Blog
Freeride Junkie - Glentress Trip - New Wall Ride
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
We usually try to get up to the 7 Staines riding areas at least a couple of times a year. Earlier in the year we visited Mabie and rode the awesome Kona Darkside trail. This time round though we loaded up our hardtails on Monday morning and headed for Glentress for a couple of days play in the Freeride Park.
After a 7am start from Manchester we arrived at Glentress around 11am and after getting a caffine hit from a couple of cans of IRN BRU we were ready to hit the slope. The weather was dry but looking threatening so we decided we'd better take advantage and session the wall rides early doors. This proved the right move as an hour later the showers came in! You've always got to take advantage when the walls are dry as you don't come across sweet double wall rides like these every day.
After our session on the wall rides we moved up to the table tops at the top of the park. As always these were in great shape and rode well. We sessioned the first 7 jumps for a while and then moved onto the two below. These two don't seem to be hit that often which is probably because the second one was has a nasty habit of sending you over the bars if your not careful. Luckily we knew this to be the case and after a couple of runs we had them dialled...although Paul did get a bit of a fright when he over cooked it a little.
The rain cleared up later in the day and the sun even came out so we took advantage and stayed on the bikes sessioning the rest of the park until about 6.30pm. Before leaving we had a final look at the huge 'wall of death' wall ride that they are currently building as it would have dried up nicely but alas the yellow jackets were still there so a sneaky preview ride was denied.
Tuesday started dry and so after a full Scottish breakfast we headed up to the Buzzards car park ready for another day of riding. Unfortunately just as we got our gear on it started raining again...that fine rain that soaks you through. No big deal though - Glentress is pretty much all weather - even with slick Ringworm tyres on!
After sessioning the park for a while we decided that we couldn't come to Glentress and not ride Spooky Woods. So after recruiting a couple of other dudes we all pushed up the short cut to the high point of the red route and the start of the one mile long Spooky Wood singletrack descent with it's three steep drops, twelve 180-degree bermed bends, 18 jumps and 17 tabletops. As usual, it was every bit as good as I remembered - and just as tiring!
After spooky woods the trail just carried on descending until eventually arriving at the entrance to a trail that was new last time I was here - The Pie Run. This is a short piece of singletrack that is very tight rooty but very flowing if you get it right. It even has a small north shore ladder drop which has a tight but super smooth landing. Needless to say we ran this trail a couple of times as it is just so good - and only has a short push up.
After the Pie Run we hit Magic Mushroom and then pushed back up the fire roads to the top of the Freeride Park. By now the rain had stopped and the trails had dried up nicely so we sessioned the table tops for a short while then hit the ladder drop and wall rides on the way down for the last time.
From the car park it was then a nice mellow run down the Electric Blue trail with its endless tables and step ups back to the bike wash at the Hub car park. This was the first time I had done this section of trail as I usually opt for the black route but this is far better as even though it's a blue graded trail each launch has a steeper option to the side of it with super smooth landings every time - deffinately one of my new favourate trails. Now how many times did I say that these last two days...
For more info on Glentress visit www.thehubintheforest.co.uk
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