A few mates and I are thinking of going up there for a long weekend towards the end of the month, including a day on the uplift. Tell me more about the tracks, their difficulty, will we die, do we need robocop outfits etc etc
We are pretty capable on bikes, but not brilliant at jumping, ride quite a lot of the rocky techy stuff in the lakes, all have 5inch full sussers.
My main reservation is the talk of double jumps and 8ft drops in the track guides on the uplift home page. Are there chicken routes around these as i cant really do doubles and the biggest drop i've done is about 4ft.
Also what are the xc trails like?
The XC trail is a leg buster for me... about a 5 3/4 mile climb from the car park to the top of minch moor...coming down the other side of the hill is bloody brilliant and will put a large grin on your face...Plora Crags is another good fast flowy/techie section, Then there is Caddon bank the Extreme Black section that has madatory air rocky sections and drop offs (with chicken runs) it eventually spits you out back at the car park, I cant say anything about the full on DH runs as I have not done them yet... 😯
red XC loop is ace but we generally miss out Plora Craig and take the left fork after it up the fire road and then pick up the DH route, make or brake.
I took a complete beginner there a few weeks ago and he lived.
For me I had the legs for the climb but it was more a lung buster! The problem is there is a really steep climb straight out of the car park when your legs are not warmed up. But the view from the very top of Minch Moor is amazing, and you would be crazy to miss the descent from there. But I am XC so can't comment on the DH. You'll have a great time I am sure as Inners is brilliant.
There are no mandatory drops or jumps on any of the DH routes (unless things have changed from 12 months ago). The doubles are quite big so take them slow and just roll through them. Some of the tracks are quite a bit steeper than a 'normal' XC route in places. At each fire road intersection you can change to a different DH track so you can link up the easier or your favourite sections. Hang back at the top of the uplift to let the faster people go ahead and take your time.
The XC route is techie for mincers but I have ridden loads of the DH tracks on an XC bike (slowly !) and I'm a girl and I'm still alive. It's more steep rooty and nadgery than the rocky chunky stuff at Fort Bill.
I usually extend the XC route by going back up the fireroad after Plora Craig and doing Tunnel and new/old Luge then Cadonbank then back up again for the singletrack to the right of Cadonbank they use for the Merida that doesn't have a name, along the wall there.
What alphabet says - nothing is compulsory just wait until everyone else has gone and take your time.
Where are you staying ?
Does anyone know anything about 'Rocky'? I think its the opposite side of the valley from the official trails?
the xc route is a must do. the climb isn't too bad (apart form the annoying stone steps on the first bit which always seem to break my rhythmn) but the descent off minch moor and the views are soooo worth it
+ it's generally a lot quieter than GT
innerleithen the town though, is another matter entirely, does hector still run St Ronan's Hotel?
The Rocky is the obvious ridgeline opposite Caddon Bank etc and the main trails.
There is plenty more over that side of the valley than just the Rocky itself, all good, all worth exploring.
You will be fine on 5 inch bikes on all the trails bar the more extreme sections of the Matador(which has chicken runs). The uplift is great value, all in all it sounds like a good plan for a good weekend!
Its awesome. I agree with coolhandluke when riding the xc loop include make or brake downhill run. Climb is a bit of a pain but worth the descent. I find the downhill runs quite difficult but im a bit of a wimp lol
I used to ride it all (and the DH) on an Inbred with 100mm forks. 5"ers will be fine for all of it.
A month ago I took a beginner up there (first ever proper MTB ride) and his bike was a 10 year old Marin hardtail with 80mm forks.
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gardening gloves, jeans and a hoodie are next years MTB fashion statements BTW.
awesome, thanks for the replies guys.
the next question is where to stay? is there somewhere close for camping that has a decent place to lock up bikes and a decent toilet/shower block??
Innerleithen rocks! (Including the town Rdog)You will be fine - there are chicken runs and i have done all the DH official trails on my xc bike.(Wasn't particularly pretty 8O)
Hels - the unnamed bit of trail at the side of the wall - 'Jane's Lane' 🙂
The XC route is superb, it's not that long though, it just seems it because the climb's fairly unpleasant considering its size. That first descent off of Minch Moor is just fantastic though, as long as you can put a wee bit of speed and commitment into it. Never done the downhill trails yet though.
That first descent off of Minch Moor is just fantastic though
I hope you just mean the newer bit after the SUW rather than the descent from the cairn. the initial descent off minch moor is predominantly flat, pedally and nearly always has a headwind.
Can't say as I remember exactly which point it crosses the SUW but nah, I like the whole thing. The gradients don't change that much, wouldn't say any of it's "predominantly flat" though it's pedallier up top then the lower bits, but I reckon that works quite nicely to get the descending head switched on. Maybe I've just been lucky with the wind.
Everything has a chicken run on the DH runs. Did an uplift day on my hardtail back in May and had great fun.
You'll have a blast.
the descending head never gets switched off.
logical progression would be
do the xc and look before you leap!
add on make or break to get used to some air
fit in a trip to gt free ride area build skills and confidence and take a few runs down spooky woods area
return to innerleithen for uplift day
IMHO
"the descending head never gets switched off."
Hah. That'd be nice.
GW could you get back in touch regarding the 5.1D Wheel rim?
Thanks
replied on that thread now, sorry for the delay.
Diane - I tested that name on Forestry bods and they all scratched their heads, but couldn't supply an actual name even though they knew where I meant when I described it. I think that is a small clique name, but I guess that is how these things develop ! I prefer "Merida Link" due to its consistent use in the Selkirk marathons but will have to come to some kind of conclusion if we keep using that section in races. Can't really send people down top section of Cadonbank in races, tempting as it is.
For some reason Jane's Lane just makes me think of menstruation e.g "she was surfing down Jane's Lane that week so was a bit crabbit". There you go thats spoiled it for you !
Hehe - yes it's local - but spreading!
Just out of interest, what is the height of the last slab drop on the bottom part of the trail. Its great fun & you seem to be in the air for a while...
Dawn read my post again !
And the slab is 83 centimetres.
P.S need to take you down that previously existing trail that we are going to use for Alistair Lees next year that you may not have ridden before - lets ponce on the uplift early one morning
Can't really send people down top section of Cadonbank in races, tempting as it is.
Yes you can, all of the caddon bank descent was in the BUSA xc race when it was at inners, it was fine. Most of the carnage was on the rocky section at the end of the previous DH bit (which has now got the red option). I was marshalling the top of caddon bank for the champs race, and whilst there were plenty broken bikes or people reaching me, there was only one injury I know of on the actual caddon bank descent.
Well true I guess we could use it but we get a lot of novices at the XC TTs and I am happy with technical as we can make it but don't like putting stuff in XC where folk can get up that much uncontrolled speed. The second half is fine for some reason it doesn't have such a high freak-out factor for newbies maybe as you can't see the town 200 metres below ?
hels - part of that link was used back in around 1994 in an SCU XC race.
IMO sections of singletrack don't need names, especially ones that have been around far longer than the lame trend for naming every tiny little section of trail.
10 years back innerleithen must have had easily 8+ DH tracks, only one had a name and that came from a Race report in Dirt. I spent most weekends riding DH in and around innerleithen from 95-99 and we all used to simply refer to the tracks as which race they were first used for eg. 96 SCU, 97 NPS, 99 brass monkey, Classic etc. other than that the first one I remember having a name was "39 steps" and I don't remember it ever being called that when it was new.
naming tracks and making everything "official" has ruined the hill IMHO
He remembers when it were all fields!
Some of the stuff on Youtube gives you a feel for Innerleithen.