Have the tracks ever really been as wet and greasy at this time of year before?

There's water running down every track we bike on just now, there's certainly not going to be a water shortage this winter!

Out with Mark today and he had a go at the river crossing which even if it's not very deep is quite difficult with the boulders that have been washed down when its been in spate

This used to be a reasonably dry track now its a case of trying to decide which side to cycle round

I did an OTB when I tried to cross a small ditch and as our tradition has it I had to lie until I had been photographed in position....oh the shame!!!!

Someof the graffiti in the local underpass of the city bypass, no-one ever seems to see the talanted artists who produce these wonderful pictures

Mother nature always cheers you up when things look gloomy and I was certainly cheered up by this frog I came across last week, my only hope is he or she finds a suitable shelter to see it through the winter.

 

Last weeks ride seemed hard....this weeks was twice as hard!

Last weeks ride was longer than this Sundays ride and also had about 1k more feet of elevation but yesterdays ride for whatever reason was a killer. It was more or less last week in reverse but conditions were much muddier and colder which made the going tough to say the least!

A glimpse of this near the start as we bypassed Penicuik House and discovered the trail to have lots of sticky mud patched which can catch you out even on an ebike.

The climb up from Eastside Farm was ok and we were soon up into the low lying cloud which plays havoc with your riding glasses!

The descent back down to the Howe is always a good one although a bit greasy and slidy in parts

In no time at all we were faced with the climb to the top of Black Hill which adds 900 feet of elevation on your garmin and thats when you appreciate the ebike most of all!

Bells Hill was probably took more out of my legs than all the other climbs and it was a relief to reach the top of it!

The final summit was Castlelaw and by this time it was raining as well just to add to the pain!

The Strava map of our ride which we must try again next summer on a warm bone dry day just to see if its really as hard as it was yesterday, I don't think I've ever moaned as much about conditions on a bike ride!!!

 

Biggest and longest ebike ride so far....

Crystal clear air on an October morning, you couldn't have wished for better conditions on a ride in the Pentland Hills

Following Clive down the descent from Castlelaw summit on our way next to Allermuir

Now the descent from Allermuir, a slightly different route than normal but one that will take us down to the pump house for the climb back up to Cappielaw

After Cappielaw it was on to Bells Hill to complete the ABC of hills in the Pentlands Hill range

Finally after more climbing we did Black Hill with the notorious track along the top where I came to grief last week, much easier this week in daylight though no drier, but the descent down the eastern end is worth the hassle along the wet part

Finally a copy of our route on Strava as a reminder of a hard morning workout but done in the best weather we could have wished for at this time of year

Over the bars and the bike on top of me, what's going to happen next?

Everything was going so well too, the photos of Barrie biking into the sunset etc....

The bike ridedown to the Howe, though it was a bit wet and greasy, maybe we should have been warned!

Anyway we decided to do Black Hill, the climb up the hard track, along the (very wet) top and the descent back down the east end of the hill.By the time we reached the track along the top darkness had fallen and we then discovered just how wet and boggy it was. Barrie went one way at a muddy section and I went the other, which was a bad choice as my front wheel sank past the axle, the bike stood on its nose and I went head first into a bog with the bike landing on top of me with a fairish thump! I had to shout on Barrie to come back, lift the bike off me and then help to haul me out of the wet soggy hole I was in. The journey home must be the most uncomfortable bike ride I've ever done, soaked from head to toe in a cold wind! Black Hill wont be tackled again till next summer!

A weekend of non biking has eased the memories and the pain a bit and I'm contemplating a ride as soon as I'm finished typing this! Funny how soon you forget your misery!!! 

 

An interesting and unusual story concerning Barries ebike

 Barries ebike, a Giant Trance developed worrying noises about three weeks ago and he booked it into a bike shop that specialised in Giant bikes for repair. The motor was still under warranty and in due course a new motor was sent from Giant to replace the faulty one. He received a call mid week to say his bike was ready and he duly went and picked it up and arranged to go out with Clive and myself for a trip in the hills last night. Barrie and I cycled down to Clives house and it was when we arrived that Barrie discovere he couldnt unclip from one of his pedals. After a lot of faffing around during which time we replaced his pedals and he used a pair of clip in shoes he borrowed from me, but without great success... the mystery was deepening!! He struggled on our Pentland Hills ride to unclip and about two miles from home one of the pedals totally unscrewed itself from the crank and was still attached to his shoe! That was when we finally diagnosed the problem which was that during the repair rebuild of his bike, his cranks had been fixed onto the wrong side of the replacement e-motor with the result that the pedals were back to front resulting in the difficulties he was having clipping and unclipping, so simple but yet potentially very dangerous when riding the bike. Surely no experienced bike mechanic would make so simple a mistake.... or would they? If anyone reading this has heard of this before I'd be interested to hear.