Mishaps was the name of the game last night....

Last night 4 of us were out, the weather was reasonable,i.e. no howling gales and no lashing rain, which was just as well as there were a few mishaps to contend with. Mark's chain was the first as it snapped on a relatively sheltered spot at the top of Castlelaw and surprisingly it was repaired fairly quickly. About a mile further on Marks lights suddenly disappeared as he skidded on a greasy corner and nearly swallow dived into a ditch. It was my turn next to come off as I fiddled with my Garmin and never noticed a greasy rut and when down like a tree being felled. But no damage done, only to my ego!

Out today for a quick 15 miler on my own and managed to fit it in, between a shower of rain just before I went out, and a shower of hail just after I got back again (and no mishaps today either)!!

Have you ever tried biking in a hurricane?

This picture isn't posed, the wind actually was so strong that the bikes were in danger of being blown away!

Ignoring Mark's advice yesterday that we should have been out then, we boldly set off before 6am this morning into a strong headwind. It was nothing to what the wind was like once we climbed up Castlelaw, up there it was just impossible to stay on your feet at times never mind ride a bike. Clive decided to bail out half-way up but Baz and me struggled on to the top where things just became downright dangerous. We decided to cut our losses and head down to Edinburgh and slightly lesser winds and make our way home from there. A mishap here when I came off mounting a kerb, what is it about kerbs with me this is the second time, the back wheel skidded round and I went down with a thump managing to cut  my eyebrow in the process. Luckily Baz had a roll of toilet paper (always useful in emergencies) and with a wad of that stuck in the side of my riding glasses we managed to semi stop the blood running down the side of my face. It attracted a few strange looks on the cycle back to the house though!!

Best riding day of the winter.....so far.....

Baz and me posing as the sun rises behind us at the top of the 7 steps.

Baz cycles off to get his picture taken coming back through Threapmuir reservoir overflow, Clive and me hoping he'd fall off for a really good picture!!

Damn!!! He got back through unscathed!

Don't know when the sky was last that colour on a Sunday morning. 

Getting up into the snow now.

No Baz, we're not going up to the top of West Kip today!

A 6am start and for a change on a Sunday morning neither a strong wind or heavy rain, it felt as though something was wrong. The temperature was down to nearly -4deg higher up today but with the sun shining, once it rose, things were looking better than they've done since the start of this long cold wet winter. Maybe things will get better, come to think of it, they can't get much worse!

No more mishaps needed for the time being....

Out doing a bit of wild snowdrop pilfering today, don't know if it's strictly legal but they look nice in my garden.

A nice sheltered spot from the wind...

After what seems like one bike breakdown after another I could do with a spell of trouble free biking, from bottom brackets, rear derailleurs, rear suspension bearings and finally the free hub packing in, I've been shelling out money to keep the bike going recently. The new pawls and springs arrived for the free hub this morning and they didn't take long to install so it was out for a 13 miler to check everything was dandy. It was also a chance to bring back some more wild snowdrops for the garden and after checking no-one was watching (sneaky I know) I pulled my trowel out my backpack and dug up a few. They're now relocated in my garden and very fine they look too!

Emergency rear mech hanger to the rescue!

                                                                                 
                                     

A combined effort in the dark to fix the problem!

Four of us out last night, a day earlier than usual because of the weather forecast for tonight, which turned out to be correct by the way.Approximately halfway round and there was a crack at my back wheel and the pedals locked up. Whether it was a loose stone that caused the problem or just wear and tear from an encounter with deep mud at the top of Maidens Cleugh about a month ago I'll never know, but the rear mech hanger broke leaving the mech hanging like a corpse on the gallows. First thought were "bollocks, this is going to be a long walk home" and then I remembered I had not one but two old slightly damaged hangers in my back-pack. The rest of the gang came back to help and with the usual combination of foul language (mainly from me) and wisecracks form the rest of them we managed to get the broken one removed and another hanger installed. I didn't manage to find all of my 27 gears on the rest of the trip but there were enough to get me round and home again and after an inspection in daylight today the bank balance is going to be depleted yet again to remedy the situation.....could have been worse....I could have had to walk the 10 odd miles home!

The Mudhugger extended extension!!

Above is the extension added on to the previous extension which now appears to give me almost total cover (I hope).

Couldn't resist putting this photo up, taken yesterday with the self timer. I very nearly managed back on my bike as well!

After adding yet another 3 or so inches to my already extended Mudhugger I think I have now reached optimum length for mud protection from the rear wheel. It was tested yesterday in wet and windy weather and on inspection when I got home my backside was more or less splatter free. I think if I add any more to the bloody thing I'll have to have a flashing yellow light attached to it.