[Closed] Lovely looking bit of new trail... don't you agree?

bit samey 🙂

It looks like a drain to me- but enlighten us to where and what it is.

is it not fort will red? (asking genuinely)

looks a bit like new red at fort bill!!!

**** me you wouldn't want to get that one wrong 😯

looks like the new Sustrans route down Haldon hill 😉

Pppft I could manual the lot of that and I am not entirely 100% I even know what "to manual" means.

I want me some of that anyway

Ditto for a nose wheely - isnt it something you do when you go over the bars?

ps does look nice..

Assuming that is the Fort Will red, which looked awesome in the video I saw of it, do we know how many injuries there have been.

I think the general opinion was that it could well catch people unawares and was maybe more difficult than some people would be expecting?

But yeah, I'd love to ride it some time assuming a mid week date with no kids hassling me out of the way.

Nose wheely of there indeed.. new red at Fort Bill, the folks at Nevis Range just went up with a helichopper and a camera... I do find long bits of wood work a bit tedious but i can feel my palms sweating just looking at it

reminds me of 'look at the penalty for failure'

It's kind of cool... But the boardwalk is all really just there to get you between the good bits. They've done some work to make it interesting but it's still just a means to an end, Nevis Red's all about the rocks.

I wonder how many here are relishing the option to ride up this rather than down ... on a cx bike 🙂
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I want to ride that 😀

It is brilliant, brilliant fun... I'm hoping to get back up early next season after the lifts reopen, maybe we should do a STW weekend there... Easy to get to, the Caledonian Sleeper runs from London to Fort William via Edinburgh and everywhere else inbetween...

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I rode it last weekend, that exposed bit of boardwalk is quite fun because of the exposure factor, you find yourself riding as far away from the edge as possible, sweaty palms!
Too much boardwalk on the route in general I reckon, it becomes monotonous, some bits must be near half a mile long and it's all the same width, some Kona Darkside like bits would be good! The last half of the route where it gets a bit steeper and rockier is the best bit.

We only rode it once all weekend, stayed on the DH track the rest of the time, which is probably a fair reflection of how much fun each trail is, we were on DH bikes tho, might be better on a lighter bike.

It doesn't strike you that, looking at the pics above, they have built a woden trail to move you off a perfectly good rugged mountainside? True, there is a steep drop but with our shiney new all mountain bikes couldn't we get excited about something other than a 2 foot wide wooden pavement?

Any pics of the rocks Northwind?

That would be graded Double Black if it were a few miles from Wrexham...!!!

Confuzzed.. u certainly are.. given the fight to get planning to build the dh track over conservation grade mountain.. if they had tried to excavate another route across they would never have got the go ahead from Scottish Heritage / Nature who would have obstructed planning consent probably.. in conservation terms wood work like that is a very temporary arrangement that when finished with the traces vanish with little action..

liking the idea of the caledonia sleeper from London... Tempting, in a kind of 'won't really happen' way... 🙂

confuzzed: that boardwalk is there because you cannot ride properly on the moor, as it is a bog. that is the reason why the dh track is raised.

I face planted off the boardwalk there just under two weeks ago... went up in one of the rainest days of that week (thursday) and it was a poor week anyway for weather! Thankfully its all bog around the woodwork, so its a soft landing. I guess thats why its there... keep you off the bog! We managed a few runs and it seemed like myself and the brother in law had it to ourselves for the day! We didnt see another person on the red that day.

I think the general opinion was that it could well catch people unawares and was maybe more difficult than some people would be expecting?

I wonder how many here are relishing the option to ride up this rather than down ... on a cx bike

It doesn't strike you that, looking at the pics above, they have built a woden trail to move you off a perfectly good rugged mountainside? True, there is a steep drop but with our shiney new all mountain bikes couldn't we get excited about something other than a 2 foot wide wooden pavement?

The last half of the route where it gets a bit steeper and rockier is the best bit.

I have some videos on my flickr of me riding a section but I look like a tool so I wont post them... if you find them enjoy 😉

Its really good fun and well worth the drive from Glasgow and the cash for the gondola in my mind. Its *not* worth hiring bikes from the bike hire at the nevis range though, the guy was rude and unhelpful to my brother in law, he got a generic full suss effort (something middle range XC from Marin) that cost £50 for the day and needed the grips cable tied on as they kept coming off, forks were in needed of pumping up and the rear wheel hub was so loose / bearings so worn that the back wheel was scary to watch from behind! The lad at the counter was clearly pissed off that we disturbed his day by hiring a bike from him!

As for what bike to take I was happy with my Rockhopper (hard tail) but thankful for the silly big 205mm rotor on the front and 180 out back!

David.

Doesn't actually answer my question though.

Here is a mountain. We can't use the land for what we want so heres a trail bolted to the mountain which will leave little eco footprint (commendable) but looks like...

If you came off the woodwork how long would it be before you stopped bouncing it looks a long way down

Yeah, not surprised you didn't enjoy it much on a DH bike really, it's not a downhill trail... Do it on a hardtail 😉

The reason for all the boardwalk is that the whole mountainside is a deep peat bog, so there's huge sections they can't lay conventional trail over. It's the same with the main DH course in places, the woodwork's only there because they have no choice. (also, the peat's now legally protected I think)

I do agree the woodwork section pictured is a little bit dull though, it has little steps and jumps and rocky bits in but it could do with some skinnies, some varied surfaces etc... Log tops instead of planks for some of it, maybe. Options, perhaps, diversions off the main route. You need to carry a lot of speed to make it interesting. Do bear in mind that you're seeing a few hundred metres of a 6.6km descent.

Spaceman, I didn't get much in the way of pics of the rocks, I never wanted to stop when I was in the good bit 😉 But there's loads on the nevis range website. Here's a couple

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If you came off the woodwork how long would it be before you stopped bouncing it looks a long way down

You dont bounce you squelch. Then start to sink. 😈 Its really boggy!

Wow looks great!

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It's wide, but quite varied...

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"If you came off the woodwork how long would it be before you stopped bouncing it looks a long way down"

Well, it's a choice... On the rocky bits, if you fall, you'll be smashed. On the peaty bits, if you fall, you'll be horribly drowned. But, look on the bright side, you'll be perfectly preserved.

[i]you'll be perfectly preserved. [/i]

🙂

All this chat about the reason for sticking a wooden boardwalk onto the side of a hill...perfectly legimate reasons, IF there were a shortage of hills in the area to build a proper mountainbike trail on.

"All this chat about the reason for sticking a wooden boardwalk onto the side of a hill...perfectly legimate reasons, IF there were a shortage of hills in the area to build a proper mountainbike trail on."

How many of them have gondola uplifts? 🙄 It's 550m metres of descent with only 20 metres of climb, I think you can forgive it a bit of boardwalk, don't you?

[i]"All this chat about the reason for sticking a wooden boardwalk onto the side of a hill...perfectly legimate reasons, IF there were a shortage of hills in the area to build a proper mountainbike trail on."

Have you checked the geology/ground conditions of the other hills in the area? Are they any different from here? Are they totally peat bog free?

You are both avoiding coming to the conclusion that that is a hellishly dull long stretch of boardwalk.

Dr Do. You came to the conclusion that there are other hills in the area to construct a trail on. That's my point, not if the timber section is exciting or dull.

when i paid for my lift ticket the lady at the counter advised me to not go on the new red northshore because some kid got blown off up there earlier in the morning. of course i headed straight for it 😀

That's my point, not if the timber section is [b]exciting[/b] or [b]dull[/b].

Whaddaya reckon then?

I reckon that's it's along piece of timberwork 😆

Never been on it, it's a little bit too far away for me to justify a Sunday ride there 😆

Some people might find it a challenge, some might find it boring. Reading the comments it seems that way.

It's just fascinating that the person with the negative opinion of this trail is judging it from pictures, while the people with a positive opinion of it have actually ridden it. Bizarre eh? It's almost like you might have formed a completely false opinion!

Yes, it's a hell of a lot of boardwalk. No, it's not "hellishly boring", it's not a patch on the rest of the trail but there's more than enough variation in it to keep it interesting, particularily when taken at speed, which is exactly how it was designed. But as has been patiently explained, the timberwork gives access to the rest of the trail. Most of the distance is NOT woodwork. This is like looking at a picture of the fire road climb at innerleithen and concluding that it's the worst trail in the world, nothing but fire road.

Stop trying to know a trail from pictures on the internet. Come up next year when it reopens, give it a crack.

Come up next year when it reopens, give it a crack.

It's a long way for a bit of decking.

Northwind, pay for the air fares from Aus, and I'll be there, 😆

Dr Dolittle "It's a long way for a bit of decking. "

Obviously you're just choosing to ignore the reality here. Carry on...

Obviously you're just choosing to ignore the reality here. Carry on.

And the reality is?

I'm of the opinion that only enthusiasts would make the trip to FB in order to ride a trail (unless it's aimed at locals) and they would expect trails of the technical level of most of the 7 stanes. Only enthusiasts would care or pay for an uplift service, or only enough to make it viable... However that trail looks like it was designed for novices or people with some sort of OCD desire for deadly dull looking boardwalk. I travelled from London a couple of summers ago in order to ride all 8 stanes, but I feel no inclination whatsoever to ride that.

I suppose it has a "novelty factor" though.

Nice video...

Nice video...

I watched with the sound off. I saw fluorescent bicycles, gnarly skids, not much decking, and fullface helmets.

Did I miss any words of wisdom?

However that trail looks like it was designed for novices or people with some sort of OCD desire for deadly dull looking boardwalk.

Seriously the pictures don't do it justice! The boardwalk stuff can be steep, has a few interesting cambers, a steep short and fun climb on it, a few drops / steps and some places to get a bit of air. Its not dull - it might not be your cup of tea but its not dull!

After the boardwalk you get some very very nice rocky sections, reminded me a bit of sections of laggan or contin/strathpeffer trails. Steep slabs, some general rocky descents and then it drops to a nice spookywoods at glentress akin section to the car park and gondola station!

I have ridden nearly all of the 7 stanes reds, laggan red, strathpuffer route, and a whole pile of local trails, a lot of the routes in Kenny Wilson's book and I would say that its the hardest thing I had ridden.

However - i don't know if its worth a trip all the way from London. Next time your in Scotland though with a bike its worth a visit!

Cheers,

David.

i wish they would show some imagination when building wooden trails

I think a good deal of foresight has been shown by the designers in making something that's not too nutso.

Otherwise there would inevitably be tears when some of the forum heroes off here come up from London to ride it, exercise poor judgement of weather conditions and their abilities, and end up in a broken heap on an exposed mountainside in the middle of nowhere. 🙂

imagination doesnt mean danger

i wish they would show some imagination when building wooden trails

Not many words there, but that's the opinion I'm listening to and agreeing with.

I've ridden it. It's total rubbish. The boardwalks are more interesting than usual, but still incredibly tedious. You're on them and nothing is going on, except that at any second you might get blown off because its built on the windiest bit of the hill. But the biggest risk is that you'll fall asleep and fall off.

The rock sections don't fit together very well and the trail doesn't flow at all. now I'll accept that when I did it it was incredibly windy and it would have been almost acceptable perhaps without the wind. BUT it's always bloody windy up there on the windiest bit of a very windy hill.

You've travelled all the way to Fort William and they have a proper mountain bike descent there too. Why the hell would you waste your time on this?

The thought crossed my mind also that the Gondola might close because it is too windy on the red run, when the black is still perfectly serviceable, so the real riders then lose out. They do seem incredibly trigger happy when it comes to closing the course. When we went up it shut an hour early with no explanation and the Gondola still running.

Regarding the bike shop there; it's also complete ****. Last time we had any involvement with them they charged my mate £40 to hire some Giant cheapo FS bike with v-brakes and no damping. Then charged him another £35 when the inevitable crash happened and the seat popped a rail. Then we saw them put the seat in a vice and pop the rail back in.

And the woman selling tickets, yes I do know what I'm doing, yes I've ridden the course loads of times, yes I'm in the minority because I'm wearing jeans, but I think if you check you'll find that they are in fact thicker material than all these other chaps are wearing. Grrrrrrr!

where is the trail in question, behind the ikea stuff?

Go on then Jedi, how would you make that more interesting?

Boardwalk stuff seems a complete waste of money to me, TBF I have not ridden that but I've ridden the stuff at Laggan and Dalbeattie.

Why spend so much building something like that that is not even remotely interesting or challenging?

I actually agree with Jedi - most boardwalk stuff in this country (uk) tends to be a bit dull: They could try offering different lines, maybe including a skinny line, maybe a see-saw or two, a steeper line, whatever.
Also, what is the surface like? It's not covered in chicken wire is it?

i am in fact looking into doing this uk wide for trail centers

Trade secrets then? 😉

LOL at Dr Do. I don't know of anyone who has ridden the trail and not really enjoyed it. If that boardwalk was in London they could charge twice the price for that alone and it would be mobbed.
The woodwork nay sayers should go have a play at Balnain unless the FC H&S dept have taken all the skinnys and see saws out of there too.

The most annoying thing for me is that I live sooooooo very far away from all this stuff - if anyone builds a bridge over a ditch here in the south-east the FC and H&S have a heart attack and order it to be taken down.

I really hope you succeed Jedi and I think most trails centres would benefit dramatically from some imagination.

You aren;t going to get proper wooden trails in the South unless you go to a private venue like Esher, but the FC aren't anti- it as far as I can see. This is from a really popular trail in the Midlands.

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If there's a dearth of "North Shore" on trails in the South it's because it's ridiculously expensive and slow to build, and it goes rotten and needs ripping out every couple of years.

Did the dalbeattie boardwalk last weekend, it was rather long and tedious. But I'm not too keen on ANY boardwalk because I find it either boring OR the exact opposite - designed to be ridden at one pace and one pace only (usually faster than I want to!) so it screws up a ride if there are not alternatives. The ideal use, IMO, I found in Slovenia where it was short (50ft sections to navigate impossible drops/sections, with the odd jump or drop thrown in, rather than a specific part of the course.

Also, what is the surface like? It's not covered in chicken wire is it?

Nope - its not!

I don't know of anyone who has ridden the trail and not really enjoyed

I've ridden it, it's gash.

Also, what is the surface like? It's not covered in chicken wire is it?

Nope - its not!

So how do they achieve grip? Or isn't there any?

Did the dalbeattie boardwalk last weekend, it was rather long and tedious

My point exactly - if they used a bit of imagination, it would be more interesting.

chicken wire is best for grip.
if builders had a maintenance ethic the problems of it ripping up after a while wouldnt be an issue

I think the word you're looking for there is "budget" not "ethic". I'm sure there would be plenty of people out there willing to do the work if they got paid. 🙂

paulrockliffe - Member

I don't know of anyone who has ridden the trail and not really enjoyed

I've ridden it, it's gash.

rocky, it's nowhere near as bad as you make out. yeah the single time that we rode it it was completely turd because of the wind - we were more focused on trying to stay on the boardwalk rather than actually riding it. and the same with the non-board sections - i think the flow of the trail was limited by the wind. saying that there were sections where you had to scrub off loads of speed, whether it was windy or not, due to the technicality of the trail. i mean the parts where the trail used natural rock formations. but i don't think that is particularly a bad thing - it does feel a like you are riding on natural trails compared to many other trail centre trails. if they had just dug in to the hillside and laid down a weatherproof trail you'd all be complaining about that as well. you have to take it for what it is, not the best trail in the world and probably not somewhere that you would travel specifically to ride, but worth a couple of runs down if you are visiting Aonach Mor.

chicken wire is best for grip.

That is true, but it also shreds you if you fall off on it. It's still better than nothing.

i think they are painted with paint with sand in it - i may be wrong but there is definitely some attepmt to increase the grip. still got the feeling my front wheel was going to wash out at any second when it was raining though...

paint/glue sand mix last less time than chiken wire

[i]You aren;t going to get proper wooden trails in the South [/i]

chicksands anyone??

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most of that is no longer there

Looks to me like they've done the best with the available terrain. Fact that the woodwork section is longer than most dh trails in the south seems to make people think that is the whole trail!
Don't see how they couldd've made it mroe exciting/imaginitive without it being ridiculously expensive.

The sleeper up to Fort William is excellent.

Mad girl arrives in Scotland
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Somewhere on Rannoch Moor on the way home
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N.b. other trails are available in the area. Very easy to find something utterly wonderful.
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TM

The thought crossed my mind also that the Gondola might close because it is too windy on the red run, when the black is still perfectly serviceable, so the real riders then lose out

😕

They close the gondola because the wind is too high for the actual gondola, not because it's too windy for the trail.

jedi - Member

chicken wire is best for grip.
if builders had a maintenance ethic the problems of it ripping up after a while wouldnt be an issue

Mr Agreeable - Member

I think the word you're looking for there is "budget" not "ethic". I'm sure there would be plenty of people out there willing to do the work if they got paid.

the builders shouldnt build if they dont maintain.

So how do they achieve grip? Or isn't there any?

They are painted if I remember right? It was very wet the day I went so grip was pretty poor.

A lot of negativity from people here... If its not what you would have done then find a bit of mountain and build what you want!

I take the view that slagging someone else's work as poor and that you could do better can only be justified if you actually *have* done better! For example I took a fair bit of stick on a different thread for something I did from a few people that proved they had done better - fair enough! I learned a lot from that! But slagging the trail without riding it and without having built something better seems a bit pointless. Loads of opinion and little fact. Nothing to back up some statements made. Lots of willy waving.

Oh - hang on - Im on the STW forum here? Ignore my last paragraph... 😛