On Location | Rostrevor Mountain Bike Trails
For day four and five of our MTB tour of Ireland we headed over to the stunning spot of Rostrevor Mountain Bike Centre, again in the North of Ireland, thirty minutes further up the coast from Castlewellan. Yet again we were all treated to stunning mountainous and forestry views as we headed through old-fashioned looking villages and the very green, fertile looking countryside; we realized we were now hooked on the fantastic charm of Ireland.
For our first day we met up with 20yr old Nathan Mc’Comb, he’d placed third in the previous day’s Vitus First Tracks Enduro race and like us, had celebrated far to hard after the race; to say we were rough was an understatement! People we had told prior of our plans to ride Rostrevor had all said about the nasty first climb of the red trail loop, we thought they were all exaggerating until we were pedaling up it at around the midday point, still dizzy and feeling the Guinness after-effects! That first climb of the red trail really is a grueler, we just got our heads down and cracked on, and on, and on, until we finally made it to the very top of the first climb, that view engulfed in the very cold low cloud and drizzle.
On we cracked up and down the stoney bike-park type man-made trails, stopping halfway at the infamous Kodak Corner for pics and to check out the amazing views of the seaside, mountains and local village; wow even with the grey skies it still looked amazing. Nathan (previously being one of Ireland’s top junior MTB Trials riders] possessed skills) which absolutely blew us away during the ride; it really was like riding with Danny Macaskill! Even feeling cold, wet and pretty tired, the fun of the trails just increased the further through the ride. The downhills were long and some of the best tracks for practicing your pumping skills, full of dips, humps and mostly flowy corners. Despite the conditions we still had smiles on our faces upon completion of the whole loop as we packed up and headed over to the next digs site, camping pods at East Coast Adventure. East Coast Adventure is a local business who cater for all types of recreational activities, including MTB, canoeing, abseiling, orienteering, rock climbing, team building, etc.
Staying in a pod was a first for all of us and we really weren’t disappointed with their spacious comfort. It was blowing a massive gale outside, but these wooden insulated structures, doubling-up as our writing offices were just so snug. They sported Wi-Fi and big comfy beds; the guys washed all our previous day’s riding kit and then fed us like kings the next morning, ready for day two at Rostrevor. The difference in the second day’s riding was that this time it was an uplift day, put on especially for us by East Coast Adventure. Doc had come down a bit with the lurgy the night before, having to cut the trail ride short, this time it was my turn to feel grim, a result of getting cold and wet, mixed with a hangover!
We headed back over to the trailhead and met up with the chaps from East Coast where the uplift awaited, fully primed and ready to take our three bikes up the hill for the day on one of the two bike trailers more suited for busy weekends. There are two main DH official trails, Mega Mission and On the Pulse, they weren’t as long as expected, as they start from about halfway up the mountain where the uplift stops.
We rode Mega Mission first, this consists of huge banked up stone berms all the way down, these being broken up by tabletop after tabletop. The tables were extremely short with the deepest of bowls; we soon headed over to check out On the Pulse, this trail is pretty full-on to be honest, a bit like a slower version of the top of the World Cup track at Fort William. First run down and we were feeling a tad out of our depths on the many huge bouldered rock-gardens, but after a few more go’s we found the smoother lines and kept some speed, although trials skills would have been a bonus!
These were the official tracks, but the place was littered with other should we say ‘off-piste’ stuff, we had to try two of them, named Bins and Bins 2. These were like proper old-skool fast, steep and tech multi-lined DH stages and really amazing to ride, putting an awesome end to the day on the bikes.
Back to the pods and our office from home, where we reflected on the last two days activities. Yet again the locals had been more than friendly, not being able to do enough for us, this place really should be right up there high on the list of riding holiday destinations. Testament to this is the fact that Rostrevor is also host to the yearly event, which is Red Bull’s Fox Hunt with the Athertons, proving it is a worthy adversary to any UK mountain. Afterwards the staff put on the biggest of meals we had eaten on the whole trip, feeling tired snotty and full of grub, we wrote up the last day’s happenings and hit the hay
MountainBikeNI.com is packed full of useful information on Northern Ireland’s new mountain bike trail centres. You can also check out Ireland.com for up-to-date travel information and advice on the best places to stay near the trails.
Big thanks to the guys from eastcoastadventure.com. More Info: mountainbikeni.com.
Words: Jim Buchanan Pics: Doc Ward