Innerliethen..

The Northern Monkey

Whats it like?

We're in Glentress for 2 weeks in August so it'd be a shame to not hit it as its very close...
Just wondering what the DH is like mainly?
Is it possible to hit the DH without an uplift day or would that be pointless?
How many DH tracks are there?
I'm off with my Bro, who has a Kona Stinky 08, and he's doing everything he can to get out of going to inners. I'm dying to try it but can't really go unless he comes along.

And the red route? Whats that like? I've herd its a bit more technical than the Glentress motorway?

Cheers,
B

Northwind

Never done the downhill routes, as I have a reasonably well developed sense of my own mortality. Supposed to be good, though...

The XC route is fantastic... You can't come to GT and not go there, it's so close and so worth the visit. It's been described as an XC route designed by downhillers, which I think works quite well as a description- it has lots of technical features built into the trails, and the scale is totally different from glentress.* Most of it does feel very, very artificial, the rock gardens and jumps are just bolted into the trail and I never get the slightest sense of riding a natural route, except for one singletrack section. I think this is partly because it's so much quieter, the surfaces haven't worn into the scenery much.

I always say this, but there are chicken runs on caddon bank that are steeper than any part of the main route on GT red The black loop is, apparently, proper black death black, I've never ridden it though but since the red is IMO harder than GT black, I ain't touching Inners black with a 10 foot pole :roll: Difficult stuff but also with big consequences if you fail. Not for me, yet, maybe not ever...

The surface is mostly fairly smooth and quick, the last section of the big climb is just a load of fist-sized rocks so it's pretty hard going and rough, but the descending parts are mostly faster. It desn't have the whacker-plate flat feel that some bits of GT red has, but at the same time it's mostly smoother and less choppy than, say, pennel's vennel or the rough parts of magic mushroom before the bridge.

(* what I mean by scale... There's a rolling section of short quick descents followed by rapid steep climbs, which ride like a bombhole, though they're open sided like a regular trail. The first one is pretty big, i remember riding out of it thinking "Woah, that was steeper that I thought, that's probably bigger than any feature at GT". Then rolled out the top of it and immediately after is another one half again as big. Followed by another bigger one The first one totally surprised me with its size let alone the last one)

oh, on the subject of GT, don't know if you've been before but the red's not particularily technical but talk of "motorway smoothness" always annoys me a wee bit, it's really not that smooth. The trails are heavily surfaced and drained because otherwise they'd just not last under the level of usage- more people do glentress red in a month than do most UK trail centres in a year- but the red is still plenty lumpy in places. (it's very short on roots though as most of it was machine built) The fast bits are smooth but the slower parts can be pretty rough. But on average it's no smoother than a lot of "natural" trails, just that for some reason people fixate on the super-smooth bits on magic mushroom and mushroom pie and the like and forget about pennel's vennel and the matrix

Actually, if you've got time do the whole black, I really rate it, it's a bit knackered in places but it's got a totally different feel to the red loop, and some of it is spot on. It's not particularily difficult for most of its length, I think it's black just because of a lack of chicken runs and its length and relative remoteness. Try and get someone to show you the new black section Zoom Or Bust, it's not properly signposted yet as it's only half built but it's well worth the ride, short but sweet... Totally handbuilt too so it's retained all its roots and trees.

The Northern Monkey

people take note... that ^^^^^^^^^ is a proper reply

Cheers for the effort Northwind think i'll point my bro in this direction/print it off for him to read, might sway him a bit!!

Definately want to do the Inner's red then, sounds great!!
I didn't really mean "motorways" in a smooth sense, just that sometimes they get a bit packed... I love Glentress, hence why we're driving 3 and a half hours to get there and spending 2 weeks camping at the bottom of it (again)!! One of my favourite runs is the Matrix btw

Tried to get the Bro to do the Glentress black last year but he wasn't having any of it which was quite annoying. determined to do it this time though.... with or without him.

Just hope I can get him upto Inners

trailpuppet

Inners is way better than GT black.

There is some good natural riding to be had around there, doing some?

bungalistic

Innerleithen is definately better than Glentress (in my opinion), it's a nicer route it flows more and the last section of downhill that is part shared with the dh run Make or Break is fantastic. You're running a very similar bike to mine and my mates so you should really enjoy the Make or Break DH track, it's more a freeride style of track with jumps and doubles and some sweet drops, takes quite a while to push up though.

The red route at inners is also great, some technical and hard climbing right from the start is demanding but well worth it. Once you hit the highest point at the top the first section down is stupidly smooth and groomed but so fast and fun, and after that you have the choice of some pretty techy black options and a few more small hills before you hit the Make or brake section.

If I was to go back I would happily run Make or Brake all day, with an uplift, it's that good, the other DH tracks are probably rideable but are more your standard DH, rooty, technical, tight and there seems to be all sorts of little trails that may or may not be part of the runs, plenty to entertain yourself with however.

There's some info on here about uplifts and about the runs also: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-5S4F38

The Northern Monkey

Yea unfortunately we arrive on the 2nd and leave on the 15th... the days of the uplifts

Hope I can get him over there, the red sounds very good. Might get a tad bored riding Glentress for 2 weeks, need some variety!

Northwind

bigbenj_08 wrote:

people take note... that ^^^^^^^^^ is a proper reply

Cheers for the effort Northwind think i'll point my bro in this direction/print it off for him to read, might sway him a bit!!
(

Heh, I got a bit carried away, never actually realised I'd written a Heroic Epic

ariteofpassage

I have just ridden the red xc route at innerleithen today for the first time, I must say it was very good. Was gonna go to Glentress but it looked very, very busy (not my cup of tea, I am used to the emptiness of the cheviot hills), so I went to Innerleithen, there was hardly anyone there! On the whole red route I only saw 1 other rider!
The climb out of the car park is very long and hard, but worth the effort, the downhill towards the end is amazing, if a bit scary on my hardtail - but I made it. Will definately be back!

Northwind

If you're at GT and you don't want to be surrounded by crowds, go do the black, it's pretty quiet. And ace!

busta gonad

Sorry for the hijack arightofpassage i see you live in Alnwick, i live just down the road, i am new to the area and looking for riding partners, quite often frequent Thruton woods and various places in the Cheviots, always looking for new trails.

ariteofpassage

Thanks for the advice Northwind, i will try the black route at glentress sometime, how does it compare to the innerleithen red xc route?
No problem Busta (for the hijack!). I ride the same sort of places as you, Alwinton, Simonside, Thrunton (bit technical for my liking) as well as rides straight out of Alnwick (coast etc.)

Northwind

Less big stuff... More singletracky, sort of semi-natural because it's so worn down. Er,Inners'll feel like that in a few years too I guess. Lots of climbing! Er, possibly easier, depends on your style of riding, I found inners' drops pretty damn hard but I'm told most people find the steep descents on the black hard, I thought they were fairly straightforward, so I'm not sure. I'm not a jumper It's good though.

ariteofpassage

Thanks again, sounds like it may suit me. I like the climbing but i am weary on big drops! I bottled 2 drops on the inner route! But most of the descent towards the end was awesome.