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03/03/10 Tweed Valley Bike Patrol news

Following its AGM in December past, the Tweed Valley Bike Patrol is now a separate body from the Forestry Commission, and has become a club of volunteers in its own right.  As well as continuing to provide assistance to riders in the Tweed Valley, it aims to facilitate training for its members in the Trail Cycle Leader award, in first aid, and other relevant courses.

For details of the changes and how to get involved, contact Andy Weir, Tweed Valley Bike Patrol Coordinator. Telephone: 07920 751733.

16/02/10 'Darkest Challenge on Earth' at Kirroughtree

To celebrate and promote Galloway Forest Park becoming the first park outside America to gain 'Dark Skies' Status, 7stanes are holding a night riding/astrological challenge event, taking place on 13th March at Kirroughtree Visitor centre between 4pm and 10pm.

Teams of 2, 3 or 4 riders will cycle a 5km loop within Kirroughtree Forest (night riding equipment essential). Riders will be given a 'planet' for each lap completed, with each planet containing a dark skies question, the answers to which are in the Kirroughtree visitor area. The object is to get as many planets as possible in 4 hrs.

The route will be technically challenging in places, and riders must have previous night riding experience, aged 12 or over, have adequate off road mountain bike specific lights, and carry an emergency light.

For full details and an entry form see the Darkest Challenge on Earth page.

09/02/10 IMBA UK/CTC conference in Tweed Valley, September 2010

The 2010 IMBA-UK/CTC Conference will take place from Thursday 9th - Saturday 11th September in the Macdonald Hotel at Cardrona in the Tweed Valley, just a short pedal away from the 7stanes centres of Glentress and Innerleithen. 

The conference is held every two years and is the forum for all things mountain biking.  More details are at:http://www.imba.org.uk/

08/01/2010 Bike hire now available at Newcastleton

7stanes Newcastleton now has local bike hire at Rock UK's Whithaugh Park Centre, about 3km from the trail head. Rock UK is one of the UK's largest providers of outdoor education and adventure. For more information on Rock UK, their contact details and all the services they provide at Newcastleton, call 013873 75394, email: whithaugh@rockuk.org or see: http://www.rockuk.org/centres/whithaugh-park.

18/12/09 The Ridge opens at Mabie

The newly constructed Mabie Ridge section opens Saturday 19th December.  It will add roughly another 2km to the trail, 600m on the forest road, 400m of singletrack climb, followed by 900m of a nice new flowing kicky descent, before about another 100m to rejoin the trail at post 15. 

It's been a mammoth build in difficult weather conditions but it's all looking pretty good and is a much needed breath of fresh air for Mabie!

There's also about 150m of nice new upgraded boardwalk put in at the Elevator climb on the red route, so it's all looking a lot healthier.

26/06/09 Glentress Peel project update

The information on the Glentress Peel project - the development of new facilities at Glentress for visitors to the Tweed Valley Forest Park, (including Glentress) - has been updated on the main Forestry Commission Scotland site.  Details at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/glentress.  

Other articles

27/04/09 Venerable North Shore at Ewok Village joins great Black Trail in the sky

The North Shore timber features at the Ewok Village section of the Glentress Black trail have, sadly, come to the end of their lifespans and have had to be removed.  They will be replaced later this year or early 2010.  More in due course.

09/03/09 7stanes photo competition results

Many thanks to those of you who entered the photo competition.  The winning photo, runners-up and a slideshow of all the entries is on the photo competition results page.

There's still time to solve the mystery of the seven stanes on the 7stanes, or to win a 7stanes buff by riding at all the 7stanes locations - see the arts project competition page for details. 

01/08/08 Tweed Valley Mountain Bikers Hospitality Scheme

The Tweed Valley Tourist Consortia have developed a brand new Mountain Bikers Hospitality Scheme after listening to mountain bikers and finding out exactly what they need from accommodation during a visit. 

The scheme members are a special collection of hotels, bed and breakfasts and self catering properties which are totally geared up to providing mountain bikers with everything they need for the perfect break.  As well as a lovely place to stay and a wonderful bike-friendly welcome, riders can be assured of safe, lockable storage for their prized mountain bike, a bike washing and maintenance area, a clothes drying room and plenty of quality high-carb meals to re-fuel for the next day’s adventure.

The Tweed Valley, which takes in 7stanes Glentress and Innerleithen, is the first area in Scotland to provide such a scheme, which assures riders of finding genuinely mountain bike-friendly accommodation and is focussed on providing a world class mountain biking experience in this beautiful corner of Scotland.

To find out how to book just visit www.visittweedvalley.co.uk and look out for the sign at accommodation properties throughout the Tweed Valley.

03/07/08 7stanes user survey

If you've ever visited the MTB venues in southern Scotland, the Mountain Bike Business Network would like to find out about your experiences to help their members improve their services. All information is completely confidential and the MBBN will be very grateful for your input. 

Take the 7stanes user survey.

24/05/07 Weekly MTB group at Dalbeattie

As at Mabie, there's now a regular weekly mountain bike group at Dalbeattie.  Organised by the Hardrock Cycle Club, the group meets on Thursdays at 6.30pm, starting from the Dalbeattie trail head.  All abilities welcome.  For more details, visit the Hardrock Cycle Club website.

21/05/07 Regular MTB group at Mabie, for all levels

There is a regular weekly mountain bike group running at Mabie on Thursday evenings, meeting at 7pm at The Shed.  If you're new to biking there will be qualified leaders present to take you or your kids out.  We would prefer if Primary School age kids rode with a parent/gaurdian.   For more details call Greg Knowles of Dumfries Cycling Club on 01557 332034, or look at www.ddcc.ik.org.

Press releases

There's more information on what's happening around the 7stanes in our press releases section.