Bikester Magazine EN Winter 2021

FIRST-CLASS TRAILS WITH EASY ACCESS
Part of the success is the location of the 7stanes
trail centres in the more densely populated
south of Scotland. He says that offering
many people in big cities an attractive range
of trails within easy reach for a day trip can
be a decisive factor – especially for families.
But, Graeme says, “Without a doubt the most
important aspect is the trails! If there isn’t the
variety, the quality and the distance of trails,
then it’s more challenging to reach the critical
mass of riders to create the scene at the
centre.” He adds, “sites where we explicitly
target beginners and families are nowhere
near as well attended as trail centres where
we have red and black options for advanced
riders in addition to easy trails. I think you
need the ambitious riders to add credibility
to a trail centre.” If nothing else, that variety
invites riders to come back and grow from
the challenges. Regardless of the difficulty
level, however, it’s the quality of the trails that
mountain bikers are raving about. In Scotland,
this includes not only reliable signage, but
also trails that are mostly weatherproof and
promise a good day’s riding when other trails
would have turned into bogs.
Freshly invigorated by our coffee and
motivated by the better weather, we set off
on the red loop: 19 km with 75 % singletrack
awaited us. According to the map, this should
take between 1.5 and 3 hrs. We started slowly.
Normally, you have to keep your eyes peeled
for markers and signs but we soon realised
the signs were clear and the routes just made
sense. We wound up and down, around
countless curves, following the flow of the
narrow singletrack; the need to look out for
markers was almost completely eliminated by
the intuitive trail design. Without disturbing
the flow of the trail, stone or wooden
obstacles on the edges invited us to make the
trail a little trickier. This contradicts accepted
trail building wisdom, where the obstacle is
normally placed in the middle of the trail, and
therefore beginner riders are forced to ride
around it. Attention to details like this is what
makes 7stanes different. On trail sections
with names like Spooky Woods, Super-G
or Britney Spears, it became clear: We were
on a meticulously maintained adventure
playground, with carefully curated elements
for children and big kids alike. These trails will
make novices grin and ambitious riders sweat
in equal measure. A few shorter trails later
and we were happy, completely exhausted and
dirty from head to toe. Before moving on, it
was time to test the showers.
© FROG BIKES
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