Hi, I will be up in Scotland (be st Andrews) for a few days later in July and will have a day off. I would like to use the opertunity to use the big bike and blasting around. What are the options for uplift within 3hr of st Andrews?
Innerleithen I have found. I out is not running after emailing, for some reason not advertised on the site! Are the tracks still available to winch up?
Fort William looks to be the only other option but the lift doesn't 10:15 and closes at 15:45!
Any other options?
There's also an uplift at dunkeld, I haven't done it, but the riding there is brilliant.
Fort William looks to be the only other option but the lift doesn't 10:15 and closes at 15:45!
If you eat on the gondola, and don't fanny about, you can fit in 8 runs of the red, which is equal to around 2 hours descending in a physically demanding descent, that is one very tough day, I doubt you'd get 2 hours descending anywhere else in the UK.
Glencoe
Dunkeld looked perfect but weekend only unfortunately, I may consider just riding up if they have a winch up route as it saves so much driving
Thanks for the info on fort William too.
You've probably read this elsewhere, but just in case, it's not a red btw, far from it, ive lost count of the amount of weekend warrior types that I've seen walking down on their first run, as they could 'do the red at GT'....
I love it, haven't made if up yet this year, but I will.
Fort William like Nobeer says is all about efficiency, you see people sitting around in the car park eating, then complaining about a wait for a lift or how long it takes to get up, makes no sense to me- use the dead time in the lift.
And if you're cool with the red- ie really comfortable with it, not just surviving- then go try the dh, it's not <that> much harder and there's mostly simple lines you can choose. Mostly.
You've probably read this elsewhere, but just in case, it's not a red btw, far from it, ive lost count of the amount of weekend warrior types that I've seen walking down on their first run, as they could 'do the red at GT'.
I had read similar. Not done GT but done black xc in tweed valley on my inbred no bother. Black at bpw, but not the pro line. Different kettle of fish though...
Definitely a weekend warrior when it comes to mtb though!
I am tempted to make the journey across to feel considering we only get up to Scotland once every two years.
Do you have to pre-book a gondal ticket?
No, just turn up, you'll be fine.
But do check there's no race on
Thanks people.
If you've time off at night you can also check the dh trails at Falkland and Pitmedden, both half hour from St Andrews.
Cheers clubby. Will see how the schedule goes.
The FW website mentions Fullface and body armour. I use a full face dh with knee pads but no body armour. I presume they don't check at the top for body armour? Or is it really crazy?!
Full face and pads will see ye right, and no, they don't check.
If you do go to Dunkeld, speak to the guys in the bike shop, progression bikes in the town, they run an enduro there, and know/built lots of stuff there. Stage 1 of the recent enduro there - cairn to croft with a bit of the DH track - will test you for sure.
As Bob says do the Uplift at Glencoe,I'm not a Dh guy by any means but managed 6-7 runs of the "RED" and this was my first ride back after breaking my collar bone,it was a great day,Fort Bill DH track was great too,never rode it on a DH bike either and much preferred it to the Red,
How to put this delicately... Are the chairlift operators at glencoe still total ****s? I did an SDA there a couple of years back and I'm amazed they got through the day without getting punched out
Do you 'NEED' a full face for Fort William Red or is it just advisable? I.e if I turn up with an open face enduro lid will I be allowed to ride?
Unless they've changed a lot, no probs (I rode the world cup the first time in an open face, it's fine as long as you're ugly). The red is, slightly insanely, pitched as an "XC red"
OTOH, I'm pretty sure they hire out helmets at the bike shop and it wouldn't be a bad idea at all even for the red. You can do a lot of runs so that breeds speed and possibly a little bit of contempt, and because it's so rocky and has a fair amount of height drop in places, it's all relatively high consequence. I'd be equally happy in either hat- I tend to wear a fullface purely because I never really know what track I'm going to do til I get to the top
The red run at fort William isn't hard, even the DH run is t that hard if you are ok on the bike. Granted it will take you a bit of time and you may walk one or two features. I'd be more scared of glencoe then dunkeld than fort William.