I visited Blairadam about a year ago and although it was fun enough a) I knew I'd hardly found any of the half-secret singletrack and b) I wasn't sure just how much there was that was rideable.
So, interested in heading off from home in a new direction, I took the car and parked at Lochore Meadows country park. Over time I hope I can find some tracks and paths that might let me ride most of this off road.
From there I rode across to Kelty and on to Blairadam. I did stick mainly to the tracks and paths but spotted so many side tracks that I'm sure there is tons of stff to do there in future. With this and the link to Lochore it all added up to about 30km; not a lot for me these days but almost all off road except for the big long climb through Kelty.
Blairadam is a bit of a funny place. On one hand it has the potential to be a really great MTB centre in Fife, right beside the North-South motorway. It's big enough, has the right kind of terrain and there has been a lot of good work done already. But it seems to have status that is kinda official, kinda not - yes, the trail building that's going on seems to have Forestry Commission blessing and even support, but there are no waymarkers, no maps etc. They guys who have been building it advertise regular guided rides to ind out what's there - but that isn't ideal for many people.
... and to be honest, it's likely always to have a bit of a problem because it is so close to population.
The path into the forest that is closest to Kelty is a mess - in the tradition of naming MTB trail sections this would have to be either "shit parade" thanks to the vast amount of doggy doo-doo on the path; or "shooting gallery" judging by the number of improvised targets stuck on the branches.
However, the impact of this kind of thing reduces quickly as you get into the forest, and there's a lot of space to expand the MTB trails into in that direction. It's certainly somewhere I will be returning to for longer off road training sessions.
Showing posts with label Places. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Places. Show all posts
Monday, April 23, 2007
8 April 2007 Rippin' The Red Run
Return visit to Glentress Red Run with Neal and a couple of MTB newbies from the extended family.
This meant we spent some time in the morning in the skills loop which was quite useful - working up to bigger and bigger things to climb up and fall down. Picnic lunch at the Buzzard's Nest car park then Neal and I took the car down to the bottom to do the Red run.
... and what a grand time we had :)
Firstly, I managed to keep him at least in site until he topped the Buzzard's Nest again as I was at the last bit of climb up to it. Big change from last time when the first climb was a real killer for me. And the whole thing felt pretty do-able, keeping going up the long slow climbs, very few stops and only walking at the stupidly steep switchback climbs.
All of which was reflected in our times; Neal coming in at 1hr 51 min (compared with 2hrs 12 min last time) with me just SIX MINUTES BEHIND!!! at 1hr 57min (compared with 2hrs 22 min last time). It's actually hard to work out just how I managed this, but I'm putting it down to the sprint training on gym bikes, effectively a long warm up in the morning and being highly motivated to catch Neal. And maybe the egg-beater pedals. But cutting 25 minutes off was a big deal - I'm almost afraid to try it again in case it was a complete on-off fluke.
This meant we spent some time in the morning in the skills loop which was quite useful - working up to bigger and bigger things to climb up and fall down. Picnic lunch at the Buzzard's Nest car park then Neal and I took the car down to the bottom to do the Red run.
... and what a grand time we had :)
Firstly, I managed to keep him at least in site until he topped the Buzzard's Nest again as I was at the last bit of climb up to it. Big change from last time when the first climb was a real killer for me. And the whole thing felt pretty do-able, keeping going up the long slow climbs, very few stops and only walking at the stupidly steep switchback climbs.
All of which was reflected in our times; Neal coming in at 1hr 51 min (compared with 2hrs 12 min last time) with me just SIX MINUTES BEHIND!!! at 1hr 57min (compared with 2hrs 22 min last time). It's actually hard to work out just how I managed this, but I'm putting it down to the sprint training on gym bikes, effectively a long warm up in the morning and being highly motivated to catch Neal. And maybe the egg-beater pedals. But cutting 25 minutes off was a big deal - I'm almost afraid to try it again in case it was a complete on-off fluke.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
29 December 2006 Glentress Red
Down to Glentress with Neal for an end-of-year ride.
It was very cold, windy and raining so we decided to do the red route (usually we mix and match different parts of Glentress) and just meet back up at the Hub, rather than have Neal keep waiting for me.
It's great how you can keep going back to places like Glentress and make it new. This time we started at the Hub rather then going up to the Buzzard's nest car park - and the Spooky Wood section was open. We seem to have been unlucky with that in the recent past and have had to follow diversions half way up the hill.
I actually caught up with him twice, which was quite gratifying, but discovered later that Neal had taken a tumble on the first bit of downhill. He was ok, but when I caught up with him at the very top of the course it turned out he had buckled his front wheel quite badly.
He'd pressed on as it was ok-ish uphill, but under the circumstances all we could do was to loosen off his v-brakes to clear the buckle. Unfortunately the first bit of Spooky Wood downhill (which I loved) made it clear he didn't have enough stopping power, so we had to teeter all the way back down on the forest tracks - especially frustrating as the stop at the top had turned us from toasty warm to absolutely freezing and now we couldn't get warm again on the way down. Salutory lesson on just how cold you can get and how quickly when you're wet.
So, a bit of a frustrating outing; Neal needs a new bike.
It was very cold, windy and raining so we decided to do the red route (usually we mix and match different parts of Glentress) and just meet back up at the Hub, rather than have Neal keep waiting for me.
It's great how you can keep going back to places like Glentress and make it new. This time we started at the Hub rather then going up to the Buzzard's nest car park - and the Spooky Wood section was open. We seem to have been unlucky with that in the recent past and have had to follow diversions half way up the hill.
I actually caught up with him twice, which was quite gratifying, but discovered later that Neal had taken a tumble on the first bit of downhill. He was ok, but when I caught up with him at the very top of the course it turned out he had buckled his front wheel quite badly.
He'd pressed on as it was ok-ish uphill, but under the circumstances all we could do was to loosen off his v-brakes to clear the buckle. Unfortunately the first bit of Spooky Wood downhill (which I loved) made it clear he didn't have enough stopping power, so we had to teeter all the way back down on the forest tracks - especially frustrating as the stop at the top had turned us from toasty warm to absolutely freezing and now we couldn't get warm again on the way down. Salutory lesson on just how cold you can get and how quickly when you're wet.
So, a bit of a frustrating outing; Neal needs a new bike.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
28 September 2006 Kirroughtree
Another 7 Stanes location ticked off the list.
A happy juxtaposition of work commitments allowed me to stay overnight in Dumfries & Galloway (stayed overnight at the Ellangowan Hotel, the "Green Man" in the original The Wicker Man movie) and have an early morning session round Kirroughtree.
Kirroughtree is very nice - more mixed woodlands than is typical in our forests and although there had been torrential rain for hours the night before, the actual trails weren't at all bad. Puddles in places of course, but generally the trails had drained very quickly.
I stayed to the blue routes, partly because I'm nursing a shoulder/rib injury from kendo on Monday, but also aware of the need to work the rest of the day and therefore not maim or disfigure myself. Did all the optional loops plus the taster loop to make up a reasonable distance. This combo takes you down at least one man made section of trail a second time which is a nice chance to try and remember what's coming next.
An evening spent reading "Mountain Bike Like A Champion" didn't do any harm - especially concepts like looking ahead at where you want to go and using only peripheral vision to watch the wheel and immediate obstacles. Also looking further ahead the faster you're moving. D'oh.
14.76km, 95m total elapsed, of which 83m moving.
A happy juxtaposition of work commitments allowed me to stay overnight in Dumfries & Galloway (stayed overnight at the Ellangowan Hotel, the "Green Man" in the original The Wicker Man movie) and have an early morning session round Kirroughtree.
Kirroughtree is very nice - more mixed woodlands than is typical in our forests and although there had been torrential rain for hours the night before, the actual trails weren't at all bad. Puddles in places of course, but generally the trails had drained very quickly.
I stayed to the blue routes, partly because I'm nursing a shoulder/rib injury from kendo on Monday, but also aware of the need to work the rest of the day and therefore not maim or disfigure myself. Did all the optional loops plus the taster loop to make up a reasonable distance. This combo takes you down at least one man made section of trail a second time which is a nice chance to try and remember what's coming next.
An evening spent reading "Mountain Bike Like A Champion" didn't do any harm - especially concepts like looking ahead at where you want to go and using only peripheral vision to watch the wheel and immediate obstacles. Also looking further ahead the faster you're moving. D'oh.
14.76km, 95m total elapsed, of which 83m moving.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
23 September 2006 Traquair Cross Country
Neil and I on the 7 Stanes XC course at Traquair, near Innerleithen
20km, 600m climbing, graded mainly red with some black.
5 hours total.
Upsides - 5 hour session is a good endurance build.
We're closer in fitness than the last time we did this route. That time I hardly saw Neal at all, this time he still climbs faster (higher gear) and longer than I do, but not so markedly ... and I do the downhills faster. Dunno how much that is recent practice, how much new bike.
Downsides - the number of riders who passed us, though most of these in the first half so we suspect they were only going up to do the downhill.
Both getting cramp towards end.
Spill count - Neal 3, me 1.
20km, 600m climbing, graded mainly red with some black.
5 hours total.
Upsides - 5 hour session is a good endurance build.
We're closer in fitness than the last time we did this route. That time I hardly saw Neal at all, this time he still climbs faster (higher gear) and longer than I do, but not so markedly ... and I do the downhills faster. Dunno how much that is recent practice, how much new bike.
Downsides - the number of riders who passed us, though most of these in the first half so we suspect they were only going up to do the downhill.
Both getting cramp towards end.
Spill count - Neal 3, me 1.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Quick Carron Valley Circuit
"Quick" meaning squeezed into a working day rather then being especially rapid.
However, it was fairly satisfying. First visited Carron Valley about a month ago, when I did the whole thing (four feature trails plus links) twice - first time round took 90 minutes including map reading stops, second time 75 min.
Today, it was an hour exactly. Fewer rest stops, more commitment to speed on the singletrack sections, but still haven't ridden the Kelpie's Staircase.
However, it was fairly satisfying. First visited Carron Valley about a month ago, when I did the whole thing (four feature trails plus links) twice - first time round took 90 minutes including map reading stops, second time 75 min.
Today, it was an hour exactly. Fewer rest stops, more commitment to speed on the singletrack sections, but still haven't ridden the Kelpie's Staircase.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
