Monday 2 May 2011

Weekend Warrior...

Saturday we went down to Glentress Trail Centre in the Tweed Vally in the Scottish Borders, An hours drive and once a regular haunt of mine,
Regarded as the biggest and most popular trail Centre in Scotland it was very busy in the car parks with the continuing clear weather and it was warm.
wearing knee and elbow armour for the first time in a while felt weird but worth it just in case as i have not rode much here for a while,
It was too windy for getting some film at the dirt jumps at the freeride Park,
I had brought the camera as i always mean to take some pics of the trails for the blog but again we were too busy having fun!, There are miles of trails here,
I did take a pic up at the top of the Red Route before Spooky Woods Descent!...


I took the Go Pro camera to try out here, leaving no music i thought it might increase the feeling of speed on the descents,funny how we chat/shout to each other on the way down but you only here my voice with the wind noise, a one way conversation...the thumping noise is my heartbeat!,
Chasing Gary down Spooky Woods descent- a 1.5km-long singletrack descent with twelve 180-degree bermed bends, 18 jumps and 17 tabletops to keep the adrenaline flowing,
Excuse the swear word but the really dry conditions meant we nearly got caught out on some berms, i tend to swear more when excited than angry!...



Before descending further we went and rode an unmapped old school descent called `Brown Trout`, the camera was over exposed here and with the shadows the quality is not very good, need to use a narrower setting in this brightness in the future...



Back to rejoin the Red Route and below Spooky Woods Descent is the second of four continuous descents on the Red Route, named Super G...



Then straight after that is Hit Squad Hill, off the brakes until the wee wooden bridge normally but today it was rolling so fast we were getting two wheel slides on corners...



Then it was flat out over the roots of `The Pie Run` descent, not as fast or steep but tight between the tree`s and ok today as the exposed roots are dry,its tricky in the wet,more so at night...


We headed back to the `Buzzards Nest` Car park up on the hill by cutting onto 3 trails on the Blue Route, first up is `Motorway trail`, watch for the sign!, then onto one of my favourite trails at GT `Blue Velvet` a lovely flowy trail...


A new addition recently opened is `Berm Baby Berm` which descends to the Buzzards Nest Car Park, this is sweet!, lovely swoopy berms, freewheel and pump the berms or pedal and smooth dab of brakes before the berm, take your choice...



From the Car Park and another 2 blue Trails down to the Cafe and lower car parks, first is Electric Blue, get enough speed up and you can jump the bridge near the end...



Onto Falla Brae shared with the Red & Black Route`s then it is down a great blue trail called `Good Game`, it has lovely jumps after the start, Gary wore my Go Pro so for once i can get filmed!, angle is a bit low but from now on i will turn the camera upside down, we rode down the fire road and at the Red Squirral car Park rejoined the Red Route, totally flat out through here, i was buzzing after!...


And after all that starving too so we headed for food at the Hub Cafe,
a great day out with friends...

Sunday was different types of Warriors, it was `WW2 Experience Day` here at East Fortune`s National museum of Flight...you can read more here over on the other blog;
No Through Road...

It was right up my street...

4 comments:

  1. That looks like a blast. really digging the go pro footage!

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  2. Thanks for posting the videos! Going back to Glentress/Innerleithen 1:st of June and those excellent videos don't make the wait less painful! :)

    Great to recognize the trails, but it feels like you ride them in at least double the speed we did!

    Berm baby Berm looks like a sweet addition.

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  3. Which is best for beginners Glentress or Innerleithen?

    My lad is fairly new to MTBing and he seems to love the forest tracks we've cycled in East Lothian a lot, so think he would enjoy a trip to a trail centre if it's not too arduous to begin with.

    Gizmo

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  4. Hi, definitly Glentress,
    there are beginner loops at the top Car park (Buzzards Nest) so you can drive up the hill and ride without any climbing involved, beside the car park is a green route, blue route and a blue freeride with smooth low table tops (all signed) to learn control... maps are available at the forestry building beside the Hub Bike shop, you will both enjoy GT, its an ace centre for all levels

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