How hard is BLUE DOON for the AVERAGE rider? FORT WILLIAM, NEVIS RANGE!

[Music] all right see you at the [Music] top [Music] welcome to Fort William the neice range so I've just got the chair lift up to the top just push my bike out and up a little Hill that's where I'm out of breath uh so I'm just heading off to ride Blue Dune so wish me luck and hopefully I'll see you at the bottom in one [Music] piece so there is the top of the gondola there's the World Cup Hut so there's the start there Blue Dune you just go down here towards the chair lift over here with an amazing view of Fort William there and then it's not really sign posted you can see the start of the trail it's the other side of the chair lift there but to access it you go just down this little Trail here and then that takes you in so you head around here and then there is Blue Dune so there's the entrance to the trail so let's give it a go woohoo come on now I've been down this is my uh third time so I wouldn't say I'm overconfident but I sort of know what to expect it is a nice flowy Trail not too steep so you can really work on your progression try and keep as much speed going around these firms maybe even do a little pump just to keep your speed and keep your flow now it is a little bit loose at the moment so you need to really just watch the trail ahead and if there's any sort of loose rocks just be careful when you go through those well these burms here they're nice and Big Lean the bike over get plenty of grip they're nice because you go around the burm and then you get a little bit of acceleration and then it goes uphill a little bit just to slow you down so then you go around the BM again so it is really well paced and I mean for an uplift you know it's a gondola it's a proper full-on bike park but this is an amazing introduction and you know confidence Builder I mean I wouldn't really have a go at top Chief or the downhill I'm not anywhere near that level but this is really good I mean I'm hoping that they build a a red here as well sort of in between this one and the top Chief which would be nice now it's a very long trail there's even picnic benches to stopped with picnic benches down so if you are getting a little bit fatigued I would use them because I don't know where you live but where I live we don't tend to have these massive long descents you sort of have two or three minute descents and then you pedal back up so you never really get the arm pump you get on these long bikes Park descents these are the sections here there was um people digging this morning maintaining oh there we go there's one of them there maintaining it and keeping it good all right oh yeah so they are uh keeping on top it keep it on top of the maintenance which is good I mean there's no breaking bumps that I've seen now these bits here where you've got the loose shingle on the sides these are the very sketchy bits cuz it's not quite worn in yet you can see in the middle here it's nicely worn in but if you go off that you will start sliding around so just be aware of that there's also some sections like this that you can actually have a little sit down because they are a little bit pedy but to be honest I don't mind that I prefer that than being on the brakes all the time and not real not really progressing so I think this is top Chief where they cross over here uh oh no maybe not oh yes I think they do because then when you go around this corner top Chief goes off to the right and Blue Dune goes off to the left so just be a little bit careful when you go around here make sure you uh follow the trail that you uh want to carry on on I mean look at that view didn't get a lot of time to take the view in and also yeah so there's top Chief there so I'm going left carrying on Blue Dune so there's the picnic bench there and as you can see it's got an amazing view so I'm going to have a little stop there just let my uh wrists let the pump out of my wrist and uh and I'll carry on in a minute at that view nice [Music] what the neice range is a mountain range in the Scottish Highlands located about 7 m north of Fort William it's home to the UK's only Moun gondola which in the spring summer and Autumn months doubles up as a bike uplift and it takes about 15 minutes to get to the top uplift prices in 2023 were 46s for a full day and there are parking charges on top from the top you have access to three mountain bike trails including Blue Dune top Chief and the famous World Cup Downhill track the Blue Dune Trail is the longest blue graded uplift Trail in the UK at around 8 km long the intermediate flow Trail opened 2 years ago and snakes down the mountain side with views over the lacaba [Music] countryside [Music] yeah [Music] with several picnic benches along the trail you can't help stopping taking a breather and checking out the incredible view right so I've had a bit of a breather let's get back on the trail now this last third is the bit where we sort of dip into the forest gets a little bit steeper um and then you join into the other trails that are accessible um accessible from the carpot without an uplift that's called Blue Steel and to be honest if you're not sure whether you're ready to have a go on this Blue Dune then I would have a little ride round have a ride up to Blue Steel give that a go because if you can ride blue steel to be honest there's nothing on Blue Dune that will uh surprise you it's it's no harder than blue steel so that's a good little pre-qualifier and also a little confidence Builder as well so maybe come for the day have a ride ride around the the trails around the center and then the following day if you're feeling comfortable and up for it grab yourself an uplift and uh have a go on this because I mean it's the longest blue in the UK so that's one to tick off the list anyway and to be honest it's an experience especially if you're uh from places where you don't get this type of terrain I mean it's uh it really is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be honest people come in from all over the world to uh ride here at Fort William and we're looking enough well it's 9 hours for me to drive up here but most people they can get up here in uh a lot less time and yeah go for it there we go so you start to see the barriers so you know it's going to get a little bit steeper so I haven't been on the brakes that much but I know I'm going to need to watch my uh speed and just maintain it a little bit going down here I mean these BMS are great you can just they're pretty much catch burms you can hit them quite hard but just be just be aware of your speed when you're coming down oh see there the front end just went out a little bit just stepped out so you still got to be on your toes lean the bike over make sure you get as much grip as you can and also by the time you get down here you've been riding for quite a long time so I would make use of the pigly benches and just uh keep yourself fresh for this part because this part is not easy at all it's getting looser it's drying out throughout the day this was really quite damp this morning but now it's uh definitely getting a little bit looser this is the roller coaster nice little Gap jump there I'm trying not to Pedal so just pumping over those sections there this part reminds me of bik part Wales it's all very natural up top but this is this is well uh well thought out flow Trail this and that is the end of Blue Dune and that is where it turns into blue steel so this section here like I say is a good little introduction to how steep and Technical Blue Dune is so let's do it and then this will kick me out into the car park so as you can see down here it's very similar and a good pre-qualifier like I said if you can ride this comfortably you can certainly ride blue [Applause] dun the trail also gets slightly wider and wider as you're going down as it gets less and less Technical and turns into really a forest path and then when that does happen just be aware of uh people walking so you get a lot of hikers here and they are sort of shared hiking trails these are obviously the uh bike trail so you shouldn't uh walk on these but as you get closer to the car park it does really turn into a more mixed Trail here you can see it's getting wider and less technical so just be ready to maybe see the odd dog and hiker knocking about so that is Blue Dune hope you've enjoyed the video thanks for watching all the way to the end I really do appreciate it and please give me a like really helps the channel and helps the videos grow and for more mountain bike videos hit subscribe hit the Bell so you don't miss any uploads and I will catch you on the next [Music] one [Music]

Channel: The Search MTB

Views: 17,488

Keywords: mtb, mountain bike, gopro, vtt, trail, ride, enduro, emtb, electric mountain bike, trail review, trail guide, trail centre, bike park, uk mtb, skydio, bike trails, downhill mtb, average MTB rider, mtb pov, flow trails, best mtb trails in the UK, Best MTB trails in europe, fort william, nevis range, blue doon, top chief, gondola, scotland mtb, ben nevis, mctrail rider, uci world cup, the coutour collective, laura jane & wee tam, street pigeon mtb, red bull, longest blue trail

Id: 4kOrsHlQ2B4

Length: 19min 46sec (1186 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 21 2024