Mountain Biking

Finally got out on the mountain bike properly this weekend. My buddy Danimal had the weekend off from Mountain Rescue Practice and the weather was looking wet from the westest west to the eastest east, and all points north and south too (Friday was gloriously sunny of course). Undeterred we threw the bikes into the back of car and headed out to Pitfichie Forest which have the most amazing mountain bike trails. This was the first time I ‘d been on the bike in an off road situation so I wasn’t as good as I’d wanted to be. I also had the bike built more for city rides so the semi-slick tires and strappy toe clips were not ideal in the wet rocky conditions we threw ourselves at.

After an hour’s drive we rolled into the car park. Given the extremely wet weather we were surprised to see several cars here. As we were gearing up four guys came skidding into the car park covered in mud and with big grins on their faces. A good sign, I was keen on getting wet and muddy today. Good thing Dan reminded me to bring a change of clothes. Too bad he didn’t remind me to bring extra socks, underwear, shoes and jacket!

We headed off up the fire roads. We climbed and climbed and climbed and before long my chest was heaving like a blast furnace. I thought I was fairly fit. Not! Apparently, that was the easy part too. Dan had been here many times before so he knew where we were going. It’s a big place and would take the newcomer some time to get familiar with it. We took the red trail which is described as:

These trails (3 in total) lead off the white cycle route – look out for the Red chevron way markers. Pitfichie red routes tend to be singletrack, and are more demanding than the white route; testing both your fitness and your bike handling skills as they take you onto the hill tops of Cairn William and Pitfichie. From these hills you’ll have excellent views of the surrounding countryside. The new red cross country trail takes you off the fire break roads on to mainly smooth fast trail with a few fairly tight bermed switchbacks, a steeper section over some large granite blocks with a few small drops.

We took a narrow spur off the fire road and the trail got immediately steeper and rockier and after about 4 feet I was off the bike. I pushed it up to the next flat bit, rode for several meters and I was off the bike again! This continued for a mile or so up the steep, narrow, rocky hillside. My tires were not getting any traction in the muddy ground or on the slick rock and the toe clips were fussy and made it hard to get momentum going immediately. I didn’t feel too bad as Dan wasn’t successfully riding up it either. Some areas are insanely steep and technical with big rocks positioned for maximum obstruction. So I pushed and pushed and pushed and finally we got to the top of the hill.

We had a breather at the top to admire the misty country-side and fiddle with the bikes. It’s important to carry tools with you because as Dan says a lot of it is about fiddling with the bike. This is where I took the toe clips off the bike. Things seemed to go a lot better from that point. From the top of the hill we would ride down and then up the next hill, then down that then up a third hill and then blast down to the car park.

I found the riding to be quite fast and rocky with the occasional stone staircase to navigate. Thankfully there were side paths to avoid the techy bits. I was successful on the smaller ones, I fell off the medium ones and just plain avoided the large ones. Dan seemed to be able to get his bike to do all kinds of nifty tricks that mine didn’t seem to know. Must be the tires. Yeah, I needed knobbly tires. I think they only sell tyres here though.

So down we went with Dan way out in front, the downhills were as steep as the uphills and I was riding the brakes for most of it. I did manage to get some air on few drops and at one point went right over the handle bars and into the heather while avoiding a particularly large stone staircase. I definitely pushed myself hard and I’m super keen to go back for more. I’d like to get that kind of fitness back. I wonder if I ever had it. I’d only rode something similar once last year at a place called WolfTraxx in Laggan. The amount of strength and stamina required to stay on the bike is quite amazing. I was quite tired by the end. Here’s a video of one of the downhill sections on the red trail. You get a feel for how rocky and fast it is! If you stick with it, 4:03 is where I took my leave of the bike.