The UK is fortunate to have a numerous purpose-built centre, dedicated to mountain bikers. Usually situated in the heart of stunning woodlands these centres allow you to hone your skills, push your limits and have an awesome time with your bike. There is the perfect place to start, often they are geared up with bike hire, changing facilities and coaching or guides to help you.  

Situated only 1 hour from Edinburgh in the heart of the Tweed Valley is Glentress forest. The forest is home to Scotland’s flagship trail centre, part of the 7stanes project. Over 300,000 riders a year make the pilgrimage to Glentress and are welcomed with a warm brew from the onsite café before you take on one of the five purpose-built trails. These trails are all graded from beginners to experts (green to black). It’s the perfect venue for progression and to experience mountain biking.

Nukeproof riders have enjoyed these trails for many years. The Tweed Valley’s wide variety of riding has even attracted Nukeproof-SRAM factory race manager Nigel Page and rapid Wigan’er; Elliott Heap to make the move.

For Elliott this was motivated to have world class trails on his doorstep. It’s a perfect location for an aspiring racer; From racking up miles on his gravel bike, playing on the trails on his Reactor all the way through to testing his Mega on stages used at the previous year’s Enduro World Series, the valley has it all.

Elliott has mixed his time on both the Reactor’s wheel options. Having won a silver medal at the UCI 4x World Championship in Val Di Sol on the Reactor 275, he’s a big fan. In preparation for the season ahead he’s built up his Reactor 290c to roam his new neighbourhood. The Reactor 290c is a perfect choice for taking on the variety of the valley. Short but effective travel, playful set up and responsive when hitting punchy climbs. To show off his new Reactor, we sent Elliott in the butty van to meet up with Caldwell Visuals for a day at the awesome Glentress trail centre (plus some other local areas).