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Bit late to this, as I've not been back for a while.
Runway was first to reopen
And now Eas Dubh has been opened.
https://youtu.be/mcg0G0hvecg?feature=shared
Anyone been up?
Yep, I live about a 45min cycle down the hill from Carron Valley so it's a regular winter night ride for me.
I personally don't like the changes and I've spoken to a couple of others who are of a same mind. They've installed doubles and huge berms on Eas Dubh, but for me, carrying enough speed to clear the doubles means doing a whole load of aerial acrobatics to allow you to land part way into the deeply bermed (the best bits of the revamp) corners.
In my opinion, the top and bottom runs have been turned into wide, smooth, pump tracks / flow tracks, where I prefer more techy twisty stuff.
Each to their own though.
I have to say I was a little disappointed with what eas dubh has become. Yes it needed work, but personally I'd prefer the berm revamp, but more of a rocky approach rather than a flow trail. But I guess flow trails reflect what's popular in MTB now?
I wonder if there will be further development of CV. Hope so.
In my opinion, the top and bottom runs have been turned into wide, smooth, pump tracks / flow tracks, where I prefer more techy twisty stuff.
it was never techy and/or twisty though, it was always just a bit crap and lacking any kind of flow due to the flat turns.
I’m about 30mins away from CV. I’ll probably go up for a look at some point, but I’ve also got North Third and Dumyat around the same distance away, so can’t see them getting bumped off my preference list
Well we rode CV today.
Disappointed.
Eas Dubh is still fun, but one of the berms is really odd/lacks something, and the doubles jumps in the middle spoil it if you are anything less than a jumping god.
The (older?) changes to Cannonball means it has lost the slightly janky, swoopy, nippy between trees feel that made it hard to ride at speed. It's basically a flat trail now.
The lead into the runway has some doubles (and a triple) that again show it is a trail designed for jumpers, the two doubles into the corners are built very differently - one sends you left and one sends you right despite both being on left corners.
The runaway has vicious lips - again if you're a jumper all good, but it's lost the accessible, fun, different challenges left and right that it had.
Overall it's a smooth jumper trail - a shame.
I think I've been there twice in the past and found it meh enough to never return.
What would it be like with a 4 & 7 year old. Both are tackling the blue at glentress..... Not fast but getting down comfortably.
I took our kids there when younger - nice distance and most of the trails would be great with kids.
The issue now is the gert big and steep take off ramps needing speed and momentum...
Back in the mists of time, the runway had one jump that would pitch your back wheel high, if you weren't a jumper. And most weren't, and there were a lot of squeaky bum moments.
Hopefully they're not like that!
They are now all proper kickers...I've heard of quite a few accidents and some needing surgery - crashes from beginners to seasoned bikers.
Possibly the difference between what it was and what it is now is quite large and it is catching a lot of folk out.
The stuff is rollable but means reducing speed by quite a bit. Hopefully the kicks will ease as they bed in.
Definitely more a jumpers flow trail (which seems to be what is now being built as what everyone wants - not convinced they do but there is a demand, just not everyone).
Definitely more a jumpers flow trail (which seems to be what is now being built as what everyone wants - not convinced they do but there is a demand, just not everyone).
I prefer more tech and rocks... Seems 'flow' is what most folk want sadly...
Nice to see some money going into it but it was never a place I'd consider riding more than once. Gravel riders will probably love it though.
I'd love for this to be the start of investment in the trails, with more being built (not more flow trails though please)
I wonder who was leading the plan for what has been refurbished?
Yep it’s vaguely dangerous I would say. Needs a bit of infilling and work on some lips to make it flow for the average user.
Cannonball looks OK. When CV first opened, cannonball was a great bit of trail, you could pump in and out of the little dips and gain quite a bit of speed for a pretty flat bit of trail. Then there was the rock placement of death, to stop corner cutters, but was very pedal strikey! and then that first set of corners totally washed out and became off camber meaning you really had to brush a lot of speed off to not slide off the trail. That looks to be sorted now.
If the weather holds I may take a trip up this evening to mince my way over the jumps.
Cannonball is still my favourite bit of trail up there. Especially when rocketing along it in the dark!
I appreciate that Eas Dubh wasn't ideal, but Dick Barton once explained to me that it was originally designed as a climb to another trail that was never built. Hence the challenge of keeping your speed through those tight un-bermed switchbacks. I actually enjoyed that challenge though.
Just not keen on the big wide flowy gravel path it has now become. I've spent all that money on suspension, I want it to be doing something!!
Like I said above though, it's each to their own, and if there's a demand for easier, point and shoot flow trails then I'm not going to throw my toys out of the pram. I'll still ride there in the winter when my normal haunts are too muddy. On my e-bike, I can spin up there in 30 minutes, do a lap of the trails then ride along to the western end of the reservoir, (spotted a Red Kite and an Osprey last time), before nipping over the road and heading back east on the other side via Sir John de Graeme's very well preserved Mott & Bailey castle. Works out a good 45km weather proof loop with 600+ metres of climbing.
Sir John's house fell into a wee bit of disrepair after he went to (unsuccessfully), support William Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk.
someone did comment on one of the Facebook groups that fls would listen to peoples comments and make changes to the trails, not sure if that will actually happen!
They do seem to love the doubles
CV is great on a slacker gravel bike with a 100mm dropper post. I got a Stif Squatch and it is a bit much for CV. Nice loops for fitness on smaller bikes.
Looks like it's suitable for novice riders, who won't be going quick enough to get air.
Is there a clearly waymarked loop there? We were thinking of popping along for a ride and a dip some time.
Yep, the trails are well waymarked, very short though, maybe only 8km of trails in total. A novice will be fine, although as was mentioned earlier about kids, the new doubles and lips are so big and steep if you're not carrying a fair bit of speed they might end up stalling half way up the things!
Cheers, yes I can already picture that happening 😀
Looks like there's fire road along the reservoir and other options for gravel-style riding in the area as well, to pad it out a bit. Or do multiple laps obvs.
@Cha****ng There's loads of fire road riding up there. As I mentioned above, a favourite of mine is to do a loop of the trails then head west along the fire roads to the far end of the reservoir (well signposted). Pop on the road heading back east for a couple of hundred metres and take a left down a shonky old unclassified road that heads back towards Stirling. Then take a quick right up onto more fireroads that go past Sir John de Graham's gaff and head east again eventually bringing you down onto the road by the very old flooded community's graveyard. Then it's a short pedal back to the carpark. Very quiet roads with good visibility as well if you have younglings or nervy novices.
lovely ta
CV is great on a slacker gravel bike with a 100mm dropper post. I got a Stif Squatch and it is a bit much for CV. Nice loops for fitness on smaller bikes.
On the new trails? I luckily had both bikes in the van and stuck the Squatch back in after lap one and swapped to the FS for a bit more comfort when casing the new jumps! I'd have agreed with your gravel bike before the re-vamp!
Eas Dubh just wouldn't flow for me, tried the huge berm a few different ways to carry the speed into the first jump and none worked, including one heading very close to over the top of the berm.
Runway was a bit more successful but not being a great jumper I grabbed the brake just before the first one on the final straight every single time and never had the speed to clear the rest. They're pretty nasty coming up short too, hence ditching the HT. First 2/3 of Runway I got most of the doubles right though and ended up with a massive smile.
Overall left the place very frustrated, do want to head back to try and improve my jumping but not really for fun.
Eas Dubh just wouldn't flow for me, tried the huge berm a few different ways to carry the speed into the first jump and none worked, including one heading very close to over the top of the berm.
Agreed, we tried 4 times and each time that big berm just didn't work well...
They're pretty nasty coming up short too,
Agreed. Really not great.
Finally took a trip up and can only echo the above, Eas Dubh is just a bit odd really. Think it would be easily tweaked (just by taking a little off the top), but the jumps don’t fix with the rest of the trail at the moment.
Runway was miles better than it used to be. Jumps are shaped well enough that even I was clearing them all, and I’m crap