Cheers! I do but not keen on sharing my email via the public comments - if you comment them here I'd be more than happy to answer though?

You know as I was typing I wondered if that would be the case given it’s a public forum What bike would you recommend for this? I’m looking to do this in May and although I’m fairly fit, it’s a fitness I’ll need to work on Did you train for this or do you have any recommendations on building towards this fitness wise?

@craigstobie7328 So you would need a mountain bike, either a hardtail or full suspension. Both will be fine but a full suspension will be more comfortable given it's a long time in the saddle. In terms of training, I didn't have a specific programme I followed as such - I've always mountain biked a lot so I'm on the bike the majority of weekends through the year. The key thing for a ride like this is working on getting the base endurance in place - so long, slower paced rides are good for this. In the run up to doing this I started doing longer rides (~10 hours) a few weekends in a row then had two weeks off altogether to recover before going for it. Hopefully that's a help! Oh and also, Mark Beaumont has a great GCN book called Endurance which is worth a read - it'll help a lot with the prep/training.

Legend thanks mate!

If you head up the top chairlift you can then traverse either right towards Col du Drinc Epinel, or if you go left you can hike up to Col Tsa Sech. You can then use the road (downhill) to traverse back round to Pila. There are plenty other trails feeding off of those ridges that weren't on trailforks too - all outstanding!

@@gavallan2020 sounds amazing

Did you pedal back round to pila? Doesn't seem any lifts

@mattycareymr Yep, although it's almost all downhill so it's not much trouble to get back round via the road

​@@gavallan2020are they easy to find without a local or a guide? I'm really want to come. It's Pila or Canazei... Thx. Nice edit btw!

Cheers! The steeper trails are pretty full on, fun, but hard to slow down on in the snow. It's a good laugh though! I think the borders has escaped the snow so far anyway so you might be ok!

Sure, so on the back I had a minion semi slick 2.3 with an insert and a Michelin wild enduro 2.4 on the front also with inserts. The back was very fast rolling but the front definitely wasn't optimal with the wild enduro, would be much better off with something more XC but I couldn't justify buying a full XC tyre setup for the one ride!

@@gavallan2020 thanks very much. Planning it in summer and wanted too have ideas on what kit to run. Seems inserts are a must

@@kieranmann1073 all the best for it, its a great route! I'd recommend the semi slick for the back tyre then something fast rolling like a crossmark for the front. I also upped my pressures a lot to reduce the rolling resistance - I was around 45psi. About triple my usual pressures but it stopped punctures and it was speedy!

They weren't bad at all! I'd say you're safe until the end of May - they get pretty bad after that!

From memory I think it was £25 or £30 for the day. As far as I'm aware they're open every day- we were there on a weekday. They put updates on their Facebook page about the tracks too so worth a look there!

@@gavallan2020 cheers man, yeah looks great quite local to me aswell so ill try get up and do a shoot

Cheers, glad you enjoyed it! It's a great route with some really good descents on it too - you'll have a blast on it! The mental fatigue definitely started hitting coming into Glencoe on the return 😂

Absolutely! It links in well with other spots around Aberdeenshire!

Cheers! It seems not many people know about it as we were the only group there that day! The red has just been completely redone and is riding great. There is a blue as well but it's a bit overgrown and some of the gaps on it are pretty chunky, it's more like a black than a blue!

@@gavallan2020 that's good to know. I've often thought the ski places need to get off their asses and market these things a bit more. I'm sure they could be generating traffic and money from MTB if they gave a bit more effort.

@@streetpigeonmtb Definitely agree, we just happened to stumble across it - there's nothing on social media about the new track at all. Big opportunities with the chairlifts already installed ready to go!

Cheers! Probably would've lost my hand if I'd tried to touch the brakes!! I did notice a bit of brake fade further down which is understandable considering!

Aha! It was close!! We'll need to pick another one to try

Cheers Ian! It's getting a lot more popular these days for mountain biking which is great to see. The hike a bike sections can be a bit long at times but worth it for the great views and singletrack descents! It's a brilliant route!

Cheers Ian! It's getting a lot more popular these days for mountain biking which is great to see. The hike a bike sections can be a bit long at times but worth it for the great views and singletrack descents! It's a brilliant route!

Fantastic that mate well done ,but totally mad 😂,

Hello! Yes I think she was worried I'd end up in hospital 😂 Absolutely, the bike was so different to usual - especially with the bag on the bars, the balance point was so much further back! The devil's staircase in reverse was the most interesting with the seat up full!

They are indeed! They were especially draining on the return - momentum killed every hundred metres!!