[Closed] Mabie's new berms

Where in the loop is this? Or is this the 4x track?

Looks like a construction site.. 🙁

hope they have good drainage or the first sign of rain they will be a duck pond, Lol

These berms are part 2 of Descender Bender, the bit after the first fireroad crossing but before the second fire road crossing. Today the third part was also closed, down to the stream crossing, but not too sure if any work is happening on that part too.

Looks like it might be worth a go next time I'm in the area. Any idea when its meant to open?

God's balls! Those do seem ever so slightly out of keeping with Mabie but still, I want a go noooooow!

(OTOH if lawman is right and they have drainage problems and fill with rain I guess that'll make them perfectly in keeping with Mabie 😉 )

Bloomin' eck 😯 did they install a steam catapult at the top too so you've got the speed to justify those beasts??

They should be open maybe in the next week or so but the date keeps slipping.

Bit of a poor show, should be open now, and the logging should be finished, dont they know im on holiday for the next two weeks starting Monday.

come on! are we supposed to believe you didn't ride them? Looks like great fun!

We were planning a trip to Mabie on Saturday but may do Dalbeattie or Ae instead if parts of Mabie are currently closed.

Um - I can't actually see myself riding these even when they are open! (That is not false modesty - there is a chicken run of sorts running down the centre so you do not have to ride the walls).

As for me not riding them, I guess many of you may think I may have done but these are actually very near a fireroad so you can just pop down without a bike to have a look.

In fact, it upsets me when people ride unfinished stuff as it is so disrespectful to the builders and also puts the dates back as things need to be repaired.There were some tyre tracks going around the netting to say it wasn't open, and that cheesed me off but hey ho. I am a local person and this is my home trail centre.

Rudedog - you may want to check with the rangers as there could still be diversions at both those trails - I don't know what is still ion place though. I think most of Ae is open and you should of course add in The Shredder even if you are both XC riders.

Of course the other thing about Mabie is that there are one heck of a lot of natural trails to ride there too (not walkers paths) but these need a little local knowledge.

I've been told it's opening for Easter wkend?? So think bank holiday Monday will see us there!
Looking forward to riding there again as I'm sick of Newcastleton and whinlatter Thursday nights bring it on!

My folks are moving back into Dumfries this weekend which means Mabie is now in riding distance for me so maybe see you there : ) (I don't have a car).

Even if there is a puddle, it would have to be massive to fill those berms!

wouldn't mind taking the car down those...!

Well folks, it's now open today! Can't believe I missed it by a day.

And Bur n Splash/Scorpion is also back in play
Not going to get out and play till at least Monday 😈

They should put a pond liner in and fill them with water. It would make you ride them, either that or get wet. 😆

I have to say it is intriguing what will happen when there is a massive downpour.

Anyway, I may well ride here this weekend as the one flippin weekend I have a car and want to go to Kirroughtree I discover there's a race on.

It looks very well drained with a drain right through the middle. Oh and it's quick ran it tonight berms hold you in nicely in fact the whole section of trail keeps you in. Very very nice

Ah yes instead of the rough single track we have a new bmx track

Can anyone confirm if this is open? Anything else at Mabie shut? Thinking of heading down on Saturday for a quick loop.

Duane

Hi - yes - it's all open : )

Awesome, thanks, so no diversions or closed bits on the whole red loop? What is a respectable lap time?

This will have to be added to the hitlist once I'm back on the bike. New forks and wheel in the 9 weeks off the bike so far. Will be good to have the full range of trails open again to link up all of mabie. Does anyone know if the waterloo monument was affected by the criffel fire this week?

No idea really about good times as I just take my time, take photos, and stop for food and to enjoy the views. There are also lots of more natural secret trails in Mabie so you can spend loads of time riding around, mixing and matching.

Cant wait to get out and ride it, been champing at the bit since the work started, was last there late Dec.

Dont forget Simon you will always find folk heading up to Mabie from Bumfries if you need a life or fancy a ride.

Now that spring is here I intend to be there as much as possible.

Result!

A one handed video of the new bits - lots of jumps!

I thought the berms felt a bit compressed but on the whole,very impressed with the new section - it has a bit of everything and is very much in the Glentress mould. The video really doesn't do justice as to how fast this run gets - had a massive grin when I got to the bottom and am really looking forward to heading back soon.

(I still think the rollercoaster section is garbage though)

That's an astoundingly bad video, cheers!

Not tried the new section but agree with the rollercoaster, it really could do with a smoother surface and you could get up a lot more speed.

Wouldnt call it garbage mind.

Can get a bit hairy on a hardtail.

Are we talking about the same section regarding the rollercoaster? The section through the woods after the climb up from the burn splash?

It seemed pretty smooth to me (bit rooty on the first climb). My overall impression was just a big long climb through the trees and then a really steep smooth and straight descent immediately followed by another steep climb - a criminal waste of altitude and didn't seem to have any flow at all.

I really have no idea why its called the rollercoaster.

That's an astoundingly bad video, cheers!

Just for the record it's not mine!

As for the rollercoaster, blimey, what a fast piece of singletrack! Amazing how we can all have very different impressions from the same trail. Horses for courses I guess.

Fast? I really am confused now - theres only one bit that was fast and it was over in about 5 seconds. Maybe we are talking about different bits of the trail?

Fast for me maybe not ye riding gods of STW mind 🙂

I'm not a riding god, far from it!

Heh - I took some video this morning - I'll post it up later today. Great to see so many people there today having a blast.

Weee

[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7048/7034980241_77a1275351_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7048/7034980241_77a1275351_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonralli/7034980241/ ]IMG_3889[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/simonralli/ ]simon ralli[/url], on Flickr

Awesome fun today 🙂

Rode a little off-piste, then did this quite a few times.

It's amazing how much someone setting a camera up as you come through the berms on a lovely Saturday morning puts you of

Nice one Simon we went there today had a blast good to be back!!
I was speaking to you today fella (the one in the red with the merida full suss) nice to tell us about the climb back up the side! Did you find any unknown stuff? Would like to spend a full day there to find out where all the hidden trails are! 😉

Hi Lee - Great to say hi to you guys.

I wasn't looking for new stuff, just riding some of the routes I already know.

These two sets show you some of the natural off piste stuff around

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonralli/sets/72157624841022240/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonralli/sets/72157626131423395/

There are loads of combinations, and you can also do a bigger day out by riding off road to New Abbey, and then doing the monument climb, and down a technical descent too.

Potts - yeah, those big lighting rigs can put of a few people off, and I did tell my makeup lady not to keep standing in the middle of the berms, and running up and down them getting me tea in between takes.

saturday was my first time at Mabie (thanks for taking me around rudedog), so I dont know how good Descender Bender was before the new berms, but as it is now this section totally made my day. In fact, if it wasn't for descender bender, I doubt I'd want to revisit this trail at all, if u like spooky woods descent, u'll love this too.

I doubt I'd want to revisit this trail at all

I keep going back to Mabie myself, but then when you are local there are loads of combinations of routes including all the natural stuff to ride too.

After saying that, much of it now feels quite naked with all the tree felling.

rudedog - Member
Are we talking about the same section regarding the rollercoaster? The section through the woods after the climb up from the burn splash?

It seemed pretty smooth to me (bit rooty on the first climb). My overall impression was just a big long climb through the trees and then a really steep smooth and straight descent immediately followed by another steep climb - a criminal waste of altitude and didn't seem to have any flow at all.

I really have no idea why its called the rollercoaster.

Was the roller coaster the one you said skinner done on his duke of Edinburgh John ?

simonralli2 - Member

After saying that, much of it now feels quite naked with all the tree felling.

Nil Desperandum and the Edge at Ae are a bit like that.

Aye, the climb

Well said Trekster.

There are also more newbies and riders like Simon who find the stuff you describe as "boring" just as exciting as you may have done when you started out

When you are bit shonky on the skills side of things, Mabie's roller coaster still has the ability to thrill. I nearly came off the singletrack there going a bit too fast 🙂

I rode Mabie for the first time in acouple of years last summer and was a bit disappointed to be honest. It seemed a bit neglected. However we were staying at Marthrown in February and I managed to escape a few times for a bit of a blast. Despite the route being a bit shorter than normal I have to say I really enjoyed it. I don't know if much has been done to it since last summer but I had a much better time this year. Might have been because I was riding a racier bike, I don't know, but I really enjoyed it. Wished I'd had more time to go explore.

There used to be another dip but that disappeared when they started building the Stanes, the very first bit of D&G Stanes built after the team had been to Wales for training by D.Davies the Welsh trail building guru

Horses for courses then - I never like that section when I first started mountain biking and I still don't like it now.

Where do you normally ride rude dog?

I think Mabie's red route is really great for blue level riders who are just moving up on to reds. I can appreciate it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it really seems suited to my level of riding.

Kirroughtree would be the trail center I've visited the most as its only about 30 mins from where I live. I should add that I do like Mabie (just don't get that one section).

Ahhh, ok. It was a section we used to ride and was included in the trail aka Riks re route many yrs ago. It used to be a straight line with another dip in it. When the Stanes crew "designed" the trail they kinked it left to join up with the Marthrown section. The old descent would not have been sustainable. The climb was also changed from a boggy hike'a bike to the current one. This was done as a Duke of Edinburgh project by a bunch of 14-15yr olds and adult helpers with input from IMBA reps. Putting into context when the trail was originally opened we were all riding 7 speed, rigid,flat pedals with toe clips,trainers, jeans and canti brakes!!!

Trekster really should be the curator for the 7 Stanes with his knowledge 🙂

Good to see a bit of investment where the trail was getting worn out and these massive berms are certainly something new.

But did they really have to "improve" the trail below this. What was a lovely flowing piece of sinewy singletrack needing some tlc has now been flattened into a pavement with several of those annoying little double bumps. Could what was there not have been repaired more sympathically?

Hopefully it will ride in and improve with age.

We (GF and I and our new (2 months) rescue dog) rode Mabie yesterday. I took some footage, was loving it, the first berm acts more like a wallride. Though the whole descender bender section is now very smooth, I have a feeling it will get nice and bumpy again soon enough.

In STW style though, what [s]tires[/s] GoPro mount for capturing trail dog action?

Can you mount it on your seat stays like this guy has done?

scotabroad - Member

Good to see a bit of investment where the trail was getting worn out and these massive berms are certainly something new.

But did they really have to "improve" the trail below this. What was a lovely flowing piece of sinewy singletrack needing some tlc has now been flattened into a pavement with several of those annoying little double bumps. Could what was there not have been repaired more sympathically?

Hopefully it will ride in and improve with age.

Those 'annoying little double humps' are great, means folks who can't jump don't have to, but if you hit them at speed, they are cracking!. One mans meat....

I rode the new section yesterday, superb, absolutely superb. Those big berms whip you out at a phenomenal speed!.