AUGUST 16 2008 - MB7 LAUNCHES THE CLAN

After a summer of touring events with our bike display team 'The Clan', we've launched the team officially and done loads of shows. To find out more about Scotland's Cycle Stunt Team, click here. The Clan is a Mountain Bike, BMX and Trials cycling display team offering the most exciting and daring bike display shows in the UK. In addition to this, we are THE interactive bike display with loads of have-a-go opportunities for the public to get active and get into cycling, such as taking on our unique, all-ability 'Timbertrail’ bike obstacle course. Check out the guys in action here.

MARCH 28 2008 - MB7 RUNS BIKE ARENA AT OUTDOORS SHOW

We're gradually getting back into the normal day-to-day work of running MB7 after our biggest project to date - running the Outdoors Show Bike Arena. The video below says it all, but if you don't have flash player then here is a little more detail... The Outdoors Show organisers gave us access to 150 tonnes of dirt and loads of space and said - "we want mountain biking". Now needless to say we had a lot of fun putting that one together and the results were fairly spectacular if we do say so ourselves. With loads of support from the 7stanes people and help from Chris of Dirtschool, we created a huge dirt race track and trials rig. As well as wowing the crowds, we were offering the chance to have-a-go on our Timbertrail and also at jump and trials. Stu Thomson from MTBCut came down to film the action and below is the result. You will need flash player to view this, which you can download here. We hope you enjoy it...

SEPTEMBER 17 2007 - MB7 WINS SCOTTISH BORDERS BUSINESS AWARD

We recevied a nice 'pat on the back' this week from the Royal Bank of Scotland who sponsor the 'Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust' annual business awards. MB7 won the Scottish Borders region prize and has made it from the final 18 to the final 6 of the Scottish award also. The PSYBT helped support MB7 owner Iain Withers start the company in 2004 when he was a wee 25 year old. If any of you are under 25 and interested in starting a business, they are the people to get in touch with. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Geoff Leask of PSYBT Borders and Tommy Morrow, our PSYBT business advisor for helping us get this far with our company. The Scottish final is on November 19th, so fingers crossed.

APRIL 10 2007 - MACDONALD CARDRONA PARTNERSHIP LAUNCHED

We've been working with our local luxury hotel, Macdonald Cardrona, since Christmas to combine our offerings. The hotel have shown great commitment to accommodate the needs of mountain bikers and are currently putting together their biker's shed to include secure bike storage, workstands, drying room etc. At the same time we have been crafting some packages with the hotel, including the new 'bike & bliss' luxury package. A day's guided adventure on the bikes followed by some pampering and fine food. We will also be releasing the details of some unique corporate packages in the near future. It has been somewhat of a revelation to see a 'Golf & Country Club' take mountain biking and run with it so enthusiastically. It is a sign of the commitment of local businesses to mountain biking and the potential for the Tweed Valley to be Britain's first mountain biking resort. Happy days.

APRIL 9 2007 - EVENTS, EVENTS, EVENTS

It has been a hectic month of events for us and we are just about drawing breath in this fine Spring air. It all kicked off with the Outdoors Show in Birmingham in mid-March. A hectic 3 days saw over five hundred people come through our skills area with myself and Andy W teaching basic mountain biking skills. Our first participant was none other than Sports Minister Richard Caborn (below). Luckily he didn't follow in the footsteps of a certain powerful American politician and went away with some new skills and an MB7 leaflet (of course)! We shared the bike arena with Norco and the 7stanes display team. You can see a video of the display guys in action at youtube. Look out for Danny's rediculously skillful 360 spin-to-something-even-harder!

After we returned to a couple of home events with the Polaris the following weekend. We were there to help the event organisers choose the finest routes in the Tweed Valley for their event and mark up their maps with 'MB7 sweet trails' to tempt participants to choose the most fun route, rather than the quickest. It was a great event and we'll hopefully see them up here again next year. you can find the results here. The same events gurus, detail, followed up the Polaris with their 'Deerstalker' event - a madcap muddy romp around Innerleithen. Hard to describe, but there are some photos here. Our mission was to create the running equivalent of northshore in the forest. We created some crazy obstacles including 'treehuggers delight', 'stairway to heaven' and 'reborn'. Some poor quality photos by me:

And finally, we've just come back from the 'Xtreme Factor' event at Ocean Terminal in Edinburgh where we were running skills sessions with the same set up as at the Outdoors Show, just a little less hectic:

JANUARY 29 2007 - 'TEAM MUD' RAFFLE FOR CHARITY

Some Glentress regulars have teamed up to raise money for Macmillan cancer charity with a little help from their friends. We've met team Mud aka brothers Chris & Graeme both on and off the bikes and were glad to help them achieve their goal for March. So go to the team mud website and get bidding for a host of prizes, including a day adventure with ourselves and make a little money for charity at the same time. Unfortunately the 'mud' reference is not bike-related but instead the guys are going to be covering the length of Britain in one weekend in their Land Rovers. There are plenty of other bike-related goodies on offer like their own buffs. Good luck guys!

DECEMBER 9 2006 - BIKE-FAX/MB7 GUIDEBOOK GOING DOWN A STORM

Once again we are stealing content from our pals at BikeFax. Our joint effort - Southern Scotland and the 7stanes has had great feedback:

We’re really pleased to be getting such good feedback about our latest guidebook. 'Southern Scotland and the 7stanes - selected mountain bike rides', has been on the shelves for just a couple of months now and the word out there seems to be ‘jolly well done’. With nearly 50 routes in four different regions of southern Scotland, it’ll be a while before you run out of ideas and rides with this guide. Supported by the 7stanes team and warmly welcomed by all in the region, this guide is seen as being the 'best thing since sliced bread'. Building on our provision of quality trail information for downhillers as well as cross country riders, the guide contains detailed maps and info on a whole heap of tracks at Innerleithen and Ae. As always there's plenty for cross country riders too, with both mountain and forest rides on offer. And for those who just can't tear themselves away from the 7stanes, some all new combos courtesty of our local on the ground trail fairies. And a new feature of our guides, we’ve put together a couple of really big routes especially for this book. For those of you who like spend a few days in a row in the saddle, then our multi day epics should give food for thought.

If you want to find out more about the guidebook, and find out where to buy it - read the full story here. From the Cademuir loop route:

NOVEMBER 13 2006 - CHRISTMAS BEGINS EARLY AS USUAL

As usual i gaze with amazement at the television as the Argos christmas advert tune fills my living room. Wasn't it summer yesterday? Realising resistance is futile, we've added our christmas gift vouchers to the site - our small way of making sure Santa's bag is full of lightweight presents for all the riders out there. All those hours on the turbo trainer were wasted, Rudolf! Time for a winter montage from the 'Fistful of Dollar' ride scouting mission last winter...

OCTOBER 31 2006 - HALLOWEEN SILLINESS AND NEW CONTENT ONLINE

It has been a while since an update and it seems the news page is just about the only page we haven't updated of late. At the risk of turning our news page into a blog, here are a few things that almost happened...

Ali from Bike-fax almost made it up to take on 'Tim's white whale' - a monster ride which was too scary to put into the now-out Bike-Fax guidebook. Lucky he didn't make it, because one of our biggest rides certainly wasn't doable in the weather we had last Friday.

Singletrack almost brought their awards ceremony back to Peebles for the second year. Even their last-minute organisational skills couldn't make this one happen just yet. We look forward to welcoming them back in early 2007 for the awards.

We almost had to call a priest into Glentress Forest. Fortunately it turned out it was just Jake from The Hub scaring everyone.

AUGUST 18 2006 - BIKEFAX GUIDEBOOK HITS THE PRINTERS

For the past few months we've been beavering away, co-writing the newest offering from BikeFax. Based in Wales, Ali & Sue approached us to help them get going with their latest project, 'Southern Scotland and the 7stanes', and before we knew it we were co-authors. Its been a great way for us to really realise the quality of riding we have on our doorstep, not to mention the questionable quality of our grammar. The book features 28 routes from Galloway up to Edinburgh, including a brand new Coast to Coast - a version of our very own weeklong holiday. We're really excited about the potential for the book to promote our local area for mountain biking holidays - there really is an amazing amount of riding to be had around these parts! From the BikeFax website:

With miles of  stunning singletrack and acres of open hills there’s a whole heap of  trail combinations to put together. We got some help from a lot of local riders who know what to ride and what not to ride and we teamed up with local guide Iain Withers from MB7 to put together the best routes in the area.

From Galloway to Edinburgh, via the Lowther Hills, the Tweed Valley and the best the 7stanes has to offer we found some wee gems and a few really big gems too. We did remote rides over rugged hills and multi day adventures and we found that peachy singletrack isn’t the sole reserve of the 7stanes.

As well as the trail centres there’s some spectacular scenery and routes where you think nobody’s been for months – the kind of thing you thought you had to go to the highlands for. If that’s your kind of thing then you’ll no doubt be interested in the coast to coast route that Iain from MB7 came up with – 300kms long with nearly as much ascent!

AUGUST 8/9 2006 - JOHN MUIR TRUST BATON CROSSES S. SCOTLAND WITH MB7

The John Muir Trust does amazing work in looking after Scotland's wild places and when we head about their 'journey for the wild', we couldn't resist getting involved. The Journey is an event running over a number of weeks, where batons are handed from leg to leg, covering every corner of Britain. The journey aims to highlight Britain's wild places and enjoying them with minimal impact. We picked up the baton from Kayakers who brought it over from Cumbria. From our meeting point at Annan, we pedalled through the Southern Uplands over two days, taking in some of our favourite off-piste trails on the way. We couldn't resist taking on the Ae 7stanes trail on the way through though. Needless to say, we would have liked to have known that one of the batons was 5ft long! A little tentative on the berms then, but never the less we got the batons safely up to Wiston Lodge in time to be picked up by the next cyclist. The batons are on their way to an Edinburgh finale via Ben Nevis later this month. Good luck with the rest of the journey guys!

JULY 15/16 2006 - SKILLS COURSE DEBUTS AT EDINBURGH RAT RACE

Last weekend the all-new MB7 skills loop debuted at the Edinburgh Rat Race event village in Princes st. Gardens in Edinburgh. On Saturday and Sunday the obstacle course was used by competitors and the public alike, adding a fun edge to the already wacky event. All ages took on the course, which was only built on wednesday. Thanks to the design, despite everyones attempts, all abilities made it around the course with no problems. Not everyone made it around the 'impossible corner', which saw people stay up to an hour to try to clean it. On Saturday evening the course was used in the 'mean streets prologue' race and things got more than a little hectic when all the team raced up to us to take on the course. What a laugh. the course will be touring around various events this year for more of the same.

JULY 8 2006 - PEEBLES WILDCAT GOES DOWN

If you were there, you'd know. Especially if you took on the old railway tunnel at 2am. 'nuff said. Congrats Jack.

JUNE 17-24 2006 - BEST OF THE STANES TOUR PROVES A HIT WITH PASCAL

We received this photo montage from Pascal, who took part in our weeklong best of the trails tour. After a week of the best that southern Scotland could throw at them in terms of trails, and the worst in terms of weather, Pascal's friend made this montage. He has promised more photos and even videos, which we will try to get up on the site when they arrive.