Innerleithen

[zizou]

One of the best places for downhill mountain biking in the UK but the xc trail is amongst the best at a trail centre too. Quite a climb to start off with some technical sections near the beginning to keep things interesting (or rather to smash my big ring off) then mall downhill section with a bomb hole jump about a quarter of the way up, then back to the climbing. Overall about 500 metres climbing up to the top of Minch Moor which is above the tree line in amongst the heather...great views of the surrounding countryside but if the weather isn't great is pretty exposed. Then what goes up must come down with 3 main sections of descent. The first part off Minch Moor has some excellent singletrack, lots of speed and lots of fun then it is Plora Craig / Oh Deer section, which is in the trees and bit more twisty and technical with some rocky sections and some black options if that is your thing. The red is relatively straight forward on a full suspension bike. Final bit is Cadon bank which starts off quite difficult with 3 drops - the first one i can normally do, the 2nd one i do if feeling good on the bike...and the 3rd i've done once (my first time down the run when i didnt realise how big it was!). Fortunately some chicken runs here then onto a section that is like a rollercoaster and awesome fun. It is about 11 miles in total which doesn't sound that much but the initial climb itself takes over an hour so you would need a decent level of fitness to get up...definitely worth the effort though.

Here is a video of the Minch Moor descent. Unfoturnately didnt record the Cadon Bank section, thought my camera was on for that but accidentally turned it off rather than back on just as i was rolling over the start...will just need to go back and do it again

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IYo_AgGEfA[/media]

 

[Silver Fox]

Awesome dude

 

[GilesM]

Very good I love that descent, the section around about 4 minutes on your video is really good with the rock drop offs that slowly get bigger untilt he last one which is really good fun, and slightly too high to roll over.