[Closed] work starts in whitelee wind farm trails

Nope but hope it's good. Would be handy, hit it then Cathkin for a few laps

Have you been there before? NY steep areas at all? It would be really easy to get to its right off the motorway

I had a look at the area on google earth where the proposed trails are, it looks very small, and it's within the area of the borrow pit, so won't be very steep either. I think it'll be more of a family trail to be honest, but hope I'm wrong, obviously.

It's nowhere near the size of Cathkin, to put it in perspective, but right handy if you live in east kilbride.

I know Whitelees quite well from tying it into long crosser type rides taking in tarmac and the spine road. I wouldn't hold out too much hope. Rolling gentle gradients or flat moor, plus I think the developers/owners are always fishing about for good PR.

Hence expect little to cycle, but lots of bluster about it.

They seem to reckon it's a Glentress beater.... 🙄

“I have been told that some cyclists travel up to three hours each way to similar mountain bike facilities and having this unique location within the country’s biggest on shore windfarm, is bound to lure people to Whitelee.’

http://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2251

http://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=11058&p=0

MASSIVE wind farm = tiny MTB facilities. Idiots.

Within the defined area of Brown Hill Borrow Pit, it is proposed to provide a number of facilities. Details have been submitted for four options which include an outer trail, an inner trail, a skills area, and a pump track. The outer trail (coloured blue on the submitted plans) would comprise a trail approximately 1430m in length by 1.2m wide. This would be complemented by a more challenging inner trail approximately 1110m in length by 1.2m wide (also coloured blue on the submitted plans). There would also be an addition 500m of technical trail features added at various parts of the site (coloured red on the submitted plans). The skills area would consist of several technical trail features including, for example, imported rock and boulders and timber board walks with a length of 412m by 1.2m wide. The pump track comprises a short looped section of trail with closely spaced challenging features such as rollers, tabletop jumps and tight berms measuring 20m by 30m.

http://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=5184

Having seen what can be accomplished in a very small space at Grantown on Spey I'd be willing to cut them a bit of slack! There's already a cafe, showers, bike wash and miles and miles of access roads if you just want a good long spin out.

As I only live a few miles away, sounds good to me.

The facilities up there are really good. Only concern would be parking. Any time I've been there at the weekend it's been rammed and that's before this gets built.

Unless this borrow pit is exceptionally deep, it's as flat as a pancake up there

Hi, I'm involved in delivering this project - I'm not writing this as a plug but just to let you know what we're up to! It is a compact site (12 hectares)and a former borrow pit with around 8-10m height difference across the site. We've worked with Architrail to design something which although only about 3.5km in total has different route options - mostly blue but some red sections etc as well as skills area and pump track. No, it won't rival Glentress but will be a popular site and its only 15 minutes from Glasgow. Its not black graded, its not downhill and it won't suit everyone. And yes, family friendly but its not just for kids!!

ayrnick - if it's anything like the little trail park and Grantown on Spey then it should certainly be worthwhile. If you haven't been to have a look there, then I recommend you do so to see what can be accomplished in a limited area.

Hi scotroutes, no I've not been to the Grantown on Spey site but have seen plenty of compact facilities that work well. Some of the downhillers etc won't necessarily like what we're doing - but we don't have many hills at Whitelee to work with anyway. So we're building something thats accessible and will suit the majority including entry level - it will likely be used a lot for coaching etc, by clubs, schools etc as well. But for the more experienced riders willing to give it a go, it should still be a good ride. And to answer an earlier post, its not being developed by the windfarm owners but by the council!

Its open apparently, anyone been?

I've been , think family orientated large bmx track. No trees just open trail area .
On a good note my 7 yr old son loves it and its a great area for him to build skills.

Box ticking exercise for the energy company. 1.8 miles in length. Waste of time.

its not a waste of time as Its aimed at beginners and kids not people who regularly ride trail centres. My 9 year old son loved it.

As above, my 8 and 11 yr olds love it. Definitely for kids and beginners and ideal for that purpose.

Went for a look a couple of weeks ago, yes short but loads of families/kids out enjoying it.

I quite often ride out over the moor or through Whitelee getting some miles in, this adds something a bit different even if only for a few minutes.

the rock garden took out my nobby nic 🙁

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Took a ride up there again today, one or two new features I think and I don't remember seeing the skills loop last time

Dropped in for a few laps after being at Cathkin Braes.
Very much family orientated trails has a couple of different loops and some interesting rocky 'red' sections, I think some of the north shore could get very slippery in the wet as no chicken wire etc on it.
My lad enjoyed it as he could whizz round without it being too technical and the skills loop is useful for getting kids upto speed.
Biggest downside is the wind, no big surprise on a wind farm but it was very strong.
It would be nice if they could expand it but for a small area I was surprised how much they had squeezed in. It feels man made but then it is so no surprise, has good facilities as well.

My kids are loving it !

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