Great day out in November, brilliant weather all be it it cold. Excellent trails well marked, laid out and challenging. I was told that there would be a lot of fire road this was not the case on the Red, brilliant. I would consider myself a beginner/intermediate and this certainly helped my skills and confidence.
What do you like?
Great climbs and fast interesting downhill. Limited fire roads mostly single track Trails in great condition
What could be improved?
Got slightly confused at the end with numbers on trail markers but this was more the stupidity of myself and friend.
Had a good evenings ride here while away on holiday. Good first climb & a decent descent which maybe worth a few goes to get the speed right up. Liked the singletrack climbs and the section called descender bender and the one after (drop to the river) were fantastic. Flowy, fast berms with plenty of little rollers to pop off. I felt it meandered a bit after this but there were a few good sections to finish.
What do you like?
Fast descents, rocky climbs, a few tricky rooty sections & good facilities for the minis
What could be improved?
Felt like it meandered a bit in the middle of the red trail. Last descent was not as good as others e.g descender bender
As has been mentioned in earlier reviews Mabie Red is not the hardest trail centre you will do but it does have some rewarding downhill sections especially The Ridge, Decender Bender 1&2, Stans Pond and the Elevator Rock Garden. I enjoy a bit of climbing so don't mind the climbs required for maximum enjoyment going down. The blue is an easy ride on mainly fire roads. However, the blue climb does offer a challenge to a beginner.
Winter night riding is much more rewarding as the walkers paths are available. Some of the sections here are excellent and allow for a real mixture of riding. There are also lots of natural trials that have been developed by the locals which do offer variation but these are not marked anywhere so local knowledge is required. Mabie forest is far more extensive than the bit at the trail centre. There is a link road down at Lochaber Loch which gives access to another part of the wood. There are lots of natural trails down there especially at Troston Hill and Waterloo Tower. So if you are there for the day do the red in the morning and do a bit of exploration in the afternoon.
Mabie House Hotel offers good food and drink.
What could be improved?
The darkside is permanently closed so don't bother with that. Also the 'Shed' cafe/bikeshop is closed except for a few weeks in the summer holidays. Not sure if you can even hire a bike nowadays.
The red trail at Mabie benefits from one of the most fun sections in the whole of the 7 Stanes- Descender Bender, a great flowing section in three parts with many berms and jumps. The final traverse/descent is good but beware the Bad Step.
The route is mostly less technical than the other Stanes and the surroundings are slightly different being mainly in broadleaf woodland rather than conifers- i guess it could get a bit slippery with fallen leaves around. If done at a good speed with minimal rest stops the trail has good flow and fireroad is kept to a minimum.
The blue trail is easy enough to ride for beginners but has no real fun sections- the singletrack is quite short and doesnt make up enough of the route.
What do you like?
Variety of trail grades
decent length of route
nicer forest than other trail centres