Anyone been up to Glentress recently? Currently on a short break at Peebles Hydro and I’m planning on hitting the trails tomorrow at Glentress. Most recent trail report on the 7 Stanes website says firetrack roads up to Buzzards Nest car park are closed due to forestry operations and many trail routes are affected. I want to take in the upper and lower blue routes and then do the red. Any hassles I should watch out for? Ta!
Mountain Biking
- Thread starter Zefan
- Start date
Associate
- Joined
- 21 Jan 2014
- Posts
- 1,396
Is it you first time at Glentress?
Nope. Been a few times.
Associate
- Joined
- 21 Jan 2014
- Posts
- 1,396
Fair enough. I've not been since the forestry work started but I'd be surprised if the trails leading up to Buzzard's are closed as there is only one trail (not including the fire road).
Couple of parts of the upper red trails were experiencing a bit of disruption but nothing to write home about.
Downside is that I had a pretty big crash near the bottom of ‘Electric blue’ on a fast decent. Totally misjudged a drop off, went in far too slow and as a result the front wheel came down with the rest of the bike at far too steep an angle. Straight over the bars I went, bike went the other way into a boggy bit, I landed on my left side and head and rolled over rocks and tree roots. Managed to ride slowly down to the trail head where I began to realise that I had done more damage than I first thought. My helmet has a substantial dent in it, shudder to think what may have happened if I had not been wearing one. So ended up with the wife driving me to Borders general hospital to A&E to get checked. A wait and an x-ray later confirmed no broken bones but the docs reckon I’ve suffered what appears to be a rotator cuff injury in the left shoulder. To say it hurts is possibly the understatement of the year. But what hurts more is the feeling of annoyance on my own part for crashing in the first place. That said, I think it could have been a lot worse. Enjoyed my day up until that point.
Downside is that I had a pretty big crash near the bottom of ‘Electric blue’ on a fast decent. Totally misjudged a drop off, went in far too slow and as a result the front wheel came down with the rest of the bike at far too steep an angle. Straight over the bars I went, bike went the other way into a boggy bit, I landed on my left side and head and rolled over rocks and tree roots. Managed to ride slowly down to the trail head where I began to realise that I had done more damage than I first thought. My helmet has a substantial dent in it, shudder to think what may have happened if I had not been wearing one. So ended up with the wife driving me to Borders general hospital to A&E to get checked. A wait and an x-ray later confirmed no broken bones but the docs reckon I’ve suffered what appears to be a rotator cuff injury in the left shoulder. To say it hurts is possibly the understatement of the year. But what hurts more is the feeling of annoyance on my own part for crashing in the first place. That said, I think it could have been a lot worse. Enjoyed my day up until that point.
I have the same bike as you, I currently have a MAXXIS Minion DHR on the rear and the standard Schwalbe that came with the bike on the front. Had to change the rear after it got shredded on a 25 mile ride at the start of the year. On average I ride about 30km a week on the Rocky/Sandy Cliffs where I live and the MAXXIS has held its own perfectly. The Schwalbe on the other hand is on the verge of needing to be replaced. I'm also running tubeless and haven't had any issues with either yet.
I've found that its pretty grippy on the hard stuff and the rolling resistance is better than the Schwalbe. I'm yet to use it in the wet though as it hasn't rained here since April/May. I went for the dual ply just for piece of mind as I've known a few people that have destroyed new tyres after a couple of rides because of the rocks out here.
I'm running a Magic Mary up front and a Hans Dampf on the rear.
For my usual trail centre riding, I find it an excellent combo — a lot of grip that really instils confidence.
However, this weekend I did a 52km cross-country ride which was a mix of road, gravel tracks, muddy tracks and moorland paths — I felt that there was too much rolling resistance from both tyres and boy do they hold onto mud!
I had more joy on the same route last year with a Conti Mountain King on the front and an X-King on the rear, but I always found myself wanting more grip on the trails with this combination.
It really depends on the type of riding you do. Unfortunately, unlike the pros, we can't all have different tyres for different types of riding.
For my usual trail centre riding, I find it an excellent combo — a lot of grip that really instils confidence.
However, this weekend I did a 52km cross-country ride which was a mix of road, gravel tracks, muddy tracks and moorland paths — I felt that there was too much rolling resistance from both tyres and boy do they hold onto mud!
I had more joy on the same route last year with a Conti Mountain King on the front and an X-King on the rear, but I always found myself wanting more grip on the trails with this combination.
It really depends on the type of riding you do. Unfortunately, unlike the pros, we can't all have different tyres for different types of riding.
N
Nope, its the 'MAXXIS Mionion DHR II Tyre - EXO - TR' My bike came with Noby Nics (Trailstar up front and Pacestar on the rear). Its not a huge difference, but I have seen an improvement on some of my Up/Down Hill Strava times.
Nope, its the 'MAXXIS Mionion DHR II Tyre - EXO - TR' My bike came with Noby Nics (Trailstar up front and Pacestar on the rear). Its not a huge difference, but I have seen an improvement on some of my Up/Down Hill Strava times.
I used a Minion DHRII in the alps last year, held up fine.
Currently using an Ardent front and Minion SS rear. Really really surprised how much grip it has! My times down have gotten faster lately on the same trail and I just seem to grip every corner! I was running the DHRII on the front after the alps which was also pretty nice, not as fast as the Ardent though.
Nice video over on PB/Redbull.
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/riding-the-tatshenshini-video.html
about 3/4 of a hour, beautiful scenery, epic riding, and a nice story of some crusty old freeride goons meeting up with the current and new generation of freeriders out in the middle of the Canadian/Alaskan back country, the old passing of the torch.
I remember being in awe of Wade Simmons back in the mid/late 90's probably one of the first MTB idols i ever had, he influenced my riding so much in my early years.
Lost count of the times I watched this section on VHS before going out and riding.
https://www.pinkbike.com/video/2832/
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/riding-the-tatshenshini-video.html
about 3/4 of a hour, beautiful scenery, epic riding, and a nice story of some crusty old freeride goons meeting up with the current and new generation of freeriders out in the middle of the Canadian/Alaskan back country, the old passing of the torch.
I remember being in awe of Wade Simmons back in the mid/late 90's probably one of the first MTB idols i ever had, he influenced my riding so much in my early years.
Lost count of the times I watched this section on VHS before going out and riding.
https://www.pinkbike.com/video/2832/
Im looking to head upto the peaks this next week with me having a couple days off. Ive only ever rode there once before when I did Jacobs ladder loop clockwise from hayfields.
Im looking to do something different this time around. Can anyone recommend me a good days riding in the peaks with a bit of everything. Even better if you have a .gpx file of the route.
Many thanks
Im looking to do something different this time around. Can anyone recommend me a good days riding in the peaks with a bit of everything. Even better if you have a .gpx file of the route.
Many thanks