[x] boraxxx: Sweeteva i want see your ass
[x] gitanes22: Sweet pl show your barby
[x] CharlesManso: Hi eva i just saw how bad the weather is and wondered if youd like me to pop by andd give you a lift anywhere like the good old days i wont kill you or anything like last time cos weree friends and we have the same hairstyle
[x] fusion: Eva are you going somewhere?
[x] MikeScwartz: Yoooooooo lorriann i miss yo how yo been i still love yo i wrote u a poem ……. Its goes like loriann loriann she a hothag but i love her man
[x] arjwan: Open my webcam eva
[x] arjwan: Call me privat eva
[x] arjwan: Eva make sex with your friend now
[x] bigdude68701: Thank you eva ur very sexy
[x] xianmoonex: Yo eva the mayans weere wrong i was so hoping the world would end yooo so we could see them faggots mable and chase burning in hell it wouldnt be the first time them faggots took a red hot poker up the ass yo
[x] SKYCAM: yo?
[x] arjwan: Eva open my camera
[x] weegala: Mack is busy today emmy must have gambled his christmas money away
[x] SWEETEVA: Orange juice
[x] bigebug04: Eva how do you know when im havving a fit ? My fat ass manages to rotate more than once in a day anyway im just off for my 2nd heart attack of the day there gonna try and cram my stinking corpse in the grand canyon
SKYCAM has given 1 Star to sshh58!
[x] sshh58: Th sky

No such luck; the Forestry Commission have taken to tree felling in the forest at the moment and the nice long walk I’d planned was curtailed by a fence blocking off the route. Never mind. I still managed a good couple of miles and took a few interesting pictures along the way. Plus, only a couple of dogs tried to make friends with me this time.

It's not a fairy house, just the worn out remains of a tree trunk

-Hamilton Mabie

I arrived fresh off the ferry to be greeted by the beautiful Scottish sun, as it shone unperturbed by the masses of Icelandic volcanic ash in the skies. A short drive brought me to the trail head of Dalbeattie. Out came the bike, my combat gear was thrown on and off I went. The trail brought me back to the Qualifier, a very steep and technical rocky drop, which leads on to the infamous Slab. I easily nailed the Qualifier, but when I got to the Slab, I began to have second thoughts. I began to wonder what had possessed me to attempt this in the rain in the first place. I sat at the top for quite a while psyching myself up for the plunge. Eventually I relented after a thorough risk analyses weighing up the pros and cons. I felt I could live with myself not riding it and leave it for another day, especially since I didn’t want to jeopardise being able to race the next Red Bull Road Rage event in Belgium, just five weeks away, as well as potentially not being able to do my scheduled SMBLA Expedition module course on the following two days. So it was down the short cut to the right of the Slab, which in itself is still very steep, with plenty of gnarly rocks scattered the whole way down and also graded black like the Qualifier and the Slab. The Terrible Twins, another black graded couple of consecutive rock face drops were a little further on and demanded both skill and concentration. The rest of the 25km passed without incident and I was content with the first 1.5 hours of riding back in Scotland. I will say I found this trail to be one of the most demanding of the 7Stanes I have ridden, with a lot of the red course verging strongly on black grade and generally being quite a punishing course, for both bike and rider.

I hopped back in the car for a short trip up the road to tackle the next trail by name of Mabie. The red loop, at 18km with 65% single track, is a pure fun trail. If you are looking for a  ’flowy’ trail then maybe Mabie may be the one for you. This was a nice change after Dalbeattie. Not too technical, but with a few challenges thrown in to keep your attention, this is a 1 hour blast that leaves you with a smile once you roll back into the trail head. The highlight has to be at the top of the first climb, a panoramic view over the Solway Firth right across to England and the hills of Cumbria over the sea divide to the south.

The first proper ride of the year got under way in perfect Spring weather with a ride past the Ghost Stane and along the red graded Phoenix Trail but if you want to see everything that’s on offer then take a look at the official trail map.

The route has some nice riding through mixed woodland and offers some great views of the surrounding countryside from the top of the climbs. A variety of fast flowing trails combined with a few rocks, roots, jumps and drop-offs made for a great ‘classic’ day out even if it didn’t have some of the iconic parts found at some other rides.

The cycle was finished off with a very quick visit to the orange graded Mini X area. As usual we were rubbish and put to shame by the kids that were quite happily battering over the dirt jumps.

A cross country drive later and we were cleaned up at our Peebles accommodation (well Dirt School was off but the night out was on) and out for a curry. So at the end of the day, a nice wee Easter break was had by all.

Summary
Highlight: The twisting ride down the Descender Bender
Lowlight: The leg sapping Elevator
Summary: Nothing too strenuous for the year’s first ride and a good mix of up, down and twisting singletrack.
Ride Rating: 7/10

Stats
Stats for this ride suffered a bit from the GPS logger battery running out so some are a bit of an estimate.
Date: 02/04/10
Pedaling time: 2 hrs?
Distance: 17km?
Max speed: ?
Total ascent: ?
Total descent: ?
Puncture count: 2
Bike shop: The Shed on site
Cafe: The Shed on site
Riders: DH, RI, AS, FS and AW

Driving from Glasgow
Distance: 82 miles
Travel time: 1hr 45mins
Directions: Google Maps