taken up the wrong sport.

And if you dont find the challenge of icy snowy trails that can catch you out great fun, maybe you should stick to canal tow paths? ! 😀

TRY:

http://www.7stanes.gov.uk/website/forestry.nsf/byunique/infd-69afrj#Glentress

This is always up-dated whenever conditions change dramatically.

[i]I really must try and get to a trail centre this year, if only to watch the people who ride there. [/i]

Don't do it.

No - do it Brant, but take a carry out for the proper Scottish experience.

Need a pick-me-up? Try a Scottish Coffee - Vodka and Coke.

Yeah, definitely do it Brant. Then sell your story to the highest bidding bike mag so we can all have a laugh!

Toughen up, Princess!!

I posted here on Sunday to see if anyone had ridden GT and if it was OK (in regards to snow and ice) and one guy replied to say that he was riding elsewhere due to the weather. If i'd known that all I had to do was post GLENTRESS = DEATHTRAP!!!! and see who pops up to say I'm a fairy I'd have done that 😉

P.S. I didn't take the bike in the end, but I'll be back 😀 and I did loads of dangerous arseing about in the snow down here thanks very much

Don't know about last weekend, but the one before, when snow had just fallen with -6 degrees, was pretty interesting - thought the info up on boards at the bottom was fairly indicative. Just have to temper the riding a bit to suit, even got off a few times when self preservation took over, or grip deserted. OK, red route took nearly twice as long, and I wont be in a hurry to repeat it, but was fun all the same and the views at the top were great (lost a number of plastic bits though, thumb shifter included - lousy low temperatures!)

Don't think anyone was calling anyone else a "fairy" for not riding when it was icy. People were having a pop at the "nanny state" type attitude of "well why wasn't there a notice saying the trails might be tricky" when all that was needed was a bit of common sense.

Thanks for all your comments. Its always a pleasure to see comments from you all. I was expecting a little more agreement, no really I was after years on this forum. Not to worry.

I did understand the snow and Ice would be present.

I am quite prepared to take my chances in the most remote of areas in any weather.

I have lulled myself into a false sense of security with trail centres. I go there to have a day of fun under known conditions, rather than the unknown conditions the other 99% of the time. Not better or worse, just different. The one thing I (wrongly it now seems) is known conditions.

Nobody would have ridden round the black and red trails last weekend. The surprise to me was the amount of ice under the snow. I expected (wrongly) that the drainage would have dealt with the melt water.

Local knowledge would have known this. I think the website and local information on the rangers boards should have said that the trails were only passable with much walking. Falling off will occur on most descents (randomly) and that the 3 hour black route will take you at least 6 hours. Not good wording, but it would have been more accuracy.

I wouldn't expect to sue if I fell off or the trail conditions weren't accurate. I'm not going down that road. A lot of people will have much less experience than me and will have travelled greater distances to be disappointed.

I love trail centres, but a little more accuracy with the riding conditions is what I would like.

Brant, I'd avoid trail centres, they are full of on-one riders.

Lesanita2 - get a grip. The pivotal point of access situation in scotland is the right to exercise responsibility and use your own judgement. The day that the FC go out and tell you what you can and cant ride will be a sad day indeed. There was snow, and a fair amount of it - what the **** did you expect to find up there?