Well not quite, but a week after the event, our recent trip to the Seven Staines is still fresh in my mind. With the exception of Sunday the weather was stunning, and the thrill of riding two new Staines was well worth the long drive. On the first day we left Macclesfield early and cruised up to Ae Forest for the weekend warmup. A heavy landing for James saw him suffering with a wrist injury but thankfully no need for stitches this time. I then managed to lose it in a puddle and broke the indicators on both my gear shifters, not that I ever look at them anyway! I was more annoyed about being caught on camera having a "you've been framed" crash. Well Ae turned out to be a good warmup ride... It was no Glentress by any stretch of the imagination, but pretty good in parts and it whetted our appetites for the rest of the weekends riding. That evening we continued up to Peebles and had fish and chips (and Wolfdog for James) before heading to the County Inn to quench our thirst for Tennants Lager.
Saturday morning we stoked up on cooked breakfast to the sound of lacklustre panpipes, but our minds were firmly on the days riding. Taking James' injury into account we decided to spend the day at the Freeride Park at Glentress... Although I initially wasn't that keen, I spent the day pushing myself to ride the tabletops and eventually got some air with both wheels... Just need some more speed now! As for Mr Warnock, there was no stopping this man! Big air on the tabletops, big drop offs and even wall rides by the end of the day. James was manning the cameras, but obviously would have preferred to be riding. Cuisine for the evening was of the Indian variety, topped off with more Tennants in the County!
Sunday was very wet, but showing our commitment to the biking, we set off and did the Glentress Red Route. What a ride, it's infinitely better on the Coiler than I could ever hope for on the Rockhopper. Confidence is building and the investment is paying off! I think to be fair we were all loving this old favourite, despite the rubbish weather. James' wrist was giving him some hassle, but fair play to him for making it round. At the end of the day Scott decided to do some more freeriding, although the wet wall ride boards didn't agree with his tyres and a grazed arm resulted. Still, he picked himself up and continued to ride tabletops and the funbox for the camera! Hauling our muddy bikes into the cars, we drove down to Dumfries and checked in to our Pub B&B in the middle of nowhere. Great value food and the chat was legendary.
Monday morning the weather turned good again and we headed across to Maybe forest. We decided to ride the red route, but I think we all agreed that it didn't really deliver against the Glentress Benchmark. Parts of it were really good, but this was mainly due to the flowing nature of the trail, with its berms and cambers to lean into. Some more technical and jumpy stuff would have been good. We did take a look at the Kona Black Double Diamond trail, which was pretty hard core in parts and Scott had a crack at some of the features, purveying his confidence built from the freeride park. Back on the red route, Scott managed to bend a crank and retire early to the carpark. Myself and James however carried on and somehow found the energy to tackle the last few sections. Knackered but smiling, we loaded the cars up and headed back to England. What a weekend!
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