Leaves everywhere
Off he goes
Biker rides on water (frozen water that is!)
Spectacular ice display
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Freezing cold in Midlothian
Just a local ride today on some of the back roads of Midlothian with a few off road sections thrown in for good measure. Brilliant sunshine but bitterly cold when out of the sun.
Try as we might, we could find no trace of Blake!!
Where's Blake?
Saturday, 29 November 2008
Friday night fun..... and falls
A last minute decision to go to Glentress on Friday night meant a rushed tea and much scrabbling around for all necessary gear as not only was it very dark it was also bl***y cold! We eventually got going up the trail at about 7.15 pm and YES... it was cold, -3.5 . True to form and maintaining my recent 100% record I managed an over the handlebars at one of the more technical bits. Apart from a throbbing heel (how that happened, God only knows) and a grazed knee I was otherwise none the worse but my rear brake decided to play up after that to make life just a bit more difficult!
We finished at about 10.15 pm and met a couple of guys in the car park who were just finished as well and had the usual boring discussion about the merits of various lights!
On another tack, my mobile beeped at 4.15 am this morning with a photo text from Clive, who's in Japan at the moment, with a picture of him at a kieran race. For the uninitiated that's the race where everyone races round at the back of the guy on the little motorbike. More about that later.
We finished at about 10.15 pm and met a couple of guys in the car park who were just finished as well and had the usual boring discussion about the merits of various lights!
On another tack, my mobile beeped at 4.15 am this morning with a photo text from Clive, who's in Japan at the moment, with a picture of him at a kieran race. For the uninitiated that's the race where everyone races round at the back of the guy on the little motorbike. More about that later.
Thursday, 27 November 2008
A quick blast over to Roslin tonight to test out the anti-puncture goo I treated the bike wheels to. Everything appears fine with them. though I suppose if the stuff works and I do pick up a thorn or a piece of glass I'll be none the wiser!
The reason for this experiment was last nights' disastrous ride. I set off, and crossing the local park on my way to the cycle path I must have picked up a thorn from the hedge that had been recently trimmed. It was only a very slow puncture which cunningly waited till I was about two miles out before making its presence felt. Needless to say I'd forgotten to take either a pump or a spare tube so a two mile walk home was the result. Now I don't mind walking, and I don't mind biking. but walking with a bike just seems so pointless...........
The reason for this experiment was last nights' disastrous ride. I set off, and crossing the local park on my way to the cycle path I must have picked up a thorn from the hedge that had been recently trimmed. It was only a very slow puncture which cunningly waited till I was about two miles out before making its presence felt. Needless to say I'd forgotten to take either a pump or a spare tube so a two mile walk home was the result. Now I don't mind walking, and I don't mind biking. but walking with a bike just seems so pointless...........
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Cheap and cheerful bodge job
Clive, who incidentally is in Japan on business, left me his spare bike that he cycles to work on, (not to Japan by the way) as the headset had a fairish bit of play in it. He knows that I like nothing better than pottering about in the garage, or Dodgy Bikes GHQ as we call it. Anyway the upshot was the top bearing was well and truly minced and the correct procedure was to replace it with a new one. However being a one time farmer has made me into a miserable sod when it comes to spending money and I always attempt something else first! A quick rummage around in the spares department, or clapped out junk as some would call it, revealed a somewhat grotty looking integrated bearing that looked like it would do the trick. A poke or two with a small screwdriver got the seal out and a blast or two of brake cleaner got rid of the gunge that was all that remained of erstwhile grease! A quick clean up with some soft paper, some fresh grease and into the old bearing shell it went. Probably not quite as good as new but damn near it!
In view of the state of the country's economy at present, I should probably have gone to Halfords and bought a new one, but once a miserable old git..... always a miserable old git........
The bike will see him through to the Spring now, and if this weather keeps up I dont think there'll be too much cycling to work anyway!
In view of the state of the country's economy at present, I should probably have gone to Halfords and bought a new one, but once a miserable old git..... always a miserable old git........
The bike will see him through to the Spring now, and if this weather keeps up I dont think there'll be too much cycling to work anyway!
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Lost then found again at Glentress
Mishaps aplenty today at Glentress. We started off at the ungodly hour of 5.30 am , it was snowing but not heavily and as we neared Peebles it actually got less, which is unusual!
The lights were all fixed to the bikes, just Baz and me as Clive was off on a business trip to Japan, don't know why he preferred that to Glentress, but for reasons known only to himself he did!
After about 4 miles climbing I had to remove the light rain jacket I was wearing, I felt like I was in a sauna. Today was the furthest we've been before the lights were no longer needed,about 7 miles, it really was quite a dark morning.
We reached the mast at the top of the black route which is about 2000 feet and stopped there so I could put the jacket back on for the descent. we soon scooted back down the forest track to Spooky Wood which is the top of the red route and stopped there for a quick energy bar and some liquid.
The first mishap occurred near the end of the Pie Run, a section that is very rooty and reasonably technical when I misjudged a sharp corner and did a spectacular over the handlebars, at low speed I might add. I remember thinking to myself as I viewed mother earth upside down, "hope my lights don't get damaged", luckily they weren't and neither was myself , apart from personal pride.
Further on going over the logs, a pile of logs which today were wet and slippy, my back wheel slipped and I whacked myself on the back of the leg with a pedal, much to Baz's amusement.
The biggest mishap was yet to come though, Baz, in an attempt at humour said " where's your helmet light?" I put my hand to my helmet and to my relief it was still attached, "where's yours?" I said, sadly his had disappeared! There followed much retracing of steps where we thought the most likely place would have been that it was lost, but to no avail. As a last resort Baz went back down Andys flume, a section we did earlier, and I went back down the Pie Run.
I looked everywhere I thought it might have come off his helmet, but nothing. Eventually we met up again and there he was, beaming from ear to ear, the lucky sod had found it, talk about a needle in a haystack!!
Anyway everything ended well even if we ended up doing about 5 more miles than we'd planned!
The lights were all fixed to the bikes, just Baz and me as Clive was off on a business trip to Japan, don't know why he preferred that to Glentress, but for reasons known only to himself he did!
After about 4 miles climbing I had to remove the light rain jacket I was wearing, I felt like I was in a sauna. Today was the furthest we've been before the lights were no longer needed,about 7 miles, it really was quite a dark morning.
We reached the mast at the top of the black route which is about 2000 feet and stopped there so I could put the jacket back on for the descent. we soon scooted back down the forest track to Spooky Wood which is the top of the red route and stopped there for a quick energy bar and some liquid.
The first mishap occurred near the end of the Pie Run, a section that is very rooty and reasonably technical when I misjudged a sharp corner and did a spectacular over the handlebars, at low speed I might add. I remember thinking to myself as I viewed mother earth upside down, "hope my lights don't get damaged", luckily they weren't and neither was myself , apart from personal pride.
Further on going over the logs, a pile of logs which today were wet and slippy, my back wheel slipped and I whacked myself on the back of the leg with a pedal, much to Baz's amusement.
The biggest mishap was yet to come though, Baz, in an attempt at humour said " where's your helmet light?" I put my hand to my helmet and to my relief it was still attached, "where's yours?" I said, sadly his had disappeared! There followed much retracing of steps where we thought the most likely place would have been that it was lost, but to no avail. As a last resort Baz went back down Andys flume, a section we did earlier, and I went back down the Pie Run.
I looked everywhere I thought it might have come off his helmet, but nothing. Eventually we met up again and there he was, beaming from ear to ear, the lucky sod had found it, talk about a needle in a haystack!!
Anyway everything ended well even if we ended up doing about 5 more miles than we'd planned!
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Some of the mishaps
Since the blog is adventures and mishaps it seems only right to include a few of the mishaps.
For a while we considered a season ticket to the Borders General Hospital at Galashiels as we seemed to be frequenting the place quite a bit. Excellent service , by the way, but of late we've managed to keep clear of anything major. Excuse me a moment as I rush outside to clutch something wooden!
They can even tell just about what section of Innerleithen or Glentress that you came to grief on, goes to show how much business they get from the mountain bikers!
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