A handsome little chap......

Not bike related I know, but there's a few of them suddenly appeared in the last few days and this little fella kindly posed for me today before he was gone with one quick leap!

More mishaps than adventures today

We started out at Glentress at just after 6am this morning and it was mildly annoying that it was already pretty light especially given the array of torches on our handlebars and helmets! First mishap and it was to be a recurring one was that Baz's seat post kept slipping down into the frame make life difficult for him pedaling up the climbs. The frequent stops to readjust his seat post were actually quite welcome as we were still dressed for -6 and the temperature was now at plus 6. A few mishaps occurred near the top of the Red Route on the ice involving me slipping under the bike as I pushed it up a particularly icy section and all of us at some time on the descent down Spooky Wood through frozen snow. Baz was next to under perform when his "attempt"at the world track standing record ended with him rather unceremoniously falling off and into a ditch of snow. (I got the blame for that as I had cycled past too close to him!!). Clive's chain was next to fall apart, too much power he said, but I have my doubts about that one too! By this time Baz's chain and sprockets had decided enough was enough and were failing to mesh as soon as any power was applied,( looks like that's going to be a costly affair) and he was beginning to invent new profanities!

How we managed 20 miles goodness only knows, but it brought Clive's mileage for the week up to 176 miles and mine's to a more modest 106 miles. Baz's, sad to say, was only 20 miles and a failed track stand!

Clive negotiates a tricky section of Andy's Flume.

Baz searches for tools to repair yet another mishap!

World track standing record attempt ends in disaster!

Scenic Sunday in East Lothian, Scotland

Looking out from Yellowcraigs beach on the Firth of Forth towards, on the right, The Bass Rock and on the left 2 small islands one of which Uri Geller has bought and recently spent a day or two on. He apparently is convinced there is treasure buried on it! Who am I to argue, he's the millionaire!!

For more of Scenic Sunday look here.

The conditions at Glentress last weekend

A short video showing some of the conditions at Glentress last Sunday.

Still snow and ice at Glentress

Clive giving a good impersonation of speed on an icy stretch of track!

Watch your back Baz, here comes Clive!

Went to Glentress this morning as the Pentlands are still snowbound and there seemed to be less snow down by Peebles, but once we had climbed up the tracks we ran into the white stuff yet again, mostly lying in some of the more sheltered bits where the sun hadn't reached. We managed to do 22 miles by riding on the lower tracks and doing the climb up to the buzzard car park three times! This was to enable Clive to reach his 100 miles for the week which we duly managed. I need 4 more miles for my 100 miles this week and I'm about to go out and do 4.1 miles to knock him into second place..........can't wait to text him with the news (childish I know, but good fun!)

The P7 gets its trial

Our P7s arrived yesterday, they're torches by the way, and Clive and I got them fixed on the bikes pronto and went out to trial them last night. They're rated at 900 lumens and whether they actually are that, they're pretty damned bright. The P7 is the black torch in the picture by the way, and though it might look like I have a surfeit of lights on the front of my bike, they all serve a particular purpose!! Anyway the P7 itself performed admirably both on full power (very strong) and reduced power (enough to see and be seen). A fine addition to my handlebar torch collection!!!!!!

This snow is becoming BORING!!!!!!

Nearly another 6 inches of snow on Friday night/Saturday morning meant any meaningful off road ride was out of the question over the weekend. We decided on a Saturday night ride and quickly discovered that anything off the tarred road was at the least very difficult and at the worst well nigh impossible. We just reached Roslin when my chain somehow or other wrapped itself TWICE round my bike's bottom bracket, cunningly concealing the joining link to make separation of said chain just that bit more difficult. However a combination of foul language (mostly from me!) and expert advice (?!) from Clive and Baz, and we eventually freed it off and rejoined it in the correct orientation! We stuck to the roads after that and managed a creditable 20 miles but the need to get off road is beginning to annoy. Somebody somewhere tell me when global warming is going to recommence, I'm looking forward to it!