Even on a cold, damp day in early February, the thick scent of the forest hits our nostrils as soon as we turn off the gravel path, switch down the gears and start climbing. A soft carpet of needles from the mature spruce and firs almost silences the turning of our wheels; the only sounds that register are the wind in the trees and our increasingly ragged breathing. We are barely four minutes from the car park, but already it feels like we have crossed over into the wilderness. If anyone still wonders whether Scotland deserves its reputation as one of the world's best mountain biking destinations, the Forest of Ae provides incontrovertible proof.
Ten miles from Dumfries, Ae is one of the most challenging of seven Forestry Commission trail centres that have put Scotland up there with California and western Canada for biking. Known as the 7Stanes, the centres have nearly 250 miles of waymarked trails, with more money being spent this year on easier routes. Ae, however, remains defiantly hardcore.
Running down to the potholed access road is a championship downhill race course. It's what first put this spot on the map: technical single track, rock gardens, log drops, berms (banked corners) and two massive gap jumps. At weekends "Ae-Up" runs an uplift service to carry riders and their heavy bikes to the top: good racers are back at the bottom in three minutes.
At the other end of the car park is Ae Line, a 15-mile loop that takes the principles of the downhill track and applies them in mini-epic form. Its fast descents, jumps and drops are combined with big climbs and jaw-dropping views. The trail is graded intermediate so everything on it can be rolled over, but this is mountain biking at its best, where the relentless feeling of exposure heightens the adrenaline rush provided by the big hits.
On this terrain the right bike is a must, with enough suspension to handle the big stuff on the way down yet still light enough to get up the next climb. The new breed of long-travel, all-mountain forks like my RockShox Lyrik are ideal. But even the best kit can't make up for a rider's shortcomings, so we invest in a downhill coaching session with Nigel Page, a pro racer who offers training days that cover everything from cornering to gap jumping. On the Sunday, we put those new skills to the test on Ae Line.
That first climb seems to go on forever, but eventually we break out of the trees at the top of a short descent. Below us a river twists through the valley and the sounds of a shoot punctuate the stillness. We put on our pads and drop in, blasting over small step-downs before being spat back on to the road, up again to a sweet section called Granny Green Luv and out, at last, on to the first real downhill.
We rip down the steep, open face using the enormous berms to carry our speed over tabletop jumps and into a short straight. After crossing the road, another set of step-downs is followed by a big right-hander, then a left, then a super-tricky, rubble-packed final corner that shoots us down on to a wooden bridge and across the river.
From there it's a matter of grinding out the climbs to find more of the fast and furious stuff. Like the Edge, one of Ae Line's signature sections, where the trail carves along the top of a sheer drop of a couple of hundred feet down to the river.
The scenery here is stunningly wild, but we are more focused on picking our line as we dip into more berms and back over the water. A short, steep climb takes us to a sumptuously crafted singletrack descent. Although the trail is man-made, this section feels entirely natural - and exposed. A mistake in any of the corners could be nasty. We blaze through, using our full suspension to pump the terrain for speed, dropping fast into a narrow, off-camber section and on to another wooden bridge.
It seems a long time before we reach the grand finale, and none of us has much energy left in the tank. But the final descent, called Omega Man, is too good to hold back on. This is where the influence of Ae's downhilling pedigree is most obvious. We force our legs to forget the tiredness and drop into the last straight, flowing over a series of tabletops, double jumps and four floaty drops to the finishing line. Sublime.
· To book downhill coaching sessions with Nigel Page, go to www.nigelpage.com
