C'mon we'll do Black Hill (in the pouring rain/sleet) it'll be a short cut said Clive!

The final bit of the Black Hill climb proved too much for Clive on his non ebike and he resorted to pushing!

Clive suggested doing the Black Hill climb to cut a bit off our trip today, I asked him twice if he was serious as it's a brutal climb at any time far less when it's chucking down rain verging on sleet as we got higher up but he was adamant so off we set. The climb on the ebike made it relatively easy for me and Clive to his credit only gave up on the last 50 yards or so. The cycle along the track to the pump house  was greasy as hell and made for some interesting biking and with only one off I think we came down it rather well plus it was well worth it for the heart in the mouth experience it gave us!

Barrie and I did Glentresss on Saturday morning with Barrie having to use his non ebike as his electrified machine is in bike hospital awaiting a replacement part from the other side of the world !

He wasn't quite as keen as usual to do all the climbs we've been doing lately (I wonder why) but we still managed a good mornings riding.

Back, earlier in the week to my annual snowdrop dig to boost the snowdrop population in my garden back home, I'm always half expecting the heavy hand of the law on my shoulder as I plunder the snowdrops asking me if I have permission to harvest them! So far its not happened......

Last week the was relatively dry and the ground dried up quite a bit but the heavy rain this morning has it back a greasy as ever again and more rain is forecast for the week ahead....

Maybe you can use too much degreaser on your bike....

Barries' Giant Trance ebike awaiting collection at Flotterstone on Saturday morning after the freehub stopped working at the top of Scald Law in the Pentlands. Numerous theories as to the cause, one being that too much degreaser sprayed onto the chain and cassette can infiltrate the freehub body and cause premature wear, the bike is now in his local bike shop awaiting investigation by a trained Giant bike mechanic and we await the prognosis.

It was a tremendous ride up till the freehub failure with the weather being first class for a change, this was us before the final ascent to the top of Scald Law.

To my amazement I managed to clean the ascent to the summit for the first time ever, I reckon I'm the oldest biker ever to have achieved it!

The start of the descent which was tricky in bits with ice waiting to catch us out if we didn't pay attention, at least it was mostly downhill back to Flotterstone!

I've been changing all the drive train today on my Trek, paying particular attention not to overdo the degreaser! 

A stormy week of weather but the ebikes cope with it no bother

After yesterdays torrential rain the River Tweed at Peebles had risen 5 feet we were reliably informed by  a local this morning, it certainly looked more like black coffee than water as we cycled back to the car park.

The good thing about Glentress is it sits on the side of a steep hill so apart from the occasional puddle nearly all the water that falls on it runs off relatively quickly and having hard man made tracks there is no problem with mud, plenty wet roots though to keep you on edge!

On Friday it was up into the Pentland Hills for some snow photos after the snowfall on Thursday and the ebike with its 2.8 tyres coped well with the conditions.

At the  start of the week it was rain and high wind and not snow that was the problem and this next week coming looks like its going to be much the same, but then....that's winter in Scotland!

When you realise how slow you were before you had an ebike!

Out with Clive today who, admittedly hasn't done much on the bike lately but who used to leave me for dead on the bike, and discovered I had to wait for him on every climb while only using the lowest

  assist mode on the ebike, quite a revelation to discover!

Barrie and I did the 2 mile climb with 1000 feet of elevation yesterday in about 20 minutes and arrived at the top of it relatively fresh and ready to face, for me anyway, the perils of the descent back down to Peebles via the Ho Chi Min trail in the greasy muddy conditions that prevail just now!

The start of the trail showing the conditions, at least on the steep bits the water doesn't lie!

Further down there's Zoom or Bust for my limited abilities to contend with and I always congratulate myself on arriving at the bottom still in one piece...one of these days I probably wont!

New year came and went and 2020 began for us as we mean to continue, biking in the hills and falling off occasionally as Clive did up in the Pentlands when he blown off his bike in a gale force wind, if only I'd captured the actual moment when his bike went over his head, at least he wasn't injured , just his pride as Barrie had to untangle his legs from the bike!

So another year begins with the promise of more fun on two wheels in the hills!!