Recently I've had quite a few people asking when the new book will be ready. All I can say is that it's likley to be spring/early summer 2010. There's still a fair bit of work to be done and the lessons learned from the first book mean that I will not rush it.
On this page I've included a few images from the riding that will be going in to it. Unlike the first book, which was restricted to the Highlands, they are from all over Scotland. Hopefully they'll whet your appetite.
The new book will have routes are accessible from major population centres without the use of a car. In fact, all the images above are solely from those rides. For some reason, the gallery function was not working fully the last time I reviewed this page. Each image seems to come up individually and not part of a sequence through which you can scroll.
Many riders who live in the cities have been introduced to centre based riding and assume you have to drive somewhere to access decent mountain biking. A good sized portion of the book will provide a few solutions to that problem.
Of course, there are fantastic days to be had all over the country which can only be reached by travelling. It's only natural that inquisitive riders would want to try them.
In common with the last book, many of the routes will be "clustered" to allow those who like to stay put for a few days and experience several rides, of different characters, length and levels of difficulty in any the one area. Alternatively, it is also possible to "cherry pick" the sort of ride you want and build a fantastic road trip from the options available.
Established classics will remain but there are few new ones in the mix too and the images below show a tiny cross section of the riding and scenery to be enjoyed from the routes described.
There will be no riding centres features at all. Each of those is waymarked and it there's no great point in putting them in a book. However, a good deal of the content will be close to them so that the best of both worlds can be enjoyed.
This page will be continue to grow and be amended from time to time. Coming soon will be preview pages and maps from the book to let you see the improved graphics and presentation style over the first one.
The sample route in the link below pretty much represents the style in which the new topos will be appearing.
Thanks again for taking the time to check out the book. Once published it will be available from retailers and, post free, from the site.
