Kinnitty Castle MTB Trails

Post date: Jun 20, 2021 7:11:57 PM

Last Saturday at 8:30am a group of Lakeside Wheelers and friends met in the car park at Kinnitty Castle at the bottom of the Slieve Blooms for a morning of riding the recently developed mountain bike trails. There were ten of us in total with a few in particular who knew the trail layout very well which was a great asset to the rest of us. Having been so dry recently the trails were riding very well. Roy Carey who is one of those with pretty extensive knowledge of the trails, did mention that in his opinion the trails rode possibly even better when they are a little damp which should bode well for average Irish weather!

There were mountain bike wheel sizes ranging from 26, 27.5 and the more common 29 inch all out for a blast. But to have a ‘blast’ coming down the trails necessitates putting in the hard work grinding up to the trailhead in the first place! But don’t let that put you off because on road cycling where groups try and stay together on drags and hills, with mountain biking everyone goes up the inclines at their own pace which gives plenty of time to admire the pretty spectacular views and scenery we witnessed in the fine weather last Saturday. The mood was casual and relaxed with the faster climbers waiting for everyone else to join them at the top of each trailhead.

We completed all of the opened red trails and then dropped down into the slightly more forgiving and less technical blue trail loops which finish out on the relatively flat grounds leading back to the car park. It’s something everyone who was there last Saturday is keen to do again before too long. Thanks to committee member Seamus Clarke for organising this outing and we definitely look forward to the next one.