Glentress

The jewel in the crown of Scotland’s 7stanes network offers amazing riding, fantastic facilities and more great trails close by

After a week-long Scottish roadtrip, we’re feeling rather dishevelled by the time we pull up at our last stop, Glentress. Happily, we’ve managed to rope in former downhill and enduro world champ Tracy Moseley and rising star Martha Gill to guide us around its many trails. Arriving at the Buzzard’s Nest car park, the sun is shining and all is well – even the midgies haven’t come out to play yet.

Just as we’re all getting to the crucial bollockbaring phase of our getting-ready ritual, Martha pops into sight pulling a perfectly executed onehanded wheelie. When she comes over to introduce herself, the 20-year-old has the air of confidence that only someone with vast amounts of skill can get away with. Tracy is close behind, and we all feel a little bad for being semi-naked, disorganised and for having driven up to the car park when we could have given them a lift. Oops! Freestylin’ After a little more faffing, we pedal up the fireroad to the freeride park, just a short distance away. Its mega wallride is now closed but there are plenty of other features to play on, from jumps and drops to North Shore log rides and smaller wallrides. The jumps are well-built and perfect for beginners through to experts – it’s how you hit them that determines the kind of airtime you get and how technical they are. We take it in turns to get schooled by Tracy and Martha.

Moving on, we spot the new(ish) ‘Cool Runnings’ red section branching off to the right and follow Tracy and Martha down, pumping the ground to gain speed. The pace quickly picks up and we’re soon turning up the volume on our audible appreciation of the trail, shouting and whooping. It’s clear why it’s been given its name – with berm after berm, it feels like a bobsled run and urges you to test the limits of your tyres’ grip as you bank around the turns.

Next we head towards Spooky Wood. Arriving at the bottom of the climb, we pause for a moment.

With amazing views (and these aren’t even the best) across the Tweed Valley, Scotland is delivering the goods today. Then we realise that, in our hurry to get riding, we’ve left some of our kit in the middle of the car park. This sounds like the perfect excuse for some extra descending, so we hop off down the ‘Blue Velvet’ trail, which is impressively flowy, with perfectly-curved turns. Next up we hit ‘Berm Baby Berm’, which has even more lovingly-crafted corners and delivers us back to the Buzzard’s Nest.

Once everything’s securely locked inside the van, we blast back up the fireroad and then winch our way up the switchbacks of the Spooky Wood climb. At the top, we venture off the red loop so Tracy can show us a twisting track through the trees that was used for the Enduro World Series in 2015. It’s littered

with loose rocks that are just itching to rip your rear mech off! Then it’s time to head back up and smash the infamous Spooky Wood downhill.

Turn after turn and jump after jump, the trail winds its way down the hillside. And this is just the first in a series of descents! As we continue on down, Tracy and Martha take some pretty spectacular lines on Super G, Hit-Squad Hill, Pie Run and Magic Mushroom. Martha’s finding jumps that shouldn’t be there and taking inside lines that would make a rally driver proud. Tracy is flat out leading us down the trail – her bike skills and commitment make it seem effortless.

The weather has become cooler and damper, and as we make our way back to the van, midge survival mode kicks in. We get changed quicker than a rat up a drainpipe and batten down the hatches. Glentress has plenty more to offer, though – and that’s without taking into account the ‘secret’ trails in the forest and the waymarked routes and DH tracks down the road in Innerleithen. We’ll definitely be back soon – this place is a great reminder of just how fun and varied trail centre riding can be.