Posts Tagged ‘Fort William’
Mountain Bike World Cup series kicks off this weekend
The mountain biking UCI world cup kicks off this weekend at Dalby Forest in North Yorkshire, England. The competition will include six rounds for each of the three disciplines (cross country, downhill and four-cross) and will take place at nine venues in eight countries.
Dalby Forest is a new venue for the world series and hosts a cross country round on April 24-25. The UK will therefore host two world cup rounds, including the Fort William event on June 5-6.
Check out some of the downhill and freeride conditions in this video from POPPYCAT2495 which was made in 2008.
After a five year absence, the world cup will also return to the US in 2010. A ski resort in Windham, New York, which has hosted a round of the US national series, will host a triple event, featuring cross country, downhill and four cross. The event will take place on August 28-29, a few days before the World Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada
Other stops will include Houffalize, Belgium; Offenburg, Germany; Fort William, UK; Schladming, Austria; Champéry, Switzerland; and Val di Sole, Italy. The latter is new to the World Cup calendar, but hosted the World Championships in 2008.
2010 World Mountain Bike Calendar
- April 24-25: World Cup XCO #1, Dalby Forest, Great Britain
- May 1-2: World Cup XCO #2 & 4X #1, Houffalize, Belgium
- May 15-16: World Cup DHI #1 & 4X #2, Maribor, Slovenia
- May 22-23: World Cup XCO #3, Offenburg, Germany
- June 5-6: World Cup DHI #2 & 4X #3, Fort William Great Britain
- June 19-20: World Cup DHI #3 & 4X #4, Schladming, Austria
- June 7-10: European Continental Championships, Haifa, Israel
- July 17-18: National Championships Weekend
- July 24-25: World Cup XCO #4 and DHI #4, Champéry, Switzerland
- July 31 – August 1: World Cup XCO #5, DHI #5 and 4X #5, Val di Sole, Italy
- August 8: World Marathon Championships, St. Wendel, Germany
- August 28-29: World Cup XCO #5, DHI #6, and 4X #6, Windham, New York, USA
- August 31 – September 5: World XCO, DHI & 4X Championships, Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada
There are over 100 teams competing in this years championships representing 17 different countries. The competition is going to be very tough with the likes of Sam Hill, Steve Peat, Greg Minnaar, Christoph Sauser, Julien Absalon and Gee Atherton all likely to compete.
The video below from onedarklord shows some of the action from the 2009 World Cup downhill which was held at Canberra in Australia and won by Steve Peat.
Where to go mountain biking in Scotland, England and Wales
The other day we referred to XC, freeride and downhill as the three main genres of mountain biking and so thought it would be useful if you were pointed in the right direction of where to go. Almost all trail centres – the hub of mountain biking activity in a certain area will cater for all standards with trails emanating fron the centre to varying degrees of difficulty.
However it is always worth ringing the centre first or going on line to check the up to date info on what is going on and where, whether some trails or areas are closed and to determine the level of difficulty of that centre’s trails. It is always disappointing and frustrating to drive an hour or so to a certain centre only to discover it is not what you were expecting.
Below with the help of the Independent’s Activity and Adventure section are some suggestions of where you might go in Scotland, England and Wales to find the best mountain biking centres in each country. I have added some action from each area to give you a taste of what you might expect.
Scotland
Fort William in Scotland (01397 705 821; ridefortwilliam.co.uk), has a visitor centre, cafés, restaurants, freestyle trails, some fantastic XC riding and a World Cup downhill course. The Fort William site is free to use if you fancy walking or pedalling, or you can buy a day pass for the gondola ski lift for £19 per day to gain altitude and potential energy and enjoy the descent all the more.
Also in Scotland, try one of the fantastic Seven Stanes areas – a conglomerate of trail centres all to the south of Edinburgh and Glasgow that share a great website and are all managed by the Forestry Commission (01387 272 440; 7stanes.gov.uk).
Of all the Seven Stanes areas, the perfect family weekend is to be found by heading to the almost twinned centres of Glentress and Innerleithen. Glentress is brilliant for families with a great atmosphere, breathtaking views and fun terrain including the rock drops and berms of Spooky Wood, and wooden beams and obstacle tests at Ewok Village. Again, the trails are wellmarked, with kilometre pointers so you can judge how far from the café and car park you wish to ride.
Innerleithen is the spot for some more progressive downhill riding, although there is still some great riding for those just coming into the sport. There is a minibus ferrying riders to the top of the mountain (but only on certain days, so check upliftscotland.com). To hire equipment for either trail centre, or for tuition, go to The Hub in the Forest in Peebles (01721 721 736; thehubintheforest.co.uk), while the bike-friendly Tontine Hotel (01721 720 892; tontinehotel.com), also in Peebles, has a power-wash area and secure bike storage.
Thanks to bealach for the video.
England
The north-west of England has the fantastic XC centre of Stainburn (singletraction.org.uk), just outside Bradford. A little further east lies Dalby Forest and Pace Bikepark (forestry.gov.uk/england-cycling), perfect for both XC and freestyle riders with a newly built visitor centre and the Purple Mountain Bike Centre (01751 460011; purplemountain.co.uk) – a combined café and bike hire and repair shop. And of course, the Lake District is superb to explore. For first-timers, Grizedale Mountain Bikes in Ambleside (01229 860 369; grizedalemountainbikes.co.uk) hires decent equipment and is a great source of local information, or if you already have a bike, simply pick up a free trail map from the Grizedale Forest visitor centre.
Bristol, Cardiff and the Southwest have Blandford Freeride Park in Dorset (07881 571 069; ukbikepark.com), which is home to some fantastic downhill trails as well as an army-style truck and bike rack trailer to service them.
The South-east is equally blessed. Aston Hill (01296 625 825; rideastonhill.co.uk) in Buckinghamshire has downhill, XC and freeride obstacles, Esher Shore in Surrey (01372 476 969; eshershore.com) has some of the UK’s best freeriding, and Penshurst in Kent (01892 870 136) is home to a terrific bikepark (an area specifically designed with obstacles, jumps and balancing tests) and some small but fun downhill trails. For those in the Midlands, Cannock Chase (01785 619619; chasetrails.co.uk) is a well-marked site and perfect for families, while Hopton Castle in Shropshire has fantastic downhill and an uphill lift service – again, a minibus pulling a bike trailer – provided by Pearce Cycles in nearby Ludlow (01584 879 288; pearcecycles.co.uk).
Thanks to POPPYCAT2495 for the video.
Wales
South Wales has some superb trail centres, such as Afan (01639 851 900; mtbwales.com) – considered to be one of the foremost mountain bike centres in the UK – and Coed Y Brenin (01341 440 742; parcnet.com) where a new £1.6m visitors’ centre welcomes bikers. Cwmcarn (01633 614 615; mtbwales.com) is one of the UK’s most accessible trail centres. You can hire through martynashfieldcycles.co.uk), and the trails themselves feature fantastic XC, downhill and freeriding for all abilities. The area is well marked, so you’re unlikely to get lost, and there’s a trailer service to lug your bike uphill for £22 per day per person (book through cwmdown.co.uk). For bike-friendly accommodation, try the Coed Mamgu Guest House (01495 270 747) just underneath the trails.
Thanks to robmanns2000 for the video.
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Coast to coast on a mountain bike.
This great tale of a mountain biking adventure is brought to you by Rob Penn from The Guardian – it sounds like the kind of journey that you have to do to be able to call yourself a ‘mountain biker’. Pictured below is Rob at the head of Glen Cairn.
‘I have found a new place for my ashes to be scattered. It’s in heart of the Highlands, on the north-south watershed in the Cairngorms, at a glacial T-junction looking up towards the central massif. Such places may abound in the Australian Outback and Alaska, but on our busy little island they are rare. And this one’s a gem. The grid reference is NJ193026. Go there as soon as you can.
It’s not easy to get to, of course. Antony, Dave, Spencer and I arrived there under a lowering sky after two hard days in the saddle. We were a third of the way into a 200-mile, off-road, mountain biking ride from the North Sea to the Atlantic, across the broad waist of Scotland, an adventure billed by the influential American magazine Outside as one of its ‘10 trips of a lifetime’.
The Scottish coast-to-coast is an epic and deserves respect. We had assiduously planned our four-day ride from Aberdeen to Fort William following disused railway lines, Land Rover tracks, medieval drovers’ routes, forest footpaths, 18th-century military roads, canal towpaths and, inevitably, sections of road. We had carefully chosen the time of year (mid-May), plotted the route on a stack of OS maps, booked accommodation, serviced our bikes, bought the right kit and trained.
On the first morning, we sped out of Aberdeen along the old Deeside railway, lined with electric yellow broom. At Banchory, we crossed the tan-brown river Dee in sunshine. Climbing beside the Water of Feugh, we caught the first glimpses of the dark, heather-clad hills, burnt-back with rectangular shapes like a Rothko painting. The world seemed right; our progress was good.
But climbing into the Birse forest, there was a metallic crunch and Spencer’s bike stopped dead. The damage – a mangled chain and a shorn mech hanger – was beyond our limited tool kit. Salvation, however, came in the form of Moira Gray, a shepherd’s wife, who drove home to pick up the very tool we lacked. ‘Ah remember be-ann stuck ah Glenshee un a snowstorm wi’oot a chain tool,’ she said in her delightful brogue. ‘An ah heed ta help ya oot.’
But we were papering over cracks, and limping over the Hill of Duchery on the ‘Fungle Road’, an ancient drovers’ thoroughfare connecting Deeside with Glen Esk in Aberdeenshire, the bike seized again.
Next morning, the chef at the Loch Kinord Hotel drove Spencer into Ballater with the crippled bike. At Cyclehighlands, the excellent shop on the town square, Richard did his best, without success. He was, however, so keen for us continue on our adventure, he agreed to rent us a bike and drive to Fort William to collect it.
By midday, we were heading up Glen Gairn into the mountains. The gentrified scenery of the Dee valley gave way to rough farmland, stone walls and granite cottages with antlers above the porches. Beside the humpback bridge at Gairnshiel, we turned north-west onto the moors, passing flocks of plovers, curlews and oystercatchers on the flats beside the peaty river. Lapwings with their conspicuous, wavering flight, flapped and ducked overhead. Further up the glen, the air was filled with the liquid song of skylarks, and approaching Corndavon bothy we put up the first grouse: the plump, slightly comical bird sprang from the heather beside the track and wheeled away from us, cackling.
After two days of almost unbroken sunshine, the sky darkened as we neared the snow-dappled mountains. ‘This is big country,’ Dave said tremulously, at the confluence of Glens Gairn and Builg, where I would like my ashes to be scattered. On the footpath past Loch Builg, a section that tested our riding skills, the first pellets of rain began to fall. Descending steep-sided Glen Builg, the intensity redoubled and roared back and forth across the Builg burn; we were soon soaked. At Inchrory, a grand Highland stalking lodge above the river Avon, the track improved dramatically and, with the scent of a pub apparent, we tore through the last eight miles to Tomintoul.
Grey skies, stiff bodies and perhaps a dram too many made for a slow start on day three. Snipe zigzagged out of the rushes as we struggled across a bog to reach the river in Glen Brown, but the avian highlight was passing through a picturesque rock-cleavage in the delightfully named Braes of Abernethy. Dave and I were waiting in the heather when a golden eagle with a 2m wingspan wafted silently overhead. It was an electrifying sight.
Descending from the braes, we made our way into a stand of Caledonian pine forest. The like covered most of Scotland at the end of the last Ice Age; less than 1 per cent remains. This landscape of scattered birch, rowan, juniper and statuesque Scots pines has a profound sense of antiquity. ‘You half expect to see a grey wolf bounding up the hill,’ Spencer said.
Hunched over our bikes, we hurtled down the track past Ryvoan bothy into the Rothiemurchus forest. Increasingly confident in our mountain biking skills, we negotiated the fine mix of single-track and forest rides to reach the river Spey as the lights illuminating the Ruthven Barracks by Kingussie began to glow.
Our last day was always going to be a struggle – 70-plus miles, crossing the Monadhliath mountains via the 750m Corrieyairack Pass. The Hermitage Guesthouse set us up with a mighty breakfast and the first 20 miles, following the Spey through Newtownmore and Laggan, were a good warm-up.
The English General Wade built the road in 1731 as part of a grand scheme to suppress Jacobite rebellion in the Highlands with troop mobility and good communications. It didn’t work, of course – the Jacobites rose again in 1745 and, ironically, passed this way.
Yet Wade’s roads are enduring feats of engineering, expertly tracing the contours of the land, and they’re as busy today with walkers and mountain bikers as they were with English soldiers 250 years ago.
Evans Cycles had generously leant us bikes for the ride, to assess whether a full-suspension or a hard-tail (front suspension only) was most suitable. On the long, tough ascent to the Corrieyairack Pass, much of it pushing the steeds amid patches of thick snow, we concluded that the lighter, hard-tail bikes were ideal for a multi-day adventure in Scotland. We gave the bikes, and our back teeth, a rattling on the hour-long belter of a descent from the pass down to Fort Augustus in the Great Glen.
As we reached Loch Oich, the sun was waning slowly, like us. We had three hours to cycle 30 miles to reach Fort William and catch the Caledonian Sleeper. As lambent light filled the glen, we raced beneath Ben Nevis, dreaming of being lulled to sleep by the ‘ta-dum, ta-dum’ of the lolloping train.’
Essentials
Wilderness Scotland (0131 625 6635; wildernessscotland.com) runs seven-day guided and supported coast-to-coast trips, from Aberdeen to the tip of the Ardnamurchan peninsula.
First ScotRail (08457 55 00 33 ; firstgroup.com/scotrail) operates a daily sleeper from Fort William to London Euston; one-way ‘Bargain Berth’ tickets, booked in advance, cost from £19.
The Hermitage Guesthouse in Kingussie (01540 662137; thehermitage.clara.net) has five en-suite bedrooms and serves a great cyclists’ breakfast (from £28 per person).