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Got a week off soon and thinking of going over to glentress if the weather holds up.
Never been before so what's it like? Comparable to afan at all?
Cheers
Steve
Better.
Spooky woods is excellent.
Save some energy and do Innerleithen too though. I think it's better still
At GT, after the top of the skills section, miss the first red off to the left, Cary on up to the next red section climb.
That's what I do anyway.
It's my favourite trail centre, first went there for our honeymoon and have been back on our anniversary every year since. Although I did once fall off Pennels Vennel. I enjoy the red, but prefer the blue (mainly because I'm chronically enfeebled, hence falling off Pennels Vennel...)
Much, much better
Renton, sorry for the hijack, just remembered i said i would let you know about the PUSHed bushings on my 5 spot. Great bits of kit, They just make all small bump stuff very plush. Had to put an extra 10 psi in to get the correct sag and the rear end is spot on.
Glentress is good for a day out. Innerleithen is different (better). 🙂
Cheers mactheknife!!
Make sure you do Inners just down the road.
I haven't done Afan, only trailcentre I've done that's comparable with GT is CYB. Tons of riding, loads of variety, also you can hit it pretty fast first time as the design and sightlines are excellent. Not very technical in most of it but there are bits to spice it up, means it's very all-skills as most folks can get round the red but better riders can up the speed and it becomes a different thing. It is ace.
Innerleithen's a bit of a one-trick pony on the red (pedally, wide, jumps drops and drops) good for a visit though if you like that. Always think it's weird that people call GT a bmx track when it's far more natural feeling in places and far more varied. The black spices it up with some slower rocky stuff. But the off-map and dh stuff is stunning- almost all the good riding at innerleithen isn't on the trailcentre route, and that's what makes it so brilliant.
Really enjoyed GT,
Worth trying as many runs as possible regardless of the grade. Last time I was there we spent the day on red/black doing fun sections twice a few breaks at the buzzards nest. Then finished with a bit of the blue which was surprising great fun.
As others have said, absolutely brilliant fun. I'd love to go back. Electric Blue and Berm Baby Berm were a right hoot.
Get a map and then you'll realise how many sections are easily re-done and/or in different orders.
But tbh I'd wait until they've cleared the blockages - this morning BBB was also closed.
Put it this way, I've been to Glentress well over a hundred times and there are still trails there I've not yet ridden, or found out about.
Then finished with a bit of the blue which was surprising great fun.
The blue at GT is exactly what a blue run should be. It's great fun to ride, particularly at night.
It's just under 2 hours to get there for me from st Andrews!!!
Is there anything close?
Carron Valley is closer. But not really comparable. Only slightly longer to get to Laggan though if you like the rocks.
Someone mentioned Falkland hill or auchtermuchtey?
Dunkeld as well, and lots of good riding at Kinnoull Hill.
Ooh, trail centres- Comrie Croft is ace.
It's just good fun, usually ride it when I'm up visiting. Looking forward to taking the Fatty on it!
If you haven't already, get yourself up to Tentsmuir for a couple of hours. On your doorstep, with some nice sandy singletrack that drains really well.
www.strava.com/activities/103508882
Was fun in the snow today
falkland hill is more downhill riding , but there's the lomond hills next to falkland that's more xc riding some really good stuff better if someone can show you around , and a bit further to west is benarty and blairadam good riding if you do both .
Spooky woods is crap. 1st 100m is good. The rest is too flat with too many switchbacks. Would be improved greatly if they had made it run down the hill as opposed to running back and forth across it.
Double post
Spooky woods is crap. 1st 100m is good. The rest is too flat with too many switchbacks
does sir fear pedalling? sprinting out of the berms to the next table is great fun
Not at all. Thats why I enjoy road biking. Repeatedly pedaling along the flat between berms is crap.
[i]Spooky woods is crap. 1st 100m is good. The rest is too flat with too many switchbacks. Would be improved greatly if they had made it run down the hill as opposed to running back and forth across it.[/i]
If you just want to go straight down, then try Inners. Me? I'd rather make the most of the gradients.
We quite often don't bother with spooky, but just because we've done it a load of times and we'd rather put the effort in elsewhere- climb up to the boundary or double up the red/black options or whatever. It's the worst bit of the red imo but that's not too harsh a criticism.
I you have not been before then deft ride Spooky Woods!
The Red is more fun on a hardtail i think 🙂
Pie Run and Magic Mushroom are ace too!
We quite often don't bother with spooky, but just because we've done it a load of times and we'd rather put the effort in elsewhere- climb up to the boundary or double up the red/black options or whatever. It's the worst bit of the red imo but that's not too harsh a criticism.
We tend to do the same thing, boundary trail is a much better descent imo, been going to Gt for about 5 years now and it does get monotonous, theres some cracking off piste stuff at Gt
Carron Valley may be closer to St Andrews than Glentress but it takes the same time for me to get to eirhet in the van.
Carron Valley and Glentress shouldnt even be mentioned in the same sentence tbh 😀
Renton - am I right in thinking you're at Leuchars now..? Or is it someone else I'm thinking of...
Inner is way better IMO.
I agree that spooky wood is a bit of a let down.
Househusband yep that's me!
I'd leave it till the beginning of March if I were you (Check on 7 Stanes website) there are quite a few restrictions till end of Feb (Clearing trees which were victims of recent storms) Inners is fine GT OK if you don't mind missing a few bit out
Comrie is ace
Not at all. Thats why I enjoy road biking. Repeatedly pedaling along the flat between berms is crap.
Try pedalling faster
Try pedalling faster
Not convinced that a trail needing this ^ is "making the most of the gradients". Fitting the most trail into said gradients? Yes. Best use? Not so much
It's an XC course, not a DH course.
and? e.g. Hit Squad Hill flows really nicely and can be easily done without a single pedal stroke and still be fun, Spooky Woods just doesn't work as well.
Do you think so? There's a few cracking routes to be found but they're sparse given the large area of the forest, IMO. It's not like Innerleithen where there are goat tracks everywhere and only the grey of hair can claim to know all of the trails.kennyp - MemberPut it this way, I've been to Glentress well over a hundred times and there are still trails there I've not yet ridden, or found out about.
My favourite UK trail centre - but if you were putting together the best GT route ever I think it involve a large majority of way-marked stuff. Guess they built it right.
Found it pretty dull to be honest in comparison to Afan, CYB and Cannock just so smooth and non-technical...
Don't mind pedalling up but it was just a hillier Swinley Forest...wished I'd not wasted anytime there and straight to Inners.
Slimsi is either a complete mong, or troll of the day.
I'm not really a trail centre fan, but to mention Cannock ****in chase and GT in the same sentence is pure pish.
Not at all. Thats why I enjoy road biking. Repeatedly pedaling along the flat between berms is crap.
You need bigger wheels 🙂 26" or bigger will be better than your bmx.
Garry_Lager, I do honestly think so. For example I was down there one evening last autumn with a pal that lives close to GT. He took me down a route from the top of Spooky that hardly used an inch of "official" trail. Some of it, Secrets and Lies for example, I'd been on before, but some of it I hadn't. And there were other routes he was talking about that I know I haven't been on. Some of them admittedly I probably never will be on as they are beyond my limited ability.
There's a huge amount of forest there. I've done the GT Duathlon series a couple of times and the running bits have taken in bits of the forest I've never cycled.
You're right about Inners though.
At GT, after the top of the skills section, miss the first red off to the left, Cary on up to the next red section climb.
Wrong, wrong, wrong - unless berms and tabletops are the only things that interest you, anyway. Pennel's Vennel (the bit that the advice above skips) is a great taster and qualifier for the red and a nice trail in its own right. In addition the height you lose by riding it is regained by singletrack climbs, a more pleasant way to ascend than bimbling up fire roads, IMO.
And Pennels Vennel actually goes off to the right.....
I've said this before; Chutney Ferret, Beware Tailswing and Reflective Practice are the bestest 'secret' trails in the area.
Never rated BT actually.
Went for the first time last year with a group of lads. Coming from North Wales we have good benchmarks to set trail centres against like CYB which we ride lots. Thought GT black was as good if not better than anything at CYB. Not all of it of course, but standouts were Deliverance, Britney Spears and some of the stuff near the end (sorry I can't the section names) but its the fun bit at the end with a few step downs and quite twisty, great fun.
I thought Innerleithen was great too. Mind you if the whole situation. Was reversed and I lived near GT and Inners and rode them loads and then went to CYB for the first time then no doubt I would think that was pretty great too.