Tell us where you’ve ridden.
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
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
I thought I’d have a stab at a write up of the Dunkeld Enduro, if you are interested read on…
‘one of the most technically challenging enduros the UK has ever seen.’ was the description bestowed upon the first round of the Scottish Enduro Series by Enduro MTB magazine, I’m glad it wasn’t just me who was in over their head! After some persuasion, I convinced Rich HB to join me on the trip to Dunkeld to throw ourselves down hills with 300 or so other mountain bikers all in the name of fun.
Angus, RichHB, Elizabeth, Euan and myself headed up to Dunkeld in search of the various enduro trails. Armed with vague knowledge from previous events, Strava and GoPro “edits” we headed into the hills behind Dunkeld and started to piece together the different routes.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/glasgowmountainbikeclub/albums/72157664846929821
Grab bikes, pack gear, drive to Pitlochry, ride a circular loop in the nearby hills. Sounds easy? It wasn’t. Good scenery though? You bet! Lots of fun? Absolutely. 1300m of climbing over 34km looked a bit like this:
More photos in the Flickr album:
Well, the Bothy ride did take place and Tim Luke and I survived, despite our spouses scepticism. We set off for the bothy and quickly noticed the additional weight of our kit including 3kg of coal (each) as we puffed up the gentle gradient. My bike weighed 19kg and back pack another 10kg. I was also experimenting with my 1×9 set up, so I was struggling more than usual.
Once beyond the trees we were coming across patches of snow and then the patches of snow joined up. The snow had filled up the double track so it was easier to cycle across the heather. Who needs a fat bike anyway? We were just getting into our stride and we found ourselves descending down to the bothy a couple of hours later.
climb up from Bridge of Tilt
2 happy chappies
We had a quick tour of the bothy, one room with 2 platform beds, open fire and a kitchen table, the other half of the bothy was a work room and there was sleeping loft above the main room. With a couple of hours daylight we decided to head up towards Beinn Dearg. It was good to ride with out all our gear but we didn’t get very far before we were back into the snow.
We had a quick tour of the bothy, one room with 2 platform beds, open fire and a kitchen table, the other half of the bothy was a work room and there was sleeping loft above the main room. With a couple of hours daylight we decided to head up towards Beinn Dearg. It was good to ride with out all our gear but we didn’t get very far before we were back into the snow.
Another great day out! Cold wind & icy trails in places but lots of smiles and stunning blue skies. The ride had a bit of everything; fireroad, tarmac, singletrack, bog, a fat bike, llamas, and giant white wallabies – but sadly no micro-pigs. Everything you’d expect from a GMBC bike ride. Here’s a few photos:
And a few more photos:
Some photos from an epic day out in stunning autumnal Perthshire. Enjoy (we certainly did!)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/glasgowmountainbikeclub/albums/72157658403713463
4 GMBC club mates, 1 week, 1 Land Rover and many thousands of feet of descending in the French Alps with The White Room. Here’s what it looked like:
More photos available here:
