Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th April 2013
A gaggle of DMC Mountain Bikers converged on the Marthrown of Mabie bunkhouse for a weekend of trail centre action.
Saturday involved a trip to the tough Kirroughtree centre near Newton Stewart where Alex, Andrew, Dan, Jack, Matt, Niall, Rolland, Roy and Suzzy took on the 30km route comprising Blue, Red and Black sections while Carmen, Craig, Hillary, Rob and Ruth stayed on the lower Blue and Red sections, in fantastic conditions.
Unfortunately a mechanical failure required Rob to return to the bike shop before we could get going on the high sections of the Red, however was able to get a new mech sorted and catch the easier group so his trip from Wales wasn’t wasted. While Roland suffered from chain problems usually inflicted on Alex, the mistake of stating “for once it isn’t me” came back to haunt Alex within 100m as he also deposited his chain on the trail.
Everyone on the Black route was relieved to find the summit and the descent provided back to the car park, unfortunately at some point on this descent Dan went tree hugging.
We returned to Marthrown to relax in the hot tub and an extensive barbeque, unfortunately I can’t report on much else as I was first to bed and didn’t wake until the morning.
On Sunday we stayed at Kirroughtree and while Craig and Ruth set off early to take the trails at their own pace, Alex, Andrew, a very sore Dan, Jack, Niall, Roland, Roy and Suzzy set off from the bunkhouse to take in a lap of the Red trail. This was largely uneventful in accidents and breakages probably due to a lower pace and lower tech rating, we passed Craig and Ruth at an interesting slab section where they had stopped to marvel at our (lack of) skills.
With the red loop complete Alex, Niall and Roland had energy left for a quick look at the Skills loop including taking on the Mini-X jump track, before setting off for home, unfortunately this wasn’t the end of mechanical problems as one of the cars required a wheel change thanks to a jabby stone in the road.
Attached photo, shows the full group in a clearing in the forest at Kirroughtree.
Report by Niall Wallace
