Sidlaws - Research visit ...almost

Ah....the Sidlaws used to ride there all the time when I stayed in St. Andrews and had one particularly blissful summer of riding virtually every day with my postie mate whilst I was on the dole....many broken bikes, bits and bodies....Macky D's after trips to Dundee Royal Infirmary and nurses who knew us by name....amazing....count me in for this one and let's hope the M.E. fairy stays well away.

Oh and thanks for the pics, the bombhole one in particular brought back memories.

Good pictures which bring back some memories from me too. My first SCU race was Sidlaws and I will always remember that killer grassy climb at the start. There was always a good crowd at the Bombholes and the fenceline downhill called "the steps" was a good place to make up time on the poor bike handlers.

I've not ridden there since those days but whenever I pass Dundee in the car I look up at the transmitter masts - one day I too may have to make a pilgrimage.

Other race courses from those days that are closer to my home and that I still ride frequently are... Kirkhill at Aberdeen, Scolty at Banchory and Fetteresso at Stonehaven. The other race I remember was the Alpine Bikes races at Hill of Coull near Aboyne, these were early season races and were know for tricky trails, terrible weather and horrific injuries... perfect

I was there again on saturday, still haven't redone the steps section but will do next time out, I reckon we've retraced about 2/3 of the route now, but although saturday was nice, the previous nights rain turned the grass section into complete marshland, even on the slopes morst of the tracks on the lower sections were rivers in disguise.

I fell in the quarry section and Miniken crashed into the back of me, then 20 yard from the car - on the flat I hit a bump and fell sideways into nettles, not the most fun ending to a lovely day.