Aeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

in message <[email hidden]>, Tim Downie

(') said:

The sound of me descending some of Ae's more insane hills. ;-)

If Kirroughtree was designed by someone pleasantly dotty, Ae was
designed by someone on LSD who thinks bikes can fly.

Didn't you _love_ those berms? I fell off on one of them - needless to
say - and having fallen off and having blood all down my leg didn't take
the rest with the courage I would have liked, but they are superb, and
the ones I did have the guts to ride where /huge/ fun.

Quoted message said:

Tim
(Discovering late in life what fun off road bikes are)

Uh-huh.

My review of Ae here:
<URL:http://www.stewartry-wheelers.org/wheelers/story/article_49.html>

My review of Kirroughtrie is half-way through here:
<URL:http://www.stewartry-wheelers.org/wheelers/story/article_35.html>
(see the section headed 'Black is the New Black'😉

Wonderful stuff - if you haven't tried it, try it.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Das Internet is nicht fuer gefingerclicken und giffengrabben... Ist
nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen. Das mausklicken sichtseeren
keepen das bandwit-spewin hans in das pockets muss; relaxen und
watchen das cursorblinken. -- quoted from the jargon file

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Tim Downie

(') said:

The sound of me descending some of Ae's more insane hills. ;-)

If Kirroughtree was designed by someone pleasantly dotty, Ae was
designed by someone on LSD who thinks bikes can fly.

Didn't you _love_ those berms?

I would have loved them more with some suspension. ;-) Although I haven't
got a suspended bike to compare with, I suspect that a bit of suspension
helps with control on these descents. I must admit one or two of them were
"Holy [censored]!" moments.

Quoted message said:

I fell off on one of them - needless to
say - and having fallen off and having blood all down my leg didn't take
the rest with the courage I would have liked, but they are superb, and
the ones I did have the guts to ride where /huge/ fun.

I must admit that after 2 hours, I was quite glad to be heading back to the
car park. It was great fun but unlike Kirroughtree, it's that bit longer
and more tiring. At Kirroughtree, there was a slight "is that the end
already?" moment. I didn't get that today.;-)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Tim
(Discovering late in life what fun off road bikes are)

Uh-huh.

My review of Ae here:
<URL:http://www.stewartry-wheelers.org/wheelers/story/article_49.html>

That was the one that inspired me to head down to investigate the 7 Stanes.
Oh where to go next? Decisions decisions....

Tim

in message <[email hidden]>, Tim Downie

(') said:

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Tim Downie

(') said:

The sound of me descending some of Ae's more insane hills. ;-)

If Kirroughtree was designed by someone pleasantly dotty, Ae was
designed by someone on LSD who thinks bikes can fly.

Didn't you _love_ those berms?

I would have loved them more with some suspension. ;-) Although I
haven't got a suspended bike to compare with, I suspect that a bit of
suspension
helps with control on these descents. I must admit one or two of them
were "Holy [censored]!" moments.

Yup. Full suspension really helps on tracks like that - and flatters your
ability enormously. No matter how good you are there are sections that
you can ride with suspension that you could simply not without - that's
particularly true of the rough loose stuff and of very uneven dips. And
I don't imagine the roller coasters at Ae would be nearly so much fun
without it.

I have an old Klein Mantra sitting in the shed that you'd be welcome to
borrow for a try if you're riding Dalbeattie. You'd need to be more than
about 5' 10".

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I fell off on one of them - needless to
say - and having fallen off and having blood all down my leg didn't
take the rest with the courage I would have liked, but they are
superb, and the ones I did have the guts to ride where /huge/ fun.

I must admit that after 2 hours, I was quite glad to be heading back to
the
car park. It was great fun but unlike Kirroughtree, it's that bit
longer
and more tiring. At Kirroughtree, there was a slight "is that the end
already?" moment. I didn't get that today.;-)

You didn't do the black route at Kirroughtrie, did you? It's well worth
the ride, and I'd be /very/ surprised if you thought 'is that the vend
already'.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My review of Ae here:
<URL:http://www.stewartry-wheelers.org/wheelers/story/article_49.html>

That was the one that inspired me to head down to investigate the 7
Stanes. Oh where to go next? Decisions decisions....

Oh good! I'm glad it had that impact on someone.

I very much like Dalbeattie, mainly because it's my local track and I
know it well (both the official route and a lot of unofficial but
equally amusing sections), but also because it's genuinely challenging
without being super-hard. Mabie's good as well - wonderful views from
the top, and really superb descents, with berms which are a lot tamer
than at Ae but still great fun.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GP/CS s++: a+ C+++ ULBVCS*++++$ L+++ P--- E+>++ W+++ N++ K w--(---)
M- !d- PS++ PE-- Y+ PGP !t 5? X+ !R b++ !DI D G- e++ h*(-) r++ y+++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Tim Downie
([email hidden]'😉 wrote:

Quoted message said:

I have an old Klein Mantra sitting in the shed that you'd be welcome to
borrow for a try if you're riding Dalbeattie. You'd need to be more than
about 5' 10".

5' 8" I think I'll pass. Thanks for the offer.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

At Kirroughtree, there was a slight "is that the end
already?" moment. I didn't get that today.;-)

You didn't do the black route at Kirroughtrie, did you? It's well worth
the ride, and I'd be /very/ surprised if you thought 'is that the vend
already'.

Gissabreak! ;-) My lifetime off-road experience to date consists of two
rides. Both at least 60 miles from home each way. Kirroughtree's black
route is definitely on my to-do list.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My review of Ae here:
<URL:http://www.stewartry-wheelers.org/wheelers/story/article_49.html>

That was the one that inspired me to head down to investigate the 7
Stanes. Oh where to go next? Decisions decisions....

Oh good! I'm glad it had that impact on someone.

I very much like Dalbeattie, mainly because it's my local track and I
know it well (both the official route and a lot of unofficial but
equally amusing sections), but also because it's genuinely challenging
without being super-hard. Mabie's good as well - wonderful views from
the top, and really superb descents, with berms which are a lot tamer
than at Ae but still great fun.

Dalbeattie it is then.

Tell me, what do the forestry commission get out of creating these paths?
They don't generate a lot of direct income. Is it all a PR exercise or are
they getting government grants for this?

Tim

in message <[email hidden]>, Tim Downie

(') said:

Dalbeattie it is then.

Tell me, what do the forestry commission get out of creating these
paths?
They don't generate a lot of direct income. Is it all a PR exercise or
are they getting government grants for this?

It's more complex than that. Nothing the Forestry Commission does really
generates any income any more. Local sawmills find it cheaper to charter
ships to ship softwood for Estonia than to buy it from our local
forests. The felling contract for a large parcel of forest I've an
interest in was put out to tender recently, and got no offers at all -
the contractors all reckoned it would cost more to cut than the timber
was worth. Only a small proportion of the Forestry Commission's estate
has any commercial value at current world prices of softwood. The
situation for hardwoods is a little better but the Forestry Commission
has never planted significant amounts of hardwoods.

So the Forestry Commission is desperately looking for a role and for a
constituency, and are seeing 'leisure' as a large part of their way
forward.

That's a brief summary from an interested outsider - I'm Company
Secretary for a forestry charity as one of my spare time occupations,
and have quite a lot of interface with the Commission, but I'm not an
insider.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Semper in faecibus sumus, sole profundum variat.

Simon Brooke said:

So the Forestry Commission is desperately looking for a role and for a
constituency, and are seeing 'leisure' as a large part of their way
forward.

They interviewed the FC Chairman, Lord Clark, on Farming Today a couple
of weeks ago. The traditional role of planting conifers has come to an
end as it is no longer economic and the new role is one of landscape and
recreation. Already some forest is being returned to heathland and
others replanted with deciduous natural species. Cycling and other
recreationa are the other focus. He specifically mentioned the cycling
facilities in Wales.

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So the Forestry Commission is desperately looking for a role and for a
constituency, and are seeing 'leisure' as a large part of their way
forward.

FC Scotland ran a major consultation exercise last year, looking for a role
and focusing on leisure and community involvement.

The result is at
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-6B2D7U

--
Duncan Gray

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland
www.mountaineering-scotland.org.uk