With the sun glaring in the window while I worked this morning, I couldn’t wait to get finished up so I could head out on the bike. The prospect of some proper summer shredding was a pretty good incentive so by mid afternoon I was loading up the car to head to Glentress.

It was a glorious day in the Tweed Valley with blue skies, warm air and no wind. It felt so good to be riding in short sleeves and feeling warm from the sun and not just the climb!

Despite the fact that it had rained recently, the trails were almost completely dry and pretty loose in places. As usual, I stopped off for a few laps of the jumps and slipped a couple of times on the berms, which were particularly sketchy. I’d almost forgotten what bone dry trails were like to ride, although memories of gouging chunks out of my elbow last summer came flooding back pretty quickly after that first skid. I did at least learn my lesson from that though and always wear elbow pads with short sleeves now!

By the time I got up to Spooky Wood, I’d refamiliarised myself with summer trails although I was a wee bit tentative on some of the berms. After a fun blast down Spooky and Super G, I arrived at the top of Hit Squad Hill to discover that it was closed off for felling and there was a diversion in place right down to Tourist Trap near the bottom. Having been down south for a week or so, this was the first I’d heard about the diversions otherwise I probably would have opted to do the black or head to Innerleithen instead.

The diversion consisted of a stretch of fire road followed by a muddy makeshift trail through the forest. To be honest, it wasn’t the best and it was a bit frustrating to be missing out so much of the usual route. It’s just part and parcel of mountain biking in a working forest though, I guess! The diversions will be in place until the end of April so I think I’ll be giving the red route a miss until then.

Still, it was great to get out on the bike in the beautiful Tweed Valley, which was looking stunning bathed in sunshine. Here’s hoping this weather continues over the coming weeks for more of the same. Bring on the summer shred!