fort bill

lugsey2k5

heading up there at the end of the month.
can any one give sujestions of good xc/am routs to ride.
was looking at doing the new red run too.
also advace on good cheap places to stay camping or otherwise would be really helpfull.
thansk for any help

Northwind

I'm heading up tomorrow, will let you know how I get on. Planning on doing the new red "DH" and the witches' trails, that should be enough for me but there's supposed to be loads more around, not to mention "natural" riding. Might have a crack at the worlds' course, depends how brave I feel

lugsey2k5

thanks enjoy your ride.
looked at witches trail too but didnt seem too long so was looking at doing a few.

Northwind

Yeah, I figure on doing a few laps of it There's the 10 under course as well, of course.

lugsey2k5

hi north wind. how was fort bill?

Northwind

Bloody brilliant I'll do a proper writeup somewhere else but just to give you a couple of quickies in case I forget...

Don't bother with 10 under the ben east of nevis range- the start's nice, wee rolling singletrack and a nice step/steep roll-in bit but then it suddenly turns first into boring gravel, then a big swamp, then an endless fire road grind with just occasional dull singletrack. Apart from the first wee bit it's a total waste of time and effort.There's good stuff at the other side of 10 under but this stuff is just rotten, it's sub-blue tedium and IMO they should just take it off the maps and pretend it doesn't exist.

The skills areas are very short and basic, there's some nice droppy steps on the black but it won't hold your interest.

The rest of the "normal" reds are much better, but the signposting is atrocious tbh. I'm stunned by how bad it is. And the maps aren't great either, but buy one anyway, only a pound. The opening section of the Worlds' course is just fire roads and climbs (even has some fire road descending, lovely :roll: ) but the singletrack descending towards the end is absolutely brilliant, very glad I stuck it out and rode as much as possible. Some evil looking North Shore and all flavours of descent. You can mix up 10 under and the Worlds' towards the end too to get the most descending in. And it's ace, big burly stff on barely-surfaced trails.

The Nevis Red is pretty amazing... About 20 minutes of near constant descending, and even the pedalling is mostly interesting. I'm not a big fan of long simple boardwalks but it's spiced up enough with steps and little jumps and rocks to make it worthwhile... The bedrock sections for me were perfect, they're steep and high commitment and not in the slightest bit red IMO... And then into the forest for some excellent berms and steep loamy descents, and an ace river crossing. It's surprisingly non stop, very little cooling off time.

Ah, but it all goes to ****, at the first point where it crosses the DH. THe first time I rode it I thought I'd got lost and come down a footpath or something but I hadn't, they just haven't built the last bit I think. Terrible comedown, a real disappointment. So, I sez, screw it, and used the last bit of Off Beat from here down. Which is ace, nadgery, rooty and rocky then some big jumps etc and leads right into the 4X. NOT really what a 130mm hardtail is for but what the hell. But you do need to watch out in case someone comes down at 50mph on a DH bike, and fair play it's their playground so you don't want to spoil their run, so eyes and ears open. Oh, and there's one very steep rocky descent which I'm guessing the big bikes jump, but rolling it needs a bit of nerve.

Try and get there early for the lifts, they did let bikes jump the queues but it still takes time to get back up and the lifts are open for a strangely short time, i've no idea why they stop the bike uplift at 3.45 and start it late. Don't mooch around at the bottom, get back in a gondola asap, rest on the way up, and if you need a longer rest do it at the top rather than wasting time at the bottom.

I only did about 1/4 of off beat, you can see all the higher stuff from the gondola and decide if you want to give it a crack but though I reckon I could get down it I doubt it'd be fun without the right bike.

I'll be back... I'll take some bigger tyres next time though! I think it'd be quite different on a big full suss, on the Soul it really needed some trialsy riding and accuracy to get down the bedrock features, which is fine by me as that's my favourite sort of riding, but on a full suss I think you could hammer these bits a lot more. Just be prepared, it's not a red in my eyes, in fact it's harder than anything I've ever ridden other than the secret double-blacks at Glentress, and even then not by much (and much higher consequence if you get it wrong, as you'll be falling over the bars onto rock, ow) Nothing wrong with wearing big armour and even a full face on the red.

lugsey2k5

thanks sounds like a great weekend.
you have been a big help. can i just ask were you stayed?
i have a 5" full sus but mate rides lowish end hardtail so should be interesting. .
thanks again and really looking forward to it now

Northwind

I stayed just south of fort bill in a wee B&B called Torlinnhe, which was fantastic and cheap and I'd recommend it to anyone, but is also fully booked for next week... Lots of good B&Bs around here though. Your mate should be OK, as long as he's a decent rider with a good head on him. And tbh, there'd be no shame in walking parts of the big red, some of the step-downs are very intimidating. Thing is, you've easily got time for 6 runs in a full day, 7 or 8 would be doable, so there's no reason to jump in 2-footed.

Oh, and as I thought there's **** all to do in Fort William apart from get pissed, and even that's not so good with an early start. Oh, and lastly if you do knacker a bike go to Off Beat in Fort William, not the one at Nevis, the Fort Bill one is better equipped and really helpful.

lugsey2k5

thanks. think were looking at camping near the glen. bit cheaper assuming there are spaces left by time we get there.
dont suppose you know what the boarding is like in the wet do you. i know a few places with similar baording and its leathal in the wet but others are ok?
thansk for all your help by the way. much appreciated

Northwind

No probs... It was a little damp at one point and still gripped, there's grip paint on at least bits of it if not all. It'll be slippy still but shouldn't be too bad.

If you're planning on riding in instead of driving up to nevis range, there's a cycle path that goes to Torlundy but what I didn't realise is that it leads right to the north face car park, which the blue run/red return run goes through. So a nice start to the day that, nice swoopy ride in.