Tweed Valley Guided Mountain Bike Rides

Guided Mountain bike Rides in the Scottish Borders should be on your bucket list!

Coming to a new place to ride your mountain bike can be exciting, but also daunting. How can I make the most of my time? where should I ride? what trails am i capable of riding? The answer is to call Ridelines.We have been catering to these needs for almost a decade. Ridelines organise rides from the local explorer to the intrepid adventurer. We have been Tweed Valley Guides for the whole history of Ridelines, so we know all the secrets to a great guided mountain bike ride and how to get the most out of the time you spend on your bike.

A guided mountain bike ride will be led by one or more of our instructors. We’ll plan the route, all the contingencies and safety considerations so you can enjoy the experience. We’ll carry supplementary items to make your ride stress free. And as experienced MTB guides, we’ll make sure your mind can focus on the task at hand. Being wowed by the beautiful surroundings of the Sottish Borders.

With a guided ride, you can give us as much information about the types of riding you want to do and book a private ride tailored to you, or you can book one of our popular all day guided rides around the beautiful Tweed Valley.

We can make it a massive, big exploration ride or a tour of the excellent local coffee shops and cafes. It’s really up to you. Our experienced Tweed Valley Guides have excellent local Knowledge of all kinds of trails for all kinds of riders. Guided MTB rides in the Tweed Valley has been a speciality of ours since Andy started Ridelines. So you can be sure of an excellent experience whatever the format you choose.

If you’d like more information or have any questions on the above, please contact us and we’ll get right back to you.

Just bring yourself and what you would usually bring on a long mountain bike ride. Our MTB guides are very well equipped. We carry tools to fix your bike, extra nutrition and water, first aid kits and lots of other things you wouldn’t be interested in!

Unless you ask us to arrange your lunch and snacks, we’ll assume you’re bringing your own. You should bring filling, tasty snacks in a mixture of sweet and savoury, some water and a couple of gels for emergency energy!

It’s beneficial to you and the group that you have an inner-tube for your own bike, a pump, a bike specific multi-tool and a tough rucksack to carry all your stuff. You’ll also need to dress for the weather or what the weather may look like it’s going to do on the day of your ride.

You’ll need a good condition, undamaged cycling specific helmet as well as a working, serviceable mountain bike capable of handling sustained off-road riding too. Gloves and protective eyewear are recommended but not essential. We can help with hire bikes and equipment where needed too.

Lastly, bring yourself! Bring huge expectations of having a great day with great people and being looked after by our experienced Tweed Valley Guides.

Experience! We’ll get to qualifications in a second, but our experience is what counts. We have led hundreds of big country rides and long day, large group experiences. We’ve took on just about every eventuality that could crop up on a big day out.

Our qualifications. These may be rather complex titles and underlying capabilities, so we’ll do our best to keep them short and simple. We’ve invested 1000’s of pounds in our staff, independent instructors and leaders to ensure that you are confident enough to switch off to all the “worrying stuff” and enjoy your trip out on the trails.

Our instructors have lots of awards and qualifications, but we’re constantly learning through our experience. More than anything thats what makes us the best at what we do. Here’s a few that are most relevant to delivering a great guided mountain bike ride.

British Cycling Mountain Bike Leader Award: The industry standard in the Mountain Bike Guide world. Amongst our Tweed Valley Guides we have both Level 2 and Level 3 MTB leaders. These awards are gained after intensive training courses, long consolidation periods and high pressure assessments, assuring only the best of candidates get through the process.

British Cycling MBL and TCL Awards: These are past versions of the new British Cycling awards. They are still highly relevant and offer our up-to-date instructors and guides essential reflection on how their journey to their current qualifications. They cover all of the main points of group management, route planning and safety considerations that current awards do.

Cycling Scotland CRL: This award takes us away from mountain biking and gives us tools to manage groups safely and with confidence on the roads and in a more urban environment. This set of skills has given us the tools to relate to a different kind of bike rider, one who just likes to get form A to B and have some fun along the way.

A big ride like our Tweed valley explorer can take up to 5-6 hours. We would travel around 30-35km and have around 500-600m of climbing involved. We’d say that an “intermediate” level of fitness would be required. But there is by no means a standard reference for fitness requirements.

Our guides will always tailor a ride with food stops & opportunities to return to base early. We can add or take away parts of the ride when we see the opportunity, managing any risk to you physically. We won’t let you fade away! Quite the opposite, we’ll take every opportunity to keep you enthused and enjoy the journey ahead.

Our Tweed Valley Guides know a great deal about managing groups and individuals with specific reference to long journeys. We’re always available to talk to you and reassure you about your guided ride and any reservations you may have about your fitness or physical ability.

Please get in touch if you have any questions or concerns.

Yes we do! We have a fleet of high quality electric bikes ready to go at a moments notice. Our high quality, comfortable, Cube Reaction Hybrid bikes use the latest 3rd generation Bosch E-Bike technology together with the 625w powertube battery to give you immense power that can be delivered over 4 very useable modes. With alloy frames, 29″ wheels, high quality suspension forks and hydraulic disc brakes, they really are the best all-round hardtail E bikes out there.

They are easy to use and supremely reliable. Our E bike opition mean that you can go further, higher and longer so as to really get the most out of your Tweed Valley experience. Theres a lot to see in the area and adding an electric bike to your guided ride can really add a little something extra.