Wheelie good fun.

I love my outdoor activities and since being introduced to mountain biking about 6 months ago I have fallen in love with it. I loved my cycling anyway, but sometimes I am not prepared to fight with the traffic and am less inclined to do winter road cycling. With mountain biking however there is thankfully no traffic and I'm more prepared to get wet, cold and dirty.

At first I was very apprehensive of the downhills and feared the stones and tree roots that could be found on the trails. Now, although not as daring as I may have been about 25 years ago, I have gained in confidence and can tackle most trails, even some black routes!

The uphills are always hard and I usually huff and puff my way up to the top, hoping that at some point the ups will get easier. They never do! Although my times have improved, so I must be getting fitter. The feeling of getting to the top is always great though and the thigh burn is worth it when you get to whizz all the way back down to the bottom.

I have been lucky enough in these few months of taking up the sport to have visited several of Scotland's trail centres. They have all been very different in technical difficulty, layout, size etc but one thing they have all had in common is that they are all manmade trails.

I had an extra day off this weekend and was very much looking forward to heading down to Glentress for a good burn round the red route, but sadly the storms we had mid week stopped all my fun. I decided to check the website before leaving but it had not been updated for a few days, so texted the forrest Ranger to find out the extent of any damage that the winds may have caused. He promptly replied saying that the trails were being checked, so sadly the centre was closed until all reports were in.

Gutted, what to do now? It was a gorgeous day and I did not want to waste my precious day off. So jumping on my bike I started out on a route that would take me along the Water of Leith and then up to the reservoirs at the base of the Pentland hills.

It was an extremely cold day and I found that the ground was completely frozen, even where it was exposed to the sunshine. As I was puffing my way up the steep Currie Kirk road I thought that it might be a good idea to actually go over the Pentlands and follow the trail that I normally run.

 I have walked and run around these hills for many years and have always cursed the people that use it as a mountain bike trail, as the bikes have gradually eroded many of the paths and caused huge ruts in the ground that make it extremely hard to run over.

I reasoned this time that the ground was frozen so hard that my one trip round was not going to cause any further damage. Most of the paths were actually covered with ice, so much of the time my wheels didn't actually touch the earth!

I have to admit that it is a very good route to have on your doorstep, especially when you don't pass another soul the whole way round, but the extent of the damage caused by the number of people that use the hills is evident (walkers and runners included). There is extensive path building underway on the way over to Glencorse. At the moment it looks like a huge digger has just run up and over the hill and left this big ugly scar. I presume that the plan is to cover this in large chuckie stones, which is a shame because this is not very enjoyable for anyone to walk/run/cycle on.

I think it's always a shame when this happens, but it is inevitable when specific paths are so well used. It is great that so many people go out and enjoy this fantastic area of countryside that is literally a stones throw from the city, but when large paths are built it slightly ruins the look and feel of the hillside.

A gorgeous winter day out.

Huge path dug out of the hillside.

Very frozen big path.

My proposed Sunday ride with Beth in Carron Valley was also called off due to a storm damaged trail, so wanting to get out and keep up my mtb fitness I had an early morning ride up the Water of Leith. However with the temps being back above freezing the path is now very wet and muddy and I got rather filthy. I knew that I was getting splashed from my front wheel as I could see my very dirty jacket, legs and shoes but did not realise just how filthy my face was. I did get a few strange looks from some dog walkers and people in the garage forecourt when I took my bike for a power wash.

Not my best look! I have a mud beard.

Hopefully the trail centres will be open again soon.

Peace x

Mmmm interesting having just googled to see who has responsibility of ownership for that part of the Pentlands, I have found  that it is actually the land owners that are making a larger access path up the hill for their vehicles. Maybe I shouldn't worry as much as I do about the erosion after all.

All photographs by Caroline Harvey.

Tantrums and toe cleats.

In the last couple of weeks I have been introduced to the world of mountain biking. Now, I have always cursed the mountain bikers that chew up the paths in the Pentlands, but the biking I have been doing is on proper bike trails down at Glentress.

My first trip was on my very old and heavy fully rigid mountain bike that has only ever been used for commuting. It was hard work but I thoroughly enjoyed the thrill and excitement of it all. So this weekend we headed back and to do some more as plans to go away camping for a few days to the North West were thwarted by crappy wet weather.

So, on Friday evening we went back with my old bike, now sporting some actual MB tyres but also some clip in pedals, as I was finding it hard to keep my feet on the bike as it jumped around over the bumps. I thought that I would be able to manage the cleats ok as I have found them good and relatively easy to use on my road bike. However, testing out the pedals in the car park proved to be my first challenge and I fell over and winded myself on my own handle bars! Thankfully nobody was watching, but I felt rather foolish and initially thought I had ruined my weekend before it had even begun.

Not to be put off I jumped back on and began the journey up the hill, so far so good, a tad tricky at points but no more falls......until I tried to stop, didn't quite manage to undo in time and boom in the ditch. Pride starting to get slightly dented by this pointed, but no blood so all good. The rest of the evening was uneventful and again thoroughly enjoyable.

Saturday, up and away back down to Glentress, this time though we thought it might be good to try out one if the hire bikes and get a feel of the trails on a bike more suited to the terrain. Since I had quite liked using the toe cleats we swapped the pedals and off we went. Fairly soon though it became apparent that a new bike and toe cleats was possibly just a step too far for what essentially was my 3rd trip out. I had lost all confidence and hated having my feet confined. I tried to use that flat underside of the pedal but even that was proving difficult. A minor meltdown was on the verge of happening and I was finding that my cool and calm demeanour was melting away fast by the heat of my own annoyance.

Thankfully my co pilot was very laid back and reassurig about the whole thing so we cycled back down changed the pedals back to flats, had a gluten free chocolate brownie and a coffee before puffing our way back up the hill.

Result, happy Caroline was back, but fear had also creptd in. I hate adult fear it is so debilitating at times, you just want to wish yourself back to childhood when you feared nothing. So in order to try and recover some pride I faced my fears head on, and was given some tuition in the skills area going over bumps and rocks etc. It certainly helped and the rest of the day went by without a hitch, thankfully.

However, there is one further minor hurdle that I have to over come. I think the motion and the concentration of the downhill gives me slight motion sickness. It would be interesting to know if anyone else has ever experienced this or if it is just one of the weird things that happens to me. Not that this will hold me back as I purchased a new mountain bike today a long with some travel bands that I hope will help stop the motion sickness.

All in all a fantastic weekend of exercise, good food, nice drinks, great company and chat. Happy days. xx

Let the weekend begin.

A room with a view.

Taking a breather.

Grass and trees.

New bike baby.

Peace x

All photos by Caroline Harvey on instagram.

Dolly the Bike.

Today I purchased a new bike.

 It is a road bike and I am very excited about getting some dry weather days so I can go out and play.

 I have decided to call her "Dolly" as today is Miss Parton's birthday and because they are both fabulous.

 I also registered for Pedal for Scotland's 100 mile bike ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh on 9th September 2012.

Roll on Spring and Summer. I want to bicycle!

Spokes

Pedal

Clean

Sexy

Peace x

All Photographs by Caroline Harvey.

It's a bike Jim but not as we know it.......

I have been here in Boulder a few of days now and really not done much in the way of climbing, mainly because it is very hot during the day and it is quite hard to get to good areas without transport. So today I spent a lot of my time trying to work on some kind of plan, sadly it involved spending more money, but sometimes you just got to. What I have managed to organise is a bike for a week then a car for a month as of 14th Sept. What I will do after that we will wait and see.

Anyway, this town is very bike friendly, so in order to at least make it easier to get to the supermarket I thought I would rent a good two wheeler to scoot about on. I did not bargain on it being the end of bike rental season and them not having many left to choose from, but needs must and all that. So I got Spock! I now think I am probably the uncoolist person in the town, as everyone else has swanky mountain bikes or racers or are just being uber cool on skateboards. Me, well I feel a bit like an extra from an early Macauly Culkin film. However it did speed up my travels tonight when out exploring. Well I say speed up, coming down hill is good, going up hill is a different matter, this thing only has 7 gears compared to the 21 I am used to. Check it out!

Meet Spock!

Oh yeah baby, too cool for school.

All photos by Caroline Harvey