Help & Advice • Alpine Bikes

Getting on your bike with the family is a great way to introduce the next generation to the wonderful world of cycling and to pass on your knowledge and experience. Cycling with your family is easy, not to mention great fun, with thousands of miles of designated cycle routes around the country. Many of these routes follow old railway lines, canal towpaths, riversides or are purpose built, making them safe, accessible and often traffic-free. Pick the right route and all the family will have a great day out. We’ve put together some tips and information to help you get started and give you some ideas for developing your family cycling adventures.

Plan

Be prepared and plan where you’re going. Involve your children in the process so they don’t feel excluded. Bear in mind how far it is (and back!) and ensure everyone can cope with the distance. Also, schedule in regular stops – at a playground, to feed the ducks, at a café to refuel or just to look at the scenery.

Prepare

Make sure you carry enough warm and waterproof clothing to cope with any eventuality. Most importantly, have plenty of drinks and snacks to keep the kids (and you!) fuelled up and motivated – the promise of a snack stop can be a good incentive to keep them moving. Finally make sure you have spares and tools to carry out any basic trailside repairs.

Persuade

If you’re finding it a chore to get the family interested and inspired, try turning the cycling day-out on its head. Think of a great family destination such as a country park, farm, fairground or stately home, plan a family friendly route and use the bikes as the means to get there.

Protect

Cycling with your kids can be a real pleasure but it is also a responsibility - you are responsible for both their safety and their enjoyment. Remain alert to any dangers, tiredness or displeasure, act accordingly and everyone will have a great time.

Lots more information, tips, ideas and routes can be found at:

• cycling.visitscotland.com
• www.ctc.org.uk
• www.everydaycycling.com
• www.sustrans.org.uk
• www.bikeweek.org.uk

Right, first things first, why wear waterproof shorts? I guess the main reason is that not everyone likes the look of mudguards on their bikes, especially as frame designs get more elegant and sleek looking. So, basically, vanity!

On the flipside, though, who actually enjoys getting soaked right through? I love bad weather riding for loads of reasons – the trails are harder, you’re normally out on your own, and there is a slight hint of bravado as you think you’re the only one stupid enough to be out there. But, I hate being wet and cold. Apart from the obvious discomfort, the effects of adverse weather can affect your riding to the point it can start to get dangerous.

So, how to keep dry and comfortable? Waterproof shorts have become rapidly more popular over the past few years and I think I own pretty much every model that Alpine Bikes have ever stocked! Out of those, the Endura Superlight Shorts have impressed me the most. Straight off, they look smarter than the competition. They actually look like proper baggy shorts – they even have pre-bent knees on them. For the more road-safety conscious amongst you, there are two big reflective strikes on each leg to ensure you stand out on your way home from the ride too.

Now, being overshorts, there’s no padding in them, so I always wear mine over ¾ bibshorts. Weight is a big part of comfort when doing longer rides and I can safely say that these are possibly the lightest overshorts I own (just as well, given the name!). The waistband sits slightly higher than normal shorts to ensure that there’s an overlap between your jacket and shorts. This prevents water from getting into the places it really shouldn’t be.

I put them through their paces at the recent Wild Boar 24 Hour Race at Grizedale Forest through my night-time laps. It was a little warmer than I thought it would be, but I didn’t feel any discomfort at all as well as not having problems with shorts snagging on saddles. The course threw a couple of nice water splashes at the riders – again, I was nicely dry and comfortable for the remaining laps.

If you’re the kind of rider who likes to ride all year round, regardless of the weather and likes to look good doing so (don’t we all!?) these shorts should be high on your list of things-to-buy.

If you're looking to visit the local area but don't have your bike with you, Alpine Bikes will be able to help you on your way! Our Glasgow Outdoor Experience, Inverness Outdoor Experience and Innerleithen stores carry a fleet of hire bikes perfect to get you out and about.

The Outdoor Experience stores make use of Gary Fisher Wahoos and Marlins which are pretty handy on and off road. This means you can explore all the local parks and not tire yourself out on the roads between them. Innerleithen offers the slightly more burly Iron Horse Sachem hardtail mountain bikes as the shop is placed perfectly for you to sample Glentress and the nearby Traquair Cross Country loop.

Prices:

• £20 per day
• £8 per half day

When you come to collect your bike, please have one piece of photographic ID with you and a credit/debit card for security.

Details for our Glasgow Outdoor Experience, Inverness Outdoor Experience and Innerleithen stores can be found in the shop locator.

“We've just finished building 1.7km of new red singletrack descent on the XC Route. The first new section (1.2km) comes after the Minch Moor descent and is packed full of jumps, berms and cheeky rock features. It will be open on Thu 20 March in time for Easter weekend. This section will replace the 'natural' loop back up and down the Minch Moor and link straight into the 'Enduro Track'.

The other new section, named Oh Deer!, is open now and provides an easier red-graded alternative to the hardest section on Plora Craig. There are still several rock sections to keep you on your toes!

With the addition of these new sections and tweaks to the more trickier sections of Stell Burn Climb, we are now able to convert the whole route to red grade, making the Innerleithen XC Route a great alternative to the Red Route at Glentress. Waymarking conversions and adjustments to the climb should be completed by the end of April, and updated maps are at the printers as we write.”

This press release from the Forestry Commission/7stanes is what we have been waiting for at the newest Alpine store at Innerleithen. As these are our local trails I felt I had to find out if the changes are any good,

After you have ridden the initial descent off the top of Minch Moor, You hit the first section of new trail. This is an excellent combination of jumps, berms, rock causeways, drop offs and stepdowns. For those among us who prefer wheels on the ground, all these sections can be easily ridden without getting airborne. At the moment the trail is quite loose surface, which can make for some interesting high speed slides though the corners. After 1.2km you join up with the old trail which takes you back down to the forest road, and the short uphill stretch to the Plora Craig section. Here is where the other work has gone on, in building red graded alternatives to the more technical sections of the descent. These new red sections follow a similar theme to the new parts of trail that you have just come down, off the back of Minch Moor.

When I rode this The Forestry hadn’t quite finished all the signage, so it made for some interesting riding thinking I was on a red section when in-fact it was black and vice versa. After this the trail is unchanged and finishes as normal with the high speed descent down Caddon Bank back to the start. Overall I would say that the changes are well worth it. Innerleithen has for a long time been overlooked by many riders because of it’s reputation for steep, technical DH riding. The changes will make the route here more accessible for a lot of riders who would otherwise simply default to Glentress. Come down and see what Innerleithen has to offer, I can guarantee you won’t regret it.

P.S. Signage according to the local MTB ranger should be finished by late April. Trail maps are available in the shop at Innerleithen; the updated ones should be with us shortly.

For more information visit the 7 stanes website

Scouring over the forums and countless magazines that represent modern mountain biking in the UK, one thing becomes evident – we agonise over tyres like no other country. I won’t say that I’m not guilty of it, but I think I may have settled on a tyre that takes me and my Heckler anywhere I want it to – the Bontrager Big Earl Wet.

In its folding guise (the most sensible option in my opinion) you get dual compound, relative lightness – 725g on a 2.5” tyre - and big, open tread which allows mud to clear whilst giving maximum traction. Puncture protection is also high – I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve had to replace tubes and I’ve been using these tyres for nearly two years now.

So far, this tyre has been dragged round many a trail centre, Mugdock Park and my regular jaunts over to Arran. On natural terrain or anything with big rocks and roots, this tyre seems to be at its happiest. The softer compound grips onto anything and its actually difficult to make the thing spin up! When it starts to get sloppy, the open tread digs in then sheds any mud as quickly as it can.

When it comes to the newer, man-made trails, however, the tyre can start to feel a little draggy – especially on the “kitty-litter” style trails. But, if your riding is swayed more towards natural trails, or you want one tyre to rule them all, definitely look at Big Earl.