Ride 50: Glentress

So it's nearing the middle of the year and i'm at the half way point of making my 100 rides in 2013 goal. The 50th ride was my first time round the black loop at Glentress testing out a couple of Transition bikes; the Bandit and the Covert.

We started the day out early as the bikes had to be picked up from http://www.pedals-edinburgh.com/ in Edinburgh first. The shop was possibly the smallest bike shop i've ever been in but the two chaps working in there were super friendly and charges for demo bikes are very reasonable too.

The Bandit: Climbs well, descends better, looks lovely.

Once sorted we headed out to Glentress, the sun was shining, the air-con was on in the car and I was very much looking forward to riding the black loop on a bike i've wanted to ride for quite a while (the Bandit). As expected on a sunny Saturday, Glentress was fairly busy but once out on the trail we actually saw very few people. The first climb is shared with the blue and red trail but once you reach the second car park the black goes it's own way and the hussle and bussle of busy car parks and other people are soon forgotten.

As I mentioned above the two bikes being demo'd were the Transition Bandit and Transition Covert. The Bandit is a 130mm trail bike while the Covert is a 160mm all mountain style affair. I spent most of the day riding the Bandit as that's the one I was mainly interested in but I couldn't resist the allure of the burlier Covert too.

The Covert: A very capable bike, just needs bigger terrain to challenge it.

The black route at Glentress is a nice mix of long switchback climbs leading to some equally long downhill sections. The route isn't overly technical for a black, but provided a good variety of sections to test the bikes. Both bikes were stable climbers, neither suffered from excess pedal bob though the Covert could well benefit from a travel adjust fork as the front end did wander on some of the steeper ascents.

Once pointed downwards both bikes were a barrel of fun. The Covert was happy to hold it's line and let it's longer travel, big tyres and weight get it through, while the lighter Bandit was happy to be hopped and popped and let it skip across the rougher stuff.

One of my favourite sections of Glentress is the last section of the black trail that leads back down to the main car par. I ran this section a few times with both bikes to see the differences, and to see which bike I preferred. Overall I came away liking the Bandit just that little bit more, it felt a little more playful and a bit more responsive than it's burly big brother, though I would have preferred a slightly more aggressive front tyre than the narrow nobby nic fitted.

If you do get the chance to ride at Glentress I can recommend the black loop. It's not overly technical for a black so don't expect a big challenge but the descents are really quite good and offers a little more variety than the red loop does.

A week with Basque MTB

Last week a small group of us took a trip to the Basque Coast for a wee biking holiday with http://www.basquemtb.com/ we were all looking forward to a week of sun, dusty trails and great riding, and we nearly got it all too.

The first little hiccup was during check-in one member of the group (I will mention no names) discovered that he had brought his other half's passport, so he wasn't able to fly with us and would join us later in the week. Fortunately for the remaining four, the rest of the journey went well, Doug met us at the airport and dropped us off at our weeks lodgings and arranged to pick us up for day one at 9:30am the following morning.

Waiting at Bilbao Airport for our ride

On the morning of our first day a quick brake fix was needed for my bike as during transit the front brake had leaked leaving me with no braking at all. Thankfully Doug has a van full of stuff for such occasions and we were able to do a quick top up without it needing a full bleed.

Day one wasn't quite the easy introduction day I had imagined, we ended up riding a variety of coastal trails and covered around 22 miles in total, this day wasn't without issue either, first up was Stu's rear mech being damaged near the dropout, while not unusable it did need to be fixed, cue a few phone calls to our late arriving friend to bring out a spare rear mech. Later on that day another rear mech issue hit us, this time it was mine, somehow I managed to bend the section in the middle of the mech, luckily we were near the end of the day so I was able to freewheel back into San Sebastian, before heading to a bike shop to purchase a new rear mech. Thankfully we were able to salvage some parts of my broken mech to fix Stu's so the day's damage could of been worse.

Looking down on San Sebastian

Day two dawned and it was a cracker, bright blue sky, big ol' yellow sun, this is why we had come here. It would be another long ride with some superb views, sublime sections of single track and our first meeting with the prickly Gauze Bush who would turn up every now and again to scratch arms, legs and eyes. We ate lunch on the hill and spent the afternoon chasing a group of noisy spanish students before ascending a ridge then finishing with even more single track. Our late arrival (Coley) was waiting for us back at the b&b after a few days spent feeling rather stupid after his passport faux pas.

It's all about the sweet sections of long singletrack

Day three can be summed up in three words, technical, wet and muddy. The technical trails in the morning certainly woke most if us up, and even though I couldn't quite ride everything thrown my way it was good fun as we slipped and slid down steep muddy trails festooned with tight technical switchbacks. After a bargain 10€ three course lunch we donned less muddy gear and headed out for more, the trails weren't quite as techy in the afternoon and had a little more flow about them and thankfully the rain held off for the rest of the day.

Not all the trails are dry and dusty

Our day off was spent doing very little, we had plans for going into San Sebastian and sampling some food but most people settled on breakfast followed by sleep. The furthest we got was the beach / harbour area in Hondaribbia, before chilling out in the garden. It was good to have a rest day though as most were feeling a little tired after three days riding and it gave us the chance to clean the muddy clothes of the previous day.

Just chillin'

The weather report for the remaining two days did not look promising and we all expected more rain on our fourth riding day but we got lucky and stayed reasonably dry for most of the day. It was another fairly technical morning ride with some tricky off camber rocky sections and some tyre slashing descents, followed by one big slog back to the van. Then a little more flow in the afternoon after a heavy rain shower in a cafe at the top of a hill on the spanish / french border.

Unluckily for us the last day was a very wet one, it had managed to rain all night and didn't stop all day. Grave decided (probably wisely) to miss the day due to weather and back problems and Stu only decided to join us at the last minute. We didn't ride much this day but the trails were brilliant. A lovely flowy trail through the trees called Celtic Flow that was made a little more difficult by the wet roots and muddy corners that very much reminded me of some of the trails back home. The only other one we rode was aptly titled Heavy Rain and this was another real nice flowy trail that I would have loved to ride in nicer conditions also. We were pretty much done after that as I was soaked to the bone and Coley was too tired to climb any more hills.

I just want to say a huge thanks to Doug for guiding us during the week and showing us a selection of some amazing trails he has helped seek out and sculpt during his years there. Also thanks to our b&b hosts for the breakfasts. Would I recommend http://www.basquemtb.com/ to others; yes very much so, great holiday and I would happily go back.

Our guide Doug, Always happy to be riding.

Ride 38: Even when it's super sunny my feet still get soaked

After spending a fairly warm weekend in the south of this fair country I was quite surprised and happy to see us northerners get a small share on the sun pie. Deciding that anything Keswick based would be inundated with old people wearing beige shorts and more red socks than you can shake a stick at, we opted for the quieter area of Haweswater.

Blue Sky over Haweswater

We started by riding (then pushing) our bikes up Gatesgarth Pass, this is usually a descent for me but I wanted to try something a little different. We met a few people coming down as we ascended and it turns out they would be the only people we would see (except for one grizzled old farmer). Once at the top it was a quick blast down to a stream and then a series of boggy climbs, wet descents and calculated guesses as to where the bridleway had vanished too. Luckily we guessed correctly and found ourselves at Swindale Head and met the aforementioned grizzled farmer.

Not lost exactly just unsure of direction

To get back over to Haweswater again you take the Old Corpse Road, I had heard this was a good descent so that's why I was here. The first section of the climb was steep, once it finally flattened out it was back to more guessing where the bridleway may go amongst more boggyness. We definitely strayed from the bridleway once or twice but finally after what seemed to be a never ending series of fake summits we spied Haweswater and our way down.

Fast, steep and stunning views

The run down was pretty good, quite steep in places but all rideable and fun, the view over Haweswater as you drop back down the valley again was stunning, then just as you begin to get a feel for the track you reach the road at the bottom. Apart from the boggyness it was a good ride out, t-shirt and shorts were all you needed, the sun was warm and the remoteness of the area made it feel like you were really exploring.

The view was so good it was a distraction

Borrowdale Bash

When I say Borrowdale Bash I actually mean a variant of as I usually start and finish near Grange as you don't get much extra fun time if you ride to and from Keswick. Much less snow here than the previous day at Haweswater and the descent from Watendlath was reasonably dry too, the sun even came out for a bit. The little bit of singletrack leading across the top to Castlecrag did have a few snowdrifts but nothing major and the descent back down toward Grange was mint as usual.

Should have brought a sledge

Tried to do a short loop near Haweswater, that takes you up Gatesgarth Pass, drop down to Swindale Head then up and down the Old Corpse Road, we didn't make it. Most of the climb up Gatesgarth was covered in snow, up to knee deep at some points. It was very difficult to see the actual bridleway that went up so we just followed various footprints and a vague idea of the path. Once at the top we decided not to continue the route in these conditions and made our way back down. It was more rideable than I thought and at least if you fell or slid out the snow was pretty soft. Not the fastest of descents but still a good laugh.

One heck of a slog up

A drifty and slidey descent

Drumlanrig (Ride 20)

I realise I have missed a few rides out here but honestly I have ridden a bit since the last post. A few have been repeat rides like Grisedale Pike, Whinlatter and Mabie, but I did manage to do two newer rides at Hamsterely Forest and Laggan Wolftrax, both places are fun and worth a visit.

This Sunday a trio set out to ride at Drumlanrig, it lies about 20 miles away from Dumfries so as such isn't that far away from the riding at Mabie and Ae Forest but definitely has it's own character. For the most part the trails at Drumlanrig have a very natural feel about them, you won't find much rock and pre-layed bedrock trail, instead you'll find natural flowing woodland trail littered with rooty sections.

The conditions on this day couldn't really have been any better, we got a tiny bit of hail/snow but for the most part the sun shone and the trail was in great condition, a little damp as your tyres sunk into the dirt but lovely and grippy, the roots were also missing their usual slippy wetness so the techy root sections were just that and not lethal. We did the red/black route and it tracked at just over 10 mile which is a nice distance, on a longer sunnier day you could probably do it twice or just relax by the river afterwards and take in the pleasant surroundings.

A little snow in the air as we stopped for a quick snack

Chromag Collectors

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