Living in edinburgh and MTB...

Gibbo3771

Currently I live in Edinburgh near the city bypass, pretty close to the Odeon cinema...hopefuly SOMEONE knows where I am talking about

I dont have a car and it seems there is jack around this area lol, friend from work said the "around the reseviours" is a good cycle but according to my father in law in terms of walking (he has walked nearly every part of scotland in his 30 years of a sad auld...nvm.... ) that it is easy and its uphill and then just flat down hill which seems kind of boring.

Is there anything near my area? Bare in mind I am only 20 minutes from ratho and to get there I can cycle along the union canal and into the country but their is not much in terms of offroad from what I can see.

Any ideas?

woodywmb

Why don't you try the Pentlands to see what you think? What Mountain Bike, issue 47, did a 5/6 page special on three routes up behind Hillend ski centre. There is nothing technical and the climbs are average - with a mix of wide paths and singletrack. The Kip paths rise 1,600ft which is high enough for a fast descent. A visitor centre at Harlaw is run by the friends of the Pentlands group and offers drinks and snacks for under £1. On a good day you could tackle the Old Drove Road from the A70 to West Linton or the Bore Stane path from the same start place to the bird sanctuary at North Esk next to Carlops. Hilly Beecraigs park out at Linlithgow (train from Haymarket) has some biking tracks.

http://www.malcolmsharp.co.uk/pages/four_reservoirs.htm

playasyougo

Gibbo3771 wrote:

Currently I live in Edinburgh near the city bypass, pretty close to the Odeon cinema...hopefuly SOMEONE knows where I am talking about

I dont have a car and it seems there is jack around this area lol, friend from work said the "around the reseviours" is a good cycle but according to my father in law in terms of walking (he has walked nearly every part of scotland in his 30 years of a sad auld...nvm.... ) that it is easy and its uphill and then just flat down hill which seems kind of boring.

Is there anything near my area? Bare in mind I am only 20 minutes from ratho and to get there I can cycle along the union canal and into the country but their is not much in terms of offroad from what I can see.

Any ideas?

Hi,

I'm from Currie which is just about 3 or 4 miles from you. I ride the Pentlands as and when i can and it does me fine. There are no crazy berms, big jumps or drop offs, just technical trails and single track. Once you’re at the top of certain hills the decent can be real fast and awesome.

My most frequent cycle is on to the water of Leith from Walkmill Loan in Currie (on Lanark Road), cycle that till I come out at Balerno High School. I then hit the main road and go left, following the road all the way up to the top, past the bus terminus and then up to Threipmuir car park which is a left at the fork in the road. Then I head straight up which leads to Beech Avenue or Exponential as it can be called, left at the top (you can go right for another good route), follow the road all the way down, over a river and past a White house where it goes on to tarmac. This road will take you down to the Flotterstone inn near Penicuik or before that there is an option to climb the fence/style to get back up the Pentlands and back down the other side to Harlaw car park and then back down to the water of Leith path.

There is a place called White Hill which is at Bonaly and that's close to you. Just the opposite side of Gillespie cross roads from where you are. If you get to the car park next to the scout hut and go through the gate, there are 3 paths to take. Left, right and straight up a steep hill. Go left, down steps and over a small bridge, up more steps and then you have to power straight on up really steep hills through the trees. There is no path here. Just push hard till your up then it flattens out. Keep heading for the highest part of the hill you're on and it will climb again. You might see some of the trails from here so just get to the top and then you can have more of a challenge here on the bike. It's not big and but there are jumps, berms, and drops. You just need to mess around and mix and match lines to do what you want to do on the day. I've been up a fair few times and i occasionally stumble across lines I’ve never seen before.

If you go back down to the car park and go straight up or right you can cycle up to the Pentlands that way. Some good routes you should get out and discover for yourself.

If you paste the below link into your web browser it might help you out. If you're not sure about certain bits on the map then let me know by sending me a PM. I found it somewhere on the net and always wanted to thank the person that made it.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en ... urce=embed

All the best,

David