Scotland's the best!

Pic right: Mr and Mrs Outdoors at Glentress



Sometimes I forget just how lucky we are in Scotland. And then I spend a few days in our great outdoors and it all comes back to me with a great, splendid feeling of warmth. Over the last 10 days I have been lucky enough to mountain bike in three of the 7stanes mountain biking centres and take part in a 100km Audax (a cycling challenge that is not a race but requires the rider to meet certain checkpoints in a given time.)

Last Monday Mr Outdoors and I took our good friends G&T and their son Master A (he should be renamed a "ice and a slice of lemon".. anyways..) to Glentress for a few hours of mountain biking. Being from doon south they were completely amazed to find the fantastic network of bike routes - and all completely free. I guess we have come to take the work of the Forestry Commission (and all the volunteer trail fairies) for granted but to G&T Glentress represented something "totally awesome" and "out of this world". Master A (pic left) spent the afternoon shadowing his shiny new hero Mr Outdoors. It was difficult to decide who was acting more like a 10-year-old boy (Master A who is actually 10 or Mr Outdoors who is edging 50!) as they wheelied up tracks and flew off jumps and over obstacles.


Then, over Easter weekend, Mr Outdoors and I headed to Dumfries and Galloway, which surely has to be one of Scotland's best kept cycling secrets. Away from the two main roads that cut through this region, is a network of some of the most beautiful, almost traffic-free lanes I have ever come across. Cycling the 100k Audax, led by Scotland's most enthusiastic Audax rider Tom, was an utter pleasure. We even passed by the old smithy where Kirkpatrick MacMillan made the world's first ever bike. (I later took a replica of this bike for a spin at Drumlanrig Castle. See pic left. How MacMillan ever managed to ride the bike from Dumfries to Glasgow and back is mind-boggling. It was heavy, a nightmare to pedal and almost impossible to steer.)

During the weekend we also learned how to wheelie and bunny hop with mountain biking expert Clive at Ae Forest and took in the blue route at the gorgeous and amazingly extensive Kirroughtree 7stanes centre. Thanks to the patient guidance of Clair from the brakepad I learned how to descend some of my first properly stony slab sections (normally I get off to walk round like on old lady for fear of breaking a few bones). I'm thinking of heading back there for a Women on Wheels weekend.

The fabulous sunshine definitely gave the whole trip some added polish but even so this is a location we plan to return to more often. If you fancy it then why not take in the first ever Original Bicycle Festival taking place from May 9 to 24?

When the sun has got his hat on and you’re outdoors, it is difficult to imagine being in a better place than Scotland.

Double whammie

Two fabulous runs in two days! It's not often that happens (well, certainly not to me.) Thanks to some holiday time away from my desk on Friday I managed a chilly, but dry and sunny, run from Bearsden, out to Balmore, up over the hills beyond and back to Milngavie via the infamous (in running circles) bumps. The bumps comprise five steep but mini hillocks that lead you back into the Glasgow suburb of Milngavie. They are entirely not what you want after eight or nine miles of running, but somehow offer an extremely satisfying post-run glow! (I wish i was more like my running pal Rachel, see runningpotter.blogspot.com, who always logs the distance she runs via a GPS. I'm just not so disciplined.)

The run also gave me the chance to try a new Skins top that I've been sent to, aherm, test-run. Skins are meant to be worn tight and close to your skin and claim to offer improved muscle recovery through enhanced circulation and maintain optimum body temperature, among other seemingly fabulous things. The long sleeve-topped is certainly tight (I had to wrestle with myself to get it on!)  and it felt really slinky against my skin. In terms of temperature gauging I felt more chilly than warm for the whole run, but then I normally complain about being too hot so perhaps it was doing its job properly. Has anyone else experienced this "just on the wrong side of cool" feeling while wearing Skins?.

And I do think the top improved a few muscle aches in my shoulders and back picked up from a recent Wii contest at a pal's house. (I admit that I used to be a snob about the fitness benefits of the Wii, but after a 2-min boxing round on Hogmanay I was left with more sore muscles than an hour at a circuits class. Hmmm.) 

The Skins tights claim to do much the same and having worn a pair post-run for the last couple of weeks I'd agree that they definitely improve the speed of muscle recovery. I was as much a sceptic as anyone else, but Skins do appear to do what they say on the label. I've just no idea how! 

And run number 2? The following day my husband Vik and I headed out for an all-the-way-up, then all-the-way-down run at Glentress forest, near Peebles. The mountain bike Mecca is right next door to my parents' house (where we stayed overnight) and it's one of my absolute fave places to run. Not only can you run off-road and through beautiful woodlands but you also get the chance to beat the myriad bikers uphill. Oh the joy of burning someone off on their shiny bike! I would never have believed this was possible but even running at a very slow trot, you still overtake most mountain bikers as they slog uphill in their smallest gear. 

From the top of the forest back to the Hub car-park feels like one, long glorious coast  downhill. While it's tough on the quads it requires little lung power and means you can look around and take in the wonderful views. 

And if you don't know about Glentress, then you also won't know about the wonderful coffee and cakes they sell at the Hub Cafe. The best reward for a hard run in the forest!