off to scotland tomorow.got the trail maps printed of but which to do at GT.black and red both look good but which to do.any advice gang.i,m quite fit so that bit does,nt bother me just need some proper advice of the stw experts..cheers gang

Both

which is more fun druidh

Define Fun. I’d do the red so you have time and energy to play on the freeride and the new blue bits which are rather nice – many options on the red as well. I can never remember the names of the bits.

Both is the usual answer. The black is about 20 miles and a decent effort – will take 2 – 3 hours depending on fitness / how fast you want to go round it. If you do that in the morning you can then get some lunch and do the red in the pm.

You wouldn’t make the trip and just do the red – it’s too short.

Innerliethen is 5 mins down the road and the black XC is shorter than Glentress – more techinical riding as well.

I’m not really into ‘trail centre’ riding, but I like both. I’d never done the red until recently, but it is a blast, most of it is the kind of stuff that makes you want to ride it flat out, again and again. The black is pretty good too. If I had to choose one, I’d do a combination of both.

Having said that, if you are reasonably fit (as you say), the red only takes about an hour and a half, (the black is getting on towards 3 hours) so it depends a bit on time. If I had an afternoon, I’d go red (whole thing), blue climb then spooky woods and odd bits and pieces of the lower black/red descent, followed by a trip along to Innerliethen red (or red/black, whatever it is). Plenty for everyone in that lot.

Inners XC is now Red tho, innit?

As TJ says – depends what you normally ride and how you define fun. I guess if you’ve never been, then you have to do Spooky Woods at some point.

I have, in the past, done a bit of a mix-up. Red to the bottom of Spooky Woods, then immediately left onto the Blue down to the fire road, turn left and then pick up the Black at Deliverance/Redemption. At the top of Redemption, climb back up to make your way back to the upper car park and then take the new Blue down to the Hub.

As above, the red is surprisingly short, basically up the hill then back down.

But don’t think it’s not worth bothering. The downhills are so well put together it is worth arriving an hour and half early just to fit it in.

Park up at the Buzzards car park to save some time.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm – it really depends how fit you are and how much you are used to climbing – I take well over 2 hrs to do a complete red and I do enjoy an hour or so on the Freeride as well. Mind you I do have to stop for picnics and fags on my way round. Some bits are well worth doing twice – once to get a feel for it and a second time to go for it. don’t dismiss the blues as well Blue Velvet whiles not being challenging in any way I find worth a run along. easily combined with the red

Its certainly possible to do both in a day tho.

Well possible also to mix and match bits and I would ride from the bottom as I really like the descents from the Buzzards and the climb up is better than it used to be with optional tricky bits or just a gentle climb

Enjoy

well it sounds to me that iv,e got to spend two days there. the trail map reads like a snake on speed so i,ll have to get my head round it.luckly for me my sister lives in strathaven so a great base,she couldn,t have picked a better place to move to(i,m from the wirral) .i,m up there for a week, 2 days at gt,innerleithen and kirroughtree.can,t wait till tomorow only a 4 hour drive and i,m right in the middle of that lot.thanks for the advice possie…..

I did a quick stop at GT and rode the Black which was quite fun really, took me under 2 hrs to fang round then looped back round and rode the Red straight after. Both fun in different ways. Rolled down the hill, 2 coffees and some flapjack then off again. My disclaimer is I am quite fit so I’d expect the black to take more then 2hrs if you weren’t hooning round it , the red is shorter and faster but really quite good fun. I enjoyed the lack of thinking i had to do and just followed the little icky arrows 🙂

Do ’em both if you can. Not on one day unless you’re a lot fitter than me 🙂 The black is quite hard work, and both trails deserve a full on attack not a tired energy-saving effort. It can definately be done but the people I know who’ve done it tend to be pretty much stripped-down cycling machines

You can shorten the red by missing pennals vennal and using the pie run on the return if you want – or add extra by going on from the top of spooky woods to the boundary trail. spooky woods is well worth doing IMo tho – you can use the forestry roads to link bits up and to get faster returns to the top – ie do spooky woods twice – once as a sighter or do spooky woods and boundary.

confused?

As many have pointed out, you can do both easily. I’m reasonably fit and did the black and then the red (although I got bored and cut across to do the end of the black), had a bacon buttie at the cafe and then nipped down to do inners XC. All in a day and then I drove back home to Wigan. Back home by 7. And that was on a singlespeed.

If you’re fitish you should have no problems doing the lot. Glentress black was the best by far overall but inners XC had some great bits, the awesome final descent being something everyone should try if they’re up there with some great drops over rocks with a massive cliff to one side.

TJ yes totaly confused.do you use military satalites to sus all the longcuts,shortcuts,hiden bypases,underground tunnels and microlight drop off points ❓

samuri are you man or machine
please verify code—We7Bb9A—(——–)

And, make sure you do spooky woods. One guy said it was rubbish but i’m glad I ignored him, that was a freaking ace descent!!! Good solid slog climb back out too

lol @ rob. I know plenty of people who can kick my ass on a bike. I’m afraid I’m just a man.

Rob – just use the map! The forest roads are all marked on it and the couple of bits I mentioned are easy to find. For the first time in ages I wish I had a car to get down there tomorrow now 🙁

To add to the confusion those in the know ( of which I am not one) tell me there are lots of secret trails as well that are not marked on the map.

It don’t really matter tho its a bit the difference between cake and biscuits – its all good

cheers TJ.see if i can get lost on the trail which is ok,it,s hardly the australian outback off to bed now as up early for the drive.
i,ll rant on next week when i get back.nice one all..

Someone mentioned that you can skip pennel’s vennel to shorten things, but it only removes a very short climb and it’s a really nice bit of trail, very varied and quite different in style to most of the red.

You can do a lot to mix up the trails but I wouldn’t if I was you, just do them by colour, repeat bits if you want but trying to make your perfect trail out of the different bits needs a bit of local knowledge, different people like different bits. Some hate spooky woods, I always go back for a second go… And I love falla brae red, but a mate of mine skips it to go and do good game on the blue for the jumps. It’s all good…

If you do the full red, take the time to ride past Magic Mushroom up and do Mushroom Pie, it’s ace and too easy to miss. Officially it’s part of the Pie Run/Mushroom Pie shortcut to avoid the fireroad climb up to The Matrix, but it only takes a minute to climb up from Magic Mushroom to do it, and it exits right back at the Magic Mushroom entrance.