superlight wrote:


WTF. It's sunny and warm here. What is wrong with some bloody co-operation from you Jocks?

Mr Incredulous wrote:

What can I say? The Scottish weather a bit like the Scots - unpredictable at best, expect anything!

I think I've managed to find a forecast that says it will be sunny in Glentress!
I'm just not sure which Glentress it it talking about.

www.meteovista.co.uk/Europe/United-Kingdom/Glentress/4411277

Well found James, a bit more like it - I'll pack the Hawaiian Tropic!

Baz, does the hotel have a pool?

www.meteovista.co.uk/Europe/United-Kingd...-Glentress/4411277/9

James wrote:

superlight wrote:

I do believe we've just been exposed to a little bit of programmer humour.

Oh how the hours must fly by. I bet you'd barely know they were working if you could see them.

Perhaps more relevant... www.meteovista.co.uk/Europe/United-Kingd...-Glentress/4411277/5

Mr Incredulous wrote:


The pool depends on how much it rains

Broke my phone, lost my numbers, so here's the plan if anyone wants to join us:

Leaving Epping at 6a.m. we are heading for Ae forest to ride the Ae line trail. looks great,with a freeride inspired final descent, total length 24k. It's 1.5 hours from Glentress, so anyone whose already up there and fancies coming, meet us there. It's 20mins off the A74(M) which makes it pretty much on route for those travelling up tomorrow

Bon voyage

Arrived we are the only guests in the hotel this weekend.
They have got us in a special selection of whiskey
The weather is bright sun. Mixed with sudden down pours and over cast
So a bit of every thing

The new bat man has just asked if stay open till 1 am on Friday and Saturday nights is ok


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That should have read bar man


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Are we talking Christian Bale?

Barry, sounds like you have been tasting those Whiskeys already.

Better not upset the bar man if Christian Bale is severing

Batman is severing?

Not like in Adam West's day!

"POW!", "BAM!", "ZONK!",

It is just my classic spelling. I did not fail my English O level 5 times for nothing

But the good news is they also stock the beer from the micro brewery down the road in the hotel bar

Barry

On draught?

Traquair House Brewery?

Is it the Bear Ale?

Ride report

We electric and. Baby blue twice then went up to the top of spooky wood and down the red route.
The trails we fast. But a bit wet as the surface is very hard.
The only I retesting bit was the pie run and mushroom pie which are very rooty and slippery in the damp conditions with summer tyres on

Mr Incredulous wrote:


Yes

onmybike365 wrote:

It sounds to me as though Sarah is a little confused Hannah! You know, in an Al Murry kind of way.

As far as I'm aware no-one is planning to cross any 'Old Dykes' or ride any 'Huge Bombholes' this weekend.
Although, as they say, 'What goes on tour stays on tour'.

Kaff can vouch for that can't she Tommy.

Come on, smile, you know you wanna.

Ok a weeee bit excited. Need to sleep as Ollie will be round at 6am. Can't sleep cos I'm excited. Arghhhhh hate the night before a bike trip! Maybe we should travel up the night before next time!

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk

Barry wrote:


Now I just need to enter that in to Google translator...............

@Slam (and Kaff)

The weather is looking sunny again today. But it looks cold out from the frost on the cars.
We plan to do the Black run this morning. Assuming the snows not too deep on the other side of the hill.

If you are Turing up to ride at glentress text us ( as phone reception is not good) and we will try to arrange to meet up


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I am here: tapatalk.com/map.php?zqn0lu

Great trip again guys.

Bazza, thanks for organising.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great trip, great crowd, freezing room. Thanks for organising Barry.

High attrition rate, two frames snapped, a couple of derailleurs bent, but most importantly one collar bone fractured , Sarah hope you heal quickly.

Safe drive home everyone who's still up there.

Superbike Si wrote:

Crikey, who snapped their frames?!

and speedy recovery Sarah!

I'm afraid my Tomac and Miles's Kona swing arms, have gone to the great XC loop in the sky.

"Damn you sticky out rocks and big holes". RIP

Still on the A1 ... After an excellent trip ... Glentress, innerleithen and Gisburn forest. Woweeeeee.

Best trip i've done yet and wanna come back this year if poss!

Thanks Barry for looking after us in Glentress, and to Mad martin in Gisburn.

Think my favourite was innerleithen!

Excellent Trip couldn't of had a better weather, trails or a group to ride with

Thanks Barry for sorting it all out. Can't wait for the next adventure

Thanks Barry for organising a cracking trip!

frames, mechs, bones - they were all cracking

Get well soon Sarah

Great trip everyone, despite the collarbone incident I had a really good time. Highlights for me were:
- Riding the "Shredder" at Ae
- The Gumball Rally past St. Marys Loch
- Blasting down Spooky Wood twice as fast as last year
- Sitting in the sun as everyone was coming back from Inners on Sunday and seeing everyone's happy faces and hearing how great it was

Thanks so much everyone for trying to take care of me - I know I'm not the easiest patient, and thanks for all the "heal quick" messages. I'm really ok, it's just a collarbone and it was my own fault. Next time I look at something and think to myself "I don't like the look of that" then maybe I'll think twice... maybe... I hope I wasn't too much of a lunatic between the crash and getting back to the hotel, I really can't remember anything about it and that worries me, just disregard any insane babblings.

Anyway, I'm bored of this collarbone thing already, enough! Right now I'm more upset about being in work with 80s hair wearing baggy clothes as I can't use my hairdrier properly or fit my arm in anything nice.

Take care everyone, see you soon I'm sure!

Sarah,

Sorry to hear your news. I can't imagine what it must be like to go to work with 80s hair and baggy clothes

superlight wrote:


I hope you have been able to sleep with your conscience Sze

Tommytank wrote:

Come on guys, the last thing anyone should be feeling is guilty because I can't ride my bike properly and have a missing sensibility chip. In fact I feel bad for putting a downer on everyone's weekend.

Like I said, enough with the collarbone, I'm so over it. Lets have some tales of perfect trails from the rest of you instead!

Not sure about the 80's baggy clothes. But I have a body that feels like its in it's 80's. Or older

So whos up for a return trip


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Again, again!

Thanks to Barry for organising such a great weekend, to Sam, to Martin and whoever else led (I couldn't usually see!), to Sze, Miles and others for moral support at the scary bits, and to everyone else for really great company. It mightn't seem like it but my confidence really grew a lot this weekend

I really enjoyed Ae, Glentress, Inners and Gisburn, but my favourite 40 minutes was surely my third run down the red at Glentress before breakfast on Monday with just Sam, bright sunshine and a couple of deer!

See you all on 5th May.

P.S. @Tom, I'm pretty sure Sarah knows Sze and I are full of admiration for her balls.

As for old dykes and giant bombholes, the least said about that the better methinks...

What a fantastic weekend. Big thanks to everyone for making it so memorable, especially Barry for his hard work organising and to Backsey for his endless enthusiasm and ability to wring yet another loop out of every day – so, so worth it.

Baz, sorry you had to leave early, hope all is as well as can be with your folks. Sarah, really hope you are on the mend soon. One day we might get to see you ride every day of the weekend!

Up at 4-45am on the Friday. Hawkeye and I made great time to get up to Ae by 11-15 and gradually the others joined us. We rode the red Ae Line Trail with The Edge and Omega Man trails my favourite.

I thought this was a good end to a long first day but Backsey had other plans so we set out in convoy for the mad rush along St Mary’s Loch, with Sarah forcing people and sheep off the road, to the Buzzard’s Nest at Glentress. To my shame, I was thinking of resting up but was told to man up and was fairly easily talked into a 1 hour (!) loop of the fantastic red trail through Spooky Wood, Super G, Mushroom Pie and the north shore and roots (Epping on steroids) of Magic Mushroom where at the bottom Sarah’s weekend took a turn for the worse on the drop-off.

We were all on such a high after the run down but seeing Sarah fall put a real dampener on it for all of us - I have to say she took it all so, so well. Big cojones! Accompanied by Sze and Hannah she walked back to the hotel where Linda did a great job in taking her to the local A&E.

A bit subdued we climbed back to the car park and down to the hotel to book into our rooms and take on a few Traquair’s before dinner. Si, TT and Johno arrived from the airport and we had a few more Traquair’s and an informal whisky tasting before heading to bed at about 1am – a long day!

Saturday saw an early start after a full Scottish breakfast. We rode the longish climb up to the Buzzards’s Nest with Barry and Backsey leading two groups. We headed off for a tilt at a mixed black and red route and started with another run at the Spooky Wood trail for those that had missed it the day before. Big cheesy grins all round and thankfully no casualties. We headed up again and this time extended the climb and carried on to the start of the black run which had some great edge of seat stuff on it. If you like steep, boulder strewn, 3 feet wide descents, a big drop to one side, then this is the place to come. I was laughing as I made my way down, it was intense but seriously enjoyable and I got to the bottom of Boundary Trail absolutely cream crackered but high as a kite.

Next was the aptly named Deliverance which was a long, fast, rocky, twisting and undulating downhill. I had my only big stack of the weekend at the bottom trying to jump a stream bed and it probably was a major contributor to my poor Hei Hei, which was never intended to put up with such punishment, snapping a swinging arm. Thinking about it later, I guess I got away luckily but at the time I was pissed off as I thought it was weekend over.

After a long walk up the Redemption climb the Guys and Gals did a great job with a Hannah spanner and a hundred cable ties trying to patch the bike up to get me back to base but it was a no go and I walked the hour back to the café, meeting Barry’s group on route.

I met Sarah inside and we compared our cracked frames over a pot of tea for two before everyone else joined us for a very well deserved lunch. Backsey was busily studying the trail map and hatched a plan to go out again for another run at the red trail after using his van as an uplift to the Buzzards Nest.

Johno was saving himself for the proper uplift day on Sunday and drove two van loads of bikes and people up to the car park. Sze, who’d looked in total shock when she arrived for lunch, decided not to go out again and offered me her lovely Canyon to ride (!) and we were away again.

This time it was Si's turn to suffer a frame failure after his rear mech snagged and ripped the hanger and part of the drop-out from the bike. Fandango and Backsey did a great job re-fitting the mech to an emergency hanger which left Si with a running bike but fewer gears available.

At the half way point, Backsey, Ray and Fandango headed up again and Si, Slam, Sam, TT, Hannah and I carried on down the final descent. TT had a stack on the very last section before the hotel which added some additional venting to his jacket. The beer in the bar after was heaven and as the evening progressed the number of people heading for an early bath grew – it was slightly un-MBRO35 like but as ever a few of us hung it out until midnight.

Sunday was the big one. The Innerleithen downhill uplift was booked for Si, Backsey, James, Slam, Johno and my roomy, Ray the Taxidermist. Ray woke early and made us tea – I think he was a bit nervous of what lay ahead of him. I gave him some calming words as he put on his shiny new full face and body armour. It’s always easy to wish someone else good luck when you are not planning to be doing what they are so with my “hope to, well maybe, err do you think we’ll see you later?” ringing in his ears they headed off to load bikes onto the sheep truck and the rest of us looked in trepidation at the start of the 9k climb of the XC red trail.

After a quick pep talk on the operation and fragility of its dropper seat post, Johno kindly loaned me his nice superlight for the day and we set off led by the fit Paul Fandango onto the initial upward zig zag. This first section, straight out of the car park, was probably the worst of the whole climb and was clearly not Ollie country as he was pushing already. I remember thinking that if it’s all like this we’ll never make it but as it got higher the gradient eased and it actually got bearable/enjoyable.

To break up the climb we had a play at a nice drop-off with Hannah running down the battery in TT’s video camera while she contemplated going for it. Typical of how she was all weekend, she made it eventually to big cheers from all.

After the next section of fire road we headed onto a nice technical, rocky climb that eventually took us through the tree-line and the sprinkle of snow up to the open moor. Emma had caught some of Rob’s uphill energy and was flying up, as was Sam, who made it without using his granny ring! It was a brilliant view back down to Innerleithen and the Tweed Valley. The next and final push saw us make the cairn that at 570 metres marks the top of the climb.

After a photo shoot and re-fuel we wrapped up against the cold for the descent which was just brilliant. The trail was fairly wide but had loads of swoopy berms and rocky drops to test you as you make your way down to the tree-line again. Ollie was now in his element and was flying downhill past the sign saying “Skids are for kids” and after a short section of fire road we dropped onto Plora Craig which was another great trail full of table tops, tight turns and rocky drops, eventually emerging onto the fire road which takes you to the top of the XC routes signature trail, Cadon Bank.

What a fantastic trail – probably my favourite ever. The sign at the top urges caution due to the three drop-offs, so we had a look and the third, for most of us, is big. Each one has a rocky chicken run down its edge and we rode those, which in themselves were really good fun.

The trail is 2k’s long and Hawkeye had ridden it before so I followed him all the way down, riding stuff I don’t think I’d have ever gone over if left to go down it on my own. The rollers near the bottom were huge and the rock chutes were all blind apart from the orange paint marking the tops. Just brilliant, we got to the bottom via a series of big berms, absolutely buzzing, and it was so good watching everyone safely hit the bottom with massive, ear to ear grins, not to mention the whoops and squeals from Sze that we could hear in amongst the trees before we saw her.

We celebrated in true MBRO35 fashion by going to the pub for refreshments while Paul Fandango, who was heading home straight after, went to the bottom of the climb to do it all again!

Sunday evening saw us say goodbye to a number of people including TT, Simon, Johno and Sarah whilst Barry, Chris, Adrian, Linda and co had all left earlier in the day. The hotel had a glut of Scottish steak and a load of us got a bargain sirloin for dinner. Over dinner we negotiated our plan for the next day and decided to head south to ride Gisburn Forest on our way home. Backsey, having not ridden the Innerleithen XC trail on the Sunday, arranged an early start for him and Ray to ride and be back for a late breakfast.

This plan seemed doomed when Olly, the hotel owner, arrived back a bit worse for wear from a few beers in the local and started pouring complementary single malts for the five of us still in the bar – it was a tough job but we coped with that and everything else he threw at us!

Monday morning we were all up fairly early. Backsey and Ray completed a miracle circuit of Innerleithen whilst Sam and Hannah did a quick loop of the red at Glentress. We finished breakfast and made the 3 hour drive down to Gisburn Forest for the last leg of our mini tour. Must admit that at the start I thought it was going to be a bit tame after what we’d been riding but no way was it. Although it doesn’t have the climbs of Scotland, the natural rocky singletrack, long runs of north shore and the brilliant high berms of Hully Gully made it all really worth the detour.

Having not got home until gone 9 last night I’m thinking that I should be feeling knackered but I‘m still really high from the weekend. It’ll probably hit me later in the week but it’ll have been worth it.

Thanks to everyone involved in making it such a good experience and for the weather gods who treated us so kindly all weekend. Thanks also to Hawkeye for his company there and back for the drive.

Epping Saturday on the singlespeed – hills, what hills? Hope the sun shines.

Superb report Miles, thank you! Just one minor correction: Sarah can't remember this but in the immediate aftermath of her collarbone-smashing crash she did not walk but RODE back down the mountain to the hotel with me and Sze! She kept saying 'thanks for coming down with me - did anyone take a photo? - thanks for coming down with me - did anyone take a photo?' over and over again even though we'd already answered! That and the broken helmet suggest she took a bit of a knock to the head too, poor thing.

Hi, sounds like a fantastic trip which I would have love to have gone on but if any of you have followed me down hill you would know it was not a good idea. So sorry to hear about your collar bone Sarah and hope to see you recovered and riding soon!! Jim

Barry - you were taking pictures on the trip - did you post them anywhere by any chance??

I must get round to , I will stick them up on face book soonish

'connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/168660091'

Coolio - just thought i might have missed em!

TT, you said you'd load yours up too.

yes as soon as i get back fro rugby tour

Finally got around to uploading a little bit of footage from the Innerleithen Downhill Day.

youtu.be/CnNPBNpmpAY

Unfortunately YouTube decided to converted it from glorious 1080HD to 360 fuzzy film.

This is what the first part looks like in 1080HD.

vimeo.com/user11476541/innerleithen-down...ld-run-part-1-120415