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Trying to get the Mrs MTB'ing. Wasn't keen on the first offroad foray but she's going to try again. I'm familiar with Glentress but have never been to Glentrool and I believe its good for beginners. So any opinions on both?
glentress blue.
if she's used to the exercise, start at the bottom - the singletrack climb upto the buzzard's nest is good fun.
if she's not used to the exercise, start at the buzzard's nest, pedal up the gravel road to the start of 'blue velvet', she'll then get the 4 descents down to the cafe - she can have a cuppa while you scamper up the hill to fetch the car.
Glentrool would be hard for someone new to cycling its a long way. A very nice ride, prbably something to plan for the summer.
Stick to the Green/Blue routes of most trail centres.
Glentrool should be your first port of call, there's nothing that would faze anyone who can ride a bike on a rough track. All the single track is fun without being threatening. And the lack of padded-up Weeken(e)d Warriors on All-Mountain monsters lends a more beginner friendly atmosphere. I love Glentress though, but you will need to be a little more carefull in picking trails out of the ever-growing selection.
Glentrool would be great for a beginner. I am not too sure that people know it is basically two routes. One is a 7 hour loop on fireroad, and the other is a fab bit of blue singletrack. The climb is not too bad, and the downhill is great fun, some big berms but no jumps.
Another option is to do a "there and back" on part of the big loop to the actual stane. i cam back the other side of the loch, but I would say it is not too suitable for a beginner (the other side).
Here are some pics. I was having too much fun descending the blue for photos but there is one photo at the top.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonralli/sets/72157625106190883/with/5111107588/
I have not ridden Glentrool but reckon Glentress fits the bill. Steady climb up from the Peel centre if fit for it if not the park at Buzzards and try the Green. If you want more techy then move up to the blue and so on.
Where was the first ride out that she did not like so we know what to avoid.
Ah forgot about Glentress Green, but be careful because after a bit of rain some of the small puddles can fill up with a mixture of silt and leaf litter making it surprisingly slippery, cue heart in mouth correction situations 😳 This is better after a few wheels have passed, but watch out if you're the first down after a good shower (which are common in those parts I recall)
My 2p for glentress - for a newb do not do the climb - its hard work if you are not used to it. park at the buzzards. Do the green, a bit of a play in the skills loop then go up to blue velvet, couple of times round that then blue tot eh bottom = she gets a cuppa while yo go back up for the car
Cheers folks, yes I was meaning the Glentrool green/blue rather than the big loop.Haven't done it myself so it looks a goer. For GT I was planning on the buzzards nest car park and start on the practice area and then some of the blue around the carpark. First off road foray was on a rutted path about 4 years ago, swore she wouldn't do it again but I've nearly convinced her.
first ever i would say the new "berm baby berm" blue at glentress - it's not a long cycle up, it's like a rollercoaster down, and anyone can do it - it's not very indicative of what mountain biking is actually like, but it shows how much fun it can be straight away, i.e. how much fun you can have on rougher stuff when you get more confidence.
GT's blue is pretty fantastic... Only slight downside is you'll probably get some fast movers on it but [i]most[/i] people aren't idiots.
Glentress Green was designed exactly for this type of riding. The fast riders (if they're even on the green) will see her well in advance, there's no technical bits of trail to scare her and it's not physically tough. Once you've tried that then try bits of the blue and the freeride area.
Remember there are bits on both blue and freeride that could scare a newbie into never wanting to ride again. I did the blue with two very experienced roadies yesterday and one of them let out a scream when he went over the bridge on the blue (goes over the climb) and saw the descent on the other side. Seen plenty of people pushing down that too.
Green first would be far and away the best way to introduce someone to GT and mountain biking.
fyi - near Glentrool has the Clatteringshaws lake loop and has lots of forest trails (which you can do slowly in a car) so for a complete beginner may be more suitable
my gf (non technie) enjoyed Glentrool blue, and had we got the entire giraffe population of the Serengeti tied end to end then managed to swing them round I wouldn't have hit anybody
"7hr loop on fire roads" is there an elephant's graveyard of mtbs and riders who lost teh will around 3.5hrs in?
Glen trool blue has a slow dull up hill ,
with forestry comm rocks at the edges ready to catch out anyone who wanders off the trail ,it would bore anyone ,then a quick berm descent which could scare a beginner.
Avoid ,however for only a little more driving Kirroughtree blue is easy sweet and interesting with litte to scare anyone .