Glentress
Dawnzy Does the Black Route.
Doesn't she look knackered? She did good & loved every minute of it, Red Route next time though.
A trip down to Glen Sun 15th April
Well, we got to Glen around lunch & it was mobbed with tonnes of folks from groms right upto pensioner, not that many pensioners were on bikes.
We started off with a climb up the dedicated foot paths, only to dicover that not all of the 'Blue FR' was open yet, Damn!
we headed down from the start gate, there are a few gates at the end of each section, so be ware!
Here's me on the 1st table top, each jump is like this, a lip on 1 half of the jump & a roller on the other half, so the whole route can be rolled easily.
This is Stevie showing us how to berm like Sam Hill, this berm follows on from the top jump, then theres another jump followed by....
I had to realy crank back on the bars to clear this lovely Step-up, again with optional roll-up, after this theres this realy nice piece of wooden structure....
Stevie just had to drop off this, it's actualy quite easy, then after this there is a step-down, again with an optional roll-down, then there is a double line of 4 table's that Stevie & myself had a realy amazing race down, better luck next time Stevie!
After a few shots of the 'Blue FR' we headed over to the 'Red FR' & Stevie started sending it on the bottom set....
Smooth as you like lad!
Sunday 18th Feb
Stevie & myself went to Glen this Sunday, 1 week after Johnny & myself were there & boy was it a change in weather!
This is us after completing the full 'Red Route' starting & finnishing at the 'Red Squirrel' car park. My car was parked behind the camera, so by looking at the trail behind us, you can tell it was a perfect ending, NO FINAL CLIMB!
The route was a nice damp (not wet) grippy one today, both Stevie & myself managed to pedal up from the starting point, I had trouble to start with, but, just before the fire road climb to the 'Buzzards Nest' car park, I slowly climbed up, Stevie made a valliant attempt, but, in his defance he did only have a 38th front chainring on his hardtail, me I had 22/32th.
I managed to climb the whole 'Switchback climb', with Stevie coming a cropper just on the final rock section through the dry staine dyke.
The last couple of sections are the bits we have been missing for a long time, so we headed up to the start of these & boy it was fun! This was actually the 1st time I had did these sections with Stevie, so it was a complete blast!
Sunday 11th Feb
Johnny & myself headed down to Glentress Sunday past & when we got there, the top car park (Buzzards Nest) was shut, so we had to park in the 'Red Squirrel' car park & climb to the top of 'Spooky Wood'.
On the way we trampled through endless snow....
It was like this from the top of the very 1st climb, which made it hard going, but, we made it to the top in less than 1hr.
The snow kept packing up in the swingarm of my bike & the rear wheel stopped turning every so often, but Johnny had to....
....go 1 step further & pack his front wheel & build a snow man for on his bars, hehehe.
My new forks got the testing of a lifetime....
But on the way down, they showed me why I love Marzzoccii forks so much!
Glentress is the pride of the 7Stanes trails, it is a mere 10mins from Peebles & is the most used trail site in Scotland. We here at FRMBS have been regulars since day 1. Since it opened, there have been many changes, 'Spooky Wood' has changed dramaticaly since it first opened...
Stevie enjoying a well earned rest atop the 'Spooky Wood', just behind him is where the unfortunate biker snapped a crank.
But why that pheasant had to commit 'Hari Kari' with me I do not know?
A nice pic. sent in by Johnny, this is the view from the bottom of the 'Switchback Climb' on the way up the 'Red Route', nice!
The opening of the 'Pie Run' has added a nice new feel to the bottom section of the 'Red Route'.
If you head up the left Fire Road before the 'Pie run', this takes you to another section of the 'Red route', but, on the way, there is a 'Short cut to Ewok Village', this was the 1st North Shore spot on FC land & is still a chalange to some riders.
This is actually the 'Ewok Village', you come onto it from the right, if you've come down the 'Black route', or taken the 'Short cut...'
This is how it looks from the start of this section, there are 2 smaller sections before this big long one.
This is a section of the pic above from a different angle, there is skinnies & ladders & even a.....
Johnny has fell off of this see-saw & landed on his shoulder, so now, he doesn't do it, well, it's been a while since he last did "Ewok Village'.
Tracy & Emma have surpassed themselves with the brand new 'Red' & 'Black' 'Free Ride' routes at the top car park, which are a godsend to us here at FRMBS.
The only thing I'd say is, that the 'Black Route' could do with an upgrade as it's never realy been touched since it was 1st finnished, NOT that it's not still good, infact, it has become a more natural single track trail that twist all over the forrest, it takes you up to the top at the 'Radio Tower' then it takes you throught the tree's, this section is flat-ish with 3 climbs until you reach the 'Helly Hanson' shelter, then you are spat out onto a realy nice bit of 'Single Track' descent down to a fire road, which leads you to the most over-grown & natural piece of man-made single track in Scotland. Stvie has buckled his 24" rear wheel on this section & not on a drop, it was hitting a huge rock side-ways.
All of us here @ FRMBS in the top 'Helly Hanson' shelter.
It is advisable to wear pads on this trail as the last time we went a XC bloke had came a cropper near the fire road & his knees were a bit of a mess.
Us here at FRMBS tend to miss out the initial climb, after doing it a couple of times, we decided to just miss it out completely. It's not for the folks with heavy bikes or week legs or if you have no/little technical ability for climbs or descents.
bravenet.com