Made the 100 mile target this week with a struggle!

The river crossing this morning, neither of us was brave enough to attempt to cycle through it, the thought of falling off and having to lie in the ice cold water while the other person fumbled for a camera to record your indignity was just to much to accept!

The climb up the valley from the Howe where we started with a heavy snow shower which strangely turned to heavy rain as we got higher up even though the temperature stayed below zero!

This past week has been a hard one to keep the mileage up to scratch, the weather has been pretty rough, strong winds and heavy rain at times. Wednesday was my saviour as it turned out reasonable and I was able to get 2 rides in totaling 48 miles for the day.  

I continue to support the MTB industry financially much to the detriment of my bank balance, the latest big (there's been a lot of small) purchase being tubeless ice spikers for the spare bike. These have been duly bedded in withover 30 miles of tarmac riding, thank god that's over with, you need a pair of ear muffs to put up with the noise off them. Unless there's exceptional snow in the next 4 weeks I should be able to reach the yearly aim of 5200 miles of off road riding, but I;m still holding my breath, you never know what Scotlands' weather can throw at you!  

Baz moves up to a 30+ mile ride! And the weather's getting worse....

Early last week I was confronted with this flooding on a back road on my way back home

Baz, Clive and me out on another Baz rehabilitation ride on the back roads of Midlothian

Gladhouse Reservoir looking remarkably bleak with the Moorfoot Hills looking even bleaker in the background.

At one time Baz would have come down this like a flash, but these days he's pre-occupied with his injured achilles!

Out with Kathy today and she discovered what a wet greasy root can do to your stability, full marks though for lying on the wet ground till I got a photo taken of her crash!

She opted out of crashing in the river crossing and went for the push round the side, pity because it would have been an even better picture!

Another week of strong winds and heavy rain with a little bit of snow and ice flung in to add to the mix. Baz continues his fight back to fitness, I'm currently enjoying leaving him for dead on any climbs we do but I've no doubt revenge will be fully administered in due course. Through all the rubbish weather of the last week I did however manage just short of 130 miles to stay on course for the magic 5200 by the end of the year. 

Baz's first 20+ mile ride since his injury

Clive and I went along to bike with Baz today from his house, one reason was the weather forecast which is diabolical for our normal Sunday ride tomorrow and the other was physiological encouragement.as he still expects his achilles to go snap as the slightest bit of pressure is exerted on them! Nothing drastic was attempted, probably the most extreme was the crappy little descent pictured above!

It doesn't seem only a week or so ago that we were dressed in shorts and T shirts, full length waterproofs are the order of the day now with temperatures having dropped by 10 degrees C

An easy bit of pedalling along the Union Canal through Linlithgow.

22.5 miles done this morning and while it wasn't particularly demanding it was big step in Baz's fight back to fitness! I managed another 14 miles after I got home when I got invited out for a bike ride with Kathy and Graeme who was on his new bike. It seemed rude to refuse and it also took my weekly mileage up to 115 miles!!

Normal weather resumes.........that's wind and rain.....

After a good ride on Sunday morning with Clive in between rain showers things went a bit downhill, the wind rose to gale force through Sunday night and only moderated slightly through the day on Monday, but to make up for that it chucked down with rain all day. I managed out today, Tuesday, doing a good impression of the Ancient Mariner with all the waterproofs I had on, but at least I stayed dry. The photo above shows about 50 yards of a short stretch of road I cycled along with the water about a foot deep in the middle. Tomorrow's weather is forecast to be a bit better but more misery appears to be heading our way for the end of the week. This 5200 mile target by the end of the year could still be in doubt! 

From bright blue skys to near freezing fog, that's November in Scotland

Out with Clive to visit the mini Kelpies which are outside the Royal Dick Veterinary College in the Bush Estate, quite spectacular illuminated in blue. The red light at Clives rear end belongs to his bike and isn't a flash of inspiration from his tea-time curry!! 

Out with Kathy through the day on Monday and she did her maiden crash into a grassy ditch, in actual fact she managed another four before the ride was over!

Going east along Hare Hill with the Pentland Skyline in the background, it's more like the middle of summer than the 1st of November.

It's gone from bright sunshine to thick fog in a couple of days since the week-end, but that's nothing new for Scotland, the latest nonsense in the newspapers is that we've to have 100 days of snow and the worst winter for 50 years. We get this every year at this time so I suppose eventually they'll get it right! Anyway, make hay while the sun shines and it's shining not too bad just now (when it's not foggy!)

Dark mornings, now earlier dark nights as well!

This morning at what we call "Gerhardt's Gate" (don't ask why"), the weather getting colder but at least it was dry if a bit greasy after some overnight rain.

A bit of shelter from the wind going through the trees along the side of Threapmuir Reservoir.

Anthea the Giant Anthem 29er went through the 1000 mile barrier since I bought her today, the back tyres getting replaced this week with a Nobby Nic, winter's on the way and I need more grip!

The clock changed back to GMT this morning and while it meant an hour longer in bed today it also signals earlier dark nights and means crap weather for biking ain't far away! Another 100 plus miles this week so I'm still on target for the 5200 miles by the end of the year, but it gets dodgy from now on with less daylight hours and the chance of snow. Fingers and everything else crossed!

Bazs long ride back to fitness

After somehow or other managing to rupture both achilles at the same time Baz had an operation to stitch them back to his calves and was then sent home to wear moon boots for nearly 2 months.

Eventually the moon boots came off and he was able to do some light exercise with his physios approval on a turbo trainer borrowed from Clive

On Friday afternoon we did an easy, fairly flat 13 miler, though he still insisted on walking any slopes or slightly tricky looking sections! 

Looking reasonably confident cycling on a level, obstacle free section of track!

Bazs' fight back to fitness took a gigantic step forward at the end of last week with his first double figure mileage bike ride since his injury in June. He still insists on everything being with the approval of his physio (when did he ever listen to anyones' advice before!). We managed 25 plus miles over the weekend and even though his calves still look like a couple of balloons filled with water I'm confident we can get him back to the hills in a couple of months (or so!!)

Heilan coos (Highland cattle) up the Pentland hills

Wouldn't like a poke in the backside from one of these horns!

This photo was taken on Thursday when you could see for miles.

This was Sunday morning and we were shrouded in mist

Down from the summit of Allermuir we came across the Highland cattle chewing the cud (or whatever they do while they're lying down)!

This one even poses for close ups!

Clive's not quite so sure about the bull though!

Clive and I did a shortish ride on Sunday morning up Castlelaw then Allermuir before descending by Boghall. The highlight was on the descent from the summit of Allermuir when we came out of the mist and almost ran into a small herd of Highland cattle lying in a sheltered spot.Although they look bloody fierce they're remarkably docile though we didn't try any matador tactics to annoy them.A good mornings cycle which also included a feast of blackberries down a field track near Boghall Farm, just the thing to start the day with!