[Closed] wednesday pentland ride?

oh man there must be someone! 😮

I should be heading out. Will be at the [url= http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Edinburgh,+City+of+Edinburgh,+United+Kingdom&ll=55.901198,-3.259407&spn=0.00069,0.002336&t=h&z=19 ]Bonaly Shop[/url] shop for seven.

I fancy it, will be at Bonaly shop for 7 if I make it.

Woop I'll be out too!!

ok, well i'll head to cargo for 6 as it's near where i live; if no one arrives i'll be at bonaly for 7! cheers!

MrK - are you Menmuir's mate? I think I'm meeting the two of you tomorrow at the canal.

nope! never met mr menmuir, or anyone! except TBC mark, when i bought some shorts... which part of the canal are you meeting and when? 🙂

Hopefully I'll make tomorrow - see ya'll at the wee shop. I'll know for sure nearer the time.

6pm at cargo

That means you'd be even slower than me! I think it's around 6.30ish usually @ Cargo (not that I start from there).

aha! i thought 1 hour was generous! 😉

MrK mkII, I pass by Cargo on my way out, I'll try to be there for 6:30, but if not should def be at the shop for 7 (I'll be on a white Whyte).

excellent. i'll be on a black inbred (yawn!).

nope!

Alrighty then! Simply a coincidence. I'm meeting stevenmenmuir and his buddy at 6-ish on the canal where the lower part of Viewforth crosses over. I'm assuming you'd be welcome along if you fancy a slightly earlier start! Unless he sees this and changes his mind 😉

Kit (very green Orange)

I'm intending to head along tonight. Will be at Cargo for 6.30.

See you there.

others are welcome, i just wanted to get a slightly earlier start.

I doubt I'll make it, got food poisoning on monday and don't think I can be that far from the cludgie yet! Plus I've not eaten much. boo!

I am hoping to make it tonight. I'll aim to be at Cargo at 6.30.

I have a hidden agenda... I am volunteering with the Bike Station on their Innertube map project. I am tasked with engaging with users of the Union Canal and Water of Leith path. So, please don't think I'm a total FREAK if I spend a portion of my time photographing the ride.

(I may also be looking for a/some willing volunteer(s) for an audio interview...)

I'll be on a blue 456; IRN-BRU jacket.

If I can get a pass from the wife I'm there. I'm confused though. Is it bottom of Viewforth at 6, Cargo at half 6, or Bonaly at 7?

Standard times are 6.30 Cargo then whoever meets there will meet the rest at Bonaly at 7. The 6 o'clock is an earlier option tonight.

I may not be at Cargo now, trying not to get roped into football from 5-6 but if that happens I should be able to make Bonaly at 7, probably absolutely knackered!!

Right. I'll do Cargo at half 6 if I'm allowed. I'll be on a funky metallic blue/purple Wronghorn.

I need to be home early so I'll have to miss this one 🙁

Great ride guys - feeling a bit broken this morning though! Was worth it for the dry trails!

what route did you do?

Clubbiedean - Poets - Chocolate Chute to W.o.L. into Balerno, up to Red Moss for the Boardwalk - Exponential - Green Cleugh, Black Hill, Plantation singletrack - Pistachio - Back to Easter Kinlieth farm and down 'Mushrooms' (?) to Toduff Quarry, down the steep rocky chute then back to Bonaly on the road, then the Dreghorn singletrack to round things off.

Had my first 'incident' with the Maxxis Aspens, brilliant, fast tyres, but they don't grip wet grass at speed, cue straight lining into a wall at speed and a sore elbow/hand today 😕

Edit - too slow - see above!

Tyres exist that grip on wet grass?

quite a bit of climbing on that one then chaps! I don't know the chocolate chute, but if its anything like the chocolate drop on corrie hill i get the idea.

they don't grip wet grass at speed

I'm surprised anything grips the speed you go at!

Aha, a fellow Chocolate Drop veteran! We saw someone launch that from one of the higher embankments on the side 😯

Al, combination of even less grip on wet grass than usual, and seriously grabby Elixirs, I didn't stand a chance.

Yeah, that was a great ride with plenty of new trail for me. Definitely feeling all the climbing today but well worth it.

Any updates from MrK mkII on the injuries and migrane? Two pretty nasty looking falls, especially the one into the ditch.

Never made it home with my puncture, in fact only made it about 100m along the road!

😯 sounds like carnage last night!

I haven't even seen the chocolate drop for about 13 years, but certainly wouldn't have even thought about launching off the side bits, what with those magnetic trees and muddy 'runout' at the bottom.

Carnage? I'd say so. I think Exponential Road was the nail in the coffin for me, but I held my own and didn't cave in until we got back to the canal. Running on fumes from there back to home. I really need to consider eating more than a ham & cheese sandwich all day before heading out on climbathons.

Chocolate Chute to WoL - is that where you go along the estate road near Currie Kirk then take the right just before the bridge? There are two trails there, the first one being at the gravestones and it has a nice off-camber corner to drop.

I remember the Chocolate Slide from Corstorphine Hill - ah, memories... 😀

Great ride folks. It was 50 odd km round trip by the time I got myself home to Leith and inhaled my dinner.

Had forgotten how much fun/terror was involved in trying to keep up with the 13thfloormonk. Just about kept up on the downhills, but no chance on the climbs.

Hope everyone's mechanicals and wall/ditch escapades haven't caused any lasting damage.

There are two trails there, the first one being at the gravestones and it has a nice off-camber corner to drop.

Its the second one, although I don't know how long its been known as Chocolate Chute (I think it should be renamed 'Pooh Alley' since the original P.A. has been flattened). I'll quite often ride back up the one with the nasty off camber rooty drop, although obviously I don't ride up the rooty drop...

Didn't realise Keiran had a second off, hope he's OK, did he get an escort home?

fun/terror

Chocolate Chute to WoL - is that where you go along the estate road near Currie Kirk then take the right just before the bridge? There are two trails there, the first one being at the gravestones and it has a nice off-camber corner to drop.

Yes, that's the one. Turn right when heading up the Kirkgate, and Chocolate Chute is on the right half way to Balerno, just before the bend in the road at the bridge. Haven't ridden the other path you mentioned, but I think I know the one you mean.

Edit - between to it by 13th

Yep, great ride, and good to meet everyone.

13thfloormonk - I take it you introduced yourself to the wall at the bottom of Mushrooms?... I "High Rollered" into that wall earlier this year. Carry in too much speed on wet grass and no amount of feathering will save you!

Was there more carnage after I peeled off!? (By which time I was probably already warm and dry and enjoying my tea ;-))

Hopefully I'll make it out again. Much will depend on the imminent arrival of Dair jnr!

I am going to start a new thread (in my role as an Innertube ambassador) titled "Water of Leith: Gateway to the Pentlands", or something similar. The aim being to start a bit of a discussion on MTB access to the Pentlands - good points, bad points, issues etc.

Cheers
Dair

48km for me last night - first proper ride in over 14 weeks. I have no idea where I found the energy from, especially after riding into the rain and wind along Glencorse, Loganlea & Green Cleugh. Still on a total high!

I am going to start a new thread (in my role as an Innertube ambassador) titled "Water of Leith: Gateway to the Pentlands", or something similar. The aim being to start a bit of a discussion on MTB access to the Pentlands - good points, bad points, issues etc.

PHRP were inviting tenders for a piece of work to identify and scope 4 PHRP access improvements for non-motorised users last year, we tendered at work but didn't win it, but will be interesting to see it when it is finished.

Balerno Community Council have been trying to get a path from the bus terminus up to Bavelaw for some time.

Yeah I'd be really suprised if that one isn't the no 1 candidate, however at the end of the day its down to the landowners. That road up is lethal.

Ahh, good old google, LUC won the contract, which is annoying to me personally as they are a competitor but it means it should be a well done job -

www.edinburgh.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/31173/connections_to_the_pentland_hills_regional_park-access_study+pentland+hills+non+motorised+access+study

All good stuff. Thanks!

I see the interim report was to be submitted in Mid February 2011 and all work completed by the end of March 2011. I wonder if Google knows what the outcome was?...

I don't know - I know the PHRP manager so I'll ask him and get back when I get an answer

all injuries are mostly gone and the migraine has disappeared!

that was such fantastic fun! it's been a very long time since i wooped with laughter on a decent (although i may still have been woozy from the winding!)!

can't wait for the next one 🙂

Balerno Community Council have been trying to get a path from the bus terminus up to Bavelaw for some time.

Where they trying for just a roadside pavement or somewhere through the trees?

That road up is lethal.

There are already a few paths through the trees that can be used, but they're a lot less direct.

http://www.elgt.org.uk/index.php?page=balerno-pentlands-access

I've not actually seen the report though. I think funding and landowners are the main stumbling points as always. A days' worth of tram budget would have done the trick probably!

Cheers. Sounds like they're thinking that the route would be away from the road. There are quite a few bits of treeline that could be linked up, although the best off-road lines up towards the Thriepmuir car park start a little bit further west of the bus turning point (and if biking up them there are a couple of fences and streams to cross).