What to do with a hot, sunny day in May? Head to Perthshire to enjoy some of the amazing scenery and, as it turned out, the completely empty trails. So here’s what you missed out on….
A short but steep climb took me up above Blair Atholl…
Above Blair Atholl
Not seen a soul all day, looks like I have this descent all to myself in the warm, hazy sunshine above Pitlochry.
The weather is looking promising for Sunday so if you fancy getting out into the Perthshire countryside for a big day out of natural riding then let me know (post up here or text me on oh7nine77 0h437oh7. I’m mulling over a few options. The snow last week may limit the height of any ride but distance-wise I’m aiming for 40-50km.
A summer midweek “away” ride; details here:
The Selkirk mountain bike marathons have been running, in various forms, for many years now and this year saw the organisers make some changes, dropping the 25km XC loop and adding a 50km raid/enduro event. This year it managed to entice a fair few GMBC types to enter, namely Elizabeth, Gav, singlespeed Simon, Ian Godber (75km XC); John B, Keiran, Myriam (50km XC) and Will, myself & Jamie (5okm Raid). It turned out to be another memorable weekend…. Continue reading
Once we’ve agreed a date with the Mugdock Park Rangers for the final session I’ll get it advertised and post up for some volunteers. The final session will be up at Khyber car park and we’ll be installing a new gate (easier for bikes, buggies, horses to get through than the existing gate) and possible some new paths to join it to the car park & existing paths.
In the meantime you can enjoy reading a positive write up of the path maintenance work in the local Bearsden & Milngavie community magazine (April edition, page 30). Yes, that’s Angus testing out one of the repaired sections on Riverside!
Community Magazine Article (April 2016, pg 30)
I’m not sure how it’s happened but most of the local trails seem to have lost the slippery, boggy, muddy surface we’re used to. And there’s this strange sort of powdery dust type stuff. It gets in your eyes. I’m not sure how to ride trails in these conditions. The bike seems to go faster when it’s not weighed down with a few extra pounds of mud. I’d suggest you get out riding while it lasts!
Anyway, last night’s ride took us out to the new(ish) circuit around Burncrooks reservoir via golden sunset trails in Carbeth. What a great night to be out on the bike…
Sunset In Carbeth
We’ve been contacted by a Glasgow-based company drone company who want to promote their business and they’re wanting to film some mountain bikers as part of their promo video. GMBC will also be given a copy of any footage for our own use. So, I’m looking for 2 volunteers to be filmed by the drone and by a videographer for the video.
As a thank you for taking part in the path maintenance I’d like to offer the 2 spots to anyone who has taken part in any of the path maintenance sessions during this spring. You don’t need to a riding god like Rich Hebb 😉 to take part but the riders will need to be riding as a group and it will involve some easier downhill trails – like Rosies or the Westie towards Dumgoyne.
The provisional date for this will be Friday 29th April, about 6pm. It’ll be taking part somewhere around Mugdock/Carbeth. If the weather forecast looks bad we may look at Thursday 28th as an alternative. Given the Selkirk weekend camping doesn’t open until Saturday at 4pm this shouldn’t clash too much for anyone also going to the Selkirk weekend away.
If you want to put your name forward for this then please email me. If there are more than 2 volunteers then it’ll be names out of a hat. If there aren’t enough volunteers then I’ll open it up to the rest of the paid up club members.
Thanks to Will, Myriam, Andrew, Matthew, Ryszard, Jon, Al D, Tom F & Neil for the hard work fixing up sections of the Clyde Coastal Path earlier today. Here’s some before, during & after pictures:
This coming weekend’s planned session will be based at Milngavie Golf Club (instead of Khyber field as previously advertised).
We’ll be working to repair the surface of the path that runs beside the golf club car park. It’s part of the Clyde Coastal Path and the surface has become rutted with water running off the car park. The drainage issue has been resolved and East Dunbartonshire council have already supplied the gravel surfacing. We’ll be needing to move the gravel onto the path and compact the surface. Hope to see you there for another great trail maintenance session.
Details of the session including a link to sign up for volunteering for 16/4 session can be found here:
http://www.gmbc.org.uk/event/path-maintenance-5/
NB: we’ll need to put one final session into the calendar to do the work up at Khyber field but I’ll advise a date for that once the park ranger has confirmed her availability.
