Glentress first timers questions...

kryptonick

So a few friends and I are heading down to glentress on Monday afternoon. As far as I, and at least 1, maybe 2 of the others are concerned, this is effectively our first "proper" off road experience with the bikes. We'll maybe be meeting 2 of my mates that are fairly experienced, and a 3rd mate of mine, who instructs mountain biking (as well as other outdoor sports) might be coming along too.

I realised everyone has a first time, and as such most of the people there will be forgiving of any breaches of the etiquette, but is there anything I should know about trail centres in general?

I probably should have asked this when I called to hire the bike for one of my mates, but if the bike has to be back at 5pm does that mean the trails are closed at that time, or can those with their own bikes stay out?

Cheers,

Nick

craker

Did Glentress red for the first time on Monday. Excellent morning ride.

The trail will stay open all day all night, it's just woodland with single track built in. You'll have problems navigating in the dark though :oops:

Did you say you were doing the red route? You may as well, just go as fast as you're happy with you wont find anything unexpected, the drop offs are tame enough to be done at a crawl if need be. The climb is pretty reasonable too.

If it's your first trail centre day don't let anyone put you off, if someone steams up behind you and asks (shouts) to move out of the way tell them to where to go (whoever you were at Innerleithen on Sunday - feck off). Wear the right amount of protective gear (helmet / gloves as a minimum, knee pads if you can get them) and enjoy it.

Stunning views at the top.

MuddyFunster

Stay out as long as you like - the trails don't close (except sometimes for maintenance and forestry work).

Etiquette wise; let faster riders pass if you can, don't leap to conclusions about a rider based on a swift kit inspection, smile lots, ride everything (twice).

Also, I highly recommend making an effort to take in the Traquair trail at Innerleithen - it's at least as good as the Glentress red and the payoff for the big climb is an utterly fantastic, hilarious, laugh-out-loud-all-the-way-down descent. If you're going as far as Glentress, you shouldn't miss Inners.

kryptonick

unfortunately time will be at a premium since we cant get down there til about lunch time (we need to go flat hunting first) so we'll just need to ride glentress as much as is possible. Once my mate hands his bike in we can probably share the rest if we plan to stay out longer.

It's not too much of a trek from my house to glentress, probably little over an hour. And i'll be going more than half way there anyways due to searching for flats in Edinburgh, so I'll be able to go alot in summer. So we'll probably leave inverleithen for another day.

I didn't mention trails, being a complete beginner I'm not sure what to expect on the blue and red trails. I imagine greens to be not unlike cycle paths and not very challenging at all.

I've been told by my intructor mate that the red route should be ok for me, but I'll probably try the blue and the skills loop thing first to get a feel for it. Really excited about it.

Thanks for the advice.

Other than a pump, some tubes and tyre levers, are there any other essentials I should take?

craker

kryptonick wrote:

Other than a pump, some tubes and tyre levers, are there any other essentials I should take?

water, snacks. If you're a rookie then put by 3 hours for the red route.

We took my mate's 67 yo dad on his first mountain bike ride on the red at Mabie, he was fine (fast uphill, slow downhill, didn't know how to ride northshore).

Do the red, just don't try and keep up with everyone, go at your own pace and slow down if you're not sure how to tackle an obstacle.

kryptonick

3 hours, bloody hell, really? I'm physically fit (due to basketball and ultimate frisbee) but I assume that most of the time differences will be due to slowing down to tackle new obstacles safely.

Any rough idea how long the blue takes, or should I just skip it and do the skills loop and then head straight to red?

craker

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/7stanesglentressinnerleithen.pdf/$FILE/7stanesglentressinnerleithen.pdf

17km, 1.5 - 3 hours is suggested

On Monday,with me mates, all fit and experienced trail riders in a hurry to get round so that we could head doon soooth for the afternoon, there can't have been much change out of 2 1/2 hours but we had one or two mechanicals (broke my chain) and we got a bit lost / took the odd unnecessary detour that someone's who's ridden the course will probably be able to avoid.

add on a bacon sarny and faffing around with your gear / bike hire three hours easily

kryptonick

cheers mate looks like a useful link, broken chain would feck me right up, hence taking some more experienced mates:D