Scotland’s emergence as the world’s no. 1 mountain biking destination means you no longer have to travel across the world to get your wheels spinning. says ROBIN MCKELVIE.
Until recently, many Britain-based travellers felt they needed to trawl overseas in search of a decent mountain-biking adventure. No longer. Today Scotland has emerged as a truly world-class mountain-biking destination capable of hosting World Cup and World Championship events, even recently usurping Canada as the No. 1 mountain-biking destination in the world, according to the International Mountain Bike Association’s People’s Poll.
Scotland gaining recognition as a serious biking destination may be a relatively new phenomenon, but it is certainly not a surprise to many natives, especially those involved in tourism. Jon Salton, a veteran mountain biker who runs his own tour company, Highland Experience, enthuses on its virtues.
I have cycled around the world, but Scotland really does it for me,” he said. “There is such a variety of well set-up biking tracks within such a beautiful country, as well as plenty of old trails where you can head out on your own. Whatever you want it is here.”
Since 2002, Fort William in the Scottish Highlands (www.ridefortwilliam.co.uk) has been holding rounds of the Mountain Bike World Cup and this month it hosts the first three-discipline spectacular of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series, the most prestigious and extreme competition in the mountain biking calendar. Four hundred world class riders from more than 35 countries will compete in three extreme freesports – downhill, 4-cross and cross country. Scotland’s reputation seems on an inexorable rise as Fort William has also been awarded the UCI World Championships for 2007.
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Not for the faint-hearted
The first-rate centre at Fort William is the most famous mountain-biking venue in the country with good reason. The downhill here is the only World Cup venue in the UK and the only course with gondola access. With a vertical drop of 525m and a length of 2.66km, its rocky straights, bus stops, tight corners, exposed hillside, slab rock, tight gullies and big jumps mean that it is not for the fainthearted, but the organisers stress that even intermediates can have a go with the right gear. For those looking for a more relaxed ride, the surrounding Lochaber region overflows with scenic trails, whether they are part of the official ‘Witch’s Trails’ at Fort William or longer distance routes, which open up the forests, glens and lochs that tempt all around.
You don’t even need to head up to the Highlands to sample some mountain bike action. Glentress (www.thehubintheforest. co.uk), near Edinburgh, claims to be Scotland’s largest and most popular mountain biking centre. Glentress started off in 2000 when the Forestry Commission showed an enlightened approach to land management and access by opening a red route, a route that involves a long uphill that is followed by a heart pumping long downhill. In total there are now five tracks, with 105km of single-track with bike lifts on hand to save you some of the toughest legwork at a centre that is constantly evolving. One recent arrival is the Spooky Wood, which packs 18 jumps, 17 tabletops, four rock drops and 12 180-degree bermed bends into its short 1.5km run.
For those looking to brush up on their mountain-biking skills and take them a step further, Scotland also boasts centres that offer training courses. Glenmore Lodge (www. glenmorelodge.org.uk) opened last year and has already established a reputation for first-rate training, which can lead through on to Mountain Bike Leader and Trail Cycle Leader awards. Groups can also arrange practice runs and advanced training at Glenmore.
Scotland is certainly not resting on its newly won mountain-biking laurels, with centres constantly upgrading facilities and new runs coming on stream in a country where increasingly the bike is king. At Golspie in the Highlands the longest downhill track in the UK, the Highland Wildcat, is currently under construction on the slopes of Ben Bhraggi (www.stoopingfalcons.com). Volunteers from the local Monumental Mountain Bike Club have been helping build some challenging rock gardens, jumps and drop-offs with support from the local estate and from Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise.
Biking with bite
Another Highland newcomer is Wolftrax at Laggan (www.basecampmtb.com), which markets itself as ‘Mountain Biking Trails with Bite’. The trail network offers everything from a fun blue run through to a highly technical black run. The killer black is 6.4km downhill on top of a 3km fire road climb and its myriad obstacles include huge drop-offs, boulder fields, rock slabs and stone staircases with the nefarious names of the sections, such as ‘Two Ton Drop’ and ‘Surgeon’s Slab’, giving you an idea of the difficulty involved.
Away from the organised centres some bikers prefer just to get out on their own away from the comforts of welcoming centre cafés and bike lifts. Scotland, a country with more coastline than France and more than 800 islands, but only a population of about five million, boasts plenty of opportunity to get away from it on two wheels. The country’s proactive tourist office, Visit Scotland, have put together a range of routes on their website that cover all of the country’s regions.
If you want to take on a long distance trail, but don’t fancy tackling it all alone, companies like Wilderness Scotland (www.wildernessscotland.com) are on hand. They offer a choice of routes, with the most interesting seven days on the wildly beautiful island of Skye and eight nights traversing the entire nation from the North Sea and the oil city of Aberdeen in the east right across to the Atlantic and the rugged Ardnamurchan Peninsula in the wild west. The also do shorter trips based in Speyside, Scotland’s ‘Whisky Country’. Given the mileage per day the Wilderness Scotland trips are no slouches, but they also allow plenty of time to kick back and enjoy the scenery en route too.
Whether you are looking to spend a few relatively leisurely days easing around some of the most dramatic countryside in Europe on a little-explored trail or to hurl yourself down one of the world’s toughest and most technical World Championship downhills, then forget tramping overseas and head to Scotland. These days Scotland well deserves its growing reputation as the world’s No.1 mountain-biking destination.
• For more information, see http://cycling.visitscotland.com/mountain_biking.
