Help & Advice • Alpine Bikes

The corner – a simple bit of trail that seems to pop up everywhere. I suppose we need them. The Romans did many things right, but they wouldn’t have built the most interesting of trails would they. So, cornering. If it appears that often, and is the key to riding smoothly, maintaining speed and keeping the ‘flow’, then why is it so neglected and abused? In this quick article I’ll go over the basics of this fundamental, yet often overlooked skill and give you an idea of how you’ll benefit from coming to a Dirt School/ Alpine Bikes coaching course.

Although no corner looks the same, the same underlying principles need to be applied. In the picture above, first look at the riders body position. As you can see, he’s looking ahead. He’s dropped his outside foot and is keeping his upper body stable and facing down the trail. The correct body position is crucial. Start using your shoulders and you’ll reduce your stability with a high centre of gravity (COG). To help this, dropping the outside foot will further lower that COG and help increase grip and balance. Finally, looking ahead will give you plenty of time to react and set-up correctly for the incoming corner.

Finally, learn to brake in time. Looking ahead as previously mentioned will help this. Slowing up before and letting off the brakes through the turn will undoubtedly get you going faster and decrease your chances of crashing. You don’t see Lewis Hamilton jamming on the brakes mid-turn!

So there you have it - the fundamentals of cornering. Get yourself along to a Dirt School/ Alpine Bikes class and you’ll learn this and much, much more. Everyone can learn something.

Please visit the Dirt School page for more information and booking into a Dirt School class.

Generally speaking I'm not a big fan of trail centers. It sometimes feels like if you have ridden one then you have ridden them all. Singletrack is often a scaled down fire road and technical areas are nothing more than off camber corners. Laggan is different, It does have a large boring fire road to get access to the trails but after that you are rewarded with some real Scottish mountain bike terrain.

The red run has a nice flowing singletrack with a few challenging features to keep you on your toes. There is a great mixture of rooty/rocky high-speed corners and the views from the top of the climb are amazing. The end of the red run has some northshore style elevated trails which spit you out onto the beginners level jump park.

The black run is pretty challenging even for some experienced cyclists. It is constant rock gardens almost the whole way down and once you start there is no alternative "chicken" route. Some knee pads would be advised if you are not a confident rider. If you have never ridden at Laggan I would recommend it highly. If you have ridden the black run at Glentress and didn’t feel challenged then head up to laggan and you will be in for a treat!

There are showers and toilets in the car park and a café that does an excellent cheese scone.

For more information visit the Wolftrax website

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A Lengthy drive from Glasgow, Glencoe isn't a commonly visited place by me but is one of my favourites. A couple of hours drive will eventually see you on the A82 heading towards Glencoe Village. Parking before the road descent towards Glencoe (Altnafeadh (GR 221563)) A small track at a patch of forrest beside the main road is the start at will soon see you grinding a granny gear towards the start of the staircase. The path is an old Military road and switches from side to side as it snakes up the hill. Cue lots of pushing/carrying till you hit the cairn at the top. The views here are awesome spanning East and West.

Once at the top and after the obligatory photo and food stop, wrap up well. This is the start of the descent. Super technical and very challenging (rigid fork users can be crowned as both heros and fools), multiple water runs help add to the difficulty as you lift off and aim for the next corner. Pinch flats are common so running tubeless helps as will running your tyre pressures as hard as you dare. Full suspension helps both in comfort and control especially on long technical descents such as this ( 29ers work too!)

The Devils Staircase descent lasts roughly 5 intense miles and snakes its way down the other side intersected by river splashes and bridges. For the weak legged and hungover amongst the group a pumping station at the start of a fire road section provides a shortcut down to Kinlochleven. For the more inquisitive, a prod around the pumping station will find the pipe road which heads directly up to the Blackwater reservoir. This concrete pipe road slowly rises you up through the valley with tremendous views and scary drops each side at points. Bring a camera. Eventually you find yourself being spat out at the foot of the Blackwater dam signalling the head of the valley.

Either crossing the front of the dam or crossing at the top you can pick up the next trail head almost directly in front of the security gate on the far side of the dam. This winds its way through year round bogs and eventually follows a river bed down the side of the valley once again aiming towards Kinlochleven. This trail carries on from where the Devils Staircase leaves off and provides a very technical, very tiring trail which can chew you up and spit you out. If you master the trail it provides a good hour of descending back towards Kinlochleven and a real sense of achievement. The trail eventually ends in the heart of Kinlockleven itself where the Ice Factory, a local climbing and activity centre, provides toilets to clean up and change in and that all important pub. From here there are two options. 1. A 15 miles road ride back to the car on the main road OR 2. Have a sneakily placed car in Kinlochleven itself to save those boring miles. The road itself involves two big climbs.

This can turn into a long day so make sure you have a big capacity camelback with a good first aid kit, plenty of energy food and fully operational bike. This ride will eat brake pads, tyres, tubes and rims. Did I mention tubes? Bring spares. Lots.

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“We've just finished building 1.7km of new red singletrack descent on the XC Route. The first new section (1.2km) comes after the Minch Moor descent and is packed full of jumps, berms and cheeky rock features. It will be open on Thu 20 March in time for Easter weekend. This section will replace the 'natural' loop back up and down the Minch Moor and link straight into the 'Enduro Track'.

The other new section, named Oh Deer!, is open now and provides an easier red-graded alternative to the hardest section on Plora Craig. There are still several rock sections to keep you on your toes!

With the addition of these new sections and tweaks to the more trickier sections of Stell Burn Climb, we are now able to convert the whole route to red grade, making the Innerleithen XC Route a great alternative to the Red Route at Glentress. Waymarking conversions and adjustments to the climb should be completed by the end of April, and updated maps are at the printers as we write.”

This press release from the Forestry Commission/7stanes is what we have been waiting for at the newest Alpine store at Innerleithen. As these are our local trails I felt I had to find out if the changes are any good,

After you have ridden the initial descent off the top of Minch Moor, You hit the first section of new trail. This is an excellent combination of jumps, berms, rock causeways, drop offs and stepdowns. For those among us who prefer wheels on the ground, all these sections can be easily ridden without getting airborne. At the moment the trail is quite loose surface, which can make for some interesting high speed slides though the corners. After 1.2km you join up with the old trail which takes you back down to the forest road, and the short uphill stretch to the Plora Craig section. Here is where the other work has gone on, in building red graded alternatives to the more technical sections of the descent. These new red sections follow a similar theme to the new parts of trail that you have just come down, off the back of Minch Moor.

When I rode this The Forestry hadn’t quite finished all the signage, so it made for some interesting riding thinking I was on a red section when in-fact it was black and vice versa. After this the trail is unchanged and finishes as normal with the high speed descent down Caddon Bank back to the start. Overall I would say that the changes are well worth it. Innerleithen has for a long time been overlooked by many riders because of it’s reputation for steep, technical DH riding. The changes will make the route here more accessible for a lot of riders who would otherwise simply default to Glentress. Come down and see what Innerleithen has to offer, I can guarantee you won’t regret it.

P.S. Signage according to the local MTB ranger should be finished by late April. Trail maps are available in the shop at Innerleithen; the updated ones should be with us shortly.

For more information visit the 7 stanes website

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7 Stanes – www.7stanes.gov.uk

Big country riding, rolling hills, views to die for and mile upon mile of technical singletrack – it's all here in the south of Scotland.

Come and spend a while in Scotland's biking heaven!

Moray Monster Trails - www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-6MRFE5

With 30km of fun-packed singletrack mountain bike routes, there’s something here to feed the monster in everyone!

Whether you’re totally new to off-road mountain biking, or a seriously expert rider looking for big thrills, there’s a trail here that’s just right for you, from easy green-graded tracks to severe black-grade trails.

Learnie Red Rock - www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-6NZE9W

The Red Rock trails at Learnie: 16km of trails for all skill levels, combined with some of the best views from any mountain bike trails, anywhere!

There are green, blue, and black graded trails, with a bike park and a dirt jump area (both graded orange). Even our green grade singletrack is not 'billiard table' smooth - it gives a sufficient challenge for those wanting more than just forest road-type mountain biking.

Golspie Wildcat Trails – www.highlandwildcat.com

Expecting to become one of the best mountain biking destinations in the UK, the first £0.5 million phase of Highland Wildcat Trails in Golspie was officially opened in November 2006 by Rhona Brankin, Forestry Minister in the Scottish Executive.

Located in a superb coastal location adjacent to the East Sutherland village of Golspie, within an hour's travelling time from Inverness via the A9, the trails have been designed and constructed to the highest standards

Drumlanrig Trails - www.drumlanrig.com

Since 2002 Drumlanrig has played host to the National Points Series and Scottish Cross Country Mountain Bike Championships. A Mountain Bike Trail was constructed for these events and is now way-marked for everyone to enjoy. The course is constantly evolving with new sections of singletrack being added to extend the overall distance and add to user enjoyment.

My favourite trails aren’t necessarily the buffest or the most technical - rather, its those that are most familiar, the ones I can pin every time, that I get the most out of.

I’ve been putting together loops on Pressendye for more than a decade, and I’ll never get bored of it- it’s steep, varied and the views are the best in Aberdeenshire. The ridge runs along the Deeside-Donside border, and is obvious on approach as a big whaleback on the skyline. People have lived here for thousands of years - the actual summit cairn sits on a bronze-age grave mound. But, it’s the recent influx of horse riders, dog walkers and mountain bikers that has led to the amount of riding here.

To attain the ridge you’ll have to be the kind of rider who’s about the ups as well as the downs. Get to the summit and there are various lines back down to the bottom, from easier fire roads to rocky, loose and eroded singletrack. All are as fast as you can handle- fast enough to leave enough time for another lap.

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Pitfichie Forest is situated on the B993 between Monymusk and Alford. A couple of miles out of Monymusk there is a right turn marked Whitehills Cycle Trails. Follow this road for about 0.5 miles to the Whitehills car park.

The forest has an excellent selection of trails for every level of rider. The Blue way marked trails are ideal for the beginner. At roughly 8.5 miles long they follow the lower edges of the forest round Cairn William and Pitfichie Hill, mainly on fire roads with easy climbs. The Red route is a fairly conservative red with drops and jumps small enough to be rolled at low speed for intermediate riders. This route takes you over the top of Cairn William Hill on some nice singletrack at a height of 448 feet. Some steep rocky sections and berms to help you maintain your speed on the descent.

The end of the Red route takes you to the foot of Pitfichie Hill; climb the 379 feet to the top and you’ll be at the start line of an official SDA downhill race course. This Track is really only suitable for experienced mountain bikers who want to try their hand at some of the most technical descending available to the North East. Knee pads and full face helmet are advised for this downhill course!

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One of my favourite road rides from Edinburgh is a loop out East through Portobello, Musselburgh to Aberlady then inland to North Berwick and back along the coast via Gullane. At approximately 40 miles, starting from the centre of Edinburgh, this route makes an excellent leisurely weekend ride or an ideal after-work blast, particularly in the summer.

Starting off along the A199 out of Edinburgh through Portobello and Musselburgh the roads can be fairly busy. Follow the B1348 along the coast through Preston Pans, Cockenzie (past the power station) and on to Aberlady. There is some beautiful scenery once you pass Port Seton, with the road running next to Seton, Gosford and Gullane sands. Aberlady is a picture-postcard village and it is here that I turn off the main road just before it goes through Gullane golf course, instead using a quiet inland route through rolling countryside. These virtually car-free country roads pass through the likes of West Fenton and Kingston en route to North Berwick, an ideal stop for a mid-ride break and perhaps even an ice-cream or two.

Heading West out of town along the A198 can be quite busy and is also often the moment when you realise that you have been benefiting from a tailwind up to now, as the prevailing wind is from the west or southwest. It’s a good idea to take a small detour and head through Dirleton, firstly because it takes you off the main road and also because Dirleton Castle is very impressive and well worth a look. From here you’ll soon be in Gullane. Leaving Gullane, with golf courses on either side of the road, you’re now virtually back in Aberlady and can retrace the original route back into Edinburgh. There are many excellent road rides out of Edinburgh. Spokes produce several excellent maps of the area which highlight recommended roads for cyclists and make planning an interesting route easy.

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Situated at the western end of the Ochils, Dumyat provides a fulfilling post work ride. Starting from Bridge of Allan, taking in Stirling University’s Joyce Dun walk up to a doorway in the boundary wall, you then climb on roads to the foot of the hill. It should be noted that this is a ride for the fit and competent, but is rewarding in the spectacular panoramic views of the area.

Riding on mainly grassy single track with short technical rock sections, it’s a slog on the way up to the 418 meters summit, but a blast on the way down. At the weekend you may encounter some walker traffic, so make sure you give them space and say ‘hi’ so you represent your fellow cyclists well.

There are many opportunities for refreshment in the area, my favourite being Corrieri’s Café, just up the road from the University. There you will find coffee and bike friendly staff, all you need after your jaunt.

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