[Closed] Tweedlove Course 2018?

On the Glentress side : They've been working on a trail which I think is around Janet´s Brae, so wouldn't be surprised if there is something there, its quite tight and quick, but not too steep.

Yep looking forward to going up on Thursday and got Friday and Saturday to practise 🙂

Got the family coming up with me so I'd like the stage map to be released on Wednesday so I can print it out for the wife before we leave on Thursday morning lol

Can any locals comment on current trail conditions?

Up until the weekend, the trails in the tweed valley were running extremely dry and dusty. Even the bottom in Janets Brae were it tends to muddier and slippier. I was there on Saturday, and lets just say it was pissing it down.

I would expect Janets Brae to not dry in time.

The big fast offpiste bit (carls lane to zoom or boost) doesn't make too much of a difference if its wet or not.  Carls lane is blown out due to bad weather and irresponsible riding. Truong chi min is running good, other than the start, where the enduro  and the successive riding wrecked some of the more pedally bits.  Hochiminh is turning into a worse monster as the months go by (or maybe this is my impression), due to snow, events and posterior riding, roots and rocks now stick out a lot more.

In terms of tires, I've been using 2.3 minions for a while now and have been fine. Shortys might be overkill for some of the Glentress bits, however if they do Golfie + steep bits in Glentress(which do not tend to dry that well) it might be a good choice.  However, I don't race so I am no expert.

If a go for a spin before Wednesday I'll post something.

I don't believe there's much at Glentress. The signs showing proposed trail closures at GT only showed one tiny part of the forest as being closed for normal access.

I suspect the only stage at GT will be the traditional Mast to Janets Brae finish with the new bit at the end they've been working on. I reckon theyll make you do some stages at Inners and the golfie then that horrible pedal up from Leithen Water to the mast. There was a lot of people doing that climb yesterday...

anyone know any good spots to park up for sleeping in the van? handy for peebles.

for vallelujah we ended up on the car park just over a bridge next to the river, was handy but just wondering if there is anywhere better

Bigfoot, there's a campsite just outside Peebles at Rosetta:   https://www.rosettaholidaypark.com/

I did the pedal from the Leithen water up to the mast last week. It’s actually running fine and was a lot faster than previous times ridden. There’s a land rover track from about 0.75miles before the mast that leads directly to Hush Hush.  It might have been there a while but I’ve never noticed it before. As horrible as that climb seems, in reality it’s a 30 min climb if you’re able to sit and spin in a low gear (obviously less for the seriously fit amongst us but I’m not one of them).

The new trail at GT is just a small bit at the bottom of Dave’s trail / the fort, along from Jenny G-String.

Trail fairy plan is running extremely well, they might use that for once.

myopic, cheers for that but not really what we're after. plus my experience of those sort of places is they don't like you just bedding down in the back of a normal van and you end up paying quite a bit for facilities you don't need.

looking like it will be one of the car parks, may need to get there early friday to get all 3 vans together.

Park at GT, Pay yer fiver a day and have dinner at the steak place next door. Showers only a quid too.

Please don't treat the carparks in Peebles as free campsites eh?

There's plenty of locals that get upset by bike events- I've already been subject to a rant about 'effin bikers' at a Tweedlove event from a neighbour this week, and that sort of thing wont help endear us...

Rosetta is actually a very van friendly campsite and quite reasonably priced
hook up (or not) available. Nice showers/toilets, has a wee shop and pub with courtyard on site too.

showers at GT are great but the toilet/shower block closes far too early.

I'll be riding down that way tomorrow evening. Conditions will be DHR/DHF front SS rear friendly same as the other 364 days each year.

I’ll be riding down that way tomorrow evening. Conditions will be DHR/DHF front SS rear friendly same as the other 364 days each year.

That’s the spirit! Hopefully it’ll be drier than at the recent QECP Day Night race where the ground was so wet that my plus tyred bike almost floated!

I think that's just karma for riding a plus bike in the first place

Just a heads-up for those that don't know, 9(!) bikes were stolen from Rosetta camp site the night before the Glentress 7 the other weekend, and 2 were stolen at the actual race (as far as I know). Don't leave your bikes unattended anywhere!

Pretty gutted I wont be there

56km though sounds tough! 100km over 2/3 days with practice & plenty of climbing

not sure my fitness is up to it these days

still jealous, have fun everyone whos going!

all the DH trails apart from make or brake are closed 8,9,10th

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Pretty gutted I wont be there

56km though sounds tough! 100km over 2/3 days with practice & plenty of climbing

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It was tough last year that's for sure. I actually found 2016 easier which was 82km over 2 days of racing. (plus practice) but they seem to want to get the racing done in a day now for some reason.

I wouldn't bother with the practice, It's far too big a course to try and commit any to memory, probably better just riding a couple of stages to get your eye in, and keep some freshness in the legs for the day.

We didn't practice all of the stages last year (Stage 1 was part of a stage from 2016 so we felt we knew it) but just about lived to regret it as it had been cut up beyond recognition and I went off far too hot and came off 3 times on a 2 minute run! With 2 days to practice this year, we can do 3 stages a day and at least get a heads up on any tricky sections.

The toughest one was defintely the 1st EWS there

absolutely destroyed me

I have 2 more kids & carrying an extra chunk of weight now, not sure how Id manage it!

personally I reckon do a full loop on friday & rest saturday

still jealous though

personally I reckon do a full loop on friday & rest saturday

Technically, stage 6 isn't open for practice on Friday

Really? Going by riders I normally see/meet out riding the week preceding most tweed valley Enduros practicing the stages before official practice seems fairly common. I've absolutely no idea if it's against any rules or not to do so.

Any particular track you want to know the condition of?
I'll be down in about an hour for a 3hr ride. Haven't actually decided where or what to ride yet.

Technically, stage 6 isn’t open for practice on Friday

Didnt see that, just 5 stages friday then practice 6 on saturday would be my choice

If only I was actually heading up to race! ( my mates on messenger that are going making me very envious) conditons look perfect too

That said WES Dyfi this weekend it was too hot! 25C 18km practice in the morning, 18 km race in afternoon I was sufferenming big time,

1 lad was vomiting with heat stroke by stage 2!

Incase anyone's interested. Ended up doing a 20mile loop. Golfie has puddles again. (Wolf/Boner). lower Pony is bone dry. DH tracks are dry from the quarry down/damp in places above but on the whole it's all running grippier than last week when the whole hill was pretty much dust and marbles. Zero dramas running dry tyres  (hard compound DHF/SS) anywhere.
Tracks are all taped.

Incase anyone’s interested. Ended up doing a 20mile loop. Golfie has puddles again. (Wolf/Boner). lower Pony is bone dry. DH tracks are dry from the quarry down/damp in places above but on the whole it’s all running grippier than last week when the whole hill was pretty much dust and marbles. Zero dramas running dry tyres  (hard compound DHF/SS) anywhere.
Tracks are all taped.

That’s great to read. Thanks for the update! 👍

I was thinking of heading up on the Saturday to watch and maybe demo some bikes. Never been there before. Do you think it will be possible to park at Glentress itself or will this be rammed due to the races etc? Any other suggestions?

Actually the demo is based at the green in the village so maybe somewhere closer?

cheers

You'll get parked in Peebles, either the main car park at the bus station, or if that's busy, the one at the west end of town, only a 10 minute walk to the green. Then you can walk from there out to heckle on Janets Brae, top bants!

Great thanks

I'm heading down on Saturday to use the uplift service for a few runs.

Same in GT, the mast to zoom or boost section is now a little damp, which is perfect. Zorro also running really good.

Maps out. Looks like most of it is at Inners with last stage back at Glentress

Got a link to the map?

Looking forward to heading up this weekend. Not looking forward to an hour and a half on the train and 8 hours in the car to get there!

Not ridden any of the trails before...thought it was going to be a big loop going by the mileage but a fair chunk of that is the flat(?) transfer from Peebles by the looks of it. Still a lot of climbing though!

Course looks great. All thriller, no filler! (except the river path spin to warm up.) Don't worry about it not looking like a big 'loop'.

Can't wait to get up there tomorrow and ride some ace trails (also known as practice...)

Any locals know if stage 5 is liver damage ? Course looks mint.

not local but doing a bit of research stage 5 looks to be using a trail called awkward little ****er. stage 3 looks to be reepeat offender.

only rode the glentress black about 3 years ago so <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">cant wait to check it all out. going to be a fun weekend</span>

Yeah stage 5 is liver damage. Not sure where the alternative name they've mentioned has come from

Awkward little ****er isn't liver damage. it's the one that used to be called spanner and has been there for well over a decade but has a newer slightly different beginning. Think it probably got re-named when the lower part of Spaner got neglected and left to grow over (probably over 6 years back).
I love that part of the hill. especailly on a hardtail. it's always drifty all year round.

Was up at GT tonight (it's ridiculously dry now, Even Hush hush and the one from the mast) chatted with a good few English folk up for the race. is it one big loop taking in GT, The Golfie and the DH tracks in one day?

is it one big loop taking in GT, The Golfie and the DH tracks in one day?

Starts in peebles, along the cycle path to inners, 2 stages at Inners around the DH side, 3 at Caberston which look to be Repeat from top to Bottom, Waterworld into lower part of Boner then the one that could be Liver Damage (based on the preview video stuck up today)

Then it's back along the cycle path to GT for a token stage down Janet's Brae

That sounds ****ing stupid. (The cycle path bits). Thanks for explaining. I saw all the Blue "Whyte" tape up all 3 hills the last few days and wondered.

They could have easily skipped Glentress, the trails at Janets whilst being really fun, are also very similar to the stuff at the Golfie & Inners. Tight twisty and steep.