- This topic has 41 replies, 41 voices, and was last updated 14 years ago by nomadic.
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7 Stanes, whats your fave?
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tommo999Free MemberPosted 14 years ago
Off to Scotland again next week, hope to ride Dalbeattie, Mabie and possibly Kirroughtree. Already ridden both Glentress & Innerleithen which were both brilliant, very excited.
peachosFree MemberPosted 14 years agoI was up there a couple of weekends ago. Did Mabie, GT, Inners & Kirroughtree. Mabie was alright for a bit of a warm-up ride; red xc loop isnt that long but a couple of really sweet singletrack sections with plenty to keep you thrilled and the odd black obstacles to conquer (some of which you have to keep your eyes peeled for). The mini 4x track & skills area will keep you entertained for a couple of hours but nothing like GT’s freeride park.
Kirroughtree was awesome. Really hard work; you wont find many descents that you can roll through, you have to really hammer it around. Most of the fun is found from halfway around after McMoab – which you have to stay on until you can get around with no dabs – and as i say; the more you put into the second half the more you get out of it. Was completely wrecked by the time we got back to the cars. Dont: do it on the 4th day after 3 days hard riding, start at 2pm with the prospect of a 5 hour journey post ride. It’s a good 6 hour loop!!!
trail_ratFree MemberPosted 14 years agokirroughtree followed by innerleithen
but my favorite trail center is drumlanrig….rooty tech nightmare 😀
lovewookieFull MemberPosted 14 years agoKirroughtree.
bloody great.
Do like Glentress for the social aspect.
flyingmonkeycorpsFull MemberPosted 14 years agoKirroughtree. Although I do love the big BMX track stylings of Glentress.
ahwilesFree MemberPosted 14 years agokirroughtree.
it’s man-made, but not too ‘constructed’ it just seems like a path through the trees that’s been cleared a bit…
and it avoids the big climb / big descent / big climb / big descent format which can get a little predictable (Ae)
MrAgreeableFull MemberPosted 14 years agoDalbeattie and the big granite lumps therein. Lot of fun and shows that a trail centre doesn’t have to be a cookie cutter creation.
ChristoGingerFree MemberPosted 14 years agokirroughtree/inners – but so much more to inners than the trail centre;-)
tommo999Free MemberPosted 14 years agoWow, looks like we must pay a visit to Kirroughtree then, sounds pretty awesome. 8)
HTTP404Free MemberPosted 14 years agoonly ridden Glentress and Innerleithen but loved both.
Innerleithen for the quieter trails (on the day I went).
Glentress for more trail variety.J0NFree MemberPosted 14 years agoInners then Kirroughtree are my faves as trails but GT has got to be the best of the stanes. It has lots of trails for every level can be mixed and matched to so many ways to make a stonking day out. Really deserves to be expanded with whole other red trail and extended super black.
johnikgriffFree MemberPosted 14 years agoVery difficult one, but with a gun to my head.
1. Inners (just) – I just love the get the up out of the way and then fantasic flowy trail with a couple of techY bits straight to the bottom. Nice and quiet too
2. Kirroughtree – Just an awsome ride. Tough riding but worth every minute
3. GT – Spooky wood is still one of my all time favourite bits of trail. Can get a bit busy at times, but thats cos it has so many diffent (excellent) trails.
4. Ae – Again quieter, I just love the ending..
The rest are still pretty good mind 😉
richcFree MemberPosted 14 years agoDrumlanrig is well worth a look, very like Bristol/Leigh woods but with more height
jimmyFull MemberPosted 14 years agoHas anyone mentioned Kirroughtree?
Do Dalbeattie then Mabie in the same day, then K’tree. In that order they get progressively better as you ride.
(IMO)
TreksterFull MemberPosted 14 years agoFor a big day it`s Kirry
Living in Dumfries as I do and having burst my gut as a beginner in Mabie it comes as 1st=.
More so because I can bike out in 1/2hr and spend hrs hooning around all my little secret bits.Dalbeattie come next. Rode there for years before it became a Stane. Some of the trails are our old ones(same at Mabie.
When are you around tommo?
Ae is also on my doorstep so I am obviously biased towards the D&G Stanes.Being a “mature” biker I happened to ride GT long before it and mtbing became “popular” in the daysof fully rigid and canti brakes and no cafes for miles.
GT & Inners I have a love/hate relationship. Hate the climbs and love the downs. Wife worked in Edin for a couple of years so I was a regular for a while but still get more of a buzz blasting Mabie. I can ride there every day and never get bored.
simonralli2Free MemberPosted 14 years agoMy personal fave is Mabie but then it’s horses for courses and I’ve been impressed with all the Stanes I have ridden.
The-BeardFull MemberPosted 14 years agoDalbeattie is a favourite and I love riding there (my brother raves about Kirroughtree though I’ve never been).
Mabie is always going to be special as I grew up pretty much on the doorstep and have fond memories of riding there. It’s a great forest with some cracking singletrack. Everytime I go home to see the folks I take my bike and go riding there.
balfaFree MemberPosted 14 years agoChristoGinger
but so much more to inners than the trail centre;-)
Care to elaborate?
OlsterFree MemberPosted 14 years agoUK XC & Downhill nationals at Inners in July – anyone spied out the intended XC course yet?
colbFree MemberPosted 14 years agoIMO K’tree just shades it as an all-day tough ride, Black run followed by Red to pound the legs into submission, although I do love the swoopiness of G’tress as well…
SpacemanFree MemberPosted 14 years agoInnerleithen by a mile, especially with the options of mixing it up with some DH trails towards the end. Love the top of the Minchmoor, most isolated spot at a trail centre, plus it’s my nearest one and easy to do on the way home from work.
I know where some of the National XC trail goes, it uses one of the DH runs so will be proper technical. Saw some folk on XC race bikes/lycra heading down it repeatedly the other weekend so they’d obviously got wind of it too.
ChrisLFull MemberPosted 14 years agoKirroughtree, then Tweed Valley. The trail at Kirroughtree is fantastic but there’s so much at Tweed Valley, plus it’s a lot closer to home for me. 🙂
TandemJeremyFree MemberPosted 14 years agoI have ridden Glentress, Innerleithan and Dalbeatie as well as Laggan.
My take on it.
Glentress – fantastic facility with a bit of everything for everyone and so well laid out that you get great value descending for the amount of climbing you do. Great cafe as well. Love some of the blue sections, find the (red) climb a challenge but achievable. Getting the tandem round all the hairpins is a real challenge. One day we will clean the whole lot. Has the only jump I have been able to get the tandem airborne at. Lots of variety from smooth flowing blues to tricky blacksInnerleithan I just did not like but I have not been there recently. I thought you did an awful lot of climbing for your descending and I found it very artificial feeling. Almost as if the builders went ” this bits dull so we will stick a pile of boulders on it” Some great sections however and I believe there is a new bit put in that might improve it for me. Just not the “value for climbing” of GT
Dalbeatie. Some of it I loved – and I like the undulating nature rather than big climb/ big descent. An early rocky section caused us a nasty fall on the tandem as we bridged which took a while to get the flow back and the fear away. Seemed to start off hard and get easier.
Laggan – love the more natural feel of it and the use of natural rock. Black truly worthy of its status. Big rocks beside the bottom of the descent scare the crap out of me. Nice for mixed groups as the loops are short so you can keep meeting up at the cafe. Best views of any of the trail centres I have ridden. almost feels like the real thing 🙂
Its very much a horses for courses thing. I think overall GT is my favourite as it has so much to offer anyone of any standard. You can have a nice gently day or an almost full on gnarl depending on your mood
* note this is just an opinion*
Garry_LagerFull MemberPosted 14 years agoHave to say Glentress. Kirroughtree has the (far) better individual pieces of riding but GT Black is a better trail as a whole. In the future, when people take BScs in trail building, GT black will be case study #1. Japanese exchange students will line the side of the trail, trying to understand the inner narrative of Deliverance (if they don’t do so already). Kirro will just be an example of some ace rocky bits that got joined up with some paths.
I’ve also only ridden Kirro twice, and loved it, but ridden GT 100 times, and still love it, so I reckon that must count for something.
coolhandlukeFree MemberPosted 14 years agoInnerliethen doing mostly red but then pick up the DH bottom sections then Caddon Bank and skip the rock garden pap.
forge197Free MemberPosted 14 years agoNot done them all yet, did some natural stuff in Mabie last night that may change my view over the long term but at the moment I rate them as:-
1) Kirroughtree
2) Dalbeattie
3) MabieBikebreakerFree MemberPosted 14 years agoWe went up at the beggining of May for 3 days, did Dalbeattie, Kirroughtree and AE in that order.
I would quite happily have done 3 days at Kirroughtree, it was excellent.
fotheringtonthomasFree MemberPosted 14 years agoWhen you all visit kirroughtree and if the weatheris hot like now may I sugest the best part of the day is the swim in the pool just down form the bridge straight after mc moab tis truly magicand can wash away the blood and grit .
It is a full monty of course
can any other stane offer such pleasure I think not
unless you fall off dbt log in the winter floods
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