Moved to Edinburgh 6 months ago & still not been out riding

[CooperS]

Been in Edinburgh for awhile now and just before Christmas I brought my 5 up thinking I would have loads of riding accessible to me.

Today she¡¦ll have had her yearly service and new Nobby Nics ready to get out into the hills and have some fun with but I¡¦ve been looking online and there is very little which you can access without needing a car.

At the same time as moving up I got myself an Elise meaning I can¡¦t get my self down to Glentress which is 30 odd miles away I believe and is meant to be highly rated. ƒ¼

Is anyone a local up here and could suggest routes which are within a 15 mile cycle from the city centre? Even better is there a group of riders I can join in with as tbh I don¡¦t fancy going out into the complete wilderness by myself I¡¦m use to my familiar on the south downs and routes round Bath / Bristol.

[a11y_m]

Might be better posting similar on STW forum - there's certainly a few Edinburgh-based folk on there. Likewise, you might be able to cadge a lift to GT or the like.

I'm a bit far away (Falkirk) but my local biking is Stirling: easy to get a train from Edinburgh, lots of natural riding in the hills behind the Uni and Bridge of Allan, just follow your nose and it's hard to go wrong!

Of course, Ediburgh has the Pentlands on the doorstep but I've never ridden there so can't help with that.

[itsnotarace]

Might be of use to you, there are a mixture of road and offroad routes listed

http://www.bikeradar.com/routes/?srchkey=edinburgh...

[CooperS]

Thanks for that, was on bikerader last night and bikemagic and only found a few threads with people like me asking for help and not much in responses.


Saying that my Nobby Nics have just been delivered to work and they look great

Really going to get out today tommorow rain or no rain

[cliff123]

Can't help with the location for cycling, but please do post a review of the nobby nics once you've had a full ride, as I'm about to replace my tyres and currently have those as no.1 choice.

[Nevin]

CooperS said:

Been in Edinburgh for awhile now and just before Christmas I brought my 5 up thinking I would have loads of riding accessible to me.

Today she¡¦ll have had her yearly service and new Nobby Nics ready to get out into the hills and have some fun with but I¡¦ve been looking online and there is very little which you can access without needing a car.

At the same time as moving up I got myself an Elise meaning I can¡¦t get my self down to Glentress which is 30 odd miles away I believe and is meant to be highly rated. ƒ¼

Is anyone a local up here and could suggest routes which are within a 15 mile cycle from the city centre? Even better is there a group of riders I can join in with as tbh I don¡¦t fancy going out into the complete wilderness by myself I¡¦m use to my familiar on the south downs and routes round Bath / Bristol.

Er, there's tons of riding accessible from Edinburgh. How extreme or not do you want it to be? Where in Edinburgh are you? Are you looking for long day cycles, two hour cross country blasts, berms and jumps? There are also plenty of cycling clubs in Edinburgh. Give me a bit more info and I'll give you some ideas.

Glentress is ace and when the clocks go forward we tend to head down on a Tuesday after work to do the red route. We're not very good but you'd be welcome to join us and share transport.

Where did you get your bike serviced? Most of the LBSs are pretty helpful with this sort of info too.

[Gooby]

VERY Jealous!
Every time I have been in Edinburgh I have looked at the hills and drooled, whenever I fly in I have seen the roads and wanted my car.

[Nick_F]

I would move to Scotland for Glentress.

Unfortuantely the conference I attend in Peebles every summer has been relocated to the centre of Glasgow.

[CooperS]

Ok guys picked my bike up from my lBS and to say i feel a bit red faced is an understatement.

The manager took me through loads of routes in and around edinburgh without even needing to jump in a car to get to Glentress et al

So yer... face in palm time but at least got my bike feeling great on new rubber and looking to get out tomorrow.

Anyway.... so the offer (or even the request) is still out there if anyone rides in a relaxed group and doesn't mind me turning up for a night ride etc just give me a shout.

Tom

[Gooby]

CooperS said:

Ok guys picked my bike up from my lBS and to say i feel a bit red faced is an understatement.

The manager took me through loads of routes in and around edinburgh without even needing to jump in a car to get to Glentress et al

So yer... face in palm time but at least got my bike feeling great on new rubber and looking to get out tomorrow.

Anyway.... so the offer (or even the request) is still out there if anyone rides in a relaxed group and doesn't mind me turning up for a night ride etc just give me a shout.

Tom

You can stand on Prince street and see mountains......
Have a great ride!

[CooperS]

Nevin said:

CooperS said:

Been in Edinburgh for awhile now and just before Christmas I brought my 5 up thinking I would have loads of riding accessible to me.

Today she¡¦ll have had her yearly service and new Nobby Nics ready to get out into the hills and have some fun with but I¡¦ve been looking online and there is very little which you can access without needing a car.

At the same time as moving up I got myself an Elise meaning I can¡¦t get my self down to Glentress which is 30 odd miles away I believe and is meant to be highly rated. ƒ¼

Is anyone a local up here and could suggest routes which are within a 15 mile cycle from the city centre? Even better is there a group of riders I can join in with as tbh I don¡¦t fancy going out into the complete wilderness by myself I¡¦m use to my familiar on the south downs and routes round Bath / Bristol.

Er, there's tons of riding accessible from Edinburgh. How extreme or not do you want it to be? Where in Edinburgh are you? Are you looking for long day cycles, two hour cross country blasts, berms and jumps? There are also plenty of cycling clubs in Edinburgh. Give me a bit more info and I'll give you some ideas.

Glentress is ace and when the clocks go forward we tend to head down on a Tuesday after work to do the red route. We're not very good but you'd be welcome to join us and share transport.

Where did you get your bike serviced? Most of the LBSs are pretty helpful with this sort of info too.

Cheers, will definitely take you up on that once i'm feeling fitter.

Got my bike serviced at the Bike Chain on Broughton Rd and not so far away form Stockbridge.

Great guys in there really friendly so really up for it and next week my Tarmac will be with me so i'll have my 5 for my muddy needs and then get on the T for speed needs.

[CooperS]

Well went off to the Pentland Hills today.. and what a ride!

Now those who had told me it was a 45 min cycle from stockbridge (following the waterway)..... what were they thinking! who can ride that in 45 mins? maybe on road but certainly not using the paths.

Anyway got there and it is impressive, cant wait to get fitter so i can actually enjoy myself... lol

As for the Nobbies.

Yer very good tyre from what i could tell on my couple hours out today.

I would say they are ratehr sticky if you end up riding on the road to get anywhere but they feel far nibler on the muddy stuff that my old conti kings.

Anyway here's a picture on the outskirts of the park.

Edited by CooperS on Sunday 28th March 02:33

[Nevin]

CooperS said:

Well went off to the Pentland Hills today.. and what a ride!

Now those who had told me it was a 45 min cycle from stockbridge (following the waterway)..... what were they thinking! who can ride that in 45 mins? maybe on road but certainly not using the paths.

Anyway got there and it is impressive, cant wait to get fitter so i can actually enjoy myself... lol

As for the Nobbies.

Yer very good tyre from what i could tell on my couple hours out today.

I would say they are ratehr sticky if you end up riding on the road to get anywhere but they feel far nibler on the muddy stuff that my old conti kings.

Anyway here's a picture on the outskirts of the park.

Edited by CooperS on Sunday 28th March 02:33

Yup, Pentlands are tip top. You can get there in 45 minutes but it depends which bit of the Pentlads you are going to. Where did you enter the park? Know pretty much all of the paths up there well as have been cycling them for 20 years (when the walkers really hated us being there). Where did you ride in the end?

If you fancy a natter, pop into the shop at some point. I may cycle down today actually. Its Lo-Base (big shoes) about 300 metres from The Bike Chain on Broughton Street. Keep on down the hill, cross the river and its opposite the Orchard Pub on Inverleith Row.. We've actually got some cycling shoes coming in this week (hopefully) so I'm looking forward to trying them out..

[son of a vette]

CooperS said:

Ok guys picked my bike up from my lBS and to say i feel a bit red faced is an understatement.

The manager took me through loads of routes in and around edinburgh without even needing to jump in a car to get to Glentress et al

So yer... face in palm time but at least got my bike feeling great on new rubber and looking to get out tomorrow.

Anyway.... so the offer (or even the request) is still out there if anyone rides in a relaxed group and doesn't mind me turning up for a night ride etc just give me a shout.

Tom

Hi Tom,

I've lived and cycled in Edinburgh all my life, there is a huge choice of places to ride without even leaving the city, not even including the Pentlands.

Corstophine hill (the one with the twin radio towers on the top) has some great riding, all short steep stuff, but very technical, and that is a short cycle from anywhere in the city.

Collington Dell also has a good route or two, and as a plus it ends at the foot of the Pentlands, a great way to get to the Pentlands avoiding the roads.

Round the Braid Hills and Blackford Hill has a nice little network of trails too, obviously these places have allot more walkers etc, but with a bit of politeness and courtesy we can all play nicely.

There's even a few secret dirt jump parks, but I won't reveal these on a public forum, someone somewhere has put allot of work into these, and I'd hate to see them trashed.

As a side point a friend of mine is in the process of setting up a private web-forum for Edinburgh folks to arrange meets and share lifts to all the trails in Scotland, send me a PM, and I'll see if I can arrange an invite, but given he's a huge petrolhead thats into bikes, I'm sure you'll fit in fine

Hope that helps, and having ridden all round the country I am very proud to live in one of the best cities for biking in the country, possibly in the world, where else can you jump on a bike in the centre of a capital city and be in the middle of the countryside within half an hour, just magic!

Cheers,
Chris.

[theboymoon]

ah good old puke hill!

I remember edinburgh riding days....

I used to live a stone's throw from Cargo which meant riding all the way to the pentland hills using only about 200m of tarmac. ideal!