As above – anyone up the pentlands over the weekend? Much snow?

eck

thought the only people who rode the Pentlands were those who lived nearby 😕

The snowline is at Currie level (it's quite a spectacular line across the hillside looking up from Hermiston area). There's nothing in the city but a couple of inches lying in Currie and I'd imagine much more higher up.

I was out on the roadbike yesterday morning – went Livingston – Kirknewton – Lang Wang – Balerno – Riccarton and back home along the A71 and it was grim as a very grim thing – dry when I set off, sleet by Kirknewton, snow on A70 into Balerno, sleet by Currie, rain by Riccarton and turned back to sleet in East Calder. Not remotely nice.

There's a lot of snow above Kirknewton and Balerno and it froze last night so will be pretty icy.

I wouldn't bother with Pentlands for a while.

i've not been up there in months, but i can see them from where i work and they are covered in snow. don't know how much though 🙂

i ran in the pentlands a couple of weekends ago, shame the WOL flooding work has churned up the path round harlaw so much, was sketchy running on half frozen rutted ice…

ta.
might try and nip up with my snowboard instead..

eck

I'd love to be up there today – looks spectacular from the office window! Was day dreaming about the first warm late spring night ride up there… sigh…

Was a bit crispy and sketchy this morning, but that was the double track from Balerno to Curry Kirk.
So I'm hoping the sunshine is going to sort that out and I'm planning a blast along by Harlaw on the way back from work.

There was about 6inches on Saturday morning. Had to push up any climb and even flat bits were tough going.

May be better if there has been a lot of folk up and compacted it over the weekend.

It'll be pretty poor going for this week I would think, 3-4" snow partially melting then freezing overnight. Snowboard might be just the thing..

@ Fat Elvis; were you on a dark road bike with full guards, yellow jacket? If so, I was the guy on your tail at the Riccarton turn-off from Lanark Road… 🙂

heading up for an early start after work today – hopefully it's not defrosted too much…

Rob – that was indeed me. Man, that was a grim morning to be out. At least I shook the hangover.

Pentlands are completely white from the edge of the city upwards – just been up to the Castle Esplanade and there is a lot of snow on them and the Lammermuirs. I'll stick some dodgy cameraphone pics up tonight.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stu_n/4398574029/in/photostream

Pentlands from Castle Esplanade – cameraphone shooting into the sun so not great but you get the idea!

Rode home out the Water of Leith from Murrayfield tonight – muddy as far as the City bypass (apart from the really wet bit just after Colinton that was starting to freeze over) then progressively icier as I got out of town. A few arsepucker moments on refrozen snow too. Not fun. Gave up at Currie Kirk – would probably be OK all the way to Balerno on an MTB but on a CX bike in last of the daylight it was really skittery.

Pentlands proper will be very snowy and icy I'd imagine.

Pah – I had to wheel my bike to the end of the street this morning before I could cycle to work. Just too much ice and rutted snow.

Nice photos Elvis, good to see the sun out, on a Monday… 🙄

I'm thinking of going tomorrow, head out early, hoping it'll be rock hard but grippy. Maybe I'm hoping for too much.

Pentlands were looking stunning about 5.00 tonight. Pure white and being lit by late afternoon sunshine. Suspect the trails might be a bit icy though.

I had a look the other night, was out on the road bike and popped up to the top of the kirkgate and had a look up the farmtrack towards pistachio. Horrible tbh, enough wet snow to be a menace to walk on never mind ride on. I personally would not bother, and I live less than a mile away. Incredibly pretty though.

Should probably go without saying that the delicate trails should be treated carefully too, very wet and the ground's not hard enough to compensate.

Pentlands from Dunfermline this evening:

I was up on Saturday morning. It was a real slog 'cos the snow was so wet. Singletrack by the scout camp was 75% ridable, but the traverse to the reservoir towards Clubbiedean was mostly pushing. Dropped the pressures to 20psi and then got some traction! The snow was jamming up the cassette, sticking to jockey wheels, and gathering round the hubs 😮

I expect it's all nice and icy now – time for the ice tyres again 🙂

Took the trip up to Harlaw, but couldn't get round proper because of the digger works going on.
Some places of pure ice, but most of it was crispy enough to ride over. Was nice around the track from the ranger centre, but because of the works going on, I couldn't loop round to Balerno along by Harlaw. It was even dicier on the road into Balerno.
Was really dicey coming up from Bonaly to Kinleath and had to push on the steep bits. The sun dropped and I have never felt it get so cold so quick.

Went up today and it was amazing. Pretty ridable most of the popular bits have been trampled down into bumpy singletrack. Odd bits of ice and mud but twas a great day to be out. This is where I went.
Bonaly-Torduff-Harelaw-Maidens-Glencorse-Green Cleugh-Bavelaw-Kips-Bavelaw-Nail Trail-Balerno-Bonaly.

I had a wee spin round this affie. Track from Harlaw to Maidens Cleugh was very soft, with little traction. I got on a lot better higher up where it had frozen slightly. Came back through Green Cleugh which has a singletrack-width, hard-packed path of snow and anything up to 600mm of soft snow either side. Miss that path and the front wheel just dives into the soft stuff for an over-the-bar moment. In fact, I managed to rip my saddle doing this 🙁

I reckon it was about 70:30 riding to walking (distance wise).

Lovely day though, so here are some photos (off the phone).


(More if you click on it)

Oh – and someone said recently they liked this fence…

looks awfy awfy nice.
shame i've been stuck at work all this week…

Ah yes, that'll be the fence that epicsteve takes all his bike shots at. Not quite got the angle right there though druidh

Ah. I'll have to find one of his photos, print it off and take it with me next time.

This is how it's done:

I'm always knackered at the top of Maidens, hence the photo stops!

I was lucky that it hadn't really thawed when I was out on Tues, best conditions for ages and possibly for ages to come. Walker produced singletrack 😆
Pictures are on my Facebook page if anybodies interested, open to all.

A lot less snow today – but correspondingly more muddy as a result.

Hmm – looks pretty manky up there. Last time I was up was on Tuesday night and even the track from Harlaw to Maidens was draggy and horrible.

Lots of …err…"trail disruption" on the Nail Trail (Western Loop).

Was the western bit of the Nail Trail worth riding? I was thinking about going over Maidens, back via Green Cleugh and home via the western loop.

It was quite pleasant up there this morning:

There were a few more branches down than normal on the western loop of the Nail Trail but I was on the Enduro so just rode over the top of most of them. It was riding quite well I thought:

Had a look at Nail trail after the first snow had all melted.

Does nobody else think its suffering from people riding it in the wet? Quite a few corners really starting to look a bit 'cyclocross'… 😕

Not going to endear us to whoever it was laying the nail traps in the first place…

The problem bits are all on the direct line down (which I've been avoiding except when the ground is frozen). The western loop is almost completely dry at the moment and pretty much never gets muddy.

No, the damage I saw was after the western loop joins onto the main path, lower down.

I guess maybe I should just stop worrying and start riding it instead of waiting for summer!

the nail trail has been like that since I first found it – but I haven't been down it for a year or so so I don't know if its getting worse.

Needs some drainage in a few places – I am tempted to have a go at some trail repairs – a few other places in the pentland where half an hour with a folding spade could make a difference by getting the water away from the trail

No, the damage I saw was after the western loop joins onto the main path, lower down.

The only but I can think off after that is the open section under the pylon where it's quite muddy at the moment. All the rest seems pretty much the same as ever.

Not going to endear us to whoever it was laying the nail traps in the first place

Is that where the Nail Trail name comes from then? I've often wondered.

Yeah, me and a friend found a foot long section of plank with loads of very long nails hammered in it buried in the mud. We didn't invent the name though, we stuck with our usual naming convention of "that bit of trail that runs from that road near Harlaw down to Balerno where John found those nails".

Epicsteve, don't mind me, I get a bit precious about that trail. The damage I'm talking about is just a couple of corners that are getting a bit cut up (the grassy ones a little bit down from the pylon).

I don't know if there is much you could do to improve the drainage. I had a look at some bits near me but the area was very flat and soggy in general so there was nowhere for the water to go. If I remember right the nail trail is similar. I got lost there a couple of weeks ago, think I came down a wood that runs parallel to the usual bit. Remember going under a pylon.