My name is Aaron Gray, keen mountain biker, local tradesman and proud father of two, based in Abernethy at the foot of Pitmedden Forest. The technical singletrack in the forest is on my doorstep and like plenty of others, both local and from further afield – I love riding here.

After casually entering some XC races both in England and Scotland, along with a couple of Enduro events, I really fancied holding an event on my local trails to show what the place has to offer. It had occured to me, that for such a beautiful part of the country, surrounded by endless, fantastic riding, a lot of mountain bike tourists would just drive straight past to get to some of the better known mountain biking destinations. Most bikers want to go to The Cairngorms, Laggan-Wolftrax, Fort William or 7stanes in The Borders (and with good reason) so why not hold a mountain bike event within travelling distance of them all?

Pitmedden Forest has no waymarking, so it is easy to get lost there, which is off putting for some riders who don’t want to waste their precious riding time trying to find a decent trail. This is the reason a lot of riders either stay on their local trails or hit the trail centres, where they can follow a well marked course and just enjoy riding their bike.

I want to share my knowledge of the forest with other Mountain Bikers who otherwise might not ride the trails here. I think an event incorporating a huge lap of Pitmedden Forest is a great way to give riders an unguided tour of the trails we all love to ride so much. If you ride here regularly however, you might ride some new sections you didn’t know about, or link your favourite loops up differently. Either way, you’ll be riding your bike in the forest, so how can you possibly go wrong?!