dumfermline & kinross mtb ride ....local knowledge ?

kelruso

hi all,

i am up in Scotland on business next week and am going to stick the bike in the car and get out in the evenings when i have finished work.

i am staying near dunfermline/kinross.

i have googled and found some rides around loch leven but they don't look that challenging.

has anyone got any local knowledge of routes they could suggest?

cheers

richard

Steve_F

How much time do you have available each night?

Glentress will be around an hour from there. Carron Valley won't be much off that either.

Only one I can think of around there is Blair Adam. I've never ridden it but heard a lot of the trails are difficult to find. Might be worth going and see if you can get chatting to a local.

Stoo61

Blair Adam is a nice wee scoot. Just need to go exploring in there.

Could pop to the Ochils, Dumyat is a nice ride and fairly good descent once your up the top. Ben Cleuch is the biggest of the range, a loooooooong slog, nice views with several options to get back down.

I do a wee loop which I like, which is 15 miles but...be here for days explaining it.

Dean plantation, could spend an hour exploring the single track in there.

Lomond hills, I'm pretty sure a cycling club dot about there quite often, never been myself.

chick0

kelruso wrote:

hi all,

i am up in Scotland on business next week and am going to stick the bike in the car and get out in the evenings when i have finished work.

i am staying near dunfermline/kinross.

i have googled and found some rides around loch leven but they don't look that challenging.

has anyone got any local knowledge of routes they could suggest?

cheers

richard

There is no riding in Fife and Kinross that is exceptional, although there is a few decent spots.. Since you have a car, you best bet would be to head down to Glentress and Innerleithen, you could easy get there in 1 hour..

http://www.thehubintheforest.co.uk/

http://www.7stanes.gov.uk/forestry/achs-5rnfvj

covelove

There might not be "exceptional" spots but it all depends on what you want
pimedden forest just outside kinross has some great singletrack and some tight tricky stuff.
braefoot just outside dalgety bay is great if you want a bit of freeride stuff and the downhill at falkland is super gnarly if you are into real big stuff. Also there a new trails opened at lochore meadows which might be worth a look.

forkbrayker

nothing excpetional in Fife !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! your having a laugh arent you!!!

pitmedden...out of all the tracks i have ridden in the world (and its a fair few!!!) this place is definately the best, i can do a race pace 2hrs of nothing but single track in there and not repeat any trail. its a must for anyone who thinks glentress and the other trail centres are a bit tame. be warned though ya need a guide so as not to get lost and if you havent riden much in the way of roots then you will find it very very hard.

falkland ...well being the chairman of the club i can only say its the best dh in ......fife anyway. its 2 mins long ,2 nearly 3 trails lots of very big stunts biggest you will find in britain on official tracks anyway, 30ft gaps 20ft stepdowns, seessaws into 6ft drops, 15ft hgih skinnies the list goes on. not to mention the new 6 pack just finished a few months back. couple of things though - to ride there regularly you need to be member to cover insurance and land fee costs £25 is the membership, and also the place rides rotten in the wet.

dean plantation, some great single track here but its difficult to put in a full loop without having to walk some sections due to motocross damage if you are fit then 45mins will see you done in here, but worth a visit anyway. good small forest to go with no idea of a route as it will be hard to get lost.

blairadam, lots of glentress style boring ness here without any jumps and berms lol. but lots of singletrack, however it is a very dark and wet forest so dont expect fast trails when off the main tracks

braefoot bay, lots of short track dh runs, 30sec - 1min about 7 trails, nice jumps and a few secret stunts which an open eye should find easily.

lomonds, good hill routes use an up to date map and you will find much stuff for an all day ride here. best place to start and finish loop is in falkland estate carpark and go through the bottom half of maspie den through the tunnnels and bridges.

kincardine woods, fairly flat but lots of bridle path and a few bits of single track. its a big forest so you should get a decent amount of time riding but its is fairly lame if you are a trueblood biker

tentsmuir...never been, but i hear its ok... but very very very flat and sandy in places.

chick0

forkbrayker wrote:

nothing excpetional in Fife !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! your having a laugh arent you!!!

pitmedden...out of all the tracks i have ridden in the world (and its a fair few!!!) this place is definitely the best, i can do a race pace 2hrs of nothing but single track in there and not repeat any trail. its a must for anyone who thinks glentress and the other trail centres are a bit tame. be warned though ya need a guide so as not to get lost and if you havent riden much in the way of roots then you will find it very very hard.

falkland ...well being the chairman of the club i can only say its the best dh in ......fife anyway. its 2 mins long ,2 nearly 3 trails lots of very big stunts biggest you will find in britain on official tracks anyway, 30ft gaps 20ft stepdowns, seessaws into 6ft drops, 15ft hgih skinnies the list goes on. not to mention the new 6 pack just finished a few months back. couple of things though - to ride there regularly you need to be member to cover insurance and land fee costs £25 is the membership, and also the place rides rotten in the wet.

dean plantation, some great single track here but its difficult to put in a full loop without having to walk some sections due to motocross damage if you are fit then 45mins will see you done in here, but worth a visit anyway. good small forest to go with no idea of a route as it will be hard to get lost.

blairadam, lots of glentress style boring ness here without any jumps and berms lol. but lots of singletrack, however it is a very dark and wet forest so dont expect fast trails when off the main tracks

braefoot bay, lots of short track dh runs, 30sec - 1min about 7 trails, nice jumps and a few secret stunts which an open eye should find easily.

lomonds, good hill routes use an up to date map and you will find much stuff for an all day ride here. best place to start and finish loop is in falkland estate carpark and go through the bottom half of maspie den through the tunnnels and bridges.

kincardine woods, fairly flat but lots of bridle path and a few bits of single track. its a big forest so you should get a decent amount of time riding but its is fairly lame if you are a trueblood biker

tentsmuir...never been, but i hear its ok... but very very very flat and sandy in places.

I'm not having a laugh at all, just giving my own personal opinion on the trails in an area that I'm very familiar with.

I know Pitmedden forest inside-out, as I grew up 15 mins away. My family home is still in the same nearby location, and when I'm back in the area visiting, i often take a trail bike and go for a blast in there.

If you honestly think that Pitmedden forest is the best riding location in the world, then by all means, your welcome to continue thinking that.
I would be interested to know what you consider the second and third best riding locations in the world are?

forkbrayker

well its all horses for courses, but i would have thought you having grown up there as i did (lived in kettle for 15 years), that you would have loved what pitmedden has to offer. as a venue sure, there are plenty of places in the world that offer more, but say... 1x 2hr loop hitting 90% of the singletrack without repeating a trail at pitmedden, for all out hardcore xc riding nothing beats it out of the trails i have ridden-

so second would come, any of the awesome trails in whistler valley..".thrill me killl me" being the best but too short to come up trumps. the north shore but its some big climbs on firetrack and most of the trails are bit slow or techy to enjoy fully on a xc rig, kamloops, very fast and flowy beautiful but not a root or rock in sight, Any of the trails in andalucia, however firetrack climbs just don't cut it for me - give me technical rooty power climbs anyday. lake garda area. really good but again firetrack and mega long climbs not much fun, again for lake como area and the dolomites. french alps is always good, but the euro style is a totally different style of riding to the technical root hopping of pitmedden, Sweden but only been in the skane region, nicy and rooty but no climbing meaning also no downs.

and.... um... well other than over 50 trails in britain i have ridden thats it.. so yes my statement about Pitmedden is grossly over estimated. i was just showing my enthusiasm for it thats all.

but when was the last time you rode there. as in the past 2 years there has been a number of awesome sections opened up which each individually can be classed as some of the best singletrack ever. i think i was surprised when you mentioned to the poster that glentress would be a better option???? if terrain you can take a cyclocross bike on is your level of riding then fair enough.

i would however love to hit the east coast of USA, Moab, colarado, black forest in germany, and i have a pal in Thailand who is loving the terrain there. i'm sure there are better trails out there but its gonna be hard to beat when i know my local well enough to cream any comers.

i suppose its really all down to what the individual is good at (grown up with) and what they get out of the trail.

i will assume you too are well travelled on the bike. if all the trails/forests in the world were were decimated bar one DH track, one xc track..... and a trail centre, what would you like the remainder to be (assuming you have teleportation skills to hit it whenever you wanted).

for me....
xc = pitmedden (Fife)
DH = 19th hole (squamish) or Ned's atomic dustbin (North shore) -thats 2, i know!!
Trail centre = Kirroughtree

any thoughts!!!! for any other readers of this thread

chick0

I'm glad you agree that your statement about Pitmedden was grossly over estimated.

forkbrayker

in the grand scheme of things........yes!!............... but out of all the trails i have ridden pitmedden remains the best "named" route in the world for me.... as i asked before what would you put as number one?....also ask that you contact me next time you are back home and we have a good blast round pitmedden to make sure neither of us are missing out on some awesome singletrack that the other knows about.

chick0

I honestly could not say what the best riding location i have been too in the world is ( or even pick my favourite in Scotland for that matter). There is just to many amazing places to choose from, that each fulfil me in different ways.

I would love to go for a blast around Pitmedden with you sometime, and im sure it will be you showing me the newly made sections, as i have only been in there 3 or 4 times in the last few years.
I will not be back in UK again until over the Xmas period,. And with the Pitmedden trails not holding up too well if there is a lot of bad weather, as its very prone to water-logging (December,Scotland, bad weather?), I will most likely make plans to ride some "all weather" trails somewhere else, as riding days will be limited, and i will want to make the most of my riding time. But we can asses the situation at the time.

forkbrayker

lol, well yes pitmedden is natural, however it is one of the better natural trails out there for holding up to poor weather. i ride it all year round and spend most of the post october rides night riding there... but all depends on how wet it has been. if we luck out and get it frozen solid when you are in town, then definately get in contact and will head out riding

catch ya about. and keep up the hunt for the best trail in the world