Xmas at the Seven Stanes did come off after all for Andy, Jason and Terry but there were quite a few changes of plan along the way. We left the cold North East at minus 2º C in a light snow flurry on Wednseday 28th December (see short vid) and headed for the apparently warmer Southern Uplands where the sun had been shining for the last few days. Heading out west on the A69 to avoid the snow-logged Northumberland roads we took the very long route via Gretna then backwards to Longtown and on to Peebles via Selkirk. When we arrived it was still minus 2º C in the Hub carpark at Glentress!  Worst thing was, the Nest car park half way up Horrible Hill was closed, so we had to ride all the way up. Aarghh!

It would have been the Christmas get together of the MidAirCrisis Kona Klub if Jason's Coiler DeeLux hadn't sprung a hydraulic leak last time out, so he had to ride his Scott while Andy had the Stinky and Terry his new Coiler which had arrived just before Christmas as a replacement for the stolen Bear.

This is what we saw half way up to the Nest:

the whole valley beneath the hill filled with freezing fog - the Hub was down there somewhere!

but what a fantastic day it turned out to be. Some impressive Jaypix: and this tree looks quite excited by Jason's Scott MC50!

the snow was pretty light David Bailey was there and he took loadsa snaps -

We had a great gallop on the downy bits, especially enjoying close combat through Spooky Wood, but that was mainly because Jason was running at about 75% or less out in front due to a) being on the fragile Scott, b) being clipped in and c) still having to cope with a damaged hand. Pleasing for me was that I rode up bits I've never considered riding before, or had tried and failed, due to the weight of the Bear and Barracuda. The new Coiler, however, was really making it's relative lightness felt (or not felt). Andy now has a handle on the shape and weight of the Stinky and stayed mounted most of the day. He's fairly hopeful about being able to race on it this year.

There were no real incidents or injuries, the most spectacular moment being on section two of Spooky Wood, the Hairy Bear singletrack through the trees. This is where Andy, who had taken the lead from Jay, suddenly found himself descending a chute quite quickly on solid ice! Both brakes on but the bike was still accelerating madly due to his rapid approach to escape the other two. It was great to watch from behind as his legs flew out and the bike slewed sideways, cycle speedway style. This 7MB video clip doesn't do the comedy, drama or speed of the moment any justice!  

Last time here we did Spooky Wood twice, but not today as we weren't sure how long the glorious light would last. That turned out to be a wise decision, as it was pretty dark coming down through the Magic Mushroom at the finish. We loaded the bikes and headed into the Hub Cafe for a coffee and flapjack (thanks, Andy) where the conversation turned to "staying overnight". This was the original plan some weeks earlier but it had changed due to circumstances back home. However, I had a gut feeling there was some sort of conspiracy going on here amongst my two young buddies as the mood changed into one of pressure not to drive home. The Committee had definitely met without my presence!

The temperature was minus 6 now. As we sat in the car warming the engine, and thinking about how cold it was, I offered to tour through Peebles to check out the two previous guest houses we'd stayed in. I also wanted to find somewhere selling cheap, clean underwear as I hadn't come prepared! Both of those searches proved fruitless, so we set off to go - home, really. As we approached Innerleithen I suddenly offered the suggestion that the lads in the bike shop might know a good place to stay. It really wasn't a great idea to drive home now knowing the state of the roads we had to traverse. Jason nipped in to ask them and minutes later we were wheeling the bikes into the Concert Room of the Tweedsdale Hotel on the main street. We can recommend this place as a cheap, bike-friendly and hospitable overnighter. We had a good dinner in a boozer a few doors up the road and retired early for a quick start in the morning.

Day Two - Thursday 29th December

We were loaded and ready to go at 9.00am with the temperature at minus 8 (see here) so off we went back through Selkirk and over to Dumfries, where it got even colder at one point in the freezing fog. Our destination was Dalbeattie by majority verdict as Andy didn't fancy pushing the Stinky all over Innerleithens' many steep upward trails, and we arrived about 11.45 or 12.00 ish. It was just on freezing point in the car park and we got away on the trail around 12.15. There was nowhere near as much snow on the ground here as there had been at Glentress but the conditions were still a little tricky in places. We'd never sampled the Granite with ice on it before, but the rocks actually proved to be very grippy.

Highlight of the day, of course, was to be The Slab, and Andy's first chance to tame it with our encouragement. When we reached it, we all did the Qualifier above it, which I've always considered to be much trickier to clean than the Slab itself, then went for a look over that famous granite drop. There wasn't a tyre mark in sight, and we decided to leave it that way. The whole of it's surface was covered in 6 or 7 millimetres of spiky white ice, and it was very slippery to the hand and foot. Rather than risk a stupid accident for macho-ness' sake we left it alone and rode around it. One of our better decisions, I reckon.

  There was quite a large diversion in operation that forced us to miss out the Terrible Twins and the singletrack to them, so we got back to the car fairly smartly at around 2.30pm. Although shorter than normal it was still another good ride out if you ignore the cold toes and finger ends, but they came and went depending on your level of exertion.  We needed a 15 minute stop at a garage in Dalbeattie to unfreeze the windscreen washers then headed home with a box of After Eights and a Jason Quiz. How on earth do you cheat when you're asking the questions???

First we changed (ugh) then fed the monkeys, then put the kids to bed and plotted the next ride   wot ikkle tootsies Jay has

VIDEOS Andy tastes at The Qualifer - Once,    Twice,    Thrice and Bumps-a-Daisy

Oh, a word of thanks to Simon at Halfords on the Team Valley - he put my new Coiler together and it's fab. David and I also appreciated the time he spent with us and his advice when we went over to order the bikes before Krizzy.

next Dalbeattie ride, Easter Sunday, 16th April 2006

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