Wayhey, I'm back from the conference. Two days of seminars and poster sessions and all that seems to have stuck with me is a deep sense of foreboding and despair at any mention of the words 'Metacaspases' or 'Kinases'.
Anyway, back to the real world. What have folk been up to?
Last Saturday's ride format seemed to suit folk well, didn't it?
Meeting up in Costa's at 9am, those of us who fancied a longer ride sat and watched as the weather appeared to be coming at us in waves.
However, the fact that we were supposed to be meeting Barry enroute, plus John having brought his Boardman 'cheater bike' for the climb meant that we decided to stick to the original plan. The guys who were out for a shorter ride headed over towards Dumyat, mentioning something about practicing a 'sub four minute' descent line. Doesn't mean anything to me.
But we wished them luck anyway.
After waiting some time for Dougie to free his bike from the rack outside Costa
we headed over towards the Ochils, picking up Barry on the way and employing a cunning pincher maneuver to catch up with Steve_B on the climb through Silver Glen. This climb certainly wasn't as hard as the last time I did it a few weeks ago, and we were even aided by a healthy tailwind on the final climb up to Ben Cleuch. However, 'healthy tailwind' soon turned to 'biting cold gale' as we waited for Barry to fix a puncture and the limitations of our summer kit was tested even further as soon afterwards his chain snapped. Gale force winds, hail, sleet and shorts are not a great mix.
Descending as quickly as possible to get some shelter we soon found ourselves on the legendary Andrew Gannel track. By now however, the wind was on our side, blasting us with cheeky gusts that threatened to send you tipping down the mountainside at any moment. Big John's remedy for this was genius as he rode down the slope 'Hobby-Horse' style. I haven't chuckled so much since that time Glasgow Dan nearly got himself permanently wedged in the track there!
Down onto the 'Wall' section and as usual, I crashed.
I think I'm actually starting to
pre-crash here I'm so intimidated by the number of sore ones I've had on this section.
After another quick stop to fix Barry's second puncture we finished the descent into glorious sunshine and a return of feeling to our fingers and toes. Brrr!
It was a good ride, and I'm looking forward to the next one, almost as much as I'm looking forward to the summer weather!!!
By the time we'd gotten back to Stirling (about 2.30ish), we were already planning our next ride on the bank holiday. I've never been to Drumlanrig castle, my only knowledge of the trails there being accounts from other folk telling of roots, roots and more roots. So I was really looking forward to seeing what it was all about when Steve and his son pulled up outside my house on Monday morning. 90 minutes later and £5 per person entry fee paid we met up again with Dougie and set off to explore the Black route.
Simply marvelous. It's everything that a trail centre should be in my opinion. Very short fireroad sections then long, 12 inch wide, natural woodland singletrack that seems to go on forever and is a technical dream. I loved every minute of it, although after the Black loop Dougie, Steve and Mark were all set to head out for a loop around the Red, but I declined and basked in the sunshine whilst guarding the cars instead. I was so exhausted by the constant pounding and work that had to be put in on the Black, I didn't want to spoil the other guys fun on the Red, and it means I've got an excuse to head down there again.
Had you asked me my favourite trail centre, without hesitation I would have said Kirroughtree. Until this week. Now it's been bumped down to 2nd place and my new most favourite waymarked trail is without a doubt, Drumlanrig. Awesome, thanks guys for showing me the place and for your patience as I struggled along behind you, I'm still grinning from ear to ear!
B.
