I would be grateful for some trail tips please. I live south of east of edinburgh but don’t mind a drive.

My technical skills are not too bad… I can handle red and black trails relatively painlessly if I’m careful, i just don’t enjoy this kind of technical riding. I want something fun with a little g forces, but easy enough to just phase out, listen to some tunes, and daydream for 30 mins.

I really like easy smooth undulating trails like smooth runnings and berm baby berm. But they are way too short. The longer trails on the maps I’ve tried tend to be fire roads. Too far the other way.

Any tips appreciated!

Not sure this exists. If the glentress red trails are too rough for you youre going to be limited in choice. Blue trails tend to be short or fireroads as you’ve mentioned.

Scotland isnt known for easy trails in general.

Someone will probably point out I’m wrong shortly.

Loads of stuff around Aviemore that might suit you. Usually bits of singletrack linked up with other forest tracks etc. so you’ll cover some ground but have bits of gnar-lite thrown in. You’re not going to find much like BBB away grom a trail centre though. It’s just too groomed/artificial.

Carron valley might be right up your street , its pretty much all blue i think .

The blue at comrie is a relatively long section of trail , definitely longer than berm baby berm and its really good .

Mabie Forest has some stuff like that – it’s less massive rocks than Dalbeattie and less “groomed” than most other trail centres. I’ve ridden it on a CX bike relatively painlessly whereas somewhere like Gisburn or North Face Trail at Grizedale I’d hesitate to ever take a CX again, it’s just far too rough with embedded rocks to hold the trail together.

The problem is that trails like you describe tend to be fairly shortlived in the UK. They get ridden and trashed (so they get armoured, re-surfaced etc to prevent that which turns them into bumpy crap) or they’re so far from civilisation that it takes hours to ride out to them. There’s a few trails I can think of in the Lakes and Scotland like that but they’re not easy to get to and it’s not worth a trip to ride them on their own.

I’ve ridden some great singletrack like you describe in Colorado though if that helps… 😉

Yeah I watch youtube vids of Boulder and weep!

Sustained, long singletrack is rare anywhere in the UK – throw in smooth and you’re asking a lot. There are miles and miles of tracks in the Pentlands and the Lannermuirs if you want to spin the pedals over easy undulating trails, but it’s not that purpose-built smoothness you’re after.

Gypsy Glen from the very top , job done.

I might get flamed to hell and back for this: but Innerleithen’s Make or Brake combined with uplift (£33) repeated until your arms cant take it anymore. And roll the doubles til you get used to them.

Left field sugguestion I know.

Doesn’t fit your spec in terms of distance from Ed but Glenlivet seems to fit the bill otherwise (IMO). There’s a few TTFs but mostly avoidable, otherwise super fast flowy blue style fun. It’s marked as a red but I guess that’s more distance and the few said features.

wot stanfree said

Gypsy Glen is not smooth from the top, it’s really quite rocky for the top section. Granted it gets smooth and is worth doing, but don’t be put off by the first few minutes until you’ve been into the first dip and climbed out.

Definitely Gypsy Glen. Another one for me are the Cheviots which also have stunning views.

I’ve not ridden it myself but others will be able to comment, howgill fells?

Callendar estate MTB trails in Falkirk are smooth but not long – Falkirk MTB

There are a few ‘Black’ bits which you have to look for but in the main the level would be akin to the Green level of Glentress. You can do several laps if required.

Comrie croft trails?

Comrie Croft is very rocky at the top. The blue sections might suit well but it isn’t really that long. There is a nice route away from the croft (towards Comrie itself) but like most things it has significant amounts of fireroad.

If the OP doesnt want anything more technical than flowy bermy blue routes then I would say it might be a case of accepting that the downhill sections are going to be shorter than he wants and laps may be required.

stanfree

Member

Gypsy Glen from the very top , job done.

Yup, another vote here

Doesn’t fit your spec in terms of distance from Ed but Glenlivet seems to fit the bill otherwise (IMO). There’s a few TTFs but mostly avoidable, otherwise super fast flowy blue style fun. It’s marked as a red but I guess that’s more distance and the few said features.

This was my first thought.. the red seems to match your requirements perfectly.

What about Mabie?

Its a long while since I’ve been but the main route is / was a very flowy red with not much in the way of anything technical. The Ridge and Descender Bender were longish sections of flowy trail had some other nice bits too

Longest run of single track I know like that is bowderdale in the howgills. 7miles in 7miles back out.

If you find yourself in Cumbria, whinlatter blue and lower half of south red fit the bill, would need a few laps or to do something else as well to make the trip worthwhile.
Edit- I guess skiddaw summit BW descent could also be considered…..least rocky Mountain route I know.

Malaga is only 2 hours from Edinburgh.
Alan at Sierra Cycling can help you out with smooth flowy trails on some of his routes.

Carron valley might be right up your street , its pretty much all blue i think

this. it’s not 30 mins descending, but it is fun, non-technical singletrack and an relatively easy climb back up to do it again (and again)

one lap is only 8 km I think so can easily be done 2 or 3 times (or you can do the top or bottom halves a few times)