First Scotland trip!

ashfanman

Just back from my first mountainbiking experience north of the border. Had an absolutely amazing time!

Did Dalbeattie and Mabie on the Saturday, then a few runs at Glentress on Sunday. Just thought I'd pass-on my experiences, in case anyone else is thinking about going up there.

The red-graded Hardrock Trail at Dalbeattie is HARD. It's bloody long (25km) and has a lot of really challenging climbs. This was made considerably worse by the fact that I had a horrific hangover, and that my two riding companions were XC racers. Oops. The whole course is pretty rocky. Without question, the best bits were the black-graded technical features. The Slab was fantastic - especially as it gave me an opportunity to regain some of the dignity that I lost being left for dead on the climbs. While the two other guys were fannying about at the top trying to find a line, I just decided to go for it. Smacked my balls on the saddle at the bottom, but cleaned it. One of the other guys made it down but bailed on landing, while the other decided to leave it out entirely, which made me feel great (apart from the searing pain in my groin, of course, although at least that took my mind off my hangover)! The Terrible Twins were a bit harder. Each shorter than The Slab, but the top one is heavily rutted with no obvious line. Decided to take a tricky line down the side, which my friend said wouldn't allow me enough time to turn at the bottom. He was right. Spat over the bars and into a thorn bush (seriously, who put that bloody thing there?!). Still, made it down the second twin with no problems. Thankfully we had stunning weather, which made Spooky Wood 2 even more spectacular due to the contrast in light. Finished with a few black-graded skinny logs (did one, skipped two - I'm crap at logrides!), although the last part was totally flooded. Wet feet, but really great trail.

The Phoenix trail (red) at Mabie was much more flowing than Dalbeattie, but the climbing was more sustained (at Dalbeattie its a case of smaller, but more frequent climbs, whereas this was relentless). Just the 17km this time (!), but by this stage my legs were absolutely DEAD. Still pretty cool, if lacking the stunning features of Dalbeattie.

Next morning we were out at Glentress, in the pissing rain. Started with the red run. Being the purists that they are, my friends insisted that we start from the bottom car park and do the full climb up. To say it was a slog would be an understatement, particularly given that my chain snapped 2/3s of the way up. A quick fix and we made it to the top, albeit with some strange creaks coming from my drivetrain. Thankfully, the second half is virtually all downhill. And my-oh-my was that climb worth it. Spooky Woods is simply amazing. Lots of nice jumps (but nothing too extreme) and some incredibly, bermy singletrack. You can really carry some speed through it. But my favourite bit of the entire course has to be the final blue/red descent. Not sure what it's called (Good Game, maybe?), but it's probably only a minute or two long, with lots of swooping, bermy switchbacks and jumps every 30 metres or so. It just flows like nothing else I've ever ridden. Came down with a MASSIVE grin on my face (and lots of mud in my mouth). We stopped off for a quick toastie at the Hub, then ended up climbing back up to do the Pie Run, then hit Pennels Vennel again (major arm pump and dead thighs at this stage), then the rest of the red/blue descent. We were meant to be doing Innerleithen that afternoon, but ended up staying in GT as we were having too much fun to leave!

It really was the best weekend's riding of my life. Made me incredibly jealous of all you guys that live up there. You're absolutely spoilt for choice. Next time I'm up there I really want to do Kirroughtree - heard nothing but good things about that place.

It also made me realise just how good my bike - a Cube Ltd Race - is. It's so much better than I am. The new Ritchey WCS Carbon riser I fitted was perfect (although the lock-on grips slipped a bit and seem to have cut a scratch into the surface, which I'm going to investigate tonight) and despite the chain snapping it didn't let me down once. Didn't even get a puncture. The Racing Ralph on the rear did have a tendancy to wash out at speed as GT got wetter on Sunday, but it was never unpredictable. The Nobby Nic at the front was awesome. HUGE grip for a tire of that weight. I also hadn't quite appreciated how light it is. I seem to remember someone on here saying the frames are a bit lardy, and perhaps that's the case, but it was substantially lighter than my friend's carbon Trek Fuel hardtail (admittedly a few years old, but with Reba forks, LX/XT drivetrain and Mavic 717s), despite being a bigger frame (mine is a 22"). Both my friends were really surprised at how light it is, although it is quite a stiff, skittery ride as a result (which is no bad thing, in my book - the feedback is immense).

Anyway, sorry for the rambling, I just had such a great time I wanted to share!

miss notax

Wow - you have made me SO JEALOUS!!!!!

I had my first trip to Scotland earlier in the year and also rode Dalbeattie and Mabie, the same trails as you. I agree, they are awesome I loved Dalbeattie, it was my best riding ever! I can't believe you did both in the same day :shock:

I have a few days off work towards the end of the year and I am really keen to go back.....

trailpuppet

guess where I live :?:

don`t be jealous but I can ride to Mabie and Ae in 45mins

Not far away is some ace hill riding;
Earlier today;

ashfanman

miss notax wrote:

Wow - you have made me SO JEALOUS!!!!!

I had my first trip to Scotland earlier in the year and also rode Dalbeattie and Mabie, the same trails as you. I agree, they are awesome I loved Dalbeattie, it was my best riding ever! I can't believe you did both in the same day :shock:

I have a few days off work towards the end of the year and I am really keen to go back.....

What did you think of the Terrible Twins? Did you clear the first one? I also found it pretty funny that they called the bit before The Slab the 'qualifier' - it's much harder!

trailpuppet wrote:

guess where I live :?:

don`t be jealous but I can ride to Mabie and Ae in 45mins

Too late, I am jealous. We didn't have enough time for Ae, but I hear it's great (although a LOT of climbing, right?). That said, I wouldn't have fancied a 45 minute ride in the state I was in after finishing Dalbeattie and Mabie. 45 metres would've been pushing it...

miss notax

ashfanman wrote:

What did you think of the Terrible Twins? Did you clear the first one? I also found it pretty funny that they called the bit before The Slab the 'qualifier' - it's much harder!

I wimped out of those :oops:

I REALLY wanted to do The Slab, but when I looked at it I decided against it....!

cee

definately do the XC route at inners.....

if you thought the blue descent at the bottom of GT was flowy, there is a section near the top of inners that is flowier than a flowy thing thats just had its flow levels topped off!

trailpuppet

give me a shout next time and I`ll show you some local bits`n pieces in Mabie & Dalbeattie.

SDK2007

Sounds good.
I'm hitting Glentress, Innerleithen Mabie, Dalbeattie and Kirroughtree on a 6 day trip in September.

ashfanman

trailpuppet wrote:

give me a shout next time and I`ll show you some local bits`n pieces in Mabie & Dalbeattie.

I might just do that. Thanks mate.

SDK2007 wrote:

Sounds good.
I'm hitting Glentress, Innerleithen Mabie, Dalbeattie and Kirroughtree on a 6 day trip in September.

Good work. Let me know how you get on at Kirroughtree!

I've already arranged my next trip to Scotland. Goind to the Laggan Wolftrax in January!

Foll Zofalot

Thanks for all the great info ashfanman, I'm heading down to the borders in a couple of weeks , thinking I will allow a day each for Dalbeatie and Mabie then a day at Glentress & Inners. Pity I can't take a spare pair of legs with me , can hardly wait :!:

CycloRos

Sounds like you had a great time ashfanman.

The 7 Stanes really do rock don't they! I did most of them last summer and it was fantastic. Its true about Glentress, once you're there you don't want to leave

trailpuppet

FZ..

will allow a day each for Dalbeatie and Mabie then a day at Glentress & Inners

you would be better doing Mabie & Dalbeattie in 1 day and spending 2 days at GT/Inners. That advice coming from a Mabie/D`beattie local btw.
But if you want an extended tour of both and I am free on the days you plan to be down here then I could arrange a "tour :twisted: "

Foll Zofalot

Cheers trailpuppet, appreciate the advice. I was thinking a day wouldn't be enough for Glentress + Inners but great to get some local knowledge. I have a meetin in Killy on Tuesday 8th September then hoping to pile down to Dalbeatie that night so I can get out 1st thing Wednesday and do both Dalbeatie and Mabie as you say on the same day then up to GT + Inners Thursday + Friday If your free by all means give me the grand tour he he.

lynseyf

cee wrote:

definately do the XC route at inners.....

if you thought the blue descent at the bottom of GT was flowy, there is a section near the top of inners that is flowier than a flowy thing thats just had its flow levels topped off!

seconded, I love spooky woods and the last blue/red bit at GT but the top bit of Inners is possibly my favourite bit of trail. Laggan is also really good if you fancy going further north, the freeride trail is really nice and flowy as well.

trailpuppet

FZ. I`m off that day,9th(well night shift). If the SO will give me the car I can be at D`beattie for 9.30ish. All depends on when she goes to work and the damn traffic. She works at the wrong end of town to get back through easily. Be good to do D`beattie first, lunch at Mabie.
Or if you stay in Dumfries you could give me a lift? Ta very much. btw biking budy has a B&B with bike shed/store.
Or stay with Sam&Clare @ http://www.thebreakpad.com/

I would do Inners first. That first climb goes on forever up to Minch top. Then lunch at GT or better in Peebles itself, really good value takeaway grub shop(can also sit in)

btw I am no race whippet, just like to pootle around at a steady pace
http://s95.photobucket.com/albums/l145/ ... albeattie/

Off piste D`beattie

lochussie

To avoid confusion, the brilliant last section at GT is just blue. It splits off left from the red/black and is much more fun, even for good riders. You can rejoin the very end of the red/black by cutting through the car park on the right of the fireroad that the blue ends on.

ashfanman

Foll Zofalot wrote:

Thanks for all the great info ashfanman, I'm heading down to the borders in a couple of weeks , thinking I will allow a day each for Dalbeatie and Mabie then a day at Glentress & Inners. Pity I can't take a spare pair of legs with me , can hardly wait :!:

It's a tough call deciding what to do. I'm not sure you'd need two whole days at Dalbeattie and Mabie. Both take less than three hours, and they're in the same area (relative to the other Stanes) so you'd want to do them at the same time. Besides, I probably would've cried at the thought of having to do the red at Dalbeattie twice in one day! But that also creates its own problem, because you don't want to kill yourself by doing so much on one day that you can't enjoy the next.

You could easily do a whole day at GT though - there are so many options and different routes that you can take! Damn I wish I was back there now, rather than sat at my desk.

lynseyf wrote:

cee wrote:

definately do the XC route at inners.....

if you thought the blue descent at the bottom of GT was flowy, there is a section near the top of inners that is flowier than a flowy thing thats just had its flow levels topped off!

seconded, I love spooky woods and the last blue/red bit at GT but the top bit of Inners is possibly my favourite bit of trail. Laggan is also really good if you fancy going further north, the freeride trail is really nice and flowy as well.

Next time I'm up there I definitely will. Inners was on the list for this trip, but we spent so long on the trails at GT that we just ran out of time! I had a train to catch at 5pm and needed to grab a shower first - not sure the passenger booked into the seat next to me would've been too happy otherwise...

lochussie wrote:

To avoid confusion, the brilliant last section at GT is just blue. It splits off left from the red/black and is much more fun, even for good riders. You can rejoin the very end of the red/black by cutting through the car park on the right of the fireroad that the blue ends on.

Yeah, that's the one. I've had a look at the GT website and I think it's the 'Good Game' section. And you're right - we went back and tried the red option and it just wasn't as fun. That blue bit is just awesome.

Foll Zofalot

That's me made my mind up then :? , 1 day for Mabie and Dalbeatie and a day each for GT and Inners. Just to confuse matters Kirroughtree looks quite good too?, that would throw a complete spanner in the works to my plan of action however but I guess I could maybe add an extra day if am not dying by then!

ashfanman

Foll Zofalot wrote:

That's me made my mind up then :? , 1 day for Mabie and Dalbeatie and a day each for GT and Inners. Just to confuse matters Kirroughtree looks quite good too?, that would throw a complete spanner in the works to my plan of action however but I guess I could maybe add an extra day if am not dying by then!

Kirroughtree is meant to be AMAZING - possibly the best of the lot, if you like your XC. It's just that little bit further out.

Where are you staying? If you're staying in Dumfries then you should definitely go for it. If you're staying in Edinburgh then it might just be a bit far for one day...

Foll Zofalot

Oh well, just got to do Kirroughtree as well !, am going to be in the south west anyway so would be a numpty not too. So now looks like I could do Kirroughtree + Dalbeatie on Day 1, Mabie and Ae on Day 2 then GT or Inners on Day 3 (yeah like I'm gonnae get nice weather 3 drays running ha). Planning a trip away shouldn't be stressful should it ?! :? p.s. hope you don't mind me hijacking your post ashfanman.

miss notax

Foll Zofalot wrote:

Oh well, just got to do Kirroughtree as well !, am going to be in the south west anyway so would be a numpty not too. So now looks like I could do Kirroughtree + Dalbeatie on Day 1, Mabie and Ae on Day 2 then GT or Inners on Day 3 (yeah like I'm gonnae get nice weather 3 drays running ha). Planning a trip away shouldn't be stressful should it ?! :? p.s. hope you don't mind me hijacking your post ashfanman.

Sorry to interupt but I just have to say that your username is fab

ashfanman

Foll Zofalot wrote:

Oh well, just got to do Kirroughtree as well !, am going to be in the south west anyway so would be a numpty not too. So now looks like I could do Kirroughtree + Dalbeatie on Day 1, Mabie and Ae on Day 2 then GT or Inners on Day 3 (yeah like I'm gonnae get nice weather 3 drays running ha). Planning a trip away shouldn't be stressful should it ?! :? p.s. hope you don't mind me hijacking your post ashfanman.

Hey, no worries - the only reason I started this post was to chat about how great the riding in Scotland is!

That looks like a pretty awesome line-up you've got there. Very jealous. Although DAMN are you going to be hurting after all that lot. I didn't manage to do Ae, but it's meant to be a LOT of climbing. Although saying that, what rides up there don't?

cee

Foll Zofalot wrote:

yeah like I'm gonnae get nice weather 3 drays running ha.

no such thing as bad weather...just a poor choice of clothing

Glentress holds up really well in all weathers and is reasonably well covered by trees for the most part, so not that bad.

Foll Zofalot

Sorry to interupt but I just have to say that your username is fab

Sadly it's true!, girl at the office kept commenting every Monday 'well did you fall off again?' and it went from there, I now feel the need to fall off on a regular basis to maintain my excellent reputation lol

If you like climbing try Golspie, lactic ladder' is aptly named. Well worth it though

Yukon Lad

Mabie is fairly good and even the climbs are technical enough to be interesting and the descents are fast and pretty fun but the last desent is a complete let-down compared to the rest.

Glentress is just absolutely awesome. I rode the freeride park for hours, it is great and the red trail is good as well, all of the climbing is worth it for the ages of descent that follows. Hitting super-g and hit squad hill fast gave me fairly bad arm pump on my xc bike.

Innerleithen DH is good but whatever you do if i were you do not do the AE line, some of the bits are really epic but it is too long and isn't well cared for, the trail surface is shot to hell and although it is badged as "an xc-route with freeride influences" the only bit with any freeride in it is the final descent (omega man) and the rest of it is an average XC route with appalling trail erosion.

Yukon Lad

trailpuppet

Kirry is defo THE best Stane imo. Maybe does`nt have the descents that Inners/Gt have but makes up for it by making you work for your fun

As for timings;..
Kirry is 1hr from Dumfries(beware mobile speed cameras)
Gt is 1.5hrs taking it easy viaMoffat & the Beef Tub rd.
Dalbeattie is about 1/2hr from Dumfries(1hr from Kirry)
Ae and Mabie about 1/2hr depending on traffic(tractors/combin harvestors!!)

So are you doing the full black at Kirry?

Day 1;
Staying in Dumfries = a 1hr drive+ride black route = 3-4hrs+drive back to Dalbeattie=1hr. Then ride Dalbeattie=2-3hrs.
Total days riding=9hrs

Day 2;
Dumfries to Mabie=1/2hr+2hr riding+drive to Ae=3/4hr+2-3hr ride=6hrs(ish)

Cafe and bike shops at Kirry/Mabie and Ae. Showers at Ae.

Disclaimer;
All timings are variable due to any unforseen incidents/ malfunctions and rider fitness levels


At Gt mixing the blue/red/black is becoming popular, best of everything can be done.