IMBA Goes to Britain, Part 2: ScotlandIf you're planning a mountain bike trip to the United Kingdom, you'd better schedule an extra week for Scotland. This is freeride heaven, with berms, tabletops, rollers, shore-style stunts, tricky singletrack and lots of massive granite. Back in the year 2000, IMBA visited Scotland and shared the fundamentals of sustainable mountain bike trail design. Now, only two years later, Scottish trailbuilders are nearing completion of the awesome Seven Stanes (Stones) Project, a 1.6 million-pound eco-tourism plan. Funded by the European Union and other sponsors, the project features seven cutting-edge trail centers in Southern Scotland. IMBA trail specialists Rich Edwards and Joey Klein toured a portion of the new sites with project manager Karl Bartlett in August, 2002. They visited trails at Dalbeattie, Mabie, Glenntress and Project Downhill at Innerleithen. Like the Forest Enterprise trail centers in Wales, each of these sites will provide everything mountain bikers need. Many of the Seven Stanes trail centers already have facilities offering rental bikes, bike service, parts, clothing, accessories, food, drinks and even accommodations nearby. The trails have something for everyone; from gentle forest roads to rocky technical singletrack. Special thanks to Forest Enterprise for funding IMBA's UK visit. To start the slideshow, click on the first photo below. |
