Ice spikers ruled.....till today!

This was Monday and the ice was beginning to form though the studded tyres hadn't been put on yet.

The track was difficult to see with the fallen leaves

Near cloudless skies but cold.

So cold that the claw gloves had to be brought out of hibernation!

The studded tyres were on and they were needed as things froze up.

Clive and I were out on Friday and were even brave(?) enough to try a peddle on Threipmuir Reservoir, but not brave enough to risk going too far from the side!

Today, Sunday, and there's a thaw just when we thought we could go a bit more adventuresome on the reservoir, Baz couldn't even get on top of the ice, rats, we were hoping he'd fall in!

Clive was out on his old Kona with an array of lights that would put Blackpool to shame

The week started cold, had a horrendous day of rain on Tuesday and then settled down to hard frost and very little wind making the ice spikers necessary for biking higher up. Unfortunately by today, Sunday, There had been a thaw and the going was tough with the heavy studded tyres on the softer ground, all good fun though and I'm only 2 miles away from the 6000 mile target I'd set for the year. Hopefully that should be reached tomorrow when I'm out.

What idiot smashed a bottle on the cycle path?

No it's not Scotland and it's not a mountain bike themed photo, it's my eldest , who's on a trip round the world, taking part in the San Fransisco park run with the Golden gate bridge as the backdrop! He certainly wouldn't be running in that outfit beside us just now! 

All the leaves are brown...and the sky is grey etc.

Quite like this photo, possibly because I just managed to make it back onto the bike after I started the self timer.

Friday morning, a dusting of snow and the temperature's below zero C

A bit further on and a bit of care needed with ice on the path here and there.

Getting harder to find the motivation to go up them hills as the temperature falls below freezing nearly all day, but with Baz as a co rider we went out last night,Saturday, and did a biggish ride up the Pentlands to Hare Hill summit and back. Apart from the odd skid on patches of ice the only real mishap was 2 miles from home on the cycle path when I managed to ride over glass from a broken bottle and put a slit into the front tyre. Thankfully the tyres are tubeless and sealed with Stans Race Sealant which is sort of heavy duty sealant and apart from ejaculating a spray of sealant for a few revolutions it sealed the tyre enough to get me home. Today I remembered I'd bought a device to plug a hole in tubeless tyres and gave it a try......hells teeth it appears to have worked though it's not been tested on a longish ride yet!  

The Kirk Road twice in a week!

A fascination with the Kirk Road over the Pentlands this week, and the information on the sign at the start of the track makes it clear that religion played a much more important part in peoples lives than it does now!

Monday forenoon and the weather was fantastic so a trip up the Kirk Road which hadn't been done much recently seemed a good way to go for a bit of climbing, and hike-a-biking!

Met this filly foal on the return leg, its been somewhere else for a month and it hasn't half grown in that time.

Today, Sunday,and its not as sunny as last Monday but the Kirk Road beckoned for Baz and Me this morning, this is Baz as we set off from the start of the track.

Before we reached the Kirk Road we were treated to a fantastic sky over West Kip that lasted about 5 minutes until the sun must have disappeared behind a grey cloudy sky. 

Nearly home Baz attempted to throw leaves in the air in the assumption that I would capture the essence of Autumn with the phones camera......it was a dismal failure!

Over 130 miles this week in weather that's been pretty varied from heavy rain to light frost but without too much wind so on the whole reasonable to bike in.

Winter sun means winter fun

This could well be the last of the decent weather before winter really hits us so it was only right to make the most of it this week. There was the odd shower at night mid-week but that only helped to make the tracks a bit more interesting here and there!This morning Kathy and I did the summit of Hare Hill again and the views are stunning in the weak sunshine, maybe next week again, fingers crossed!