Back from the Canaries

No blogging for last week and no cycling... been on holiday to Lanzarote... Had a fantastic relaxing time... 28 degrees most days... Really is a great idea to go at this time of year i think... resort nice and quiet and getting a good dose of sunshine to get through the coming 6 months of darkness.

Didn't get back until 4am this morning so that, along with a visit to the dentist today has meant no cycle today... Will definitely get out tomorrow though... weather spose to be nice and dry and my new pedals and kleats have arrived.

Off to bed.

Nightblog 5

Been an absolutely beautiful day and I've wasted it all by sitting around watching bloody films all afternoon...  3 hours of 'The Watchmen' which was decidedly 'Meh'... Could have got in 30/40 miles in that time... ridiculous... I need to have more wilpower.

Still, forced myself to get out for 15 miles at 6... the old Traquair route again... Trip down was lovely... Autumn really is in full swing just now... the whole journey just smelled so 'earthy'... takes me back to being a kid and collecting conkers.

Got a good time in tonight too.. 53m 48s with an average speed of 16.9 on the GPS... really want to get it up to 17 at some point this week.

Quiet night tonight I think.. Really should start thinking about packing for Lanzarote holibob on Thursday... do it tomorrow!

Nightblog 4

Really really really dark this morning!

Rubbish time... probably overdoing it a bit to be honest...

Anyway....

Chevrons!

Nightblog 3

No big cycle this morning... for the first time in 19 years, work came to me... We had a departmental planning day at Kingsmeadows so decided to take advantage and have a bit of of a lie in. Must be kind of nice working in the same place that you live... took me 10 minutes to walk to work... Still, well worth the commuting to live in a town like this.

Just back from the Cademuir route... very light rain was lovely and cooling on what was quite a warm evening.. although visibility did suffer a little bit... maybe invest in a second Fenix torch?! Any excuse... Was a bit disappointed the pedals and kleats didn't arrive today... hopefully tomorrow.

Chased a hare along the dark side of Cademuir for about  a quarter of a mile before it shot off into the hedgerow...  Owls seems to be very noisy this time of night too!

Listening to Seventeen Seconds by the Cure... all those early albums are so good....

Quick shower then watch my downloaded episode of House, then bed...

Nightblog 2

"I was moving through the silence without motion..."

Start - 18.57  End - 19:52 

Av Speed 15.9

13C.  Dry for 14 miles   Rain for 1!.  Still.

Excited when I got home from work as there was a parcel and I was expecting my new cycling shoes from Wiggle.com... Call me thick but it took me about 10 minutes figuring out how the bloody ratchet clip worked! Anyway, soon found out that they're useless without the cleats (which should be here tomorrow) and I've got new pedals coming too... yep.. .seriously addicted!

Great cycle tonight.. first nightride down to Traquair and back... very light traffic and I really seemed to fly back... Managed to keep the in the lower set of gears for about 95% of the ride I'd say with a only really the hills after Kailize and Cardrona requiring the big gun gears!

A lot of the road has forestry to either side and it was a bit spooky riding through there in the silence with all the wildlife scuttling around in the undergrowth... Still probably added another couple of MPHs to my speed!

Huge owl swooped down over me coming past the stables too... very impressive.

Huge drops of rain started falling almost exactly as I re-entered the warm welcoming glow of Peebles' street lamps... so I'm off for a shower and then some soup.

Been a Joy Division kind of day... Managed to fit both Unknown Pleasures and Closer in and a bit of The Fall's 'This Nations Saving Grace' on the way home... Mark E Smith-uh forever-uh!

The joy of nightriding

I've seriously got the cycling bug over the last month or so... so much so that I was thinking of buying a turbo trainer, one of these contraptions that you can slot your bike into and turn it into a machine that you can cycle away on in the house. After doing a bit of research online I discovered that a lot of folk find them really boring and that the novelty wears off after a couple of weeks... I know that I find the cycle machines in the gym incredibly boring so I thought again.

All the money I was going to spend on the trainer I decided to invest in lights for the bike instead... T'was very strange heading out of Peebles with my 15000 candlepowered light (with dip and full beam!) and a bright old Fenix Torch taped to my bike helmet into the pitch darkness. 

It took a couple of minutes for my eyes to adjust, but once they did it was like a new world opening up... 5 or 6 minutes along the Glasgow road (with a 2 or 3, no doubt bemused drivers wondering what the hell was coming towards them), then racing down the hill towards Manor Bridge and the promise of 8 glorious miles of traffic free roads. Legs pumping, the chill of the night air amplifying the sound of my breathing. 

Then you start to hear the rustling in the hedgerows and see the animals darting across the road in front of you, the dim orange dot in the distance slowly becomes brighter as it reveals itself to be the old phonebox at Manor, then left to Cademuir, slowing down to cross the cattle grid, shift up the gears and take the last big hill of the ride, then round the side of the family's Banana Hill where many a picnic has been eaten over the years,  then the biggest treat of all.... The Peebles hills silhouetted against a full moon... completely breathtaking... just as beautiful as that of the daylight vista.... still the familiar sound of my breathing and the swishing noise of the tyres against the tarmac... up one last hill and then the real fun begins... Downhill all the way home with the wind behind... Into the lowest gear then freewheel to the foot of the hill, braking for the 2nd bloody cattle grid  you know is ahead of you... then those fantastic final 2 miles home, head down, full speed ahead, chest aching looking forward to a hot shower and a piping cup of coffee...

You can keep your bedroom cycling machine... I prefer to seize the night!

Nightblog 1

"I was moving through the silence without motion..."

Start - 5.20  End - 5.52

10C.  Dry.  Still.

Bit of a stomachache this morning so took it easy.... Passed one car the whole journey... best thing about this mad cycling in the dark nonsense!

Nostalgiac memories of taking our dog 'Bramble' (a half breed alsation, no less.... my mum named him!) walks at half five in the morning when we lived in Oxenwood. I'd have been 11 or 12 maybe... The early morning definitely has a magical feel to it... I get exactly the same feeling I used to get back then too.

There's a bloke who must walk his dogs (whippets maybe? dunno, go past him so fast!!) round the dark side of Cademuir at the same time each day as he was there yesterday... Shouted a half mumbled 'morning' to him but never heard a reply. Must make friends with PossibleWhippet guy!

Must remember 3 drains then pothole on the way back!