Hey guys, good to ride with you / see you again / meet you. That was a good solid ride there, great to see the ground so dry.

Just had a shower and licked my wounds – think I’ll live to fight another day, but that OTHB moment on the rocky steep descent into the darkness was a bit annoying – my fault, think if I had remembered my bloomin light bracket and had the big light on, I may have taken a better line and avoided the rock that stalled me… ah well, shoulda woulda coulda… DIDN’T!

The route back up the Water Of Leith was quite quick in fact, I was surprised how close it brought me out – thanks for the route tip.

Anyway, knee got it’s medicine (Germolene fixes all), and brain getting it’s medicine (Kloster Andechs Weissbier), well deserved 🙂

mmmm beer. I forgot I had some in specially

I’m onto the Konig Ludwig Weissbier now Jeremy, do keep up 🙂

Just reading about wee scrapes and dry Pentlands has made me miss the TBC rides gonna try and head up next week . Might try and persuade Coasty and some of the Winton arms Massif to make a maiden voyage next week.. Good to see It’s alive and kicking . Who is going to be first in to ‘Clubbie-Doom’.

Stanfree – come up and join us again.

I have found a few choice bruises and I will be stiff tomorrow I think.

Uh-oh, sounds like I missed some gnarl-core action after ducking off home… Forgot you were heading back to Bonaly too 7Hz, should’ve offered the short-cut. Next time I vote it stays as dry, with less front-wheel traps!

Thanks for the welcome along guys. Interesting first ride:

– Big fall including pedal and leg trying to get together causing a 4 inch cut and a 2 inch one too.
– Smashed iPhone screen from said fall
– Steeper hills than anyone should every have to go up
– Broken chain (thanks for the power link and the help)
– Punctured rear (noticed it this morning so was probably lucky to get home)
– Many a near moment trying to get my head into ‘natural’ riding rather than trail centres

All in a a fantastic ride!! Can’t believe how much the Pentlands has to offer that I have been missing all these years.

Don’t think I can make it next weekend but I’ll definitely by back very soon!

Cheers guys 😀

Glad you enjoyed it Steve despite the damage.

I’m a little bruised and battered myself. 3 falls in one ride for me 🙁

TandemJeremy – Member
Don’t forget your ball gag Al

What have you planned for me? 😀

I’ll bring it to the stag…

keep you quiet and slow you down. win win

What was the route? I’m trying to work out where you were that caused so many offs.

steve – clumsiness on my behalf not gnar.

Puke hill, along the traverse to the top of howden burn, Castlelaw goat track (one fall for me in a bog – front wheel dug in) Phantoms ( another fall for me – front wheel into a bog) Scalextric, clubbie dean( fall for me – too tentative on a stream crossing with logs in the middle, fall for steve on the same crossing in sympathy with me) Kinleith farm, mushrooms, rocky chute to blinkbonny (fall for 7hz on a rock step)

I wish I’d been there with my GoPro on – sounds like there was some decent crash footage to be had!

Last time I was on Phantoms I nearly did the same OTB thing though – rode through what I thought was a shallow puddle not realising there was about a foot of mud at the bottom of it. I’m pretty sure I know the spot on Clubbiedean wit the stream crossing – you need to have a bit of pace to climb out of it as well. Not been round that trail in ages. Last time I was there one of the group fell into the stream at the bad corner (not while riding but by putting a foot down into empty space when he stopped) which was quite scary at the time.

What trail is mushrooms? I’d normally finish that route with Poets Glen but am always interested in other options.

Instead of turning left onto poets glen carry straight on thru the farmyard. At the second gate a left fork (signposted right of way) takes you on a diagonal descent down past Torphin Quarry. Just long straight and fast Just after you hit tarmac turn left for a steep descent to the WOL near Blinkbonny

You should join us on the wednesday nights

Sounds like a good ride.

On point though: I’m not sure Scalextric should be riden during lambing season. I was speaking to the farmer at Easter Kinleith last week and he said he had a few lambs seperated from their mothers recently. He was very happy when I said I’d stopped riding it at the end of March.

I know a lot of the Pentlands is covered in lambs at the moment but I think Scalextric is unjustifable at present as it cuts right through the middle of 2 fields close to the farm which have a lot of lambs in. Routes along fence lines (Black Hill) or higher ground (Red Road) are IMHO better choices especially for large groups.

Apologies if I’ve just openned a can of worms!!

Fraser – a point worth making and we did actually discuss this last night when working out which bits to ride

Only 6 of us – is that a large group? No sheep / lambs were visible anywhere around on that section. Is being aware of this and slowing down / being cautious if sheep / lambs are about enough? Should groups of walkers avoid the same paths?

The Easter Kinleith farmer is rather grumpy with mountainbikers is he not? Mind you he will get a lot on his land so will get some nuisance / disturbance

Good ride guys – thanks for showing me some new stuff too! Hope the injuries weren’t too bad.

Fraser – fair point and usually I wouldn’t ride it at this time of year either but there were no sheep to be seen anywhere. We didn’t go round or over Harbour Hill to get to it, just down the top bit of track next to Bonaly reservoir, then left to cut across to the new fence and gate. I think all the sheep were on the Harbour Hill side of the new fence.

Yeah there weren’t any sheep in the scaletrix bit last night, the heather there had been burnt in the last couple of weeks so perhaps moved for that reason or to a quieter less doggy area for lamb safety perhaps.

Jeremy’s bog-seeking front wheel was on good form last night!

TJ/Stu – glad to hear it was discussed, I just wanted to raise the issue really.

If Harbour Hill was avoided I think that helps. There is still a perception issue though that we have to consider, if we ride bits of it do we open ourselves up to people copying and riding bits we wouldn’t? Also how does it look to the farmer?

How slow is slow on a mountain bike? I think often we are going faster than we think.

Regarding walkers. Interesting issue: with dogs (even on a lead) I think Harbour Hill should be avoided. Without dogs and with a responsible attitude I think it is okay.

I’ve had a couple of conversions with the farmer from East Kinleith and never had any bother but I know he has a bit of a reputation.

6 to me is a largish group, but then I’m a loner! 😉

It’s all good discussion! The more people are thinking and talking about responsible riding/access the better. Cheers guys.

Fraser makes a fair point. On my Pentlands Hill Routes map, I actually had that route flagged as needing consideration at this time of year. However, it’s all about being “responsible” at all times. Various other fields are also used for lambing – e.g. the one near the rifle ranges.

Druidh – agree, we need to be responsible at all times.

I think there are 3 things to consider before riding:
– Is it legel? Not usually too much of an issue in Scotland.
– Will it cause excess/undue damage/erosion? i.e. not riding Black Hill when it is a mud bath
– How will it affect other land users including the farmer/landowner and walkers (including to a degree their perseption of Mountain Biking). i.e. not flying down Scald Law on a sunny Sunday afternoon in summer or riding certain trails during lambing or shooting season

Erosion is the one that pees me off. Black hill and nail trail have suffered badly – apparently in an MBR guide ??? without any warning about the delicate nature. Black hill now has a gully feet deep that wasn’t there two years ago

Pistachio (the bit between kinleith and maidens) is ruined.

Maybe time for another attempt to get involved with the rangers to do some trail repair? Phantoms is still being worked on

TJ – I’m up for that. Do you know the rangers?

The continuation of Black Hill i.e. round to Logan Farm is also looking battered.

Whilst everyone is here discussing the Pentlands, perhaps its a good time to raise an idea that Jeremy suggested to me a couple of weeks ago. I have a senior contact in the PHRP who used to be a client of mine at work so have built up a professional relationship and trust with him. Jeremy suggested we could club together and offer our services as manual labour for a bit of path maintenance, so would anyone be up for that?

I’d want to establish the level of genuine interest and even identify some areas where path maintenance is required before contacting PHRP, as they are very busy and under-resourced and I wouldn’t want to waste their time. I noticed they’ve done a bit of work on Phantoms in the last week so they are obviously picking away at the problem areas.

Jim – count me in. I’m sure I can rope in a couple of other folk not on STW in too.

Pub meet to discuss before you go to PHRP?

I haven’t been on Black Hill for at least 6 months now, but when out in the Pentlands during the winter I did quite often see people heading up to ride it even in the wettest of conditions.

A few years back there was barely anyone using the Nail Trail and until recently I’d have said it was still only a relatively few people that knew it was there. It’s not really a trail that would cope well with significant volumes of use so putting into a mag route wouldn’t have been a very good idea. It probably wouldn’t take a huge amount of work to sort out the problem bits of it though

I have just spoken to the rangers. Very interested. I said we would be able to put some labour together to help repair some trails. Pistachio / Black hill / Phantoms were discussed.

She is going to look at putting some dates together – summer weekends and give us a choice of dates a couple of which we will say thats the day and get the turnout organised

They will provide tools. gravel and H&S risk assessments and stuff – we provide labour.

I do wonder about some signage on the more vulnerable routes?

Teh ranger has my number and will get back to me.

Jim, I wasn’t there last night but am local and ride the Pentlands quite a bit (although never know the names of the routes that you lot use!). Anyway, back to the point, I’d be very happy to provide some manual labour and, like Fraser, could probably rustle up some non-STW able bodies

Nail trail is outside the park so not in teh Rangers remit – would need to speak to the landowner about repairing it

Cool. my email is in profile if you need.

I was wondering about signage too, the current 3 colour system is a bit too rigid and doesn’t have flexiblility. I’ve ridden “Red – unsuitable for bikes” trails in conditions I’ve have no quarms with and have seen “Green – suitable for considerate biking” trails in conditions I wouldn’t ride them.

Something with more information on the issues and things to consider may be better. If people actually read it 👿

I’d also be more than happy to help out with some trail maintenance in the Pentlands.

Ah good one Jeremy. I might still drop Alan an email so he is aware, could be a good way of getting MTBers some positive light in the Pentland Beacon or something.

I don’t know if they want to lead in terms of locations for work or if we want to suggest places, but as I make maps for a living I can volunteer some assistance there if needed.

Soooo, nice bit of ‘north shore’ over the boggy bit on Black Hill then? 😛

Signage – I was thinking laminated A4 – “cyclists” in big type at the top then a “please consider avoiding this trail in wet conditions as it is getting damaged” or something similar with perhaps directions to an alternative. A bit “Nanny knows best” so I am cautious about this

Bigjim – from the discussion I just have had we have similar places in mind.

TJ – my thoughts exactly on the signage – needs to be well worded to avoid Nannying. Anyone got any old pics of the Pentlands we could do a before/after showing some nice flowing trail and then the now damagad mudbath?

I actually think a few bits of Northshore/Bridges might be the way ahead in certain areas. There are bits of paths which have natural water courses crossing and never really dry. Might be a H&S minefield though!

Ok – Its clear we have goodwill amongst the cyclists to help. I will try to act as liason / help organise. I will come back to you with plans and be looking for labour.

I think from my point of view pistachio / phantoms / black hill would be the priorities and sympathetic restoration of the trails the aim. Anyone anything else?

nail trail is a differnt issue. One of the local chaps want top find out who the landowner is and what their view is?

Yeah I think a boardwalk over the worst boggy bits would be ideal too but would be a) expensive and b) as you say, unsure about the H&S aspects, might get people dropping off the edge.

I think Phantoms has never recovered from that adventure race in 2008 when it was really wet and all the cyclists ploughed it up.

One issue with the signage is if it is a bit strong its just going to make non-cyclists more likely to complain at/about cyclists, its a tricky one.

Perhaps we should start a new thread for this?

Is Pistachio within the park boundaries?

Of those definitely in then I’d agree with Black Hill as the no.1 and Phantoms as no.2. I don’t ride the latter all that often but I used it once this winter and was surprised at how bad it was compared the the last time I’d ridden it. We used to use if on winter night rides and I don’t recall it cutting up to any great extent then.

Pistachio is one bit the rangers mentioned. used to be a nice ribbon of singletrack now its a mess.

I think the horses have been quite bad in pistachio, and they are also something that would have to bear in mind when thinking about boardwalk type stuff, not sure how good they are on them!

Which is Pistachio? Sure I’ve ridden it but don’t know the name…