A two-day adventure style bikepacking cycle race, the Capital Trail, has opened for entries for 2016.
Voted as Best New Trail in 2015 by Bikepacking.com, the race takes place on October 1 and 2 and is a great challenge for solos or groups of mountain bike riders.
Riders must ride without support or pre-planned kit/food caches. The event is free to enter this year, although donations are welcomed.
The Capital Trail route
The Capital Trail takes place on a variety of singletracks, Land Rover tracks, forest roads and quiet country lanes around the city of Edinburgh. There is some 6,000m of climbing.
The route starts and finishes at The Tide Cafe on Portobello Beach and features, among other places, the Firth of Forth coastline, Carberry Hill, Pencaitland Railway Path, Saltoun Big Woods, Lammer Law, the Southern Upland Way, the Borders and Abbey Way, the Three Brethren, the 7Stanes trails at Innerleithen and Peebles, Kirkhope Law, the Cross Borders Drove Road, the Meldons and Pentland Hills.
To finish, the Capital Trail takes you to all the tourist attractions in Scotland’s capital.
The route is designed to be ridden clockwise in two days with an overnight stop. There are plenty of good opportunities to sleep under the stars, or in bothies, bunkhouses, B&Bs and hotels.
Free for this year
Markus Stitz, who has spent the past year bikepacking on a single-speed bike around the world, is the founder of the Capital Trail.
He says: “The Capital Trail is a great introduction to bikepacking, an activity that is growing worldwide.
“I designed the trail in 2015 to combine the brilliant trails around Edinburgh into a two-day route and the feedback has been great.
“This year entries are free of charge as my way of saying a personal thanks to the bikepacking community that supported me on my own bikepacking adventure.”
See Capital Trail.