The Twister trail is a 17km-long loop that makes for a physically demanding ride. In places, it’s technical, featuring rock steps and drop-offs, but generally the trails are classic cross-country, winding downhill rather than plunging, making the most of the height gained on the climbs.
Many of the technical features don’t have easy alternative routes round them but can be pushed up or down if needed.
Larg Hill
Starting from the car park at the visitor centre, the route climbs on narrow, winding singletrack and short sections of forest road shared with the blue route.
At Larg Hill the blue and red routes diverge as you head onto the first of the more technical red-graded sections. Start by climbing the wooded hillside in a series of short, steep snaps before contouring around to the first of the rocky challenges, then finally dropping back onto the road again. Just before the road there's a black-graded option to the left.
The Bruntis
The trail now rejoins the blue route at its highest point. From here, flowing singletrack and a couple of short road sections leads you downwards past the Bruntis Loch with only the odd easy technical feature to interrupt the flow.
On reaching the forest drive leave the blue route again and head left for a short road climb to the Anniversary Cairn, a popular view point and picnic spot.
Little Park Doon Hill, Doon Hill & White Witch
You’ve completed the first third of the route, and the trail now becomes more challenging, switching around Little Park Doon Hill and the Doon Hill, with frequent rocky obstacles to negotiate.
Heading into the arms of the White Witch, a confident approach will help you clear the granite boulder that blocks the trail, taking you onto even narrower singletrack. After a rolling traverse through a leafy Horn Beam woodland, the trail exits onto a minor public road just a few metres away from the start of Rivendell.
Rivendell
Enter Rivendell - race the burn downhill and take the bridge, water splash and double berm in quick succession before the final exhilarating rush to the valley bottom.
Now it’s decision time. You can join the 14km Black Craigs loop (black-graded) here to extend your ride, or continue on the red route to return down the valley via the Twister.
The Twister
From the bottom of Rivendell, continue a short distance on the road before joining the lower section of the Jabberwocky with its swish-swashing turns.
A final short road climb leads quickly to the long, sinuous singletrack of The Twister; a grin-inducing, twisting trail with rocky challenges round every corner - rock slab climbs and descents, step-downs, step-ups, steep plunges and steep short climbs.
If that’s not enough, there’s a final rollercoaster ride through majestic Douglas Fir trees, before a short stretch of forest road takes you back to the Visitor Centre.
Grade: Red (see trail grades for details of this grade)
Distance: 17km
80% singletrack
Estimated time to ride the route: 1 - 2 hours.