Peebles Pedal 20/21 Oct Scottish Borders.

[Ray Young]

I arranged this ride as a way of welcoming Pushbikemike (Mike) to the fold but it was open to anyone who wished to come along so Restlessnative (Shawn, is that spelt right?) said he would join us.
Mike wasn't free until 5pm so I agreed to meet him in Peebles and Shawn said he'd make his own way and meet us at the bothy.
Mike was riding his newly aquired/built 29er. He still needed a front mech so had to change gear by hand on the front. Out back the only cassette he had available was an 8 speed one with a low gear of 28 teeth! That man must have legs of steel as it didn't seem to phase him on the climbs. Mike lent me some lights and we set off about 5.30ish. We took the road to Minch Moor and after a while were in the dark with just a 1/4 moon and a bit of cloud cover. We came to a split in the path, go the way I knew with a long push up a hill and a carry down most of the other side or take an easier looking though longer path that neither of us had ridden. Well we took the unridden path which turned out to have a push anyway to the top. The descent should have been easy following the ridgeline all the way down a not very wide hill but the track kept dividing so we lost a lot of time. More by good luck than judgement we arrived back on the road exactly where we wanted to be. It had taken us 3 hours to get here, I had totally misjudged the time this ride would take (something I seem to be quite good at, why do I never learn!). Anyway we set off again on the same path I did on my last trip so at least we knew where we were going. We arrived at the bothy at 10pm and were greeted by Shawn who had decided we had got lost and was just about to settle for the night.
Both Mike and I were really hungry so cooked some food then we had a good chat amongst ourselves and drank some refreshment, Mike-Jura whiskey, Shawn-rum, Me- Asda's cheapest Scottish whisky "Stag's Breath". Only joking, not really called that. We all got on really well but around 12 decided to call it a night.
Come the morning Mike was up first at 7.30 followed shortly by us other two. Mike needed to be home by 11 so after breakfast we deciced to climb a bit to hit the red route at Traquair forest then descened to the car park (we got some interesting looks I can tell you). Both Mike and Shawn were way ahead of me. My excuse is that I had never done the red route before and being ten years older my sense of self preservation is just so much higher than their's.
Shawn had arranged a pick up form his wife whilst Mike and I headed off back along the road to Peebles.
All in all a good weekend with some valuable lessons learned plus I got to meet two great blokes, thanks lads.

[restlessshawn]

I was 250ml of rum down by the time you guys turned up which I thought well deserved after quite a muddy slog along the Southern Upland way to get to the bothy :)

The descent of Innerleithen red in the morning with full bikepacking gear was a hoot. I got even funnier looks after the guys left and I sat down to cook up a brew in the carpark.

A good night and hopefully next time I'll get over early enough for a longer ride before. Nice to meet some other guys who don't look at me weird for strapping camping gear to my bike!

Didn't take many pics -

[sillybigfella]

Some nice pics there.

[pushbikemike]

Well it was my first proper outing. Good route, fine weather and top blokes :)
I had a blast.
Ray did some night riding for the first time and rode the Caddon Bank descent for the first time ever and fully loaded. Impressive.
I picked up a few tips from the two seasoned bikepackers. Especially the freezer bag in the hat trick Shawn . Cooked food and a warm hat.
I have ordered a bigger cassette. May even treat myself to a front mech. Looking forward to the next trip.

[pushbikemike]

Some nice pics there.

Agreed. He even lined up his valves and tyre logo.

[restlessshawn]

Agreed. He even lined up his valves and tyre logo.

and I even bought continental tubes so the yellow caps matched the maxxis logo yellow

[pushbikemike]

Superb attention to detail. Top marks.