Today I took the day off for a ride I’ve been pondering for
a while and is definitely do-able and a cracking day out with the intention of
not stopping. Glentress Black, Glentress Red, a Glentress enduro back to
Peebles, then drive to Innerleithen and do the Red. All in all I reckon it was
about 50 miles of fast hard mountain biking. The forecast looked ok early on,
so I left Glasgow at 6 to arrive at half 7 to make the most of it. Cycling in
to get the legs spinning it was great to be possibly the only person in that
early with the sound of the birds chirping. Cycling up to Buzzards Nest I made some
good progress, emerging to snow!
Last week I refused to pay the £100 for my fork servicing so
downloaded the manual and did it myself, which is a doddle (and a fair bit
cheaper whilst making you instantly more manly)! I think it’s always great to
be able to fully service your bike, and that now completes every bike task I
can think of doing. On a plus note it worked faultlessly and felt plush! Got
the pre-load working again J
Nothing to be nervous about there!
Continuing up the black, I forgot how long and how steep
some of those climbs were! Got the old lungs and ticker going, but making it to
the hut I had a celebratory ‘sprinter’ (Morrison’s faster and smaller version
of the Snicker). From there on to the mast it was all but leaving tracks in the
snow dusting and cracking the ice with the wheels, something I always enjoy for
some reason.
Following the boundary wall I was making good progress until
disaster happened. Through 4 years of abuse the pedal threads on the right
crank snapped and my pedal became wobbly. Trying to fit it on once or twice it
was proving futile so in the end came out at the top of deliverance and started
following the fireroad back to Glentress Peel, peeling off to do some of the
red.... realising unable to stand on a hardtail your bum gets punished! After a
few minutes of pushing back on the roads, I dropped my seat to the bottom and
scootered like little kids do back down. Unfortunately by now there were a fair
few people able to witness this. Good fun and massive speed but not the day I intended.
A consolation bacon sandwich and scooter back to Peebles
ended the day. Apparently a pretty common occurrence but new to me and a real
pain and gutter. Good job it wasn’t middle of nowhere! This ride is to be
continued!!!!
Also toying with getting a full susser – test riding in two
weeks at a test event so we’ll see what I’ve been missing out on or not. Sorry
to my beloved Genesis, I feel we may drift apart even with all my fixes!
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