7stanes

Specialized5432

Finally managed to visit all of them. Enjoyed them all but Glentress and Mabie were the highlights. Being a glentress regular I found that I had been spoilt by the excellent facilities and trails at glentress when compared to the other stanes.

What does everyone else think of the 7stanes?

homers_double

I've only ridden Mabie, so cant really offer an opinion.

ddoogie

I've only done GT but it was the best week of mountain biking I've ever experienced. Liked it so much that myself and three mates are going back for another week in August.

Can't wait to try and tackle the final descent at Innerleithen again. Or the large rock garden that scared me crapless last time!

Specialized5432

I guess i can see where this poll is going (should have known)- glentress is going to get almost, if not every vote.

streako

I dont think Glentress and Innerleithen should be grouped together as they are distinctly different sites set about 6 miles apart. They also have different feels, Glentress having "Something for everyone" and Innerleithen having downhill tracks as well as an excellent aggressive "xc" route.

Also what about Newcastleton? Isnt that one of the Stanes?

nicklouse

fixed.

miggillicuddy

Haven't ridden them all. Don't intend on riding Glentrool.

Kirroughtree gets my vote although GT does have the best atmosphere and the advantage of the hub cafe and bike shop.

Obviously 'tress is going to will as it gets the most visiters and publicity though.

neil_sheehan2000

Er, well, Glentress IS the best isn't it? I mean, Traquair/Innerleithen (should they be seperated too?- that makes 9 stanes!) and Ae are pretty close but Glentress just has it all doesn't it. I mean, apart from a dedicated competition-level DH course, but you can't have everything...

schmako

They're all a bit different. My particular favourites were the Ae downhill run and any of the runs atInnerleithen. Could give the generic response on how good GT is, but i've done everything there about a million times.

GilesM

I've only done GT and Ae, Ae red is good and a bit more wild than the GT red, however I think that the GT black is just perfect, a ride with everything.

Giles

rinkydinkdink

Spent 10 days near Kirroughtree and thought it was fantastic and then had a day in Dalbeattie on the way back down to London, which was almost as good. So it looks as though I'm going to have to get back up the M6 to try out the others.

Betabob

so far I've ridden Ae, Dalbeattie, Glentress and Mabie a lot... Glentress is my local as I live in Edinburgh but I prefer Dalbeattie to all so far... stunning stunning route.

It all depends what you're after, the following opinions are based on red - red/black experience:

Glentress: best facilities by far, lots of variety and choice, but that is also it's problem. The red route is a long long slog up firetrack with only a brief skip across singletrack before you're back slogging up firetrack again until you get to 1 really nice technical ascent. After that though it's all super fast flowing downhill fun from spooky wood onwards. Lots of air opportunities with generally nice smooth landings. great fun.

Mabie: totally different beast - at least 80% singletrack, way more than GT - technical sections, fast rolling downhill sections, the Quad melting finish to the Scorpion. If you're not just an air junkie this is a better route than GT, much better. [worth noting that it is also the home of the notorious Kona Darkside route, a brutal double black on mostly north shore - for riders way way better than I will ever be!]

Ae: Wow! How much fun is this route! Great cross country sections that keep you on your toes, some lovely downhill stretches with intimidating chutes, drop offs etc. Then some tech uphill work and a slog along some firetrack to the Omega man. If you have the guts the Omega Man is a very very fast section with huge bermed turns, doubles, tabletops and drops... unlike GT this one doesn't have the super smooth landings though so you need to be more selective with your hangtime! The whole thing runs into the top of the freeride park with some more great stuff just before the car park (watch for idiots walking up the trail here! They're rare but you do get them)

Dalbeattie: This is the hardest, most technical red graded route I have ever encountered - so many sections could be easily be graded black. If you lose concentration this trail will eat you up. In saying that, this route is tremendous! Granite features, rock gardens, huge drop offs (which need rolled unless you have a 6 inch travel rig and some big balls!). There are some tricky rock bridges and one (currently broken!) log skinny which I fell off last time into the 4ft+ pool of water... very funny for the others. For the courageous among you there is the qualifier/slab and terrible twins features lying in wait. I cant praise this route enough, I really can't.

If you live in scotland you should really get around to trying them all. Ae, Mabie and Dalbeattie are really quite close together so 2 in 1 day is not a problem. Try them all!

later folk,
BB