Smashing the Stanes

Mountain biking has seen many changes over the years.  Back when I started 25 years ago it simply meant riding your bike off-road, mostly dragging my 5 gear Emmelle through bogs looking for 50 metres of rideable trail.  These days the proliferation of trail centres has made it all so easy, quick thrills for an impatient generation, X-Box biking, all the rewards with none of the efforts.  Is that a bad thing?  Hell no!  I'm a huge advocate of natural trails, their ever changing nature keeps you on your toes, weather affected, roots exposed forcing you to be better, but the trail centres have undeniably muscled in and to many people they are what mountain biking is all about.  I've ridden a few and been quietly impressed without being blown away but all along I've been waiting for my chance to visit the king of man made trails, Glentress. 

We'd been planning this for a while but never really knew whether it would come off as we decided to leave the ferry booking until we'd seen a good forecast and they've been rare of late.  We picked a weekend and the weather gods were extremely kind, all that remained was to sell a kidney to be able to afford the extortionate ferry cost and we were good to go.  The plan was simple, hit up Mabie, sleep in a lay-by and then burn up to Peebles for the long anticipated trip to Glentress.



Mabie was a great warm up, some good trails and a brilliant ending in the 15ft high berms of Descender Bender, but for me the highlight was definitely the ominously named 'Darkside'.  A 500 metre length of North Shore drops, step-ups and skinnies, all of which is a few feet off the floor and demands ultimate concentration and precision handling.  We started out tentative and rubbish but by the end (and 1.5 hrs for 500m must be some kind of slow record) we were fully tuned in and loving the challenge.  It's a totally different type of biking and made for a really refreshing change.

The plan was to make our way on to near Peebles but it turns out Mabie has a hotel bar and a quiet car park which is perfect for throwing up a post pint tent so we opted for not needing a designated driver!  Up and away early the next morning and straight to Peebles where Andy Mac provided the porridge to fuel the Glentress mission.

Spooky Woods was all we knew of Glentress' famous Red route and we were full of excitement as we completed the loooong climb up to the top of the forest.  The climb itself is interspersed with log rides and rock step-ups, keeping it interesting and taking your mind off the effort (other trail builders take note).  We knew that we'd earned a long descent but I still had no idea of just how good it could be.  Berms, drops, tabletops, wide and fast, tight and twisty, rooty, flowing and utterly utterly brilliant.  Genuinely the most fun I've had on a bike in years.  So good we did it again, and again and again and if we didn't have a return ferry to catch we'd have gone again!  4 laps of the red, some quality time in the freeride park and repeats of our favourite lines.  It was exhausting, smile inducing excellence.

A Spooky Woods berm

As a final note to the trip, Glentress was busy, really busy.  There were kids races on both Saturday and Sunday, all the car parks were full, the cafe and bike shop were doing a great trade, the freeride park had a continuous flow of young rippers and yet the trails were never packed, enough people to share a friendly chat with but not enough to hold us up or stifle our fun.  Every fifth car in Peebles had bikes attached and it was impossible not to see the hugely positive impact that biking has had on the local businesses, the town was buzzing, cafes and pubs full and lots of 'bikey' types spending lots of cash.  I really don't think many people in the Mournes have any idea just what a profound impact the new trails could have on the local area.  If the Rostrevor trails are designed right with a freeride park up near the Cloughmore car park (that ugly, clear felled section would be perfect) and really inventive use of the morphology (ie tabletops, optional drops, big berms) rather than simply a long singletrack loop then this could safeguard and expand tourism in the area exponentially.  Think £millions of extra income for the local area, BUT it's all in the design, that's what keeps people coming back.  Glentress makes a fortune, the other Stanes have possibly missed a bit of a trick.  Rostrevor has easy access to the major population centres, North and South, and bikers aren't shy about spending their money (just looking at the dozens of 5k+ bikes at Glentress demonstrates this).  Castlewellan has the perfect infrastructure and landscape for some incredible XC and family orientated trails, camping on site and the possibility of expansion and improvement of cafe facilities (bike shop and hire??).

We've waited a long time for these trails, I really hope they get them right.

Sermon over, fingers firmly crossed....