Reviews for Glentress Mountain Bike Trail Centre

Summary:
Fast and flowing, absolutely brilliant

Review:
During a 2 day trip to Peebles in March I rode this 16k trail first and loved just about every minute of it. Don't be put off thinking oh it's just a blue, having ridden plenty of locations all over the country I'd say this place is bordering on a red. There is plenty to keep you entertained and I would happily ride this place time and time again. All the climbs are rideable and I was constantly having a right laugh, I rated the blue above the Glentress red I fact! Shame the car park was £5 for all day.
I rode the Glentress red the same day after lunch and the Innerleithen red the next day before a 200 mile drive home so see my reviews for those venues too.

Summary:
Another Great Trail at Glentress

Review:
I love the Red so much that despite having biked at Glentress quite a bit I had never got round to doing the black. In truth I did not fancy biking it alone as you are a long way from the road if things go wrong up there so when my bike club ‘the Woolybacks’ touted a trip up there I jumped at the opportunity. I had definitely missed out as the black is another excellent trail to boost Glentress’s credentials as a top notch Mountain Biking Centre.

The black is not a great deal more technical than the red but is a lot more arduous. To be honest a 30 km trail climbing up to 600 metres at it highest point is always going to be hard work but the big climb (Tower Ride and Shieldgreen Kipps) really is a grind. One of the technology enthusiasts riding with us said the height gain in this section was 227 metres over 3.1 kilometres so if you ride all the way up you are doing well. After the shelter there is a brief respite as you descend Britney Spears then a mercifully short but sharp uphill to the mast which marks the 600 metre high point. You should take a minute or two at the mast to admire the view or more likely shelter from the rain, don more clothes and scoff a bar or two as we did. Whatever you do, you definitely owe it to yourself to be fresh for the next bit as there follows a peach of a descent down Shane McGowan and Leithen Door which must go on for 10 minutes or so all told. The trail is variously natural and armoured but all of it is quality. If you put your mind to pumping the trail and flowing you barely have to peddle during this whoop of a descent. In fact you mostly descend by stages until the bottom of the redemption climb at about 240 metres.

After Redemption there was a diversion in place which cut out probably the last 2 or 3 kilometres of the black but I will certainly be back to do the lot as soon as I can. I think as a thrill ride the descent to climb ratio of the red is hard to beat and you could blast round it in about 1 ½ hours. The black is realistically 4 hours or so and a more serious undertaking but I loved it.

Summary:
Great trail. Tough ups, long downs but Ewok Village is no more.

Review:
In the past few years I've managed to do this trail twice. It's not everyone's cup of tea with the climbs being so long and steep and some of the descents being a little white knuckle in places. I'd have done it more but it's no place for beginners so, visits to Glentress often take in the Red route instead which is much more do-able for the majority of riders. Some day I'll be able to do the whole thing, full-belt, no stopping and no pushing but, so far that bloody climb mentioned in the description is just enough to force me to take a breather. It's tough and long... and bumpy too. Be nice to do it more often so it's less of a shock to the system. Best effort has me knackered for days!

Like others have said. Ewok Village is no more. Dunno why. Just is. Still a great trail without it.

Summary:
nothing short of epic

Review:
best trail ive ever ridden cant say a bad word about it so well mantained. hub in forset and cafe are good. the only thing i would improve is maybe a 4x track but ther is enough to keep you occupied for hours and u just wanna go back and back

Summary:
Best ever!!!!

Review:
I've just completed this for the first time and have to say it's the best trail I've done to date.

The first climb up to Pennels Vennel is a steady snake through the forest, just to ease you in. Then once through the downhill of Pennels Vennel you start the long and pretty tough climb to the top of the mountain, the rest of the trail is pretty much downhill from here on in, starting with Spooky Wood, and this is just an awesome bit of single track, about 1.5km it just flies and flows so well.

More single track follows, culminating in Magic Mushroom which is another fast smooth, well flowing section.

All in all, fantastic route and well worth the visit. We came up from Manchester and did Drumlanrig and then Glentress red. Can't wait to come back - It will leave you smiling from ear to ear!