New inventions and the "potato test"

This is the chaos that is my garage/workshop but many a crazy invention and repair has taken place among the debris that clutters it up.

This is the latest,,,,the Mudhugger de Lux Extension developed (?) after much wind tunnel testing (?) and about 5 minutes of hacksawing and drilling, but it works which is the main thing and kept Baz's butt muck free on its trial run on Saturday!

Saturday saw Baz and me do Allermuir summit via Boghall and a bloody hard sticky mud climb it was with Baz giving a good account of himself and proving he's fully recovered from his double achilles rupture.

Friday and Baz, Clive and me were out with Brexit once again being the argument of the day, Clive bravely trying to convince us two that we should think again about leaving Europe but failing dismally with his reasons for this. Anyway we agreed to differ and didn't come to blows over it which is more than can be said for some of the politicians in Brussels!

Baz stands on the podium and declares himself the victor in the leave or remain debate!

The potato test was a test Baz and me devised to test the speed a dropper post comes back up from the fully down position, we'd serviced his Gravity Turbo Dropper Post and when it was fully down we sat a potato on the seat and activated the post. The potato shot about 3 feet in the air and raised fears as to what the seat would do to anyones crown jewels should they come in contact with this lethal weapon, subsequent tests with Rock Shox Reverbs etc have given much gentler results, I for one wouldn't like to get in the way of the Gravity Dropper, it would knock your testicles into your tonsils if you weren't careful. 

Nearly up to last years total mileage, only 23 miles to go and still 2 months left this year!

Saving sheep, brakes failing, rear shocks deflating....just another normal week on the mountain bike

A great start to the week with blue skies and light winds

This is the fourth sheep I've saved from certain death this year, stuck on its back in a hollow in the heather and un-noticed by two hill walkers who passed by a few minutes before I came across it.

After holding it steady for about ten minutes during which time it repeatably broke wind to get rid of the gas in its stomach it staggered off like a drunk man after a heavy night at the pub!

A week with a varied content,what with sheep rescuing and then being out with Baz who'd made a complete cock up of changing his brake pads with the result he ended up doing about 20 miles with only a front brake to Clive today who discovered after a mile or so that he had no air in his rear shock! Without a shock pump in our back packs it looked all over but to his credit he kept going and we managed 25 miles,(he's probably wrecked his rear shock!!)

Never a dull moment with my mates (and sheep!) 

Looking for the Pentland Hills WW2 plane crash site

The brass plaque someone had made with the names of the four German airmen who lost their lives when their plane crashed into Hare Hill in the Pentland Hills in March 1943

All that remains from the crash 73 years ago.

Kathy had heard that there had been a German bomber that had crashed on Hare Hill in the Pentland Hills returning from a bombing raid in 1943 and that there was a small memorial of sorts commemorating this, so armed with a rough description of where it was we set off on Friday morning to try and find it. First we biked to the summit of Hare Hill and then with our information started our search down the North side cycling down sheep tracks through the heather. After half an hour or so Kathy came on it, it's hardly a war memorial as such but it does remember four young men who lost their lives for their country and demonstrates the futility of war.  A quick bit of googling reveals more information about the event.

On a lighter note the filly foal continues to grow and become more curious about alternative modes of transport. 

A feeble attempt to reconstruct the bike on the railing on the bridge that Danny MacKaskill cycled over in his latest video "A Wee Day Out"

Danny somehow cycled up one side of the roof of this building, over the top and then down the other side to somehow or other land uninjured on the grassy slope at the bottom, I;m assured no bikes were destroyed in this adventure.

Another good week weather wise and an interesting one looking for the crashed plane site, I just hope the site is left undisturbed and probably because it's so remote it probably will be.

A week of calm weather....not often that happens in Scotland!

Monday and its out with Graeme and Kathy with virtually no wind to bother us up in the hills.

A change of scenery on Saturday with a trip over the Forth Road Bridge walkway to have a look at the new road bridge which is nearing completion. I reckon Danny Mckaskill could just about clear the remaining gap in the middle.....maybe....

This morning, Sunday, and the mist was rolling over the hills with the temperature hovering around zero

A clear view from the top of Black Hill just before the brilliant descent.

Near the bottom of the descent, just look at that sky!

A whole week of calm weather, no rain and very little wind, I managed 165 off road miles this week to keep things ticking over just in case the worst winter in 50 years (the newspapers keep saying this!) hits us any time soon! 

After howling winds and heavy rain the week finished on a high

Monday, and out with Baz who's on holiday and I managed to fall into the muddiest puddle we saw all day!

Tuesday and no biking, instead Clive and I barrowed 4 tons of top soil round to his back garden then raked it level and had it sown with grass seed before you could say "mountain bike" 

Wednesday and the weather's looking grim for the weekly Wednesday bike ride so the rear mud hugger was fitted back on.....till the Spring! 

A new helmet to fix the lights to for the night time biking

Wednesday evening and though it might not look it it's blowing a gale and the rain's pelting down.

Friday and things have calmed down a bit and it's out with Kathy, the birthday girl!

A sunny smile on a sunny day!

After servicing the forks I did a test ride and went along to the graffiti flyover where I saw this fish which I thought looked remarkably like the sacked England football manager, Sam Allardyce!

This morning, Sunday, and hardly a puff of wind or a cloud in the sky but it was bloody chilly!

Baz and me admiring the view just after sunrise

Baz on the way up....

Oh dear he's gone into reverse and had to bail out!

Baz was under the impression he was flying like a bird over this drop, but the camera doesn't lie....he's dropping like a stone!!

After a week that started not too bad things deteriorated mid week into pretty horrendous weather but by the weekend had miraculously improved to near perfect, The weekly 100 miles weekly target looked to be in doubt but somehow I managed it with 2 or 3 miles to spare, another good weeks biking!