Glentress Blue or Red for first time MTB'er??

Taking the mrs to Glentress this week where she'll be hiring a bike. Anyone know if you can hire helmets there?

As its her first time mtb'ing I was thinking of taking her round the blue route – is it worth while (never done blue before) or should I throw her in deep end by doing the red??

Why not do blue. Then go and play on the freeride park? Or maybe do a little bit of the red, and find your own way back.

Or you could just do the black 😉

Blue's OK in a chilled sort of way

helmets come with every rental, they'll be a bit crap but will do the job. Is she confident on a bike, do you think some of the stuff on the red will put her off for good? If she falls off is she more likely to laugh it off or start crying and want to go home and never do it again?

Mmmm, probably not a good idea to do the black – quite fancy being with her by end of the day (or do i….). Been round the red loads and love it but is the blue good? Would be good if she caught the mtb bug!

If it's her first time biking I would say do the blue. While the red may seem tame too many experienced MTBers, she's not. There are plenty of good bits on the blue as well so you should enjoy it too.

Laugh or cry – Really depends what week it is… 😕

The blue sections I've done have surprisingly good features – the red has a few potentially scary sections for a 1st timer. I'd go for the blue (can be v. fast too), then you can link up some red sections to it on the 2nd lap (get a free map from the Hub shop) or the free-ride park as will says ^^

They supply helmets with the bikes from what I remember. Unless she's fit I'd drive up to the buzzards nest car park. The problem with the blue at Glentress is that there's a lot of climbing for a beginner. If you are fit then you can go back up for your wheels whilst she enjoys a well earned cake at the Hub. If she can make it up to the top of the blue, see how she enjoys the descent from there, I think its called Betty Blue, its great fun. If she enjoys that you could join the red for a bit. If you stick to the blue you can still enjoy the bit above the freeride, blue velvet I think and the easier bits of the freeride. then its electric blue and good game, all great fun. All those bits of blue are great for more experienced riders as well. Blue is better than OK, we often mix and match our rides and have a good blast on the blue sections.

Blue's great. We often do it as a club because it's surprisingly good fun especially if it's ridden fast (watch out for novice riders etc.).

if she's never been biking before (and you want her to enjoy it) I'd suggest driving to the Buzzards car park doing the Green followed by the skills loop then up/along to the smooth blue that comes out just above the freeride, the blue freeride, the other smooth blue bit bellow the freeride then the blue descent instead of falla brae, buy her a hot chocolate in the Hub while you climb back up to get the car.

sorry, hope that made sense to you, I always forget all the lame names the different sections have

She'll struggle on the blue probably. That's my experience of taking several first time women mountain bikers round there. There's a few bits that we don't even notice that they all struggled on. Out of the half dozen I've taken round there only one managed it all and that was only with a bit of coaching.

It's really hard to realise what 1st timers find difficult given that we've all been riding bikes for a long time.

Maybe do a lap of the green to start with?

The Blue route there is very good, it's got loads of new features on it as well. It's a really well designed trail – a beginner can get round it and feel they've accomplished something but an experienced rider can have a real blast on it by taking it fast. It requires a fair bit of effort, it's definitely not just a dull pootle on fireroads but getting round it should be a big confidence boost for your partner and fun as well (mostly!).
On the other hand if you're really nailing it down there it requires full on concentration and expert handling skills.

If she's having trouble with it/not enjoying it I think it's possible to get onto the Green or cut back and head to the Skills Park bit.

Thanks for the great response! Think starting off from Buzzard Nest and doing the blue from there is the plan for us. Good shout Doug, always easy to forget your own experience.

The climbing is the problem at Glentress for a beginner, as the others have said. It's built on a big hill and the red route would be a kick in the aris for nearly all first time mountain bikers. The blue is really smooth and has less climbing but still probably too much for the first time missus unless fit. Second / Third the idea to park at the buzzard's nest carpark as this will cut a substantial amount of the climb out. The blue would probably work out well then.

Do the red, but start at the Buzzards nest. End up at the Cafe and you go back up and get the car.

a lot depends on fitness. I remember being absolutely knackered on my first few rides. I was taken on parts of the blue. I wasn't used to standing up on a bike and found it plenty challenging enough.

If she's got general biking experience I would suggest spooky wood. The climb up might be a bit difficult, but it's not that long (if you just go up the fire road and miss out pennel's vennel) and spooky wood isn't really very technical (no tricky roots to negotiate!). I took a friend there on her second ride. she however had more riding ability than when I first started. but again, she was tired out after that and we just messed about in the freeride park afterwards

your idea to start from the buzzard's nest is a good one I'd say: I found any slight hill difficult to get up when I started mtb'ing!

Yes, good advice. I think we're all assuming your wife isn't a regular cyclist let alone an MTBer – if that's not the case then maybe being a bit pessimistic. I remember when I was a (relative) beginner and struggled with the Red even though I'd been riding regularly for a couple of years.

I'd drive to Buzzard's Nest (for someone reasonably fit that's a 20-25 min climb anyway, so would probably do for a novice).

Personally I'd do the green first up, just to give her a chance to get used to the bike then unless she's going very well I'd suggest a shortened blue – basically from Buzzard's Nest as far as the top of the first zigzags (after the picnic table) then straight back to Buzzard's Nest on the blue return. This misses out the loop to the bottom of Spooky Woods which is mostly forest road anyway, then back down to The Hub. You can then be the perfect gent and get the car while she has some cake. Better she enjoys it and wants more than destroy her and have her hate you and MTBing.

The blue is very underrated IMHO – most of it is superb, it's not hard to ride at all but very difficult to ride proper fast. So you'll enjoy it as well I'm sure.

Hope you have fun and let us know how you go.

Blue every time – the red you risk scaring her off. Better to leave her wanting more than scared off.

Blue Velvet / electric blue and the blue return to the hub are all really nice to ride. I am not convinced the amount of forestry road you need to do makes betty blue worth it – I'd rather do the rest twice

If you're going at the weekend make sure and book a bike in advance. And do the blue and be patient with her. The other problem with the red is that she'll have loads of folk blasting past her which isn't fun. The blue at GT is a very well thought out trail. I've been biking for years and still love going round it sometimes, especially at night.

I took my Dad (55) on the red for his first ever time on a mountain bike (before the blue was very substantial).

He's just taken my Mum (54) on the blue for her first ever time on a mountain bike.

I think your other half will be fine on the blue. If she's not, tell her the above and embarass her! 😈

I'd drive up to buzzards and go down to the green. It's a really pleasent intro to someone new (it's where i take complete beginners for their 1st time). nip into the skills area on the way back for a bit of coaching on climbing and descending technique a nd then do a shortened version of the blue as suggested above. if she's still up for more take her down 'good game' to the cafe, leave her there while you 'sprint' back up to buzzards to get the car.

I can't beleive anyone thinks the red is okay for somebody who's never ridden a mountain bike. Jesus. While I accept the red and black are both perfectly fine if you're a half experienced biker, a newbie would not thank you for it. There are tonnes of places on the red where somebody who isn't half competent on a bike *will* fall off. She'd love you for that…

Me? Well, if I wanted my wife to get into it then I'd take her round the green. If she thought that was fine/enjoyable then it would be cool to have her enthusiastic about trying the blue. The blue is pretty well thought out in that it's a tame or as exhilarating (to a point) as you want it to be, depending on how much you attack it.

Fitness comes into it too. My missus, who's very petite but pretty unfit, would cough a lung up on the (barely to a biker) climb up from the Hub to Buzzards…

The blue from the Buzzard's Nest down is absolutely superb… In some ways it's my favourite trail in the place, I rode it as a noob and it was entertaining without being terrifying, but even now if we do the red about 1 time out of three we do the blue all the way down, love it.

The blue from the Buzzard's Nest up, not so much, it's a while since I've ridden it but I don't remember anything apart from that there seemed to be more climbing than descending, and most of the descending was just dull.

The green's absolutely lovely too for that matter, it's not mountain biking- you could get round it on a bigwheel- but it's a very pleasant ride.

It all depends on the person. I have taken several first time bikers to the blue (all female if that makes a difference) and they were all properly scared at certain bits. I took my wee brother on his first mountain bike (and first time on a bike in about a decade) and he managed almost all of the Laggan black on a hire hardtail.

GW's plan sounds about right to me, especially the idea of driving her up then going back up for the car.

As experienced mountain bikers I think the hardest thing for us when we take new people out is anticipating what they'll find hard and the problem is that if you pitch it too hard their confidence gets knocked and their trust in you to take them to places they feel safe gets knocked too. Start REALLY easy and it'll be an investment in your future biking together 🙂

I took the missus there in August, absolutely loved the blue run. Particularly Electric Blue from freeride park to the bottom.

We did 6 uplifts in the back of the Picasso…

I wouldn't take a first timer to glentress (altho the blue is very good)because of the volume of people on the trails. If there is a green trail (cant remember)use that to ease her in gently
on the blue you get a lot of experianced riders using it as an add on cos its great fun but not long and they will be hammering down behind her wanting her to move out the way which is more likely to make her very nervous and put her off if not scare her, there have been stories on here of novices being barged out of the way and even knocked off by some of the more ignorant members of the mtb comunity (polite mode there)
sticking to the fire roads till she gets the feel is always a good move as it can feel odd to have gravel under the wheels and she will feel that she cant stop etc
remember the more SHE (not you) enjoys it the more likely she is to want to go again
Alternately you can frighten her s**tless so she never goes again then you get left in peace to ride g

Another vote for doing the blue from the buzzards. The blue is a great trail, especially the last section down from the buzzards car park (which I insist on doing at least once to end all rides, and have done ever since my first ride there!)

I'd only ridden off road about 3 times before I went to GT. I did the blue from the Hub carpark. I remember on the first climb thinking it was okay, but not really having any idea in my head of how long the trail was (I was reasonably fit, but more from gym cv machines than anything outdoor at that point) and was fairly tired by the time I was at the top of the blue. It didn't put me off as I love a challenge and was already hooked by then.

I think make it shorter so she's not knackered / in tears at the end and thus would like to do more. If she's enjoying it/not tired, you can always do the fun sections again i.e its not too long a climb back up to do laps of blue velvet. Not sure the freeride area would be good for a complete beginner, but the skills loop might be okay (the bit of singletrack that goes round the loop, as opposed to the features) Think the key thing is to make it fun – no pressure to go fast or ride everything, don't moan at her for holding you up, or being in the wrong gear or something.

When was the last time she rode a bike?

I love the red but joining the blue from buzzards nest is a great way to finish your day.

The last time she rode a bike was about a year ago. Doesnt sound too bad but she didnt know she had gears 😯 . I think a wee run round the car park to get used to the bike then off to the blue from buzzards seems the right thing to do.

The new section of the blue at the bottom IMO as actually more fun than the red. fast flowing with nice jumps that you can roll, or jump or avoid altogether if you want to. i look forward to that section of blue at the end of a day at GT.

ivandrago – if you are parking at the Buzzards Nest anyway i would say go round the green first so she can get a bit of bike confidence back up before going on the blue. I tackle it that way with my kids – there is no way they could have gone straight onto the blue and enjoyed it, but after half an hour on the green it's much easier.

After thing some more about this I, as everybody else says would do the Blue. However I would make it fun for me (you) by doing it on a cross bike, therefor making it harder for you. Or failing that gear a SS really hard! That way It would make her feel better if you are struggling also.

Huh, I forgot about the skills loop. I reckon that's where I'd start a new person, because it's short and will help you judge what to do next.

We took 3 beginners on the red. They loved it..

We also took one of them on the Innerleithen red too (the evening before). He didn't like bits, quarry, Caddon bank, the last 2 sections of the dh… but coped rather well. He was a roady. 😀