Racing – if you have a heart rate monitor and a smart trainer, start in Cat D and find which type circuits suit you. I found that you have to sprint 10secs before the start and absolutely bust  gut for a few minutes to settle in a group. Otherwise your at the back. But always finish as the actual results on ZWIFTPOWER will eliminate all the cheats you could not keep with in the race. Crit City is my fav circuit and there is often 5 Micro Races that are about 10-15mins and 10mins apart you can do. Otherwise Scotland is my fav scenery circuit as it’s always changing or Sand and Seqouia.

Whatever you do soak the area before adding mortar and also use a paint brush to add loads of PVA on the wet areas before adding any new mortar. The soaking and PVA will help the new mortar bond better.

Talc powder, used to get that in a ‘puncture repair kit’ in the days before tubeless !

I would suggest neoprene socks. Wear an ankle pair of thin polyprop type socks inside.
Only 12-15 pounds. Inside normal mtb shoes.

I wore that combo today, warm n toasty feet.

Balqhuidder – did them all yesterday, cracking routes and roots. Warmed up on THE ELF on the south side of the road, great trail. Then up to the top and the red up there, cool features. And the other reds and black. All well made and kept almost natural. Each trail was unique and a great job by the trail builders. We parked at the Village hall, donation. No phone signal there but free wifi.

Keep an eye on the official Argus Ebay. I got a Karma grip for £81.

Amazon sell a ‘Firemaple’ version prime delivery tomorrow. I have one and no issues, mine even came with a fold down spork in titanium.

LD – thanks. Swithering to do the other Callander trails or Balqhuidder. It’s so dry that dry roots are beckoning at Balqhuidder !

Rode –
1. Scooby (red) – faint to follow and really just a series of fallen logs as features
2. Doo- (red) much better and flowy.
3. Stank Middle- (red) lovely techy stony and steppy trail
4. Stank Bottom – (red) same and almost black.

Stank Middle – just passed the start there are barriers and forestry work going on but does not prevent access.

5. Nae Brakes (black) – hard entry then flowy and two drops that can’t be rolled, great trail, better second half.
6. The Wall (black) – super flowy trail, could ride and repeat that next time. Well worth the effort to get up to it.

7. Coaster – (red) well apart from and overgrown 50m start, it is now a 1m wide FC walkers style trail and the only difficulty/features are large bull rushes ! Have added a TRAILFORKS trail report suggesting it’s changed to green. Disappointing as a hard push up the Ledi walkers path in the heat to get to it !

Spotted a nice singletrack on the river side of the cyclepath which starts stony and rooty and then becomes more flowy, well worth riding it on the way back to Callander.

Hope this helps anyone going up, main thing is roots are bone dry, like Aberfoyle.

Thanks ! Either way I am going to ride/check conditions then ‘add a trail report’.

It’s a lot of climbing for the time spent descending. Red plus black was 19.9miles and not much descending till the last third. Apart from black, nothing really challenging. I felt it was a bit bitty, there was a diversion when I did it which was a wee single track of small limestone gravel but flowed well.

PS signage is poor near Adderston field for finding the red.

If you really need a guide for routes try below. Personally, all the best routes are rideable and navigable myself. Part of why I ride is to do get the freedom. Scotland is very quiet when out on bigger rides. Just get out there !

http://www.offthegridmtb.co.uk/

Splashproof – get some drybags.

Try it now, just made it ‘everyone’ on the activity setting.

I did the same route but the other way round.

Strava route

6hrs moving time, 8hrs total ride.

Did it today. Suoer smooth, like hard packed Alp Dhuez or Les Deux Alpes trail, from the dam along to the castle/lodge. On the way back I realised it had 3 ‘bonus climbs’.

Nice singletrack down from the estate road – just past the wooden bridge on the climb up from the Castle.

Lochside Singletrack North heading South West
This was 8.32 miles and 212ft ht difference so a mainly middle chainring ride. All 6-12 inches, built but mainly light grass on top. A couple of 10m pushes up. As the loch was low, I skipped most of the slabs section just before the bothy by going along the shore. Deer fence had swing gates.

Ben Alder Cottage up to the Bealach Dubh
This was hard and I slammed my back tyre trying to do a large water bar (which I should have walked over) which burst about 2 inches of my rear tyre just in from the clincher. Annoyingly this was 5 water bars up from the Bothy. It was then push/ride/push ride all the way to the top of the Belacah Clamhain. Then a beast of a final push to the top of Bealach Dubh, from the bothy up to here had no wind and it was a furnace, I suffered and my heart rate topped out (was wearing a wahoo tickr), but pushed on to the Bealach and a desreved handful of jelly beans and water. Plenty water though at burns for drinking.

Bealach Dubh to Culra
This was up and down and I slowed for every water bar to avoid bursting my tyre. Once at the ‘fords’ marked on the OS map it smoothed out with no ups and downs. From the bothy all the way to just short of Culra was perfect narrow stony singletrack, the guy who maintans it and the lochside trail, is a trailrunner. An estate worker told me.

Culra to Dalwhinnie
I tool the doubletrack to the loch, contoured round on the good estate track, wee suspension bridge. Was nice to see two ponies standing on the water just cooling themselves. Then a gradual climb up then srop down to the Castle/lodge.

Strava – Distance 33.16miles, Time 8:12:12, Ascent 3,063ft, Relative effort 1271
Food – Grangemouth McD 2 Hash browns, 1 egg mcmuffin, On Ride – 48 jelly beans, two flapjacks, 2 bottles flat lucozade orange, 3ltrs + water.

Would I do it again ? Well the up/down nature of the singletrack and waterbars probably makes me say no, but the 8 miles of lochside singletrack, solitude and views ………………..

I would like to do it – Dalwhinnie, Ben Alder Lodge, then Lochside all the way to Ben Alder Cottage, Bealach Cumhain and Bealach Dubh, Culra Bothy, Ben Alder Lodge and back lochside.

I got one last week, very light and you don’t notice wearing it but GPS is way way off. As it has no GPS built in it uses the phone GPS. I recorded today with STRAVA and the Neo. Both apps used the same GPS but as usual, Zepp App for NEO recorded wild figures and the track jumped all over the place. So trying to use a merge website to deselect the data from the NEO except the HRM data.

Even standing in the Q outside Morrisons it went wild with the GPS data.

Thanks for all the posts, ended up in Dorset first, Puddletown forrest was good using Trailforks. And then SUP only in Cornwall and then Long Mynd, which was park at Blazin Saddles, up to the top of Minton Batch via Minton and fire road to glider runway, down Minton Batch, no one else there. Then back up same way and down the next one along which was disappointingly wide single track. I don’t think 6ft wide trail is a single track ? . So an hours climb for 6ft single teack and trail, bit unclear from Trailforks. In hindsight should have doen Minton Batch again.
Then back Dalby – which was long doing the red plus black – which was nearly all singletrack and smooth and sandy. Doing the red from the low carpark up to the Black XC Worldcup route then finding the red again to finish it back the start carpark was actually via navigation, I can navigate so ok, but a few folk turned back as they got lost.

Got home and first day went to Comrie Croft so lucky to be living in Scotland !

Jonostevens – Well you have sold it for me !

Dorset/Devon/Cornwall also has plenty Stand Up Paddle Boarding too.

Thanks

When you say ‘good stuff’ do you mean singletrack ?

A trial announced to pay for a test when you return to the UK to avoid quarantine. £156 I think.
Not sure if insurance is valid with FCO advice the hinge.

Thanks.

Welsh option out I think, still restrictions.

Surprised no one has mentioned NATE HILLS ‘Followcam friday’.

Amazing trails, for your retirement bucket list!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCywMHpWJsb9GXD0lakYf6WA

Wetsuit kayak socks made in neoprene. Wear inside your winter shoes. Neoprene overshoes good too.

I searched for ‘degreaser’ as I used to buy Poundworld branded stuff. Looked like Muc off and worked just as well at £2 a ltr.

On the lookout for similar. I wash and clean 10+ bikes at work (school) so need to the cost down.

Bicarbonate of soda is used to clean metalware.

Yes degreasers are expensive but slightly less corrosive !

One of the reviews for that degreaser says NOT to be used on aluminium.

I’ve tried various techniques etc but have settled on neoprene socks inside normal summer trainers.

Goretex lined shoes are great but end up filling with water from top down and can’t drain.

I kayak and canoe all year so 5mm neoprene socks work in that cold and wet environment.

The last few times on the road I have worn an Altura hi vis jacket. But still get the same number of idiots close passing etc.

I actually don’t think hi vis makes much difference.

However, if I have my go pro on my helmet and look around at cars approaching from behind I think it makes a difference and drivers are aware their on camera!

Maybe buying a cheap action cam and having it on your helmet will make more difference.

As a school, we don’t pay VAT, don’t know the details we just buy ex VAT.

Scotroutes: thanks. I just presumed trade accounts would be cheaper.

Orangeboy, thanks. It’s mainly Shimano stuff plus tubes, tyres etc. Maybe some cheap forks.

We have 30+ bikes that need bits, so should be easy to convince them.

Yes Cheaper than What ?

Obviously a shop !

WD40 and GT85 displace water but also grease so after cleaning and DRYING the chain with a rag/old shirt or absorbent poundshop jaycloth, then lube before leaving it. Also worth dripping some chain oil down any cable outers etc.

Thanks for the info, took the group around Muiravonside and apart from sheet ice in the carpark, bone dry singletrack trails and roots were even dry, so cracking day.

Climb

Use my canoeing gloves, £10. Very warm. Longer wrist length also helps.
They are not waterproof but if damp stay warm.

https://www.lomo.co.uk/acatalog/lightweight-neoprene-gloves.html

2) Does work as I did it on my Hardtail when I broke my derailleur in Glen Garr/Little Glenshee.

Remember as I said this is NOT adults so they don’t need all the MBLA L2 manual skills. They will be 14yrs old and just fixing on the trail to get going, hopefully.

Thanks for the sensible responses.