Category: Routes and ride reports

Tell us where you’ve ridden.

One Comment

Carron Valley Ride 30/3/14

  By ,

Three of us set out to Carron Valley in the fog this Sunday (30/03/14). The weather was very miserable and dense fog covered the trail which made it pretty atmospheric and a bit spooky. Chris from Dales joined us, and was on hand to deliver some basic trail tips like what the prepared rider should have and why. We then went on to discuss trail side repairs. How to use your emergency spares and how you can get yourself up the road with the basics. Topics included chain repair with Powerlink and other options for when Powerlink wasnt available, tube repair, tyre repair, extreme cable tie and toe strap fixes. We then decided to get on with riding the trails and popped back to look at certain areas of trail and identify areas of weakness, which we worked on for around an hour or so afterwards. After a refuel at the car park we set off once again into the mist to practice wheelies, trackstands and to put theory into practice. Despite a poor turn out and not ideal conditions it was an enjoyable ride with plenty of bike chat, and one we hope to try this again soon having had great feedback from Scott who’s new to MTB and GMBC. I would encourage members to attend these sessions when they are on as their really useful there was a few things i hadn’t considered and will take forward to future riding.
See you on the trails
Ruairdh

trail side repair tips

trail side repair tips

WP_20140330_003

what to bring, (for a big ride)

what to bring, (for a big ride)

No comments

(A Brief) Glentress & Selkirk Ride Report

  By

Camping pods, barbeques, piri-piri chicken, rain, wind, nightrides, gnarr, beer, snoring, more wind, cold sausages, hot tea, porridge, sunshine, blue skies, snow, random encounter with Al from Dales, snow drifts, slow up, fast down, epic views, cold wind, moorlands, forest singletrack, Selkirk bannock snack attack, road slog, tired legs, 33 miles, 3400 feet of climbing.  done.

Some photos

NB: If this ride report has whetted your appetite then rest assured I’ll post this ride again when we have drier conditions but we’ll start from Selkirk to get more of the good singletrack descents in.

No comments

Balmaha Weekend Photos

  By

Hi.  If you wanted a wee reminder of the soaking and socialising you got last weekend then here’s a few photos:

Balmaha Weekend Away 2014

Thanks to Dawn for booking it, Lorna & Tom for the baggage transfers, Ieva for the cake and to everyone who came along for making it another great weekend away!  More weekends are being planned so keep an eye on the club calendar.

2 Comments

Riding in the Bush… A Short (as I could!) Ride Report from NZ

  By

 So, as a few people have been asking about our trip to NZ, and more importantly the riding, so here is a wee ride report, with plenty or photos.

Ride 1: Rotorua

Trails: Whakarewarewa forest (also known as The Redwoods)www.riderotorua.com/

The trail network is one of the oldest in NZ, and with 130km network of trails, and we could- and possibly should- have spent more than one day here. The trials are all man-made but nothing like our trail centres as you are riding on a combination of loose, dusty forest floor, with some fire roads cutting between them.

Continue reading

No comments

Rob Roy Way – Better Than Going Christmas Shopping…

  By

As a bit of a challenge and Strathpuffer training me and Robin decided to tackle the Rob Roy Way (http://www.robroyway.com/ ) in a one-er. It seemed possible – 124km of mostly good tracks from Drymen up through the Trossachs and Bredalbane. The target was the 8:30pm train home from the finish in Pitlochry. Cheap advanced tickets were confidently purchased. We planned for a 7am start in Drymen so it would involve quite a bit of riding in the dark.

Bleak conditions

Bleak conditions

We needed to average around 11km/h including breaks to make it comfortably. A lot of the route is on good tracks, using parts of national cycle network and minor roads so this seemed like no problem. We both had an eye on the deteriorating weather forecast from a few days in advance. First it was meant to be windy and showery. Then very wet and windy. Then very wet and windy followed by heavy snow. Naturally we dismissed the amber weather warnings and decided it probably wouldn’t be that bad. Continue reading

Ciaran Path

Gallery

  By

Top of Devil’s Staircase-ascent

Just 30mins climbing  got Dave and I to the top of the Devil’s Staircase followed by the descent down to the land rover track where we met up with 3 riders. It turned out they were doing the Westie they lost their fourth rider on the jump off the bridge heading towards Rowardennan. Turns out the had ridden with Doug McDonald in Basque. We then ‘cheated’ and rode up on top of the water pipes. The Ciaran Path bit early, by swallowing Dave’s front wheel. I was experimenting with flatties and managed to bounce off the bike, that’s my excuse. 1 hr of downhill singletrack, doesn’t get much better. A quick coffee and cake stop at the Ice Factory fired us up for the climb out of Kinlochleven. Last time I did the route It broke my bike and I had to walk back, I am please to say this time it was only damaged.

Dave found the only mud going

Leatherman comes in useful

I didn’t need an indicator anyway?

Top of Devil’s Staircase-descent

Across the Blackwater dam

 

2 Comments

Pitlochry Photos

  By

Chris, Ieva and myself went up to Pitlochry for a bit of route finding on Saturday.  It turned out to be a fantastic day.  As predicted, a few wrong turns and some map reading challenges but we had amazing weather, mainly dry trails, lots of singletrack and stunning views.  I’ll plan a return trip in the next few weeks.  In the meantime, here’s a few photos to whet your appetites.

More pics.