Deadwater trails Kielder

busta gonad

Anyone like to share an opinion on the quality or lack of with these trails, do you think they are technical enough for instance, do any of the sections in particular stand out, yay or nay.

gypsy3006

I live less than 20 mins from Kielder , 30 mins from Glentress / Innerliethen and Kielder is my most frequent haunt , its a red/black route , very technical compared to the likes of Glentress and sections like "Dugs day off" will test the skills of most bikers as will the climb on the "up and over" section , if you clean this your doing very well.
The climb to the mast will test your stamina and the run down will test your nerve :shock:

Theres a new red route on the other side of the lake thats good to go now after a winters development , which can be reversed or linked with a blue route on the other side of the lake for an epic day out.

its quiet , dry when other things are wet and has a great pub for food drink at the end

ssshh though , we dont want it getting too busy

bungalistic

BAD:
- When the wind is up the descent from the mast is scary as.................
- Firetrack climb is annoying as always

GOOD:
- The descent is superb on the right day, run down from the mast is fast, scary and definately worth it.
- Some really nice techy bits on the singletrack certainly make for a challenge.
- The black run down at the end is just brilliant, techy, fast, loose, jumpy, not for beginners or stupid kids without helmets (yup I saw two there last time).
- Looks like they're building even more fun stuff too, looking forward to freeride/northshore park to be finished.
- The minotaur maze is a right laugh

Strange thing is I never thought this spot was great until last time I went, shows how much the weather can influence your thoughts on a trail.

hoolabloom

Good:-

The Deadwater trails are some of the best techy and good flow on both the Red and black with great climbs too. The descent on both red and black will keep you smiling all the way down with great berms jumps and rock features to hit. The black is one of my favorite runs especially after a cleaned it all sunday. Awesome drop off s on the last part of the black will have you smiling for days

The Pub that injected some life back into me saturday after a 65 k monster to newcastleton via the new red trail

All the hard work the guys have done up there to get it to where it is.

The new northshore with more underconstruction.


Bad:-

The bike place has very limited spares or gear just hire kit although that may change with the new bike hire being built.

Midgees

The descent from the northshore on the new red to bloody bush post. This could be down to it settling in but the jump transitions seem a little short and the berms were a bit strange. (this bit not officially open yet tho so will reserve judgement )


All in all Kielder has the potential to be the best bike centre in England and can only get better with more and more stuff being done. Good on the KTR guys

gypsy3006

Hi

Hoola , what did you think of the new red ?

what was the run over to Newcastleton like ?

cheers

hoolabloom

Gypsy to be honest not too impressed with the new red not as tech as the deadwater red which is the kinda riding I like. But hten it has just been finished and the guys on KTR say theres more work to be done.

The route over to newcastleton was good long at around 65 k from castle car park but pleasant ride out.

busta gonad

How did you find the biggish drop on the black downhill section, scared the life out of me on a hardtail, it's sort of stepped, thought i was going to catch the rear on the lip.

Good effort cleaning the climb on over the hill, i was bushed at that stage after going up to the mast and refusing point blank to use the granny ring on any of the climb.

You are right about the vibe being different on visits, thats why i was asking about it as i have been a couple of times and was not sure about the quality of the riding, but it is good with hindsight, a bit of a rough diamond in more ways than one, perhaps to get the best out of it, a full sus would probably be the bike of choice, i felt i was under biked on some of the rougher sections at speed.

gypsy3006

I thought the same about the new red route but it was still a good run , I didnt cut off to Newcastleton though , I continued to Calvert which gave some really good riding and then rode back up the road !!!! , next time i'm going to join it with the blue on the other side of the dam and make a huge day out of it

Deadwater trail :
Its definetely not the smooth and swoopy riding you find at Glentress and the like , I think it has a far more natural feel to it , a bit like dalbeatie , rough technical riding and bouldery landings etc , but it really makes you work and doesnt give up its lines easily !!! , we rode up to the mast via the normal descent path on my last visit to avoid the long fireroad slog , interesting leg burning technical ascent , the big stepped drop on the steep black section had my mate headplant last time , he didnt get the nose up , landed in the big pile of boulders went head over heals !!!!

next time your there , check out all the bike parts lying to the left of "Dugs day off " , many a bike has came a cropper there !!

cheers

Ian P

Bit late on this one but would be interested in any views on how Deadwater trail compares with others. I'm up in Northumberland with the family next week and was thinking of visiting Kielder on the way back. My daughter is 9 1/2 and has been doing quit a bit of biking over the last year - she's done the Follow the Dog at Cannock (very easy red) a number of times and has no problem with it, also did the new(more flowing) red at Coed y Brenin (Cyflym Coch) recently which was more challenging but she really enjoyed, I probably wouldn't take her on the longer rockier trails at CyB yet (MBR / Beast etc) yet.

I was considering doing the Deadwater without the loop to the summit - does anyone have any view?

Thanks in advance.

gypsy3006

Hi Ian ,

she would find the Deadwater red pretty tough compared to those two , but inpect and walk if she doesnt like whats in front

I reckon the lonesome pine red route would be ok though

cheers

Ian P

Thanks for the info.

Might have to persuade the family to go to the cafe while I have a quick blast round to check it out

dave_hill

busta gonad wrote:

Anyone like to share an opinion on the quality or lack of with these trails, do you think they are technical enough for instance, do any of the sections in particular stand out, yay or nay.

Myself and three mates did the Deadwater and Lonesome Pine trails this Sunday just gone.

Deadwater -

1. Too much climbing on singletrack
2. The loop up to the top of Deadwater fell is a complete waste of time and effort. When you get to the top of the "Into the Valley" section, just turn right and have done with it.
3. It doesn't flow at all. You think you're getting a wiggle on then all of a sudden it's uphill again or there's a bloody big rock in the middle of the trail.
4. The best bits are Primrose Wood, Shake, Rattle and Roll and Woodstock.

Score - 5/10

Lonesome Pine

1. You thought there was too much singletrack climbing on Deadwater?
2. To much effort for too little reward.
3. The much-vaunted 1,2km boardwalk is enough to put you to sleep. Oh and it's 50% uphill. And it's actually about 600m long.
4. There's some SERIOUSLY sketchy bits on the descent back down to Kielder village. All four of us were glad we'd taken a change of pants.

Score - 3/10. And that's generous.

Overall, we made a 300 mile round trip from Lancashire in the day and we felt we'd been cheated. We agreed that we would ride there again, but only if we were passing through - it's not the sort of place we'd make the effort to deliberatley go there again. In all we wished that we'd gone another 20 miles to Glentress instead.

gypsy3006

Sorry to hear you didnt enjoy yourself Dave

MAXTHEDOG

Hi All,

Am coming upto Kielder in october,and would like to get some in at Glentress.At the moment I've got friday and saturday booked in to the digs.Do you think I should I book another day?I'd like to do the red route and the newcastleton one.

BTW have any of you done the North Face,Alturas,or the Dalby red?

Regards,

SuperWeeble

Not tried out the red or black trails yet but did complete the new 27 mile lake view loop, not technical but a pleasant ride. Given the route hugs the reservoir there a surprising amount of climbing but it would still be a good route for a family who regularly cycle.

The next edition of MBUK has a review of the Kielder red/black trails. I wonder what they will think.

I used to run the Deadwater fell route many a year ago before it was an official route. Maxed out at 52mph on the fireroad downhill on an old AlpineStarts bike with a 50 tooth front chain ring. Also, ridden it at night which is quite scary. I'm just getting back into biking so I'll be trying out the red/black routes soon.

Northwind

MBUK gave it a good review this month... Not been myself, I'd like to sometime but it's further away than glentress and innerleithen for us, so...

gypsy3006

Northwind wrote:

MBUK gave it a good review this month... Not been myself, I'd like to sometime but it's further away than glentress and innerleithen for us, so...

Excellent , and deservedly so

Deadwater is a route that needs a lot of skill and effort to bring it all together and some days you go home feeling a little disappointed but when you get it right , you head home with a distinct glow of satisfaction