Kathy in training for her first off road triathlon

Out with Kathy a couple of weeks back, it had been a week or two since she last did some off road stuff.

Up the Pentlands today for some tougher trails and we met up with two other girls out on their bikes.

Kathy who stays near me is an endurance runner who fancies a go at triathlons now. She's entered a race at Oban in September which has an open water sea swim (brave girl) and a mountain bike stage. She's a good roadie but lacks a bit of courage on the rougher stuff so I've be going out with her up the Pentlands and slowly but surely we're doing slightly more difficult terrain. She's obviously following in my footsteps (or should it be pedals?) as she fell off twice today but no damage was done! I'm sure by September she'll be ready for anything!

Every cloud (or mishap) has a silver lining!

Me and Baz's 29er

Me and Baz's 29er yet again!

Baz, Rebus his faithful pooch and his moon boots which he'll be wearing for about the next 2 months!

As a result of trying to relive his youth and show a workmate how he was once one of the best young badminton players in Britain, Baz managed to rupture not one but both achilles tendons at the same time. This is virtually unheard of but Baz being Baz managed to do both! The upshot of this is he'll not be on a mountain bike for 6 months at least maybe longer so he's kindly given me his Giant Anthem 29er to ride on until he's recovered. I'm already a convert to the 29er wheels and this morning had a PR down a descent I've been doing for the last 3 or 4 years. Already I'm wondering how I'm going to manage back on a 26er once he's recovered, Watch this space........  

Back in Bonny Wee Scotland! And a bit of rear end bother.....

Testing out the camera before Clive and I set off at 6.30am ish!

Looking for inspiration (we didn't find any)

A view to die for, looking down to the Howe.

Back home and back to the Pentland Hills. Unknown to me my shorts had a tear in the backside and I managed to cycle 27.5 miles with the tear gradually increasing until my whole rear end was nearly out the shorts. Thank goodness for chamois pads!

A bit o' biking in Wales

Dave and me have arrived at the Bikepark Wales car park and discovered the cars quite high and getting the bikes down is no laughing matter (and they've still to be put back up after the ride!)

The trail centre, an impressive shop and cafe.

Dave found some of the climb to the trailhead quite hard!

The track along to the trailhead, perfect weather and some cracking views.

A stop for a quick drink on the descent first time round

Second time back up the climb and time for a photo as I waited on Dave

The start of "Vicious Valley" a red graded descent.

A weeks visit to family in Cardiff accompanied by one of my bikes! I did a couple of local slightly uninspiring rides on my own but on Friday Dave took me to Wales's newest bike trail centre, Bikepark Wales for a few hours riding. It's a highly impressive set up and well worth a visit with a terrific variety of trails ranging from beginner to professional only tracks. The weather obliged as well to make it a good day out.

Last weeks adventures............with no mishaps!

Out with Kathy who's got a cracking carbon mountain  bike but not too much idea on how to ride it up a mountain, well what I really mean is she can ride it uphill OK it's the coming downhill that scares the shit out of her!

A photo taken last night up the Pentlands specifically to make Baz see what he'll be missing for about the next 6 months while he recovers from his ruptured (2) achilles!

Off to Cardiff for a week to visit family here's hoping it's more like summer in the south of Britain.

A real mishap and no joking!

This is Baz and his faithful hound Rebus after I ferried him home from a business trip to Manchester where he decided to pass the the time on Monday evening playing badminton (he was quite good when younger) with a workmate. Unfortunately they'd only played for about 10 minutes when Baz played a clear from the back of the court and on landing described the feeling as if someone had hit the back of his legs with a baseball bat. Unfortunately as it turned out it was both(!) his achilles rupturing at the same time! A visit to a specialist is scheduled for tomorrow to determine what the treatment will be but in the meantime its no more biking for Baz for quite a few months! 

Summer arrived but disappeared just as quick again!

Thursday night and its still about 18 deg C at the top of Castlelaw when we met this group going the other way.

Saturday afternoon and Baz and me are near the same spot as Thursdays photo and its thick,wet fog and the temperature is a miserable 5 deg C!

A week of contrasts with most of the week being sunny and warm and the trails really drying and even dust appearing c'mon this is Scotland dust is as rare as Scotsman's wallet getting opened!

Reality returned on Saturday however and it was back to damp cold and wet. However I've been out tonight Sunday and can report without too much confidence that it might just be warming up again! 

A big mishap......a big crash!

My bike lies facing the wrong way while Baz conceals his mirth at my crash, I'm actually taking the picture from where I landed!

A self timer taken about an hour before the crash.

This was about 5 minutes or so before and was the usual compulsory picture taken at the top of West Kip

The top of Scald Law and the crash 20 minutes ago has been forgotten about, well nearly.........

The Sunday morning trip up the Pentlands was one I wont forget for a while, the riding up to West Kip was pretty uneventful but from the top of West Kip onwards along the Skyline the wind just got stronger and stronger. I blame the wind on the descent from East Kip for blowing me into a deep rut, Baz blamed my poor biking skills! Probably a combination, anyway I went over the bars and landed on my face nearly wrecking my new riding glasses and managing to cut my forehead in the process! The bike by the way was fine and after a minute or two to come to my senses so was I! The strength of the wind was unbelievable at times it must have been the north westerly direction as it hit the hills that caused it. Back at the foot of the hills it was like a different world with no wind to speak about!A bit of camouflage had to be applied to the cuts and bruise to fool her indoors or life wouldn't have been bearable, its not the first time this ploy has been used! 25.5 miles ridden and over 4.500 feet of climbing so a good mornings riding with a good bit of bragging rights about the injuries as well!