Glentress

No mountain Biking website would be complete without the addition of Glentress. probably one of the most well known, and certainly the most popular of all the mountain biking centres in the UK. Its reputation and popularity are well deserved and it is a great place to build your skills, work on your fitness and meet people. Most of all though, the down hills will have you grinning from ear to ear, in particular the red route.

The Blue Route 14km, 60% single-track, an excellent place to learn some of the skills of mountain biking, with some nice easy single-track, little or no rocks, some tree routes to contend with, Most bikers bypass this and go straight to the red route, but if you are not confident about trying this, or have kids, and want some quieter trails to learn on then this is your route

The Red Route 17km (approx 10.5 miles) Time 1hr 20mins to 3 hours. Terrain 65% single-track, some rocky sections, plenty of tree routes which can catch you out in the wet, lots of hill climbing.

I have done this somewhere between 50 and 100 times over the last 4 years since the top section (spooky wood) was completed and I never tire of it. One of the great qualities of this route is you get almost all the hill climbing sections over and done with as you ascend to the summit at the start of spooky wood section (nothing spooky about it) and then the fun really begins. it stats with a little rock step which you can either rollover, or you can take a run over it, followed by another rocky drop-off which you can go around, and this is as difficult as it gets. the wide banked curves (berms) let you build up and maintain speed while the tabletop jumps can again be rolled over or you can try and get "some air".  By the end of the few minutes on this section you will feel every muscle in your body ache - your legs from pedalling to keep up the speed, your shoulders and sides from banking into each turn, your forearms from pulling on the brakes to keep the speed down, and your facial muscles from grinning from ear to ear.

A quick break to catch your breath, then its another downhill section. This time the trail goes from smooth hardcore base to something a little less refined, tree routes. some loose stones, curves which are not banked up for you and so on. But by this time your confidence is writing cheques your body is just urging to cash and you will find now you are relaxed  - so much so that the bike just flows though these sections.

All too quickly you find yourself almost at the bottom of the hill, and then a fire track takes you back on a short, (but it doesnt feel it by this time) ascent to some more downhill and you undulate and bend your way back to the car. Tired, muddy (if its wet) and bursting to tell your mates about how you tackled that jump, "did you see me almost wipe-out on ....". But most of all feeling good about yourself - probably the best part of 500 calories lighter, happy and pleasantly tired.

The Black Route 29km, 75% single-track

A mile or so up the hill you depart the red route just after the osprey car park and suddenly it all goes quiet. The teaming hordes head up the red route. However you have a little bit of downhill, which makes it all the harder to turn back. its quiet because the junction between red and black separates the men from the boys. Very quickly you notice a change in the terrain. Its a lot less like someone has gone over the track with a road roller, and more like someone has thrown a few rocks down into the mud and said "hey presto. a track" [apologies trail builders]

yet there is something ruggedly real about those tracks, they feel like you are cycling in the real countryside, not along a manufactured trail. There are rocks to slow you down and puncture your tyres (there is a good chance - approx 50% by my past experience of you getting at least one pinch puncture along the black trail, so take a spare inner tube and repair kit) The first half is not particularly difficult technically, there is nothing particularly steep, nothing that even someone with a few hours experience on a bike couldn't get down. What is hard is its remoteness, the likelihood of needing to do repairs and the fact that the terrain is not smooth and manufactured and the climbs.. these will sap the lifeblood out of your will to carry on. its not just that they are hard arduous climbs, its that they just seem never ending because its not as though you can see the cairn at the top. they twist, turn, go down a little then back up....

However eventually you come to a pylon at the top of the hill next to a little building. unfortunately its not a bar. although by this time a pint seems on the cards. A wide landrover track lets you catch your breath as it descends for a short distance. (note by now if you are feeling absolutely knackered/major mechanical probs follow the landrover track as it goes down into the forest and it brings you to spooky wood trail - from here you can literally freewheel back to the hub)

If, however, you decide to go on...

At the end of the landrover track the trail narrows and goes straight on (turn right for red route) it becomes increasingly stony and rocky, and then some seriously good downhill commences which takes you down into a different valley, this descent is nothing short of awesome; it's is rocky (nothing particularly difficult, no drop offs, no tree routes, not muddy in the wet)  just bendy, with some very steep sides should you decide to fall off, and big grins. it flattens out for a little before a very fast decent further down into the valley. You even get to ride Britney Spears (see trail map). (its no wonder her hair fell out) Now I hope you have some energy left, because the ascent, known as "deliverance" begins. this will eventually deliver you to the top of the hill, but not before it delivers you to the pain barrier and to a period of soul searching...why the f**k am i not sitting at home watching the grand Prix etc etc)  and into the final ascent of redemption - "Oh Lord I repent of all my sins, please let the uphill end"

On the other side eventually you meet up and criss-cross the red route. you can do all the wooden structures on the way down if you want (in ancient times these were considered tools of torture - here they are called Ewock village). some 3 hours after you will be back at the car. its not so much the grin factor of the red route, just the grim factor, of every muscles in my body hurt so much....