anyone got any tips lol especially on which routes to avoid! dont wanna fall and damage the rib again as am sure its not 100% healed but i aint missing this!, there are about 10 or 12 of us heading down on sat.

Miss the first red pointing down hill after the top of the skills / bike play area.

Just carry straight on and pick up the red again by the bench when the road bends or the right.

Don’t discount the blue, there are some very nice bits. We often add in Berm baby berm instead of a bit of the red.

I thought a cheeky go on Berm Baby Berm was mandatory for any Glentress ride?

Agree with Luke about missing the first red decent, it’s the only bit of GT where you feel like you do a lot of climbing for the down you get in return.

cheers guys! 🙂 berm baby berm sounds fun 🙂

If you’re driving there from the south, the A708 is shut, this is the best diversion route, (not official) and takes 15 – 20mins longer than the A708 rally stage 😆
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=527357

I personally like the first descent on the red. Got a nice broken up natural feel with little kickers and drops and stuff. Not too fussed about the climb out. Its a nice steady one…

Just pick up a map and do as much/as little as you want. If you do the red/black though, I’d definitely, DEFINITELY climb back up to freeride park when you hit the fire-road near the end. Then do Berm Baby Berm and the blue descent all the way back down to the bottom road before peeling off and doing the very last couple of hundred metres of the red/black.

Put your saddle down for the jumps.

Try not to skid on berms.

Agree with Luke about missing the first red decent, it’s the only bit of GT where you feel like you do a lot of climbing for the down you get in return.

Unless you use it to go down the race link 🙂

I thought the first red descent was pretty decent, maybe not for you locals but for out-of-towners who may only do it a once a year, worth a pop imo.

it’s the best bit of climb on the red anyway – lovely going through the larches. y’all just lazy.

coolhandluke – Member

Miss the first red pointing down hill after the top of the skills / bike play area.

Just carry straight on and pick up the red again by the bench when the road bends or the right.

Nonsense! Pennels Vennel is a great bit of trail and the subsequent climbing is mostly up singletrack instead of slogging up the fire road as suggested above. It’s also a useful indicator – there’s nothing on the red that’s harder than it so if you’re feeling uncertain following your injury it’ll give you a good idea whether you want to continue on the red. If you don’t, you can pick up the blue from the end of Pennels Vennel.

Berm Baby Berm and most of the rest of the blue are definitely fun. The black is longer and rougher than the other trails but except for a few bits isn’t significantly more challenging than the red. It’s more of a grower than the other trails which are immediately obviously fun.

The trails at Glentress are very interconnected. If you can join up with a local or can get to grips with the trail map (which is a bit convoluted at times because some stuff is so close together) it’s possible to mix and match a wide selection of trails together into one ride.

Pennel Vennels is good, but you could take the forest road past it as suggested, pick up the climb by the bench to spooky woods, do spooky woods then the next bit of red which is ace. At the bottom of that turn right, a short climb uo the forest road and pick up the blue Motorway, then I think its Blue velvet, then berm baby berm, rejoin blue behind buzzrads carpark and basically return home on the blue including Good Game

hummmmmm lol there are about 10 or 12 of us coming down from the stirling area. most i think have been before but this is my first time…. might be quite a timid trail tbh due to really not wanting to push it and fall off **** my ribs again and spend another 4 weeks recovering watched a few vids of the park and the berm baby berms looks ACE!!! if they head up to the top section i may just muck about there until they meet backup with me lol i hate the climbs and wont be that fit for them this time 🙂

Unless you use it to go down the race link

That’s even shorter though. Probably doesn’t help that I think of GT as being a play ground rather than an XC ride I suppose.

Bellerophon, miss Hit Squad Hill, Pie Run and Magic Mushroom (plus Lombard St and The Matrix which are finally running well)? That’s just a bit wrong

Bearing in mind the OP is looking to protect his ribs I would suggest missing PV is probably wise, depending on how confident he is feeling.

avoid hitting immovable objects…see you down there! 😉

lol i hit a movable object last time….. the 5inch thick branch snapped by my rib lol 🙂

see ya there

The A708 was re-opened yesterday

imnotverygood – Member

Bearing in mind the OP is looking to protect his ribs I would suggest missing PV is probably wise, depending on how confident he is feeling.

I’d say the opposite tbh! It’s intended as a taster, so if you’re not feeling up to the red you find out straight away, rather than at the top of spooky.

You can make up a million GT routes, but, the best option for most folks if you don’t know your way round is the full red. Optional extras- zoom or bust, berm baby berm (both a quick lap from the top car park). and if you do the long red (ie up the fire road to matrix etc) then nip back up the fire road at least as far as mushroom pie as it takes about 20 seconds and it’s great fun. But only takes a couple of minutes to double back and do pie run- maximum red route basically.

well i didn’t crash my ribs handled it just…..

but man i just followed the group we ended up doing full black 🙁 FAR TO MANY CLIMBS!!!!!! and by the end of that had no energy left to do the freeride or berm baby berm 🙁 gutted will get them next time tho

I like the black, but yeah hard work for what you get…

Up the red – down the black job done.

next time red up, red down freeride park and berm baby berm….

did enjoy mushroom pie and the last black section before the bottom car park

How far/how much climbing was your route?

There’s a VERY slim chance I’ll be cleared by the doc to ride in a fortnights time when my mates are heading up there but they’ll be doing the biggest ride possible as its a long way from Manc.

from bottom car park it was just under 13k ish to the hut at the top, then we dropped down britney spears then climbed back to the radio mast. then black all the way down total was just under 30k would say that about 20k was up’s…..

the black has lots of little downs then climb back up’s ……

glupton1976 – Member

Up the red – down the black job done.

This is a nice route. Climb up the red but when you get to the turning for the Spooky Wood descent stay on the fire road. After a relatively short time you’ll find yourself at the top of the Boundary Trail, just below the mast. You’ve missed out on Britney Spears (and the contouring descent earlier that’s got the stone chute on it) but saved quite a bit of time.

At the bottom of the Boundary Trail you’ve got the option of going down Deliverance (and thus doing the Redemption climb) or tootling along the fire road and rejoining the red (or blue).