King & Queen Of The Hill- Who's in? (nae tyre chat allowed!!)

Only 2 weeks to go? Who’s in? Any course speculation, is Cademuir back in a rideable condition or are we expecting it to be Glentress only this year? Either way should be a good, looking forward to getting my racing head on again, not done anything since Dunkeld in May. First one on the new bike too.

Looks like there is a lot of GT closed during the race – could be all at GT? I have no idea what Cademuir is like now…

(Although there are enough trails at GT now that I could happily ride a 5 – 6 stage race there)

Never thought for a snoop on FC site. All of black shut and some of red, not very specific but makes it seem like a larger amount of GT covered than previous years so I’d guess no Cademuir.

I will be there , looking forward to it , since last year I have done a skills course and got a new bike so under a bit of pressure to improve ! I will be running high roller front and oops sorry

Fat, slow, back from injury and a long winter and up on holiday and in the wait list, not sure if it want in or not…

If they are closing the whole black I’d guess they’ll be maximising trails running off of it, so I’d guess.
Mast of Zorro
5 year plan/deliverance
Ewok to the pond
Ho Chi Min/zoom or bust/Janet’s

I’d like to think they’d chuck in the Spooky/blue/brown trout stage that got ditched from the EWS as I like a long pedally stage. Can’t see it happening though, if they have closed the entire black seems unlikely they’d want to close big chunks of the red too. Plus its a pretty big day on the bike and given they are pitching this as a bit less full on than the EWS, its a hell of a lot of climbing.

Any link to trail closures please?

I’m up there just to ride for the weekend having raced King and Queen in previous years. I can’t remember if it is marshalled on the practise day and if not whether it is still possible ride the trails?

Got it answered my own question… All open on the Saturday!

I meant to cancel but forgot so I guess I’m doing it 😆

Just got a pal’s entry so am in. Taking a day off in the week before to go ride the trails if anyone’s keen.

There’s strong evidence to suggest a spooky/betty/troot stage this year..

There’s more than Glentress and Cademuir forests in the Tweed Valley, but it all depends on what rumours you want to listen to 😉

Regardless, I’ll see all you mincers highly skilled mountain bicycle riders on the Sunday 🙂

There’s more than Glentress and Cademuir forests in the Tweed Valley, but it all depends on what rumours you want to listen to

Of course there is, but is there much racing terrain in easy reach of Peebles other than those 2? Given they try to pitch the race a grade below EWS, would be surprised if they sent us for stages along Inners way given it seems there must also be stages quite far up in GT based on trail closures. Would make for a pretty big day on the bike, more so than previous versions. Hope I’m wrong though!

There’s more than Glentress and Cademuir forests in the Tweed Valley, but it all depends on what rumours you want to listen to

There’s enough trails in GT to make up 4 decent stages, just hope they don’t use Trailfairy as unless the weather has been kind for weeks it’ll be just a mud-slide – and a waste of a climb.

Doug, what if I was to tell you that you are wrong?

BR, What’s wrong with Trailfairy plan in the wet? It’s brilliant slidey fun!

I hope I am wrong, so I’d be pretty happy. Just wasn’t sure I could see it happening.

Panracer Fire XC Pros.

mc: From riding in E2 in the EWS a lot of people struggled with it. Saw people getting thrown over the bars due to letting their front wheel clog up etc.

I agree with you though, it is ace in the wet.

It’s fine in the wet. It’s not so good when it’s a ploughed field 😯 I didn’t pass many people at EWS but when I did, it was usually because their bikes had clogged solid on B-Side.

Interesting from the info sent out this morning the event village has moved to Glentress. Not sure what impact that might have on course choice, would be good if they could make a final stage finish close to the main HQ, makes for a much better atmosphere. Maybe something incorporating the final descent from GT7 finishing up at the old hub car park where HQ is going to be based?

Rumour is 2 at Caberston and 2/3 at GT. Start at GT, along the cycle path to Caberston. Two stages, then that horrible slog climb from the golf club up to the boundary. Lots of climbing on wet grass! Final EWS stage is a cert. I can see them using the EWS S6. Other one is a lottery. Maybe Zorro, maybe Trailfairy plan.

I’ve sacked it anyway. Slacked off since the EWS and I’m in no condition to race. Last year’s race was very tough transition wise.

This would tend to agree with the golfie/GT rumour. I hope that rumour turns out to be true!Love Golfie.

http://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/welcome-the-scottish-championships/

We’re doing a bit of digging on an old favourite on saturday so I guess it might be in, seems quite timely. And would make Stage 6 unviable, which would be good because it’s absolute **** 😆 (stage 6 starting from spooky isn’t so bad mind… But still less good)

Hope I am right but who knows. Fort descent has to be in, tbh I’d prefer they start it from the right hill though 😉

then that horrible slog climb from the golf club up to the boundary. Lots of climbing on wet grass!

Would that be the Leithen Water climb?

While it’s long it’s a good hard/stoney-ish estate-road type surface for climbing – although it would mean a few miles on-road (between the Golfie and the estate road).

Luckily we’re at Golfie tonight for some practice 🙂

Out of interest, if it’s at Golfie and GT, what would the rules normally be about driving down to Inners on Saturday for practice? Obviously I’m not actively looking to cheat, but in some ways it seems a bit silly to drive down from Edinburgh and park up at GT only to just head straight onto a road or cycle path down to Inners, when I could just stay in the car and park there in the first place.
Bit of a grey area, does it count as “shuttling”, I wouldn’t want to accidentally get caught up for cheating! What did you folk at EWS do? Looking at Strava it doesn’t seem many started their practice day laps from Peebles Green!

At EWS, you were free to “shuttle” on practice days. I’d imagine there’ll be guidance in the competitor notes though.

Wishing I’d entered now. I’ve still not ridden any of the golfie/caberston etc trails yet, need to make the drive east soon.

I’m in and looking forwards to it, aiming for a better start than last year (breaking my hand on stage 1).

Has anyone seen a start list? I thought it was up for last year, but can’t see one for this year?

I’d imagine there’ll be guidance in the competitor notes though.

Possibly, though looking back at previous years notes I still had to hand, not mentioned in them hence why I posted.

Saw this in the EWS notes, makes sense if it is spread over more than one forest that similar rules might apply next weekend.

Shuttling Ruling –
The transport of riders between Special Stages by private/team transport (shuttling) is
strictly limited to public, open roads during official training. A rider found using a
private or team vehicle on a closed/private road or track will be disqualified.
During the race, no private/team transport can be used at any time. Any rider found
taking private transport during the race will be disqualified.

Yeah, that wouldn’t really work at cademuir because of parking if nothing else.

Yeah, that wouldn’t really work at cademuir because of parking if nothing else.

And because you’d have to be exceptionally lazy to want to avoid the ride to Cademuir from Peebles!

Challenge accepted…

I was at gt today and while riding the decent to the ponds (super steep is it ? the bit that goes off the black ) and there was a section of new trail that cought my eye , no idea if its anything to do with this .
I liked the big stage into peebles but if the event village is in glentress there are plenty of others that finish there , i have always thought berm baby berm , electric then falla red would make a good stage and you would finish right at the peel center

Or berm baby berm, electric blue into the last GT7 descent would be better. Though was pondering whether you could run super steep as a final stage, blat down the fire road after it, short power climb up past go ape, through the trees and finish with a blast through the field that GT7 runs through. Though maybe a bit much climbing up past go ape just for the benefit of finishing up by event HQ?

Where was the new trail off super steep?

not sure where it started or ended , basically i made an arse of one of the turns and came to a stop and noticed a section of trail on the left that cut across more than down and had a couple of hair pins in it . To be honest it might of been there for ages and i had never noticed it going down super steep but it did look fairly new .

I could drop some more hints about rumoured tracks, but I suspect certain ones may lead to masses of DNS’s, especially if next week isn’t dry. Although that would make race day easier for me… 😈

Haha. They seem to be managing to keep it under wraps pretty well, even the normal sources don’t seem to know so it’s just fuelling the rumours. If I believe everything I’ve heard then we have a 60km epic on our hands with some stages that will be unrideable if wet!

🙂 Golfie was running superb last night, really dry and dusty

🙁 It started raining last night about 11pm, and hasn’t stopped since

I heard they’re running all the EWS stages, but in reverse. I’ve been sessioning riding up waterworld all week.