4 July 2009 - Day 2: Innerleithen

We woke reasonably early again on day 2, despite the effects of the demerara rum, although there were some sheepish looks in the kitchen after last nights fall-out!

We got ourselves together and headed to the innerleithen bike shop (http://www.alpinebikes.com/shops/innerleithen/) for a few bits and pieces. The highlight of this expedition was definately Nev's purchase of some Troy Lee "stormrtrooper" pads, although Colgie also got himself a new camelback.

The stormtrooper!

From here, we cycled down to the Innerleithen XC trailhead to find there was an uplift day and the place was pretty busy with downhillers. We watched them come down the final section for a while before starting the challenging climb.

Watching the downhillers from the Innerleithen XC climb

The first part of the climb passed reasonably easily, although Ed suffered another puncture just as the trail started to head down. We had a bit of a play in the quarry section, although it was really busy!

Colgie on the quarry section descent

Nev about to tackle a small ladder drop on the quarry section

After a bit of a rest, we carried on along the fireroad climb. This was particularly nasty as the day had really heated up by now!

Hedd messing about on the fireroad climb

The singletrack climbs from here were pretty tough, and much longer than we all remembered.

Nev on the singletrack climb up to Minch Moor

Ed, Nev and Stu arriving at the Minch Moor summit on a beautiful summer day!

At the summit we had a break in the storm shelter before starting the downhill - and what a downhill! The top few sections were our favourite of the entire trip. There are some great burms, drops and jumps at Inners and Glentress, but this section seems more open and much faster.

We continued down and stopped for a quick photo before tackling the next downhill section.

Awesome foursome! Nev finally gets his camera timer to work!

The great thing about Innerleithen is that once you've conquered the big climb to the top of Minch Moor, it's pretty much downhill all the way, and we arrived at the top of the Caddon Bank descent in no time at all.

Hedd jumping over the rocks on the Caddon Bank descent

Ed gets great air over the Caddon Bank rocks

First Inners drop Ed from Hedd Roberts on Vimeo.

Second Inners drop Hedd from Hedd Roberts on Vimeo.

Big air for Ed on the biggest of the three Caddon Bank drops

Big Inners drop Ed from Hedd Roberts on Vimeo.

We played on the drops for a while, and unfortunately Colgie had a big fall attempting the first drop. He landed on the front wheel and headed into the bank. The good news was that it was just cuts and bruises, and after the obligatory puncture for Ed we were back in the car park and heading for the apartment for a lunchtime BBQ.

Ed the BBQ king, with the Caddon Bank descent visable in the distance

The Inners XC loop is quite tough, so it was hard to decide what to do after lunch. However, we'd all enjoyed it so much that we decided to give it another go. The climb was tough but the descent was absolutely fantastic again and we all loved it.

Ed rails a burm on the first downhill section from Minch Moor

Colgie on the final part of the Caddon Bank descent

As we were cycling away from the car park at the trailhead, there were a bunch of youngsters cycling towards it. Hedd's day was finished off in style as two separate riders shouted "nice bike mate!". Cheers lads!

It was a relatively quiet evening after the shinanigans of the night before, another meal at the Taquair Hotel, a few beers at the versatile pub and back to the apartment.