In this episode of The Mountain Bikes Apart Podcast, Colin answers a question sent in by Gavin Clafton – “What’s your bucket list of UK trails?”
Colin thought the UK might be a little big to cover, so he decided to split it up a little. He's covering Scottish trails this week and aiming to cover the rest of the UK (and the world!) in future episodes.
On that note, if you consider yourself pretty expert in a region of trails then get in touch – he'd love to get you on the podcast and cover your area, wherever you are in the world.
Listener Question:
Here’s what Gavin asked in the first place:
"Hi. I mainly want to just say thank you for the time and effort to make the great podcasts. I travel a lot with work and save your podcasts for flights and those awkward meals for one where I’m sat with my earphones in. I have you for company! I’m new to mountain biking and just splashed out on a 2nd hand trek fuel 9 over Xmas. I’m pretty sporty though and very competitive so I’ve spent lots of time on YouTube, reading a great book by McCormack and Lopes called Mastering Mountain Bike Skills which I would highly recommend (Colin: me too!). This week I managed my first manual for a metre or so I’m feeling pretty chuffed. Anyway ideas for podcasts: In terms of trails I know a lot of stuff is out there but it would be great to have a top 10 bucket list of uk trails."
Thanks for that great question Gavin. You'll find a summary below, but have a listen to the podcast for full details.
As always, before we start, your feedback means tonnes to Colin, so please do get in touch via the following methods:
Email – just use the contact form here
Comments – pop a comment in at the bottom of this page
Voicemail – use the ‘Leave a voicemail’ button on the right
iTunes reviews – drop one in via the iTunes Link
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Here are Colin's top 5 Scottish mountain bike trails – let him know yours in the comments below! And listen to the podcast here for the full details of what makes them so great.
5. Laggan Wolftrax – a trail with a huge amount of variety, some great skills testing sections and a monster bit of northshore!
4. Kirroughtree – One of the most underutilised amazing trails in the country. Fast, flowing and home to the world (?) famous McMoab!
3. Glentress – The perennial UK favourite, and deservedly so. One of the biggest trail centres in the UK, if not THE biggest, with a huge range of trails, from XC to downhill Freeride. And the best facilities around.
2. Innerleithen – Glentress’ less pretty but more exciting big brother, and always a lot quieter. Check out the 3 drops on Caddon bank for a great challenge.
1. Golspie Highland Wildcat Trails – Even less visited than Kirroughtree, but one of the best trails in existence. The classic up and down, with the longest down around, and split into amazing, jumpy, bermy goodness followed by dark, tree lined, rocky technicals. A biker’s dream.
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Related Show Links:
Mountain Bikes Apart Facebook Page
Reviews:
Colin has received some iTunes reviews recently, which is much much appreciated. Here’s the most recent from mulligan4 in the USA:
"I’ve been enjoying this podcast on mountain biking. Nice, laid back format and covering some good topics so far. Keep it coming. More episodes and longer episodes if possible."
I’m going to do my best to make the episodes more regular in future, so will try to live up to that. And the most recent 2 eps have been a fair bit longer so hopefully that’s meeting your desire for content Mulligan. Thanks for the feedback!
I’d really appreciate it if you would review the Podcast – just open up iTunes and go to the podcast page on iTunes and click the ‘View in iTunes’ button.