Pentlands Bonk - 30/12/2006

So after nearly 24 hours of travel that involved slogging 35kg of luggage around 3 airports, 1 train, 1 bus, 2 taxis and several flights of stairs, I thought it would be a fantastic plan to go play in the Pentlands the next day. Neil and Fraser helped try to kill me, but in the end it really was my own stupid fault. My shiny new bike needed christening but my legs just wouldn't work.

I managed to get to the trails more or less in one piece. I cycled up the evil hill's little sister on what turned out to be a flat tire. We decided first ride flat tire was true to form for the FSRxc. Bertie pulled out a nail from his. I pulled out a 1cm thorn from mine. Neil and Fraser helped change the tire. The day was gorgeous, unlike the forecast suggested, but it was still cold enough for my hands to not want to function. I appreciated the help. We rolled onward. Evil hill itself required walking.

On the first downhill after the evil hill, Fraser broke his chain. Good practice with the chain tool. At the top of the next hill, we eventually came to a fence. I decided that I probably could make it home in more or less one piece, so I decided not to continue. Neil and Fraser decided that was ok and joined me, with, of course, Neil proposing a detour on the way back. We cycled back the way we came. Fraser learned the hard way that wet grass is less useful for stopping than loose gravel. He crashed, skidmarks and all, just by the gate midway down the evil hill. After the gate, we detoured left through the woods. Fraser and I chose to push or carry several precarious spots on the trail even though Neil assured us that they looked worse than they were.

We came to a nice stretch of wooded downhill. I took off ahead to take some photos. Neil and then Fraser came shooting down behind me and zoomed up the next hill. I opted for the weenie route and watched from a distance as they climbed and then zoomed down a fairly steep hill. Neil was down the other side before I had time to set up with the camera, but I managed to catch Fraser start the descent, tumble over the handlebars and wipe out with the bike ending up about 10m farther down the hill than where he ended up all because he couldn't clip in and therefore couldn't lean as far back as the descent required. I joined Neil at the bottom of their hill and Fraser soon rejoined us with a brake lever bent into a not very useful position. Poor bike. Once he and Neil fixed the brake lever, Fraser realised that one of the bolts from his cleats was missing and that was probably the reason he couldn't clip in earlier. He attempted to find it on the hill, failed miserably and instead reset the cleat with one bolt, hoping it would be enough to keep it in place for the ride home.

We followed the trail back to the car park and took one last singletrack hurrah for about a 100m descent from the car park. The rest was paved, but speed bumps at least made it interesting. Bunny hopping with a bike that fits is amazingly fun.

I made it home more or less in one piece with no new bruises. In that regard, the christening run was successful. My legs were not pleased with me, though, and demanded the 31st off. They didn't quite get it. Walking to and from Gorgie in 20-40mph winds isn't exactly restful, but it's probably kinder than another hilly cycle would have been.