Blue Doon Fort William | The Longest MTB Trail in the UK
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- We headed to the Nevis Range with Andrew (McTrail Rider) to MTB on the new Blue Doon Trail at Fort William, which is the longest MTB Trail in the UK. We wanted to see what all the hype was about, BUT things did not go as we had hoped.
Within a couple of minutes of riding there was a crash, which came at no surprise at all, and for sure there would be plenty more to come during the day on the Nevis Range Blue Doon Trail.
Meg and I felt there was a huge opportunity missed here, with the trail lacking flow, fun, and safety, it made the riding experience dull, boring and sketchy.
All 3 of us discussed the Nevis Range Blue Doon Trail in detail, and we understand riding a fresh trail has it's own issues, and of course it needs time to bed in, but, that wasn't the case on the Blue Doon trail, there is no support on the corners where you need it, the trail doesn't flow and it is damn right dangerous on parts.
We really wanted to like this trail, and we want to look for the positives, but we have to be honest.
We didn’t edit any parts out of the new Blue Trail Fort William video so you can make up your own minds.
Lots more new content coming soon, as the end of the summer 2021 has been awesome for us and we cannot wait to share our content with you guys.
Andrew Will be posting his views on the trail soon at / macatron86
Are you wanting to ride the new trail at the Nevis Range? Maybe you did, what are your thoughts?
What an intro folks! Proper hype 🤙 It looks like we all encountered the same issues on the new trail. In some respects, I really enjoyed the challenge of using technique to get round the corners, however it could've been so much more. If those corners had support it would've been flow heaven.
Thanks buddy, the key to the intro is me falling off my bike, which it turns out is quite the regular occurrence 😂. Yeah unfortunately we did, BUT, we are hopeful they will improve the trail hey 🤞 also 100% agree, those corners will legit teach you how to ride flat corners for sure.
Keep up the great content dude
@@LukeMegBiking you too 😁🤙
"the trail lacking flow, fun, and safety, it made the riding experience dull, boring and sketchy" yip it is pish and someone could get seriously hurt if they went off track.
It's such a shame as we were rooting for this trail to be awesome. We really wanted to find some positives but we just couldn't, bar the end part of the trail being better than the other sections. We were shocked that the trail got the green light after riding it, as the safety concerns are legit.
@@LukeMegBiking Bit at the end in the wood is called Blue Steel. Its a fun wee trails that I enjoyed. Blue Doon like you say has some safety issues. Small mistake and you could land in boulders or worse tumble down the hill side. Were you in the queue at the end?
@@MTBScotland Blue Steal was so much better hey. Yes we were 😀 100% agree, I’m shocked they signed it off with all the potential places to croak yourself
Couldn’t agree more, we were there on Sunday and our entire crew was incredibly disappointed, where did it all go so wrong? One of the worst trails I have ever ridden in the past 20 years
We are scratching our heads also. We hope they make big changes and turn the trail around as if it was a good trail, it would be a massive win for everyone.
Typical Nevis range tbh. They have done it with every new trail it's hyped up to be so much more than it is. And it's flat corners with sketcky sections that can easily be done wrong if not careful. I've not heard very many good things and I've not even riden It yet!
Oh really, that’s interesting. For sure there are legitimate safety concerns with the trail. I know the video is very long, but I wanted to show the trail in its entirety so folks can decide if they want to travel to ride it
Some of that trail looks like an accident waiting to happen. Around the 12 minute mark, there are areas where the trail is wide until you go around the corner then it shrinks on the side that it shouldn't. I see many washouts and OTBs in this trails future.
Good riding on your part though.
Thanks dude, I was just happy to stay on the bike 😂 Yeah for sure, it makes no sense why they would set riders up to fail with way the trail is mapped out hey 🤔
Well that looked like you could be on any sanitised walking path up the lakes. What a shame. They could of made that so, so good with a bit of thought.
We cannot disagree buddy. Had this trail of being close to anything like the Bike Park Wales blue trails it would be a solid win, as you then have 2 gnarly trails and a super fun blue trail added with some lower blues, which meant everyone could enjoy the range…. BUT unfortunately that isn’t the case 🤯
such a nice and flowy trail.
🙌🙌🤣
the blue doon is amazing it take mad skill to go quick or have fun learning to ride your bike down a blue trial good work nevis well done.
The point we were making in the video is that a Flow Blue Trail is meant to be all about fun, not a concentrated effort to stay on the bike so to ride the trail, and a real effort to ride at speed whilst staying on your bike
Been 2nd day after they open ( u were not far on front of me in queue for gondola) . So blue soon for warm up first and I must said it was torture- loose , peddle, only bottom section was ok-ish. Will be much better if they will do something like u said ( blue aka bpw) even bpw uplift trial is way better then this crap . Good video anyway bud
Oh really, that’s cool dude. Thank you, glad you liked the vid. We have been excited for over a year for the opening of this trail, and for sure we wanted to love it, but that just wasn’t possible after riding it unfortunately
Yup. I was there that day as well. Full of disappointment. Nevis Range sold way too many tickets for the Saturday so we spent all day queuing for barely any runs. Total waste of money. The new blue was a total waste of potential. "Bland Doon" rather than "Blue Doon". Was so excited for a long rollercoaster of berms and was met by endless, loose flat turns. Was so bored by half way down I actually considered hiking up the hill to finish on top chief. I've heard the same story from literally every person I spoke to during our expensive day of queueing. Would it be out of line to feed this back to Nevis Range I wonder? Would be curious to see how beginners enjoyed it. Too loose to be fun for them I wonder?
Hey Cam, it's great to get your feedback, but we feel your pain. We were there on Saturday, the day after the opening, and the queues were also huge with massive wait times unfortunately. All 3 of us discussed it in detail, and to be honest, we think it will be worse for compete beginners, as it is technically harder to ride those loose flat turns. It is a head scratcher for sure, as we have no idea what the Nevis Range were thinking during the development of this new trail. :-/
@@LukeMegBiking I honestly think they rushed it. Big delays due to covid and I think they were desperate to get some extra income in due to the last ski season being a write off. Take the diggers up, bash out a rough track, get the punters in. I'm going to write to Nevis Range and gently suggest that the trail will need upgraded in the future if they want the increase in numbers to be sustainable. I hope others do the same. One bit of feedback will change nothing, a few hundred emails might make for a rethink...
@@camrivers3122 oh that’s interesting. Good idea, for sure they would listen, as people will not make the effort to visit the trail in its current form, that’s for sure
As a beginner I would say that I did enjoy it and the fact that it slowed the "Pros" down a bit meant that I wasnt worried about loads of people overtaking at much higher speed. That said, the surface was very loose and both my son and I did come off a few times due to a lack of front end grip. - So for a novice, the "flatness" of the corners wasnt an issue but the losseness of the surface wasnt - hopefully this will improve after a bit of rain
@@garethearle-payne1120 Thanks for the input Gareth, it’s great to see another point of view. We are stoked you and your son had a good day.
If you like MTB in Scotland, check back soon as we have some really special content to release from our MTB adventures in TORRIDON which were truly phenomenal 🙌
Such a piss poor trail. As others have said, this is a typical Nevis Range approach. They actually have no clue what they're doing when it comes to biking.
We thought with the World Cup track and top chief it was going to be great, but unfortunately we were very wrong.
that Intro is still one of my favourites that ive worked on!
You killed it dude :-)
It is one thing to be honest and to give your opinion, which is appreciated, but to be blethering about safety....did you look at the WC track on the way up the gondola?
To call it "damn right dangerous" is nonsense, mtb'ing is dangerous and you partake at your own risk, no matter where you ride. I think that maybe, just maybe, Nevis did not want a full on, flat out flow trail. Surely beginners/novices would be put off coming to ride the blue flow trail if there was an endless train of gravity pilots blasting past them, not to mention it would be dangerous.
From looking at a few video's it seems a varied trail which can be ridden by all abilities, the lower sections in the woods have proper flow and alternative blue routes to the car park are available too. Now a gondola pass at Nevis isn't just for riders donning full face helmets.
Whilst Blue Doon may not be to everyones liking it will 'ride in' to some extent, not all corners need support - flat corners are not as easy but that's the challenge.
Unfortunately it doesn't look like there will be a Scottish A-Line any time soon.
My concerns are echoed by 90% of the people that have ridden it. Many people advised they either crashed, or witnessed crashes during the day.
We were on the trail for 2 minutes and an advanced rider crashed, I nearly came off several times, Andrew ahead of me had sketchy moments, as did Meg, we were all taking it steady.
A trail does not need to be fast nor have features for it to be dangerous, and I want to highlight the safety concerns I had as we travel up and down the country weekly riding a huge variety of trails, from home built to pro lines, and I think it is fair for us to give our honest opinion, should there even be any other type of opinion than an honest one anyway!
The U.K. is littered with amazing blue trails, with fun to be had from all. Your point referring to “gravity pilots” is nonsense, how do you think Bike Park Wales is such a success? If that trail worked, it would bring people from all
over the U.K. with varying skill sets, and fun would be had from all, but I for sure cannot recommend this trail for the reasons mentioned within the video.
I really hope you have ridden it, as to make such a comment otherwise is very silly. If you have ridden it and enjoyed it, good luck to you and I’m glad you enjoyed it
Luke
@@LukeMegBiking honesty is always the best
Your reply is nice and truthfull
@@chopperhehehe thank you 🙏. We are super positive people but we have to give the bad points too, so to help people where possible
Have an awesome day
@@LukeMegBiking yup, just rode this earlier and washed out about 3 times, pretty shit.
@@foxmulder1363 Bernard Kerr’s teammate and Pivot Factory racer went to ride it and also stated his dislike for it 😆. Check out his latest Fort William Vlog 👊