Soaked again!

Went out with Dougie last night and after a sunny afternoon it looked like a nice dry ride would be the order of the day. How could we have been so wrong! The weather cunningly waited until we were a few miles out and then unleashed a downpour on us. When I read blogs of American mountain bikers beginning to complain of the temperature falling to the low 60's I wonder how they would survive here, where we're lucky if it ever gets as high as that! Anyway we still managed 24.5 miles and for the last half hour it was actually dry (but bloody cold!!)

Hells teeth, that was cold this morning!

Baz and I ventured off up the Pentlands at the back of 5am this morning with the temperature hovering around zero but with a fair bit of climbing to be done and no wind (except from Baz!) it didn't feel too cold. We'd decided to do the usual route in reverse today for a change and it turned out to be quite a bit easier and also quicker for some reason. The mishap today was on the return journey through Penicuik my back wheel took on a mind of its own, meandering about, and was obviously punctured. By this time it was daylight and the temperature had dropped considerably and by the time a large thorn was pulled out the tyre and the tube replaced my fingers were frozen (as well as my feet)! We got back to the house with 28.7 miles under our belts and a puncture to repair tonight.

Baz finally conquers Dougie's Double Challenge (but not in one go!)

Failure the first time after catching the fence with his handlebars!

He's done it !
Baz was finally coaxed into attempting what we call Dougie's Double Challenge, a tricky little rooty section where the first root is on a greasy little climb and the second one about ten yards later is downhill. The difficulty is avoiding the net fence at the top or left hand side which can snag your handlebars at both sections and on the downhill one there's the added complication of another root just to the right which lurks unseen ready to unseat you. Ever since Baz split his helmet in a crash back in the Spring  coming down a flight of steps he's had the jitters at anything dropping down over steps or roots. Today I managed to shame him into facing his fears, after all his mate Bruce did it last week at the first attempt,and he managed it though it has to be noted he needed two attempts at the second root!! 

Every Sunday morning it takes longer to get light.

And today especially as it was pretty grey and miserable though we have been out in colder weather. Bruce came out with Baz and me this morning and we were off prompt at 5a.m. to tackle the Pentlands and give Bruce a taste of Castlelaw and a few of the other climbs up there. For someone who doesn't really do a lot of mountain biking he acquitted himself pretty well, though it would have been interesting to have been a fly on the wall when he arrived back home and watched him stagger out of his car! We managed the standard 31 plus miles with myself providing a comedy moment with a spectacular over the front at one point in the dark! This may have been captured on video as Bruce had a camcorder on loan from his brother and had it running from time to time.   

Baz's new go-faster bling saddle, (and my new light holder)

The new flash saddle in all its colourful glory! It's put his average speed up ten-fold!!!

The new light holder (second left) beside the rather basic jubilee clip ones!

The new light holder minus the light, much easier to remove(and not so potentially dangerous in case of a face plant!)