Cracking day oot. A bad start for Chiefy when he rolled his front tyre off the rim and taco'd it in the first 5 mins. Catching serious air off a huge jump in the quarry can have consequences.
The jump that claimed Kaiser's front wheel. And sock. Oooooft
After being scared witless by the size of some (well let's face it, all) of the dirt jumps, we made our way up above the quarry - we definitely took the wrong route up, what with assorted hike-a-bike and saddles getting caught in branches, but it was worth it when we got to the top of the hill. We followed our noses for a while on some nice singletrack, eventually doubling back on ourselves when we found ourselves back at the start looking down on the car park. A quick stop to consult the maps was in order, and a random direction picked.
This does not bode well for Aviemore next month
Followed some really fast track down for about a 1/3rd of a mile - really, really nice proper highlight of the ride, big smiles all around - Fast, but enough bits and bobs to keep you on your feet, and some nice air off assorted rocks. We hooked a right, continuing to follow our noses and ended up in a glade at the bottom of some serious north-shore. A quick hike up the hill hoping there wasn't anybody bombing down, and then back onto some wet track, again heading down, switching to the left and right sides to avoid the worst of the water and mud. We found a really nice section off to the left the main trail that led to...
Kaiser at bay and Keith winding it up for the 'wall of death'
Keith letting us all know which side he's going to fall off
A few hundred LBs of mince earlier today
Boardwalk Emmm-higher?
Wall of Death
The man knows no fear
Fleein'
Great little section this, with the wall ride, north-shore and berms (including a nicely concreted run in to one of the berms). We obviously spent ages here, fannying about, taking pictures and the pish. Great laugh. There's been a lot of effort put into the trails - absolutely outstanding if you've got the nuts for 15 foot gap jumps, etc. And it's still a great trail if you don't. We continued downwards and out of the forest and about half a mile of B-road until we hit the climb up for the North 3rd woods.
Keith kept us right, I think we definitely did the best of the trails here after a beast of a fire-road climb, including a lovely descent through the trees towards the cliff, and then the final (and best section) of the cliff ride itself. Superb flow, technical and rooty.
North 3rd cliff face trail
After that, it was back up towards Cambusbarron and some nobbing around in the moonscape of the big quarry. One final climb up to the Cambusbarron Woods, where thanks to my pish navigational skills we ran out time, with Clubby and Keith opting to head back to the cars. Myself and chiefy ploughed on, and did one more run through the nice north-shorey bit, and then skirted the woods anti-clockwise back to the car - muddy as feck in places, and I was pretty done in by the time we got back.
Like I said, brilliant day out and there are a quite a few more trails that we didn't get a look at. Plus I've found another alternate route down to the North/Middle 3rd woods that looks like its worth a look.
I'll be back.
The jump that claimed Kaiser's front wheel. And sock. Oooooft
After being scared witless by the size of some (well let's face it, all) of the dirt jumps, we made our way up above the quarry - we definitely took the wrong route up, what with assorted hike-a-bike and saddles getting caught in branches, but it was worth it when we got to the top of the hill. We followed our noses for a while on some nice singletrack, eventually doubling back on ourselves when we found ourselves back at the start looking down on the car park. A quick stop to consult the maps was in order, and a random direction picked.
This does not bode well for Aviemore next month
Followed some really fast track down for about a 1/3rd of a mile - really, really nice proper highlight of the ride, big smiles all around - Fast, but enough bits and bobs to keep you on your feet, and some nice air off assorted rocks. We hooked a right, continuing to follow our noses and ended up in a glade at the bottom of some serious north-shore. A quick hike up the hill hoping there wasn't anybody bombing down, and then back onto some wet track, again heading down, switching to the left and right sides to avoid the worst of the water and mud. We found a really nice section off to the left the main trail that led to...
Kaiser at bay and Keith winding it up for the 'wall of death'
Keith letting us all know which side he's going to fall off
A few hundred LBs of mince earlier today
Boardwalk Emmm-higher?
Wall of Death
The man knows no fear
Fleein'
Great little section this, with the wall ride, north-shore and berms (including a nicely concreted run in to one of the berms). We obviously spent ages here, fannying about, taking pictures and the pish. Great laugh. There's been a lot of effort put into the trails - absolutely outstanding if you've got the nuts for 15 foot gap jumps, etc. And it's still a great trail if you don't. We continued downwards and out of the forest and about half a mile of B-road until we hit the climb up for the North 3rd woods.
Keith kept us right, I think we definitely did the best of the trails here after a beast of a fire-road climb, including a lovely descent through the trees towards the cliff, and then the final (and best section) of the cliff ride itself. Superb flow, technical and rooty.
North 3rd cliff face trail
After that, it was back up towards Cambusbarron and some nobbing around in the moonscape of the big quarry. One final climb up to the Cambusbarron Woods, where thanks to my pish navigational skills we ran out time, with Clubby and Keith opting to head back to the cars. Myself and chiefy ploughed on, and did one more run through the nice north-shorey bit, and then skirted the woods anti-clockwise back to the car - muddy as feck in places, and I was pretty done in by the time we got back.
Like I said, brilliant day out and there are a quite a few more trails that we didn't get a look at. Plus I've found another alternate route down to the North/Middle 3rd woods that looks like its worth a look.
I'll be back.
