The wife and I are heading to Dumfriesshire this weekend and she is keen to do a bit of biking. She has ridden at glentress and Laggan a couple of times and is reasonably fit.

Which of the Dumfriesshire 7 Stanes should I take her to? We are staying near Thornhill.

You've a choice, you could try the blues at Mabie or Ae, maybe head to Newcastleton and do the red there if you wanted to travel

But even closer would be Drumlanrig it's not a Stane but could be the eighth easily 🙂

As per forge; if you're staying near Thornhill then please don't miss the chance to enjoy the more natural trails at Drumlanrig!

Maybe Mabie. I love it there.
If you're near Thornhill, then Drumlanrig would be a wise choice, too.

Edit – too slow…

At least we are consistent 🙂

I wouldn't go to Ae.

Cheers guys. I'd forgotten about Drumlanrig. That's probably the best bet. Unless it's pishing with rain. She might not like the slippy roots!

Mabie for a beginner not Drumlanrig.

Mabie

Dair, you said she's been to glentress and laggan, what routes did she do? How comfortable was she? No two beginners are the same…

Drumlanrig IMO isn't at all a beginner's route, mainly because of the varying difficulty of it, it'd be easy to get caught out.

Drumlanrig as we all know is not a "Stane" but the easy routes should be OK.

NW – she is brave and has pretty good balance, but lacks experience. She is perfectly comfortable on the blue at GT, I have taken her round parts of the black (without her having a clue where she was…) and she rode the red at Laggan with confidence, once she found her groove, but I could see her coming unstuck on rooty, twisty singletrack.

Use the blue route to short cut onto the second (and easier) half of the red route (now route 7 not 5). Much more beginner friendly..

Once you've warmed up to the slight differences in flow required at Drum, you could head out for a full lap or use the 'bail out' to do a short techy lap of the SXC/NPS race route.

Drumlanrig is perfect for beginners as the blue shadows the red most of the way round. You can pick and mix red and blue whenevr you like.

Dalbeattie or Kirroughtree have fun blue routes, Mabie has the 4 cross track & the quite good fun skills area

Anywhere except Ae. Drumlanrig would top my list for anyone getting into MTB. If that place doesn't inspire somebody to ride, nowhere will.

I wouldn't send a complete beginner to Drumlanrig either.

Mabie would be my choice too.

Dalbeattie wouldn't be a bad choice either if she's fit (you know what I mean), because the difficult bits all have chicken runs or are opt-in, and it's reasonably flat.

I appreciate that this is an almost impossible question to answer, without actually seeing her in action, so thanks for all the input.

Having taken her to GT and Laggan a few times (and also Pitfichie and Kirkhill near Aberdeen), I think it would be good for her to experience something completely different. Drumlanrig it is then!

I'll just need to convince her to stay off the brakes…

Thanks all!

Mabie red.

Dalbeattie or KT blue

Drumlanrig easy routes

Mabie and Ae Blues are very easy, more for smaller kids

Newcastleton is a bit of a drive but pretty easy technically and about an hour or so for a fit person

All good pointers above, if you fancy a half days skills to help boost her confidence and a half day ride at Mabie then feel free to drop me a line, phone number is on the web site http://www,mtbskills.eu Have fun 😆 Clive.

what Clive said but mail Rik on mtbrik@aol.com

Repeat, Drum is excellent for beginners you can pick and choose what bits of red you do. All of them are very accessible from the blue.

I love Mabie red, so flowy and fun. Shame it's not very long. I don't remember anything particularly scary/difficult but it's great.

Hope it's okay to say, this thread is really helpful, we're going up next week and I'm changing blue route plans based on this. And definitely doing the Mabie red.

Hmm, I rode Drumlanrig for the first time as… Post-beginner? Hopeless intermediate? Something like that 🙂 And had a very frustrating day, of seeing a trail that should be fantastic and not being able to get any flow out of it at all, and every so often getting going them suddenly finding something I couldn't ride or just had to stutter over like a passenger. Anyway, that experience says to me there's better choices for a learner.

Yep, the blue route with some of the easier red sections. It's not rocket surgery ! If your do the whole red as a beginner you may get a bit frustrated, but the beauty of drum is that it's totally modular and you can just pick and choose what to do, or not.

What is it that you lot don't get about this….?

It's perfect to start out on and is totally progressive; unlike so many of the others where you're stuck on something tedious at blue or green; or commited to a complete loop of red, which may still be beyond you no matter how sanitized and gravely.

loulouk – Member
Hope it's okay to say, this thread is really helpful, we're going up next week and I'm changing blue route plans based on this. And definitely doing the Mabie red.

Got most evenings free next week if you fancied a tour with a local?

"What is it that you lot don't get about this….?"

How is anyone going to know which sections of the red are easier if they've not ridden it? It's easy for you to say "Oh, just ride this bit then this bit" but look at it from a visitor's point of view, they can't magically know which bits of red to ride and which to not ride.

Ask in the bike shop ! Y'know actually communicate – offline- face to face – with a map of the trails – it's not so hard ;o)

Trekster – will be out two nights next week will drop you a mail had the week off riding and will start again Monday.

Mabie can also be 'edited" to mix up sections of red, blue and green. There are many ways to re-work the forest so you get maximum smiles per miles, the guys on here are a good bunch, they have all ridden for many years and will take care of you. Remember skills are for life not just for Christmas, birthdays weddings and barmitzvah's. 😆

ygm forge re Wed/Thurs

they have all ridden for many years

..hope that is meant in a complimentary way Clive 😉

As the man has offered……go see bangin on aka Rik. He is the face of Drumlanrigg mtbing, an affable nice descent bloke who will help, advise and give his time freely so as to see people enjoy his trails at what ever level they are able to ride them at.

Hey Trekster, yes yes I was brought up the old fashioned way and respecting one's elders is part of my life philosophy. 🙄 We will have to get out for a gentle spin sometime.

Tues with Stewart?

I gotta go to Llandegella on a CTC skills instructor "Jumping and Pumping"course on Tues, how about Thurs? – Ae enduro Fri, Sat, Sun.. 😕

"Ask in the bike shop ! Y'know actually communicate – offline- face to face – with a map of the trails – it's not so hard ;o) "

Mmm, still don't think it's that simple, even with the best signposting and mapping and directions it's still really easy to get mixed up once you're out under the trees. And the alternatives are simpler. You understand, I'm not saying beginners shouldn't go to Drum, I'm just saying there's more obvious options. Especially as I've been a few times now and I still can't make head or tail of the map 😉

Working from Wed till Sat 6am.

Mmmmmh, Northwind p'raps your right….after all the people I give advice to on a daily basis; and all of the absolute beginners (and many more with experience) that I take out for skills sessions; and all the families that head out on hire bikes and the sproggs and Yoofs I coach; yep…. you're probably right after all. Drumlanrig – no place for a beginner, don't risk it people, unless you're an expert Drum's obviously not the place to go :-p

Not sure there's any point in continuing this, but here's what I actually said

"I'm not saying beginners shouldn't go to Drum, I'm just saying there's more obvious options."

Which is completely the opposite to what you're pretending. Stop playing silly buggers.

Spot on bangin on, we (2 families ) came up to Drum' acouple of weeks ago ,your suggestion of Blue/red was great.Anybody that can read a map will be fine allthough the quality of the photocopy is a bit ropey. Mabie red is also good (perhaps walk down "the bad step"?

Finally getting proper quality maps from the estate….yeehah!!!!

Down side is they're a pound but professionally printed and very, very clear and easy to read.

I'm always amazed how many peeps rock up to the trails and head out without a map or any advice and then moan about stuff that they could've easily understood with one or t'other. I can't go past a bike shop without popping in for a bit of craic and wee neb at the shelves.