Got back home eventually after a very steady journey back down the M6.

Great day out though with all the usual superlatives. Despite monsoon like conditions on the way up, the clouds magically parted as I hit Moffat.
By the time I had finished an epically sized breakfast at a cafe in Innerleithen, the sun was almost shining.

After the prerequisite amount of faffing and last minute bike fixing, it was time to haul said breakfast up the first climb. It's fair to say that this seems to go on forever and it was unexpectedly warm. The cool air in the woods was a welcome respite as we steadily winched our way up to the top of Minch Moor. There were only two broken chains...
Then our guides seamlessly fed us onto the Southern Uplands Way for some stinky bog hopping and slippery slide descents.
The natural trails were a perfect antidote to the sometimes predictable trail centre terrain.

Our seventeen strong group laughed, huffed and puffed along the ridge heading to a distant promise of a buried barrel of ale.
Our lunch stop was a distant speck on the horizon, something to aim our wheels at.

We continued leaving Radoslaw squatting in a gateway, and reached our goal of the Three Brethren for a well earned packed lunch.
The barrel of ale turned out to be an elaborate ruse to spur us on. We had to make do with water and generous handout's of Tunnock's Caramels, Haribo and strange meat flavoured snacks.
Chat turned to Rob Atkin's apparent nine year incarceration in a room without doors or windows for the incorrect use of an adjustable wrench. This amongst other unmentionable things I may have misheard or paraphrased...
We soaked in the fantastic panaromic view, picking out long distant landmarks and scanned our return route.

Moving on we retraced our tyre marks, avoiding any Polish poo on the way. "It was radioactive" claimed Rad as he passed it's forgotten coordinates.

There was a brief test of technical climbing ability on a loose section of path. I failed twice but Geoff Apps proved that the Cleland position on his Aventura was perfect for the job. A perfect demonstration of the design before retiring to recline in the heather and watch the rest of us fail.

After a good few hours we returned to the top of the Innerleithen trails. An optional extra section of the Minch Moor descent was eagerly taken by some, resulting in a lovely ribbon of sculpted trails dropping down from the wonky summit cairn in now glorious sunshine.

The descending continued, following the usual format of flowing trails interrupted by rock features and slabs. Great fun I'm sure on a modern bike, but slightly jarring on a fully rigid old machine.
The brutal body pummelling was still awesome though, as long as tyres were kept on inch perfect lines to avoid the almost inevitable pinch punctures.
We all made it down with varying degrees of success despite the unexpectedly long climb in amongst the "95% downhill" final few miles.
It was really great though all the way down to the finale at Caddon Bank, a vertiginous drop back down to the car park.
John got there first with me in hot pursuit and then a steady trickle of happy smiling retro riders emerged from the woods. Shaking out rattled fingers and forearms.

It took a while before everyone returned after several punctures, a couple of crashes and a troublesome (modern) crank arm.

Cans of cold 'Sweetheart Stout' were broken out as promised as we all basked in the afterglow of a great day out on the trails.
It was 6:30pm by the time we'd all returned; a long day out.

Great to meet several new faces and several I'd met before.
It was also a real pleasure and an honour to have Geoff Apps along on his prototype Cleland Aventura. Really fantastic bit of design and engineering and a really nice person to chat with. Pretty handy on a bike too.

Well done and thank you to all the ride organisers and guides.
Superb stuff!

Did you spray them with 'Eat my Dirt' bike cleaner...?

some quotables to be going on with
"if i squeeze my helmet all the liquid goes sideways "
"she went outside the bus station ,lifted her skirt and whooosh , didn't even take her knickers off , all down her legs "
"i like bradford"
"i do have a good tool kit now tho"
"bullet bros chain tensioner" several times
"my bird made me some nice baps last night"
"hows the bike ?" " shite ,but its okay"
" HARRY ,you bastard dog ,come here "

Thanks for those kind words, Paul, it was a most memorable event for me; I just don't seem to get motivated to ride on my own. So, a group ride was just what I needed, and what a pleasant group, too boot.

I'm feeling my age these days, as you will all have heard my laboured breathing, and I experienced leg cramps while riding for the first time ever. I just wish I could get the weight of my 40lb bike down somewhat. Either that, or invent some way of converting ascents into descents!

Transport is a bit of an issue for me, so let me know if you want to come and sample some Berwickshire routes ~ I never see any but my own tyre tracks.

At the top in the gale force winds that were up there, Kaiser bravely standing up against the force of the breeze. I attempted going for a pee up there, first time I've ever had the "flow" coming out at a 90 degree angle



But it was OK as we were looking at this



Then back down the way, which oddly included lots of ups, but the the descent proper starts, our one lady rider tearing it up down the first part of the red descent.



And then the view from the top of the final drop down. A lot of descent distance in very little distance if that makes sense. I happily minced down the first part as the big drop offs gave me the fear, especially as my arms felt dead by then. Cadon Bank was a hoot though once past them.



A grand day out for all. From collecting Velo on the way to the first cold sip of beer when I got home. Lots of mud, lots of loose stone tracks, lots of puddles to take childish pleasure at splashing through. The car park was the usual round of wandering about introducing yourself to people and looking at some gorgeous bikes that people actually use as they were intended to be used.

I managed a glorious 50 yards before the first crash of the day I'm proud (ashamed?) to say. It then proved to be a tough day to reintroduce myself to the joy of clipless pedals, having fooled myself I was back up to speed with them after a few half hour commutes without mishap. The main improvement being I got better at emergency dismounts as the day went on, landing in heather? Check. Landing next to a puddle? Check. Landing on my side on a rocky step up? Check. Thankfully always uphill.

The muddy sections were soupy to say the least, some of them were more like school dinners custard. And It looks like Ritchey ZMax tyres are a fantastically unsuitable weapon for it. Straight line being next to impossible to maintain as they let the mud steer me as opposed to me steering through the mud.

A good ride with a few vital lessons. The main one being that by the time you get to my age (46) even two months without meaningful time on the bike destroys any fitness you have at all. The long drags killed me to be honest but you can't have the fun of down without the pain of up. The upside was I got a few chances to chat with Geoff and hear some of his fascinating ideas about cycling techniques. Everyone that tried his bike were quite taken with it, Mikee in particular.

And the weather was deceptively sunny it appears as I have very pink arms today, which isn't a good look when you have been wearing gloves all day. A real farmers tan going on now.

The chip stop on the home was a great idea and I got home via the shop to get a cold bottle of beer. Drank after a long shower that included having to use a nailbrush to scrub the mud off my legs.

I then fell asleep in front of the telly until 2 in the morning. I think I deserved a nap.

Great day out, and good to see some old and new faces.

Brilliant old and new school route too, a long exhausting day full of fun descents. Never ceases to amaze me how much energy some people have, most noticably Rado who in the last few miles shot off never to be seen again, you'd think he had a rocket up his arse or something.

Thanks to Paul for building my bike at the start, and to Geoff for some fascinating insight into bike design. ZZ kaiser and Velo for route finding.

The Horn of Destiny! It calls us. To the hills


Rollercam loveliness on mikee's Fuji


Superb paint and decal work on Rob Atkin's Dave Lloyd's stem


Kaiser's parts box special - Team Fat Chance


TheKen's Raleigh Burner looking for a new home - no takers yesterday


First chain needing fixed before the ride even began... drystonepaul's turn to fettle TheKen's Xizang


boxxer and his dug wanting nothing to do with it though


Everybody signed in?


Radek worried that the hills will not be steep enough


First stop after the initial climb up out of the car park


Geoff Apps floating over the trail - this would turn out to be a theme for the day


Rob tries to get used to his bike after a shot of the Cleland


Leaving the trail and heading for the Southern Upland way











Out of the trees at the Point of Resolution with most of the initial climb out of the way



And then onto the rolling hills



Radek's 'tummy trouble' face





Final push to the Three Brethren lunch stop...



... Where the guv was not convinced by the lamb BBQ


TheKen prefers his dodgy meat from packet





Fun and games on the Cleland



TheKen ignoring the catastrophe looming in the background...


... as the guv wrestles manfully with the Cleland


Return leg pics later this evening...

Gutted I couldn't make it, when I collected my bike I was thinking of the trip....hence I went out on mine as soon as I collected it.

Great pics and great selection of bikes....would of like a shot of that cleland but I'm disappointed no one took that Raleigh burner around

lord apps ...
been thinking of how to word my apprasial of sir geoff's bicycle
went thru the engineering slant then the flowery prose
in the end i thought id tell it as it is
i caught up with geoff on one of the early climbs ,i complimented him on the bike , and his reply included the words "want "and" go" in it
jeff looks a bit smaller than me , but it seemed to fit fine , so when i mastered the technique of mounting the steed i was off (geoff later gave a demo of the moving off bit)
as an engineer i'm not a sceptic with most things ,including this bike
but i was not prepared for the experience
the nearest i can get to is , you know that time when you've packed up
your rear wheel drive car in the wet field and your trying to get to the exit road slippy slidey no traction type thing
then some idiot in a landy is driving about up and down thing just because
they can ?
thats what the clellands like ,i rode it up the trail a bit then rode over a grassy bit between 2 trails , with no problems , very little body shift is required you just turn the pedals and it goes up ,well anything
the (i assume )chris bell egg rings went un-noticed until someone pointed
them out , obviously done right ,like the rest of the bike
as for speed on it ,well i dont know as geoff wanted it back for the down bits , but he looked smooth and fast on the bits i saw
and the "lovely hill" as he called it ,i missed him out climbing everyone
all in a lovely fella and a cracking bike , i hope you make some more sir

so i met a legend , rode his bike ,and found a new hero
top day out i'd say

mike

A grand day out!
Hi all.
Thanks for another great day out, made all the better for the pleasant company.
It was great to put a couple more faces to names and to meet some more of our southern neighbours.
It was great to see so many different machines and riders this side of the border, while we do get a few at the macretro meets, I dont think we have quite near the numbers of yesterday.
I myself arrived home around 930 this morning. I left the chippy with the others and made it to Inverness around 12.30am, slept till 5 at a nice wooded information place. Tesco Inverness for fuel and then a cruise up the road to home.
All in all it was a 624 miles round trip, slightly less than John I think.
The only downside was my little spill just before the carpark on the way back, the big dropoff sections were fine, it was a smallish rock step that was my undoing. I had a good turn of speed and could see it was a very small step, there was a rock embedded just past it, and I though left? right? I chose to the right and had around 4 - 6 inches of trail before the edge. I landed to the right but slid and the edge of the trail gave way and down the front end went, over I went on my left side, all I know is when I see I'm about to faceplant another embedded rock and just manage to turn my head to the left. Bang, I can still hear the ringing. Smashed my good Bell helmet just above my temple, blew the lenses out of my glasses as well. Zigzag pulls up just behind me and comes to help me off the trail, its then I realise my left leg is missing some bark and my chest hurts. Thankfully ZZ found my lenses, dusted off me and the bike and good to go. Prognosis to be confirmed tomorrow but they say at the best 1 cracked rib. Lucky really as I have had a few accidents racing dirt track, motocross and enduro back home but I have never had my head 'ring' like that.
I must say judging by the dent and cracked plastic on my helmet that rock would have got me directly on the temple without a helmet.
Anyway, I still managed to wash the van, bike (thanks Rob for the Ninja cleaner! worked a treat) but getting harder to move as the day goes on.
It was great treat to meet Geoff and hear all the reasoning behind each detail on this amazingly capable machine. I didnt get to ride it unfortunatley but I did note that not one person went away unimpressed.
Thanks also, TK for the CB, dont thinkl I got to thank you properly before we left, its very much appreciated and will keep you updated.
Thats about it for me as my camera batteries weren't working so no pics.
Looking forward to next time

looks like another classic ride, love the tales and the pics- your technique is really coming on ZZ very professional looking. Some great bikes on show loved the goat and the Ti fat but mikee's fuji really did turn my head, had not seen that before, loved the honk honk too.

More pics to come

same cleland?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbWuIHESe5M

After a rush to get down to Innerleithen in time ( Funny how the closer you are to a ride i always get the timing wrong.) But it was ok, the kens one of those people that manage to get someone else to fix there bike! Forgot to pick up the camera so no pics. A good ride some familiar trails for me. But i,ve never seem them as wet as they where. But it all added to the challenge of staying upright. Some interesting bikes but Geoffs Clelland definetly stole the show. So i feel a bit embarrassed to be awarded best bike of the day. But i,m sure i,ll look lovely in the Mountainbiking UK lilac top. Watch out there,s a photo about. So you got off lightly there Geoff.
Once i get used to this technology stuff it may even get seen on the website. Though it will take a couple of days to clean it off. Even with my eat my dirt sample.
Not been on my mtb for months. But managed a ride round Glentress today. On a bike more suitable for those trails. But my arse still hurts.
Thanks to the gents that organized the ride. Well it was kind off! We never lost anyone. Hope to make it along to another ride in the near future.
Cheers for the sweetheart stout. I think it went down better than expected.