Cambusbarron – epic trails

August 14th, 2010 • 2 comments Mountainbiking
Tags: cambusbarron, dirt jumping, huck, local trails, stirlingshire, trails

I first saw the Cambusbarron on an mtbcut video. The trails looked amazing and it’s taken quite sometime to get it together and actually make the visit.

Myself and Spad rolled up mid-afternoon with little or no idea where the trails were, we knew there was a quarry and that was about it. We set off up towards the quarry to find a pretty imposing set of dirt jumps with wall rides, gaps and ever increasing amplitudes. Not much for the jumps, we set off in search of the singletrack. After a few bum steers into various other parts of quarry – which look like they’d make good climbing routes – we finally found the route up to the top. It’s a pretty severe climb although the actual height you reach is less than 200m it feels like more with the track being technical and demanding. On the way up, it’s easy to see how rewarding your descent will be with stunning natural sections and some immense man made jumps and berms. At the top there’s a choice of three different routes and after spending nearly 4 hours there we only managed to ride two of them. Infact we only rode one section twice, the sheer amount of possible routes in this small area of land in astounding. With everything from sweet natural singletrack to enormous man made hucks, the amount of variety here is vast, with a forest landscape of pine, birch and alder through tunnels of rhododendrons to the stark apocalyptic graffitied man made quarries. In the hours we spent bombing around the place we never tired of the trails even in an attempt to get back to the car we ended up finding more routes and jumps. It would certainly take a few more trips before we could get a feel for where to go and how to link it all up. Despite the small size of the area we were clapped out, climbing up the hill over and over again is wearing, it is steep and you certainly get a solid work out from the haste required to cram in another adrenalised descent.

This is a place that will make you a better rider in every respect, it will make you fitter, increase your skill and fill you with confidence, the possibility to stretch your ability to such a high level is something that I’ve only found in the high mountains or on DH specific routes. It must be noted this is not a trail centre, the trails are built and maintained by locals so it should be given the respect it deserves, you could do yourself a serious injury on a lot of the stuff here, they’re are no posts or markings to warn of the dangers and the work people have done building this place is humbling and inspiring.

Here’s the mtbcut video.

Milngavie, Mugdock – Trails of defamatory material.

November 3rd, 2009 • 2 comments Mountainbiking
Tags: glasgow, local trails, milngavie, mud, mugdock

Here’s the one half descent photo I got of Spad whilst sliding around the quagmire at our local trails. Was a foul day, but riding in the mud certainly sharpens your skills. We found some great new sections hidden deep in the trees, so hopefully I’ll get some time to find some more. To help in this quest I’ve found this nifty web page which combines OS maps and google maps in one app. Very usefull ; it’s possible to spot single track with the sattelite images. Check it out here.