Drumlanrig Ride Report (26/Feb/12)

I’m no meteorologist so I’ll decribe the recent weather as “kinda meh” – not sunny, not cold, not wet – just meh.  In search of dry trails we’ve done a few trips to GT in recent weeks and Mabie (originally on the calendar) is having some forestry work done so Drumlanrig seemed like a good choice to escape the local trails and get a trail centre fix yet still enjoy some natural feeling (and hopefully dry) trails.

From the postings against the event in the shiny, new calendar (I hope you’ve checked it out and are preparing to post lots of exciting rides on this very easy to use app!!) it looked like we’d have 8 people for the 10am ride.  Well, by 10am there were only 6 people as Simon as I had taken the scenic route via Beattock (junction 15) – I’m saying nothing other than it was Simon who was driving! 😉  Eventually we had 8 riders ready (Team Thorburn, Nigel, Grant & his brother Gareth, Simon and myself)

The false start continued at the start of the ride with a mechanical (brake lever), photo stop, lost glasses, a tumble (Alex), wardrobe changes and food stop – sandwiches for some, oatcakes and pate for others !  From the outset one thing was noticeable – how dry the trails were.  They were riding very well and seem to cope with the traffic unlike our local trails just now.  We did the red with the black options.  While riding I had vague memories popping in to my mind of previous visits like “isn’t there a rooty drop here somewhere near here?”, “isn’t there a big root on a corner up here?”, “is this the bit with the rocky chute?”  or “where was that tough climb?” – well, we found all of that!

Despite the dry trails, the roots were still slippery in places which added the excitement of uncertainty to some of the descents.  You’re constantly looking ahead to think which will be the best line given the camber and the direction of the roots.  Sometimes you’re able to get some speed up; sometimes you’re slowed right down negotiating a tricky corner.  We continued along at a fairly steady pace enjoying the descents, especially the one that winds down to the river.  After grinding our way back up the climb and stopping to repair a broken chain (I was happy to volunteer to fix it so I could get my breath back!) we had the final run back in to the car park with the usual game of will-he-won’t-he ride the drop with the vultures watching from the safety of the car park – camera phones on hand to capture the any crashes.  (no-one did).

With the cafe closed just now Rik stepped up and provided the teas & coffees and some banter (and a sales pitch for Singular 29’ers – Simon did really well to keep his credit card safely stashed in his wallet although he seemed to enjoy his brief test ride).  Again, Drumlanrig delivered the goods providing a great day out on great trails and a warm welcome from Rik.  All it needs is a cafe bursting with tasty cakes and some new trails (and word has it, well Rik says anyway, that’s the plan!).  Look forward to seeing Drumlanrig making more appearances on the calendar in the future.