Happy Mondays: Week 5 - Back door microadventure, mountainbiking around Blairgowrie.
Microadventures straight out of your front or back door are the best type of adventures. No faff with travelling somewhere and forgetting to bring your shoes, just straight out the door and off you go. These are my favourite types of adventures. They are my favourite type of adventure, because it doesn't take a huge commitment if you are short on time, you're not spending lots of time travelling in a car, and if something goes wrong, you are not far from home.
This Monday I went exploring the singletrack trails within the immediate vicinity of Blairgowrie and Rattray on my mountainbike. None of the trails I explored were more than 0.5 miles from the edge of town, and I was out for almost 4 hours. I originally found all these trails through exploration. Mountainbike trails tend to be in woods, so when I first moved to Blairgowrie I looked on a map and found all the woodland around the town and went and explored them following every little trail I came across. Some led to some of the best mountainbiking around and some petered out within 50 metres, but you have to go down those dead ends to find the good stuff. Much of the good stuff is within close proximity to the centre of town centre and there used to be a lot more before the council tarmacked it all.
Some days I'll just go out and ride some of these trails for 40 minutes if I need a quick blast. I also run many of these trails. Most of the trails around Blairgowrie are flat, so they are perfect for complete beginners, but they offer a good challenge if ridden fast for good mountainbikers as well, because they are natural, muddy and rooty. I eve go out with my 5-year old son who can ride them all, so you have no excuse! If you have a bike, live close to Blairgowrie, just get out and explore these trails, they are wonderful.
My wee microadventure took me through the woods to the south of the golf club, then a wee hop across the A93 passed White Loch to Bluebell woods then onto Stormont before heading north through Myreside and up around the top of Blairgowrie before dropping down to the river on some really fun singletrack. Before I headed up Bonnington Road, I stopped off to see if there had been any developments at the BMX track, and WOW, it is almost finished. This will be an amazing resource for the kids and BMXers of Blairgowrie and Rattray. I'll definitely be taking the boys up there to have a play around - well done to everyone involved in making that happen!
The next stop were the woods behind Rattray - this is my favourite place to go mountainbiking. It's not a loop, but lots of short sections that you can session over and over again. It's where I do most of my skills development. It has steep sections, linked corners, drops, small jumps - it basically has everything you need to become a better descender on a mountainbike. I've spent hours in this small woodland honing my skills.
So, jump on your bike or pull on your trainers and get exploring from your own door! No excuses!