Innerleithen XC

Are there any Local Lads on here ? or some one who Rides there regularly ?

I’ve rode it a good few times.

Northwind is a local I believe

What do you need to know?

Yes.

is edinburgh local?

Edinburgh here…

Yes

It is better than Glentress, better views, better trail, much quieter and fewer weekend warriors.

That is a secret though, don’t tell anyone else. Just let let them continue mobbing GT.

Alternatively (speaking purely of the official route), it’s nowhere near as much fun as Glentress. Just a long slog up with a boring, pedally, run back down.

I love opinions me

Well its funny you say that ! i rode it on Saturday and saw 1 Solitary rider when we got near the end at Caddon Bank, it was later on Saturday about 6 ish when we were finishing as we rode GT in the morning and it was Mobbed over there !

Over way too quickly though !

Anyway Innerleithen
The question is, the loamy track that leads from the Cairn at 12 ‘o’ Clock position not the official track way down, where does the loamy one go ? when linking up the downs on the fire road 2/3rds down there was a run out onto the fire road from under the trees that came from up high and left, it looked natural and sweet as,

Does any one know ?
We did mention that we might need a Local to show us the proper riding spots,

OH, Spooky Wood…………..
3 Mins 10 secs On a stopwatch not Strava

I’m in Peebles and have lived in Innerleithen as well. The track from the cairn does eventually head back down to the trail, I’ve only ridden it once, while the descent was being built. It did get pretty wet and boggy towards the end and joins the SUW at the circles view point.

The other trail, at the SUW crossing was the way the XC used to go before the fast jumpy descent was built. It was a climb back up to join the wet boggy trail mentioned above. We always just used to fly down the SUW to get to the circles though.

As for the proper riding spots, there is a warren of downhill trails from the first and second fireroads. Most of these are rideabl on an XC bike, Iride most of them on my hardtail. The gold run, Cresta run and Make or Break are the ones on the map but once you get into the bottom section there are many options. Some do end up and drop offs (Matador), so be careful on your first run.

I’ve only done that track as a push/ride up, it was rubbish 🙂

Personally, not that big a fan of the innerleithen red, it impressed me the first time but by the third or fourth it was getting a bit meh and now all I can think of is how little return there is for the climbing (and how pedally all the descents are!). Far rather ride glentress.

But! When you add in the enduro and downhill trails, it’s probably the best trailcentre in the uk.

Cheers Rob,

We saw this lone rider who went a slightly different way down caddon bank to avoid the drops which he said were “BIG”

And from memory 6 years ago……… they werent that big 😯

Have they got bigger ?

That’d be Jane’s Lane they went down, probably, lovely woodsy alternative to the top of caddon- misses out the drops and the stupid roller thing then rejoins at the first big lefthander.

The drops aren’t that big, but they’re big enough 🙂

Janes Lane > Caddon Bank any day of the week – lovely wee trail that

Agreed with the Rollers 😕

I can remember when they put caddon bank in maybe 2002 ? we used to cut across from the Old RED BULL DH run it was that good,

The drops arent that big agreed but by the time i hit the last one i’d got a bit over confident and it felt quite big,

Innerleithen has loads of awesome trails scattered around the 7stanes trail. I love that place. Then there’s across the other side of the Tweed…

I prefer Innerleithen but haven’t ridden the natural trails there. XC trail feels completely different following the most recent felling.

Not local, but was in the area last week and rode Glentress black and red Monday, then Innerleithen red on Tuesday.

This was the end of an 11 day riding trip and I was really looking forward to Glentress having never ridden it before, but overall it was the tamest of all 9 trail centres we rode – lots of climbing and a fair bit of long singletrack descending, which was nice enough but just really featureless – I kept thinking “when’s it going to get tech?” Don’t get me wrong, we both enjoyed the ride, but found it to be very “XC” based – I am referring to the official routes here as I am sure there are some great “locals” trails.

Much preferred Innerleithen – found the climb ok and really enjoyed the mixed downhill with the fast “bike park” start (similar to a couple of red sections at Glentress), followed by the slightly more tech forest section and fun black optional route, all ending with Caldon Bank and those lovely drops 🙂

All in all though, we rode 9 trail centres and have to say the quality of riding is brilliant – Kirroughtree black for it’s endless singletrack descending, Fort William for the downhill and Golspie for an all-round super fun trail centre with superb techy climbs and brilliant flowing descent.