Two "weather bombs" in a week!

Monday, and it's the calm before Storm Barbara, due to hit Scotland midweek and Barrie and Clive joined Kathy and me for our weekly Monday Pentlands bike jaunt. 

A welcome stop for a bit of Clive's wife's home made fudge, jeez it's tasty! 

Wednesday and Mark and me went out in the afternoon before the storm that was due later on, we just made it back before the rain lashed down. Storm Barbara had arrived and there would be no biking Thursday or Friday, how was I going to contend with this, two days running and no biking, unheard of this year!

Saturday, its Christmas Day and Storm Connor has hit us but undeterred we make it to the top of Allermuir for the annual meet up with the Carnethy Hill Runners. In the photo Clive and Barrie haven't fallen drunkenly to the ground, the wind was so strong it was the only way they could post their photos on Facebook!

Kathy and Graeme who ran rather than biked (probably wisely) to the top of Allermuir so that they could be subjected to the fury of a hurricane force wind.

Barrie, Clive and me toasting each others health in a relatively sheltered spot while the guy who took the photo nearly got blown down the hill and into the streets of Edinburgh below!

Barrie and me did a bit extra mileage, mainly to make Clive jealous, as he had to hurry home to avoid the wrath of his in-laws who'd come for their Christmas dinner!

And finally, Kathy took this photo of me and Barrie, hanging on to each other for dear life in the teeth of a howling gale, a great picture!

A struggle to do much this week with the weather but a brutal 32 miler today has brought the mileage needed for 6500 miles down to only 60 and the weathers due to ease up on Tuesday so it's  still on before the end of the year! 

Barrie's comeback year!

Barrie takes his bow (well wave) today as he reached 3000 miles for the year after recovering from a double achilles rupture last year when he spent almost 6 months out of the saddle. Remarkably probably the half of these miles have been single speed which he credits his return to fitness with.

A timely reminder to give the sheep in the Pentland Hills the privacy they deserve as they get all romantic at this time of year!!!

It's hawthorn hedge cutting time again and thank goodness we've gone tubeless as the cutters spray razor sharp thorns everywhere!

I parked the bike beside this sign which warns that you could be in danger as this is or was a Military Firing Range, by the look of the sign someone's been taking potshots (successfully) at it.

And finally the sun shone for a minute or two on Monday when Kathy and I did the infamous winter loop which gets muddier every time you go down it.

The 65000 mile target for the year is beginning to look achievable if the weather holds, only about 140 miles to go, fingers crossed!

After 11 months and 9 days I've reached 10,000 kilometres off road this year

The moment the target was reached, the pressures off to get there before the end of December and I even summoned up the strength to do a one handed bike lift (show off)

Kathy, who was there to witness the target being achieved without whose help I might not have made it, certainly without as many laughs along the way!

I should also include Baz, Clive, Dougie, Mark and Marc who've witnessed my many crashes, cuts and bruises, we've sweated and shivered our way through a Scottish Spring, Summer and now into Winter, sometimes getting completely confused as to which season it was such is Scottish weather.That's definitely the last target for this year.......well maybe I could try for 6500 miles..... 

And finally......why cant Mankind behave like the so called dumb animals in this world and get along with each other like these two swans and their best buddy a goose, I see them together every time I bike down the side of Glencorse Reservoir, mind you I've never seen a fox and a rabbit chatting away like the best of friends.....

Plenty of mishaps this week but only one from me

My mishap, a technical dismount (or in other words I fell off) and banged my knee on a kerb and worse than that, tore my lycra tights!!

However the skills I learnt in primary school served me well and I soon had them darned (sort of)

Kathy was with me when I reached my years target of 6000 off road miles before the end of the year, this has now been increased to 10,000 kilometres, silly fool!

Wednesday nights ride and this was about as good as it got

Friday and Kathy's doing the steps at the bottom of the shelter belt like a pro now!

And the bottom of Maidens Cleugh at speed as well now!

Sunday morning, today, and it was -6.2C at this point, it just got colder and colder this morning as we went round the winter loop.

The sun eventually rose above the horizon and the temperature soared to -4C

Clives latest acquisition to his tool chest, a miniature vice and a Black and Decker work bench, he'll be building ocean going liners with that equipment!!!

An eventful week for mishaps for Clive, Baz and me. Clive scored highest with numerous punctures, forks failing to hold pressure and rear mech cables snapping mid ride. Baz discovered his unbreakable dropper post could in fact fail to function, also mid ride, however with the usual mixture of foul language and a bit of bodging we got it fixed when we got back to base. My mishap was the aforementioned knee which is still tender but not causing any problems. All in all an interesting week with the target reached and a new one set.

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!