Mountain Bike Orienteering

One of the guys at work sent round a link to Scottish Mountain Bike Orienteering website who are running 6 events, one a month over the summer months. The first was today in the Pentlands. I would probably have entered in a team with Neil, but he was unavailable and I was thinking of entering on my own for a laugh, but somehow talked Rosie into being my team-mate (it was surprisingly easy). She's just got a new bike, so it was a good excuse to take that out.

The idea is that the organisers put out 30 checkpoints and you have 3 hours to go to as many checkpoints as you can, each checkpoint is worth a certain number of points and the individual/team with the most number of points wins (teams have to stay together, so if anything it's a bit harder than being out on your own). If you take longer than 3 hours you start to lose points and after about 10 minutes, that loss becomes pretty rapid.

So Rosie and I rocked up at Currie Rugby Club in Balerno, unsure of what to expect. We had the vague notion that we would just go for however many points we could get and not worry too much if we came last. Rosie reckoned we would be pretty good at map reading, but we weren't really too sure about the first checkpoint, so that wasn't a good start. In fact, we didn't even find the first one we headed for (it was pretty close to the start, so we thought we'd just pick it up on the way back. Suffice to say that didn't happen). We cycled on a bit, down a path which was marked on the map, which was actually quite a nice little descent with a rooty technical bit at the bottom (Rosie didn't think so) and onto the water of Leith where we got our first checkpoint.

The section checkpoint came halfway up a little steep section off the water of Leith, (another bit that would make a nice descent). We spent a bit of time running about trying to find the checkpoint and discovered it hidden behind a bridge. This is when we realised, part of the challenge is finding the things as well as navigating between them and cycling up and down hills.

From there, up another horrible climb (would also make a decent descent) where we got checkpoint number 3 and eventually up through a farm onto a well deserved descent. We picked up another checkpoint and headed back to the water of Leith for our 5th. (Another deviously placed one that had us running around like lunatics). From there, we followed the water of Leith back down to Colinton and began the climb back up towards the Pentlands. After a bit of searching we did eventually find another checkpoint and continued up the road to where a crossing was marked over the bypass. Turns out, this road is marked on both google maps and the O/S maps, but doesn't exist. We eventually found a way over the bypass, but had lost a lot of time and were a bit lost. This is where things started to turn to shit. Once over the bypass we struggled up a path, then up a steep hill which we had to push up, eventually after much effort coming out on the path from Bonaly up to the Pentlands.

This is a path I've had a run in with before and I hate it, so more pushing up to the top of that, then another push/struggle through a forest with mainly tree roots under foot/tire. By this point Rosie was more than a little puffed out, but I urged her on. We managed to get another checkpoint as we left the forest and headed back down onto a proper road. The plan was to get another two checkpoints on the way back, but time was running out and we decided to take the shortest route downhill and head back up the water of Leith to the finish.

We arrived back at the finish 10 minutes late which cost us 20 points. Overall, it was a good day out and I really enjoyed it, but was a little knackered. I think I could have gone a bit further, and I can't imagine the state I would have been in if Neil was there as whoever is leading the climbs tends to set the pace a bit hard.

With the full results now out, I'm glad to say while we were pretty poor, we weren't the worst, coming joint second last in our class.

Headset Maintenance

The rust coloured stain which would come out the bottom of my headset after riding in the rain and the fact that sometimes it would seize up and need a few twists to loosen off properly should have been a warning sign, but after last week's trip to Glentress and a ride back from work in the rain the day before, my headset was sounding even worse. There was a distinct grinding feeling when moving the handlebars and on my commute, the bike sometimes wanted to keep going straight on and required a bit more effort than normal to turn.

So I had a go at removing the forks to see if I could improve the problem. Step one is to undo the cap at the top and remove the stem by undoing the two bolts on the side, then you just have to remove the spacers and you're ready to take the forks off. Most of the websites I read said the forks should just drop out, or a sharp knock with a mallet would loosen things, but this didn't seem to be happening for me, even after hitting the steerer tube as hard as I was willing to. I later discovered that there is a rubber wedge in the top of the headset which keeps everything down, prying it up a bit with a screwdriver meant that the forks could drop out easily.

A little too easily it turned out, I ended up holding the forks in one hand and the frame in the other, a situation which could have been remedied if I had a workstand, or if I had taken the wheel off first. There's not really anywhere you can stand a set of forks with a wheel on the bottom and I couldn't but either part down to sort things out. To make matters worse, the bottom bearings had fallen out and a few were now rolling about on the floor. After a quick call to Rosie I managed to sort myself out and take the wheel off. Then I just needed to find the bearings.

Problem was, there was one missing ... after a good bit of searching I realised that the bearing retainer had been bent and there wasn't one missing at all, there was just one jammed somewhere it shouldn't be, I assume that's what the grinding noise was!

Changing the who headset sounded like a bit of a worrying task and buying individual bearings doesn't seem to be possible (added to the fact that the headset on my bike doesn't seem to be available for sale anywhere) I resorted to trying to bend the retainer back into place. This was quite easily accomplished by getting Rosie to bend the retainer back into place with a pair of small pliers. I then degreased the bearings to remove most of the rust, put it all back together with a liberal amount of grease and took it out for a spin.

Everything seemed to work fine (after I tightened up some loose parts) and it's still working now. Definitely needs replacing sometime soon, but for the moment it's doing the job. I hope everything is ok for tomorrow when I hope to head back down to Glentress.

Cramond Storm damage

I went for a cycle after work today, a little route my brother and I sometimes do after work which takes us down to the seafront at Cramond and back. I hadn't heard about this and was totally confused about the scale of the damage. I couldn't work out if it was deliberate vandalism, dodgy work by the council or what, I still can't really believe some of the massive pieces of the sea wall were moved just by the power of a storm, it must have been pretty wild.

Also, nice to see that Edinburgh Council are on the case and the place still looks like a bomb site some 2 weeks after the event.

1000 miles

1000 miles! That's how far I've cycled since I got my new bike in May. Just passed the 1000 mile mark on the way home from work today, made going out in the snow almost worthwhile. I think the first year I had my old bike I only did about 700, so I'm obviously cycling more than before. Here's to another 1000.

Pedals - Update II

Finally got round to going to pick up my new pedals from the Post Office. Have to say, Merlin dealt with the problem very well. They shipped the correct ones out as soon as they received my return and they were with me next day. Just need to fit them now.

Pedals - Update

Merlin said if I send back the pedals, they'll send the right ones out and refund my postage. So far so good ...

Dave Gorman

Comedian Dave Gorman is doing this thing where he is cycling from the most Southern point on the British mainland to the most Northern, taking in the most Eastern and most Western on the way up. On Friday he did a gig in the Sonachan hotel, Ardnamurchan which lies 3 miles away from the most Westerly point. Since Rosie's family's cottage is only 30 miles or so away from the point, we though we'd go up and head along to see the show, camping in a field at the hotel.

I thought it would be fun for Neil and I to cycle out to the point from the cottage, it's a 30 mile journey and was quite tough, definitely on par with the Glasgow to Edinburgh ride despite being 20 miles or so shorter.

Dave's show was excellent, a great laugh throughout with some absolutely hilarious material. I'll not say too much about the content for fear of giving anything away, but if you get the chance to catch the show, I highly recommend it.

Saturday morning we were getting ready to leave and Dave came by in a van and asked if we'd like to ride back with him and his human sat-nav Scot. We figured we'd be struggling to keep up on our mountain bikes with our fat tyres (and lack of fitness), but went along anyway. Luckily we did manage to keep up, the ride back being a bit easier than the ride along. After leaving Dave in Acharacle Scot and he were going on to Glenfinnan, another 30 miles, I'm not sure I could have kept up with them for much longer :)

Anyway, a great weekend away, and I got to cycle 60 miles and see a great comedy show and we got a mention on his blog.

Pedal for Scotland

Yesterday I spent nearly 5 hours cycling 51 miles between Glasgow and Edinburgh as part of the Pedal for Scotland event. It was a pretty amazing day, warm and sunny all the way and although I was quite tired last night, I like to think I could have gone further :)

I can't believe how many people took part, for the whole 51 miles, the roads were packed 4 abreast or more with cyclists. Who says Scotland is the heart-attack capital of the world ;)