Trying to fast track back to my weight before my 9 days off the bike

Wednesday night and it was up Black Hill to get the belly and the legs back up to scratch!

A photo Mark took just before sunset on a magnificent Wednesday night. 

Friday and it was back up Black hill with Kathy again on the fitness trail!

Halfway up the Black Hill climb and Kathy keeps on going, its a long hard climb of 1.5 miles! 

I was encouraging her to do this drop off and to her credit she (eventually) did!!

Saturday and the punishment continued with Baz this time and a trip from Innerleithen along to the 3 Brethern and then down to the river Tweed and back along to Innerleithen again.

The top of Minch Moor after the climb up the X country track from Innerleithen

Finally, today Sunday, and another journey up Black Hill, this time into the mist, but the descent makes it all worth while!

Came back after a week off the bike to discover I was nearly half a stone heavier than the previous week so some drastic mountain biking was called for. The full Castlelaw climb and Black Hill climb were called into action and by today I've managed to shed most of the excess pounds though the legs are feeling the effect of the punishment. Now to get back on the go again for the 6000 mile off road target by the end of the year. 

When a panoramic photo goes horribly wrong!!

I tried to get Clive to walk round as I took a panoramic photo and this was the result!

This is how it looked with Clive stationary, think I prefer the top one!

The bottom of what, though it doesn't look it here,must be one of the steepest descents in the Pentlands.

A good 20 miler last night to find the steep descent from Bells Hill in the Pentlands, a hard climb up to it but well worth it for the descent down the other side.

When a roadie struggles on a bit of singletrack downhill off road , if that makes sense....

Baz's mate, Les was  over from Northern Ireland for a retiral do and was staying with Baz over the weekend, so as Les is a very fit lad having done a few marathons and triathlons he was naturally more or less told he was to accompany us on a trip up the Pentlands! Now Les has never really done any mountain biking before being content to amuse himself with road biking, which in our opinion is a bit boring, so he was fitted out on one of my bikes and off to the hills we set. He stalled a bit at the very first slightly steep little bits of track before we were even anywhere near anything major, so already doubts were forming in my mind about the conditions he would be facing later on and how he would handle them. Much to his credit his uphill biking was strong save for one particularly steep grassy stretch where he performed a 180 degree turn and started going downhill again! We reached the summit in reasonable time and set off along for the descent, the video shows the difference between cycling on a wide stretch of tarmac and biking along a thin sheep track through heather! No people, animals or bikes were injured in the fun and games that followed, but our sides did ache from the laughter. By the way there were more fall offs than the one above.....

Black Hill seems to dominate my life just now!

After a hard climb up a grassy field you're faced with the long track to the summit of Black Hill, this was Wednesday night's trip up with Craig on his second mtb ride after heart surgery taking his life in his hands with Dougie, Baz and me!

A panoramic view with the new i phone about half way up the track.

Today, Sunday, and I took a different descent from Clive and Baz, which included a fairish bit of near vertical hike a bike descending through heather, I reached the path before them and took a few photos.

At last they appeared, still not having found the track down we originally set out to look for!

A biscuit break before the climb up to West Kip.

Black Hill has taken over my life recently ever since we found the true start to the track up to the top of the ruddy thing! Annoyingly for Baz I set a time on the climb on Thursday night which he wasn't able to beat today, albeit the fact I didn't set too fast a pace up to start with and left him with too much to do near the end when he broke away!! I sometimes think that I really am a crafty old so and so!

A good week of biking even though that's two tracks down from the summit that show on the maps that we've been unable to find, I can see this going on for a week or two yet!  

After about 18 months we went back to Glentress to ride the trails

Half way up the black trail at Glentress and Baz and I stop for a selfie

We met these guys from Hartlepool, one of whom had a top of the range e-bike which he kindly allowed us to have a go on

I only went about 50 yards but some day this will be my next bike!!

Wednesday night and Dougie and I came across "Yorick" as we christened him had obviously be there for some time, but his bike was still in good nick!

A view on Tuesday night as Mark and I went up the track at Black Hill

Baz and I paid a visit to Glentress on Saturday, the first time for about a year and a half and still found the climb to the mast on the black route no easier than it was before! We threw in a bit of the red route as well before calling into the cafe where we met some guys up from Hartlepool, one of whom gave us a quick go on his high tech e-bike, which even had sat nav included! I'm starting to think seriously that this is definitely the bike for old age!

The killer climb up Black Hill was done 4 times by me this week and I can honestly say it never gets any easier. Over 120 miles off road and nearly 13000 feet of climbing this week, I'll sleep well tonight!

Local sheep rescued by gallant mountain bikers!!!!

Stranded on its back and by the look of the sheep purls at its backside it had been like that for some considerable time, but never fear, rescue is near! This Blackface ewe was lucky, there's not much traffic up this track and when we reached it I don't think it would have lasted too much longer! It had to be held for a good few minutes till it regained its sense of balance and when I did let it go it gave a good impression of a drunkard on his way home after a heavy nights drinking!

Feeling a bit better but probably got a stinking hangover!

Back with its mates and with a story to tell how it was rescued from certain death(?) by two mountain bikers!!

Baz puts the story on Facebook, nothing like a bit of bragging to make you feel better!!

Wednesday night and five of us went to the top of Black Hill, a 1.5 mile steep climb but tremendous views once you're up there, and a good descent back down again to Dens Cleugh.

Unfortunately Mark bit the dust, or was it mud, for the second week running, it's going to be interesting to see what next Wednesday night brings!!

Just made it over the 100 miles this week, the weather has been pretty horrible, or is that just average Scottish summer weather? Anyway an improvement would be welcome!!

Back along the Pentland Skyline again after a year

Mark, who's looking decidedly portly in this picture, shows us the route to the Skyline!

The push up West Kip which is probably 3 times steeper than this photo depicts!

Made it to the top of Scald Law, highest of the Pentland Hills.

Near the top of Black Hill this morning, Sunday.

 

A short rest on the cairn at the top of Black Hill.

Wednesday night saw Dougie, Marc, Mark and me have a go at the Pentland Skyline which we hadn't done for at least a year and it turned out to be quite eventful with Mad Max losing control on the loose stony track down from Scald Law and discover that flesh does not fare too well when it comes into sudden contact with loose rocks. After shedding a bit of blood he decided he was fit enough to continue, he'd have been ridiculed otherwise, and we managed to complete the trip without further damage to body or bike, though in my case I think it was down to sheer luck mainly.

This morning Baz and I went in search of the track up Black Hill, or at least the start of it, which we could see clearly on Wednesday night from the top of Scald Law but the mystery continues down at ground level. It's the Pentland equivalent to Brigadoon, maybe what we saw on Wednesday night was a figment of our imagination! Anyway after a hike a bike we came across the track and after a hard climb to the summit we were rewarded with a long steep descent to make up for it. 130+ miles this week and over 10000 feet of climbing to keep the years target in sight.    

Kathy's Pentland Solstice Triathlon

Final practise of the biking circuit for the triathlon and the weather was on the cool side for the height of summer!

The water crossing would be a good place to get ahead of the opposition (if any!) and Kathy had a couple of goes through it to make sure she got her line right, into the bargain it was deeper than usual due to the recent heavy rain so if you came off it was early bath time!

The bike's in position in the transition area and all that's to do is somehow struggle into that tight neoprene wetsuit! 

All wetsuited up and dipping a toe into Threipmuir Reservoir to test the temperature before the open water swim

The contestants all ready for the start, looking like a herd(?) of bright green capped seals in their wetsuits!

Kathy came out the water after the swim visibly relieved that that part was over and the biking and running were next

She didn't have a smile like this on her face before the swimming, it's easy to see she's going to enjoy the biking!

Coming in at the end of the run and it's smiles all the way!

The print out with Kathys times, now she knows what she's to work on for next year!

Kathy and I have been practising the biking circuit for the Pentland Solstice Triathlon for months now and to be honest we could probably do it blindfold we've been round it so many times, but eventually the moment of truth arrived last night and for somebody who couldn't ride up a kerb a year or so ago she's come on a long way. The swimming was always going to be her weak bit and so it turned out to be, but once on the bike she turned into the blond demon and powered round making up time and position, passing men and women!

The running part was a "walk in the park" (excuse the feeble pun) and she came home with a her usual huge grin from ear to ear!

I like to think I helped in some small part with the biking and thank goodness it's all over so we can explore some of the different tracks up the Pentlands instead of grinding round the same one!!