Glentress sanitisation?

Was out to Glentress on Sunday evening for first time in a couple months. Had a blast round the red run and noticed that the (formerly) superb little orange section between hit squad hill and the pie run ( think this is the right area!) has been completely ruined by chopping out the very trees which made it:

a) Tricky and therefore interesting, and
b) Orange graded in the first place!

Is this part of a general trend to homogenize the trails? – surely a clear sign at the entry is sufficient warning.

Also, I had someone asking me in the car park while paying for a ticket if the “tickets are checked this late”. Yes, it was 6pm or so on a Sunday and no-one was around, but FFS – is a couple of quid too much to ask for a run around something that is far from free to maintain!?

Rant over. Other than those incidents it was a beautiful evening and I enjoyed myself.

Yes they are thinning the trees, making it look like Centre Parks now, even on the Pie Run thinning is going on. Keep it dark and interesting for the rider.

Really not sure what part you mean? There’s only a fireroad crossing between Hit Squad and Pie Run, nothing orange near there. Not thinking of the wormhole on the black? That was thinned out last year then had a lot of windblow, changed it a lot.

It’s a working forest, thinning and felling is part of the work. Usually they avoid taking out “feature trees” immediately around the trails but the forest will always come first.

Yeah I’m struggling to think where you mean.

Of the bits of trail near there:

Broon Trout is not sigposted or graded;
Ewok Village was pulled down years ago;
The Bitch is graded black

I’m struggling to think of anything orange unless the sign at the Matrix / Lombard Street has faded or something

fair enough about parking paying moaners….

but all the ‘best’ (ie techy, dark and interesting…) stuff ain’t mapped at GT or inners or probably any trail centre, for that matter..

that said, they all pretty much start offa regularly used fireroads and trails.

my advice: check for these as you ride the regular trails and pick one next time you’re there…ya never know what ya might find.

The section you are referring to is not graded. It used to start at ewok village and finish by the bottom pond.

As above – it’s a working forest. At least one of the people responsible for removing the trees is a MTBer and does his best to minimise the damage to any such trail.

He’s on here BTW.

It’s a commercial forest, one day there’ll be no trees there, and I’ll have no hair, and all will be sadness.

I need to clarify my rant!! It is the Pie Run itself… apologies!

I had convinced myself used to be graded with an orange diamond (was it?) and wasn’t part of the official red trail a few years back. If it’s part of the red route now then that could be the reason for thinning out the trees on it, but in my opinion it’s ruined it. That was my favourite wee section of official trail at GT. There was a guy riding behind me who commented the same after that drop off just before Mushroom Pie.

Ahh that makes sense.

I’ve not been for a couple of months. If they have thinned out the trees then its a shame as it had a nice tight feel to it.

But like others have said its a working forest so this stuff is to be expected

It hadn’t been thinned last time I rode it, which was only a week or two ago?

It’s had a few changes over the last couple of years… One of the rooty steps collapsed completely and is now less fun, but just because of wear and tear. Lost a bunch of trees to the storms in the winter before last. Had one corner “That Bit” reshaped as it was so unpopular, a new line was put in to get it back in grade. Oh and some work approaching the drop at the end to try and stop people from straightlining into it from before the corner, which didn’t work so needed a fence put up, because people are dicks.

agree with Northwind, rode it 10 days ago and no difference seen. Just evolution due to wear and storms

Northwind and Chris – well I rode it on Sunday night and most of the trees that used to give you the handlebar clipping fear were gone!

By all means give it a blast again and flame me if I am wrong, but they’ve thinned out the trees which were directly on the trail, and recently by the looks of it. Spoiled it for me.

It looks like some very recent work then as I do not recall it being thinned out when I last rode it.

Shame as the hand cut trail had an appeal over other trails due to it being so tight and dark in amongst the trees.

That’s not good if they have. Will need to stage an exploration mission. Anyone fancy a ride tomorrow? 😉

Maybe it was a guerilla operation by people that post on here saying it has no flow and is too difficult 😈

That horrible corner with the big root and stones is still there unfortunately – but yes, some trees have gone.

noooooo

. Oh and some work approaching the drop at the end to try and stop people from straightlining into it from before the corner, which didn’t work so needed a fence put up, because people are dicks.

Its a quality piece of boy scout woodwork though!

That horrible corner with the big root and stones is still there unfortunately

Hate that bit as well

that corner is easier than it used to be, someone put rocks into the hollowed out bits between the roots.

eemy – Member

That horrible corner with the big root and stones is still there unfortunately – but yes, some trees have gone.

Heh. It’s before my time but I’m told that it used to be all just roots- the rocks were added to make it easier. Just used to freak me out even more, aaaargh roots AND rocks!

Uh… I quite like that corner although I fluffed it the first time I did it.

I could quite happily ride an entire trail with stuff like that in. (Although when I say ride I really mean fall down)

I got annoyed at it as it was the only thing on the red I couldn’t get my cross bike round

It has definitely been thinned out alot rode it sunday, only trees at the side none of the actual roots on the trail though.

Well I rode it at the weekend and they have thinned it out. Not very much, but they have thinned it out. Please no more thinning of that section anyway.

Contact the rangers,politely make your feelings known- usually the foresters are very sensitive to the trails but it doesn’t always happen (frinstance when the tree in the middle of the wormhole qualifier got taken out, grr)

sas78 – Member

I need to clarify my rant!! It is the Pie Run itself… apologies!

I had convinced myself used to be graded with an orange diamond (was it?) and wasn’t part of the official red trail a few years back.

It’s always been graded red. The intent was “the upper limit of the red grade”, IIRC. It’s not part of the official red but it is one of that trail’s official short-cuts. For some reason short-cuts get waymarked with an orangey-red arrow, which is a bit confusing given that bike park stuff is now graded orange.

eemy – Member

That horrible corner with the big root and stones is still there unfortunately – but yes, some trees have gone.

That corner’s called “Trail Perfection”, by the way. 🙂 Sadly I am one of the Trailfairies partially responsible for its rocks. As bigjim says the intention was to remove the massive hollow after the roots but it didn’t quite go as intended…

Other parts of the Pie Run are named “That Bit”, “28 inches”, “Hop, Skip and Jump” and “Dial 9″…

yacoby – Member

Uh… I quite like that corner although I fluffed it the first time I did it.

I could quite happily ride an entire trail with stuff like that in. (Although when I say ride I really mean fall down)

I have definitely gotten worse at that corner. 🙁 I love the Pie Run but it would be very time consuming to build a full trail like it that’s tough enough to take the numbers that Glentress gets. It is (or was) tight and narrow enough that it had to be hand built, which takes a lot longer than machine building. The Pie Run was volunteer built and it took about 6 months. Mind you, so did Mushroom Pie, which is half the length, but that’s because the drainage in that bit of the forest is terrible!

If you want something similar to the Pie Run but longer may I recommend you give the trails at Drumlanrig a shot, if you haven’t already done so?

Northwind – Member

Contact the rangers,politely make your feelings known- usually the foresters are very sensitive to the trails but it doesn’t always happen (frinstance when the tree in the middle of the wormhole qualifier got taken out, grr)

The MTB rangers at Glentress always endeavour to ensure that forestry operations are sympathetic to the trails. However I think that most forestry work done there is by contractors and it seems they don’t always follow the rangers’ guidelines/instructions/ethos as thoroughly as they could.

Yup. But a bit of outside commentary could help Andy etc to put it higher on the contractor/forester radar.

If you think the trails are becoming too easy just ride the black, I really don’t see why no one seems to ride it, the climbs aren’t bad if you are prepared to put some effort in and the descents are more than worth it IMO.

If you think the trails are becoming too easy just ride the black,

Climbing aside (the tower climb is a killer). Only “The Bitch” and the “Wormhole” are any harder technically than the red route.

I like the black as its mostly empty and a bit rougher round the edges

richmtb – Member
Climbing aside (the tower climb is a killer). Only “The Bitch” and the “Wormhole” are any harder technically than the red route.

I like the black as its mostly empty

The stone chute on the Goat Track is pretty tricky, so much so that everyone rode around it and it doesn’t look like the main line anymore! The other rocky bits on the Goat Track, the scree chute on the Boundary Trail and some of what remains are all harder than what you’ll find on the red too, though probably by not as large a margin as some more recently-built black trails are over red routes.

The most commonly said thing about the Glentress black is probably that it’s “mostly empty” or “you never see anyone on it”. I think most times I’ve ridden it these cliches have been trotted out as I chat to the other riders on it, it’s never as quiet as people think it is. 🙂

Is it possible to sanitise a trail centre? According to the masses on here, they are already sanitised…

It’s a commercial forest, one day there’ll be no trees there.

That’s not really how commercial forests work 😐

Unless they managed by complete numpties who don’t know how to plant trees.

I could quite happily ride an entire trail with stuff like that in. (Although when I say ride I really mean fall down)

have a couple goes round drumlanrig black. well actually i’ve only been once but from memory it was mostly pick-your-way-through roots

interesting about the sign ChrisL didn’t know that.

It appears not to be commercial thinning by the way, but taking out trees on the trailitself.

Drumlanrig sounds great that’s next on the to do list!

Drumlanrig is bloomin brilliant. Comrie Croft is in a similiar “trailcentre-ish but not” vein, also bloomin brilliant.

just spoke to someone who’s seen the pie run felling and it was described as “some trees have gone but their roots are still there”

That’s not really how commercial forests work

well, it’ll be more or less clearfelled in sections, like it currently is being. like my hair.

UPDATE! I rode pie run again last night and the Trailfairy JooJoo must have been in full force as I clipped a tree with the bars and went ar$e for t1t just before the rootsy “corner of doom”! Apart from a bruised ego and a scraped elbow I am fine though – I even laughed.

Lovely night though – deliverance and redemption were almost enjoyable!!…

The most commonly said thing about the Glentress black is probably that it’s “mostly empty” or “you never see anyone on it”. I think most times I’ve ridden it these cliches have been trotted out as I chat to the other riders on it, it’s never as quiet as people think it is.

If you want to feel ‘alone’, do it on a winters night…

…oh, and there were ten (one with a Forestry commission badge so not sure if that’s a staff perk!?) cars parked up in Buzzards without paying last night – tut tut.

…and a load of rubbish in the car park and the wee hut before the Ewok Village was covered with litter – WTF is wrong with people these days!?

End.

Well it turns out that its nothing to do with being a commercial forest. The only trees that are gone are right beside the trail, and it really does take away from the feel of it. On the other hand, they’ve also removed some that would be almost impossible to hit, which is odd