Glentress Trail Improvements – 7 Stanes on the move

Despite the mother of all headaches I managed to get out to Glentress for some cycling on Sunday morning.

When I say ‘cycling’ I really mean a slightly more controlled version of falling off, interspersed with bouts of rib cracking coughing fits and dizzy spells that made me think that someone had stuck the earth on an intergalactic see-saw. I’m not sure what leads me to think that getting out on the bike might offset the previous evening’s 10 pints, but any illusions of that are usually destroyed after the first climb and the onset of beer flavoured sweat…

Anyway, it wasn’t a total loss because my slow pace allowed me to have a good look at the new improvements that they’re currently building on the bottom section at the 7 Stanes’ Glentress. The initial climb has already been modified and opened to the public – the main changes being the introduction of a number of switchbacks which both lengthen and smooth out the old trail. The second part of the improvement seems bigger though and is basically an alternative final descent to Falla Brae. You enter the final section from the road as normal, but the trail splits only 50m or so in with the new section offering a Blue descent as opposed to the old trail which has been reclassified red.

The new trail is scheduled to open at the end of this month (April 2008). It’s a dead smooth surface with jumps a-plenty and some log-ride sidetracks, which all-in-all, looks really good fun. A nice alternative to the rooty, juddering section just beyond the turn-off on the red.

I’ll be out to see the full extent of the new alterations at the end of the month so I’ll post an update then and let you know if the new sections make the already world-class Glentress trail even better!

[tags]Glentress, 7 stanes, mountain bike, trail[/tags]