The ebike's beginning to feel the strain....

With a summer spent almost continually splashing through water and muck it's no surprise that there's a bit of wear and tear beginning to show on some of the suspension bearings, so the bike's going to 

 have to go in for some work on the worn bits as soon as I can get a bike carrier fit to transport it to the bike hospital.

A bit of fun on Wednesday with first of all Dougie riding through a fairly deep water crossing

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Then Roger at night doing it, unfortunately neither fell off for what would have been a great photo!

Even got Barrie through it on Thursday, but by this time the level had dropped a bit and the weather had improved as well.

Out this morning and it was back to "pretty grim" windy and heavy rain showers, the front wheel stopped dead in a muddy hole and I came off and fell in it resulting in wiping myself "clean-ish" with some long grass, the only thing I could find available....ah the joys of mountain biking in Scotland!

You cant even ebike in torrential rain.....we're due a weather improvement soon!

The week actually started off ok, this was on Monday, but went downhill from then onwards

By Wednesday it was a case of getting out between the thunder storms though the beauty of the ebike is you can pack a lot of biking in to a short space of time

A quick check on the weather forecast this morning and I could see there was to be heavy rain later on in the day so a quick solo ride up the Pentlands was called for and I made it back just in time!

Surely this rubbish weather cant continue too much longer, where's all this prolonged dry stuff that was forecast by the so called experts a few years back....I live in hope!

More strange happenings in the Pentland Hills.... and narrowly missing a cloudburst

Who looses a walking boot in the hills and doesn't notice it's gone, this is a puzzle that had me at least beaten, I've a mental picture of someone hopping down a path unable to work out what was causing their problem....

And what was thing you'd least expect to meet up in the hills on a Wednesday night, maybe four young French folk, but for them to be accompanied by their pet goat was stretching it a bit, the goat however was impeccably behaved and didn't try to eat our bike tyres or such like...

The French goat, who I called Macron, eyed me up suspiciously while Dougie and Roger kept a safe distance...just in case!

Glentress with Barrie on Saturday on a glorious summers morning for a great ride in great conditions.

Sunday and a quick look at the weather forecast for the week and it was back on with the rear mudhugger, it doesn't look like there's going to be many dry days for a while!

Sunday evening and Clive and I went out on the bikes and somehow missed a thunderstorm and cloudburst up the Pentland Hills, more by luck than anything else! However though it was a bit on the splashy side it was a good ride!

3000 miles off road, up on the ebike since new! And how very hot weather affects some people.....

It was about this point on Wednesday night when I was out with Dougie that I clocked up the 3000 miles mark on Ernie the ebike! I started on it in the second week of November last year so it hasn't taken that long to bang up the miles and 90% of them will have been off road.

The warm weather we enjoyed for a few days certainly makes some folk act strange, the last thing I expected on Tuesday afternoon in the Pentland Hills was to meet a guy striding towards me wearing a nothing but a pair of speedos, he had quite a way from there to get a swimming pool and I wasn't hanging around to ask him where he'd left the rest of his clothes....

Saturday morning and things on the weather front were more or less back to normal as Barrie and I decided on a Pentlands ride rather than Glentress as the weather looked a bit dodgy and so it turned out. I could have boiled an egg in the water that came out my shoes by the time we had finished,to make matters worse my Garmin decided to switch off at one point as well and I must have done 5 miles before I noticed....cant say I blamed it, the weather was pretty dire!

Out with Clive this morning, Sunday, and no great improvement in the weather either, it started of misty, got quite foggy and then chucked down rain for the last 10 miles home, never a dull moment mountain biking in Scotland!!

Back from holiday.....back on the ebike!

 

Kefalonia where I spent a week in wall to wall sunshine....not something a Scotsman experiences very often in his life! A  great time had by all concerned but a week of intense heat made me hanker after an ebike ride in the cool Scottish hills!

A week of dog sitting followed the holiday, looking after Barries mutt, and who couldn't be charmed by this little rascal who's obedience is legendary (in that it's non existent)

There was however time for the odd ebike ride in the Pentland Hills in between dog walking (and rain showers)

Some days the sun even shone and made it even more enjoyable....

I came across the sheep being clipped at Castlelaw farm, a different set up to how I did it as a young man with the bladed hand shears, there wasn't as much blood being spilled as there was when I used to do it

Down to Glentress this morning, first time for a few weeks, and we met up with two guys from Fife at the Mast at the top of the black route.

All in, a good week back on the bike with just short of 100 miles ridden and over 10000 feet of climbing, hope fully more of the same next week.

Ebikes were made for hot weather!

It doesn't happen often in Scotland but just occasionally we get treated to some hot weather, it never lasts very long so we relish it all the more when it's here! This week it hit us, not as hot as further south but hot enough to make you think twice about long hard climbs on the bike.....unless you've got e-assist! So off up Black Hill I went to take in the views that are superb on a beautiful warm, sunny day and not have to spend most of the time wiping sweat from my eyes!

Glencorse reservoir looking good in the June sunshine

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The descent from the Red Road was dry and fast, it's usually wet, greasy and tricky!

It's even faster when you reach a gate at the same time as a couple of hill walkers and they open it for you to speed through!

By Saturday the heatwave was on its way south again but Clive and I still managed a good ride in the Pentland Hills with the obligatory photo stop at the viewpoint down to the Howe and Loganlea reservoir.

Hopefully the hot days aren't over for us just yet, I really like the fact that the ebike gives so much more challenging climbing in the heat without the need for frequent stops to recover. Off on holiday this next week to hotter a climate than I'm used to and as it's unlikely I'll be able to hire an ebike I'll have a week of rest!

How not to lift a heavy ebike over a fence and Barrie meets a top dog at Glentress...

Out with Dougie on Wednesday night and got into a right mess trying to lift my ebike over a fence. First mistake was getting a pedal tangled with the top wire, second mistake was not noticing Dougie taking photographs of my dilemma!

The upshot was the bike ended up upside down on the other side and me subjected to much ridicule when Dougie posted the pictures on Facebook, apparently roadies take a very dim view of a bike being turned upside down!!

This morning, Sunday,Barrie and I did a Glentress/Gypsy Glen loop and met up with a guy and his dog up at the mast . Daisy the dog took quite a shine to Barrie and for a minute I thought he was going to offer to swap his bike for her!

With about two miles to go on Gypsy Glen you're rewarded with a terrific view looking down over Peebles, a great way to finish a hard mornings bike ride.

Heavy rain and thunder storms forecast for tomorrow but warmer drier weather from Tuesday on, let's hope it works out that way!

Keeping the ebike out of deep water and trying to get as many miles and climbing in as possible in one trip

It was still looking a bit dodgy for the ebike on Friday after the heavy rain we'd had throughout the week so it seemed a good idea not to risk trying to cycle through the river crossing especially as I couldn't really make out if any big stones had been washed down and I didn't fancy a cold bath.

Saturday morning and a 6.30am start from Peebles arriving up at the top of the Glentress Black at 7.50am, time for a quick gulp of juice and off down the descent to Innerleithen for the XC route there.

9.45am and we've arrived at the top of Minch Moor the highest point of Innerleithen XC track and time for a photo and another gulp of juice to see us on our way

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A photo of a stone in the cairn at the top of Minch Moor commemorates someones friend who obviously enjoyed his mountain biking but has sadly passed away, a really great way to be remembered

The final leg of Saturdays' trip and we crossed the River Tweed  near Cardrona on the way back to Peebles. We arrived back at the car with 34 miles travelled, over 3500 feet of climbing and still 2 bars left on the ebikes display. 

A great days biking even if we were a tád mucky from the wet tracks!