Golfie MTB - A Beginner's Guide - part 1
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- čas přidán 24. 07. 2023
- This is our beginner guide to riding the famous Golfie trails in Caberston forest (Innerleithen) in the tweed valley, for anyone curious about the trails but not really knowing where to start.
This is our introductory route for someone new to the area (not new to riding), showcasing the incredible, hand-crafted off piste/natural/wild trails here regularly featured when the Enduro World Cup (formely EWS) visits the UK.
Part 2 of this series can be found here: • Golfie MTB - A Beginn...
This is literally our favourite place to ride bikes in the UK. There is so much variety in the entire Tweed valley, we haven’t even scratched the surface.
Please note: These are not “beginner trails" for new riders. These trails demand a high level of bike control and riding commitment. They are steep, have loose changeable surfaces and are filled with slippy roots, drops and tight switchback corners.
The coloured ratings used by the Trailforks app for the trails featured in this edit are "off piste" ratings and should not be mistaken for trail centre or bike parks ratings of the same colour.
Caberston forest "off piste" trail ratings are unique in that the black trails also carry numbers from 1 to 4 (1 being easiest, 4 being hardest) which is super useful in progressing your riding without getting in (too much) trouble.
I have saved the route in Trailforks: Mindful trail biker - beginner golfie.
www.trailforks.com/ridelog/vi...
Garmin route here:
connect.garmin.com/modern/act...
We start of with a short climb to ride a trail called Stinger (red rated) into plan B (rated Black 1), this is the squirrel catcher and gives some idea of what’s ahead on the other trails without climbing to high.
If it's not for you, there is plenty other places to ride in the valley.
The full route is around 18km with 850m climbing with the option to shorten and miss out one of the black 3 rated descents.
There are slightly easier “off piste” tracks and routes in the other parts of the valley so we will try and do a similar edit of some of these tracks and routes as a more “guide to beginner off piste” if it's useful?
Apologies for the shaky camera footage on some of the heavily wooded descents. The stabilisation does not work so well in very low light conditions. There was complete cloud cover the entire weekend and the footage taken on day 1 was so poor that we amended our plan for days 2 so we could go back and re-record. Even with max stabilisation and the chest mount tightened as much ass possible, very rough trails and very low light conditions seems to best the GoPro.
As ever, I hope you enjoy and let me know if your inspired and decide to give it a go.
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#hiking #hikingadventures #vanlife #traildog #vizsla
#mentalhealthawareness #anxietyrelief #mentalwellness #itsokaytonotbeokay - Sport
I love how the dog comes aswell that’s absolutely brilliant
Thank you 🙏 We try and include him as much as possible! We love riding with Hugo and he absolutely buzzes of it 👍
Dint know whos having more fun, you or the dog. Great spot that
HaHa.. that’s a tough one, he does bloody loves his days out that’s for sure!! he goes mad when he sees us getting the bikes out whatever the weather. certainly never gets that excited about walks 😆 thanks for the comment!!
Great intro. Appreciate the effort you put into that.
Thank you for the kind words. Appreciation makes all the effort worthwhile. You know it’s funny as the poor weather makes the recording less fun and we needed to repeat the main tracks on our 2nd day to get the footage near the quality standard we hope to achieve going forward.
I hope it’s useful to some, that will make it all worthwhile! 👍🙏
NY NY was designed as an intro to Golfie trail .
Drops in corners is a Golfie feature 😂..
Hell yeah, we love em! Did you watch our beginner guide to golfie?
haha, oops. sorry, thought this comment was on the other beginner off piste video - 🤣
That was a great guide. Well thought out and put together. Having 2 people with different riding levels is also a great way to demonstrate who could ride and enjoy these tracks. Top stuff!
Ah many thanks Petey. We appreciate the appreciation for sure! The technicality of the trails shows well on the GoPro except maybe the tightness and the gradient. Have you rode the golfie?
@@MindfulTrailBiker I haven't no. I would love to but I'm right down in the south east of England so it's a bit of a trek.
@@peteybmtb yeah that would be a long haul. I would say it was worth it for a long weekend away. The trails will
Blow you away!
Been ages since last at the golfie, yet to ride lower wardell way looks like some great flow plenty of great trails here including the mainly ridden ones, thanks for sharing!
Pleasure Gary, thank you for watching and commenting!
The upper and lower wardel way are very different in character to the usual golfie tracks built next to avalanche track but less direct. It’s still a little bit exposed but you don’t notice it that much. If you haven’t been for a while I could recommend the full wardel way, dances with wolves and right side Clyde, possibly all new tracks since you last went? Cheers
@@MindfulTrailBiker Thanks for your suggestion will keep in mind next time I am there, cheers 😁🤙
I did your ride last Friday, what an awesome day out! Thanks so much for posting up the gpx, would never have got as much out of the day. You say beginner, i say tough riding! Cant wait to go again 👍
Hey Rob!
Thanks so much for getting in touch! I’m so happy you watched the vid, followed the route and enjoyed it so much. Golfie is epic.
I hope I didn’t deceive, it’s definitely not a place for beginners but I think it’s the best collection of trails for a first experience. It’s a tough old day out and some tough descents for sure!
We’re up there this weekend hopefully to record part 2 with the next batch of trails to follow on after those!
Top man! Thank you 🙏
Thanks! No i could see it wasn't going to be any trail centre ride, up for vallelujha end of month, i recon it was great training for that! Will maybe do part 2 in the spring 👌
@@roboneill4888 never done it but there will be some very tasty tracks in that race I would imagine. Have a great time! 👍
Great vid John. I clicked on the video as I'm going next week and was shocked to see you as I didn't know you had a channel. Great video. Fantastic footage and commentary. Well done to you both.
Haha. Same Col, I’ve just subscribed to yours pal. I had no idea 😂
Thanks very much, thought we would give it a go through summer while I’ve been off work for a bit. Enjoying it feels cathartic like giving something back to mountain biking in a weird way. Just watching your Windermere vid now
@@MindfulTrailBiker I've given up. No good at editing and rather watch ones like yours which are more enjoyable. Take it next week though probably just for me to see or get pics from.
@@peanutwig fair play pal. Have you been to golfie before?
@@MindfulTrailBiker no dude. Done glentress black and red though.
@@peanutwig follow that route if you wanna try golfie pal. There is some great off piste stuff at glentress as well though it tends to be wetter than golfie
Cool video, subscribed 👌
Massively appreciated Conor! Thank you 🙏
Great video, very useful. I was planning to visit Golfie this weekend. Now I know it's a bit more than I'm able to handle, especially on my own. Think I'll go to Glentrees now, looks like some easier trails over there.
Thank you Richard, much appreciated. Have you seen our beginner guide to off piste edit at Glentress? there are some good trails in that edit. would also look at careless whisper and hammertime. Trail fairy plan is as hard as the golfie stuff, harder than NY NY for sure.
Great video and channel guys 👏 I wish I'd watched this before hitting there as a beginner / aspiring intermediate rider a few months ago but luckily I was with an organised group who led us expertly up the difficulty slowly. Loving your trail dog too - we have a 10 month old wire haired Visla and I can't wait to get him out on the trails but been advised it's best to wait until they are 15 months or so?
Ah wow, thank you for the kind words! It’s really appreciated!
Yeah, we hope that it’s a really useful video for folk wanting to get to grips with the golfie. We’re looking to do an off piste for beginners video with some of the easier off piste tracks up in the tweed valley area soon.
Hugo says thanks!
He is 8 in January and slowing down a little though he still very much enjoying his ride weekends.
We started him gently at just over 12 months. We try and not do too much flat and high mileage rides with high avg speeds as he is just pounding his joints. Most of our riding is slow climbs and tech descents which aren’t high speed. He definitely slows up on flow trails or cuts corners and is generally more tired after riding trial centre flow. Cheers for the comments!!
Kept this channel quiet 🤣 well done guys great riding 👍
Thank you 🙏
Grow silently. It needs to be organic! 👍
@@MindfulTrailBiker don't blame you....I've not told anyone unless they've bumped into it....! Don't even think my brother's know 🤣 mates found it other wk then started taking the Mikey on camera on our ladybower vid other mth 🙄 look forward to watching more Golfie or other trails I've not done 👍
Unbelievable place to ride, deffo a big range of trails to ride from - reasonably ok to new pair of underpants.
Couldn’t agree more! It’s our favourite place in the UK for sure. So much to go at, I need to move there!!
@@MindfulTrailBiker I only live about 2 hours away and during the summer we're always up there. but would be a lot more ideal to have a house in the town.
Hi, great video just what I've been looking for. I heard you say you ride round Rivington, not far from me. What trails in the North West England would you recommend as stepping stone to The Golfie. My current level is have comfortably ridden Coed Y Brenin Beast, mostly ridie a lot of the clasisc trail routes (Cut Gate, Stanage Plantation, Devils Elbow, Grizedale bridleways, Borrowdale Bash etc). All on a hardtail. Ill check iut your off piste Glentress vid too but if you van recommend sone local preparation trails that would be great, want to yo see what the off piste/emduro style riding is all about!
Hi there. Thanks for appreciating the video and for commenting! I think locally, the pigeon tower tracks at rivington are the best bet, check out our best of rivington edit with route etc. from there I would be doing either our off piste for beginners route at glentress or the most recent edit we did at setmurphy woods nr Keswick in the Lake District. Assuming from your account name you’re female? Lindsey said she would be happy to show you the off piste Rivington tracks if you don’t know them. Cheers
Yes I am female, would be great to meet up with Lindsey if it can be arranged thanks! I spend a lot of time riding in the surrounding National Parks and haven't explored much beyond the easy bridleways what's on my doorstep 😂 I'm working through all your other videos, know some of the Rivi trails from walks and other vids but some I wasn't aware of 👍
@@anneslambert3369 cool. Drop us a line on instagram. Easier on that platform for messaging! 👍
Great guide guys, thanks so much for the hard work! I plan on travelling over from Dublin and was wondering were would be a good spot to base myself for a few days of doing the trails at Golfie?
Thank you very much! It was a labour of love for sure but it’s nice to be appreciated. Are you in a camper or looking for accommodation or a campsite?
@MindfulTrailBiker-sv2bc Would love a camper like you guys but I'll be looking for accommodation, probably Innerleithen I suppose as the closest town? I'm sure there are plenty of options available. Thanks for the response!
@@tonwhelan Pleasure! Innerleithen would be the best place for the golfie trails and I would heartily recommend the Traquair arms. Great rooms, superb food and loverly beers. There are other options but none I can personally recommend. Peebles has more options and is only 10 mins by car. then campsite at Glentress has camping pods which are very conformable, and cheap as chips. there is plenty great off piste riding in Glentress also. Enjoy!!
@MindfulTrailBiker-sv2bc Wow thanks for that very helpful info, very much appreciated!
Have you ever tried GoPro labs firmware to set max shutter speed (angle) to 45 degree ? That should eliminate the issue.
Hey man. No, wasn’t aware it was possible. Have you a link for more info? Many thanks 🙏
czcams.com/video/e5Sx3s94syw/video.html
@@MindfulTrailBiker it works well on Hero12 & 10. But a friend of mine got the Hero9 and even though it seems like it was working, it just ruined the shot with being grainy.
@Chris_Knopf I use an 11 mini for the chesty so have a good look and give this a try. Thank you!🙏