Here's a few updates for the routes in my route guidebook for mountain biking in Scotland. There's only one small diversion that I know of; Route 16 in the Pentlands near Edinburgh (see below). The rest of the routes described in the book are all good as far as I'm aware.
I do, however, also have a few interesting alternatives/improvements to a couple of the routes that I've found since it was published:

Route 1 : The Three Brethren
Notes: You can extend this route by riding through Bowhill house and following the track to the top of the hill where you follow the Queens Drive back down to near Yarrowford. It a great track with awesome views along the way.
Click here to view

The Indian Pacific Wheel Race is a solo, single-stage, unsupported, 5,500km road cycling race ocean-to-ocean across Australia. The race started on 18 March 2017 at 6:00am in Fremantle, Western Australia and finished at the Sydney Opera House. The clock does not stop. There is no prize money. Nothing is at stake except honour.
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This race was inspired by the other grand tours of bikepacking: the Tour Divide, the Trans Am Bike Race and the Transcontinental. Similar to these races, the rules for the Indian Pacific Wheel Race are simple and largely self-policed. The rules attempt to embody the spirit of self-support and fairness for all riders.

Fascinating video of how Mark Erlewine takes care of Willie Nelson's guitar while keeping it playable well past it's best.
He also shares some of the history of the guitar and why it has a giant, extra hole in the front.

I just came back from climbing Ben Nevis with my 7 year old daughter. Here's some photos.
We got lucky and the clouds cleared for a few minutes while we were at the top. Apparently the clouds clear at some point in the day for only 60 days of the year on average.

This orangutan will just not leave his friend alone. Save the Orangutan is supporting the world largest orangutan rehabilitaiton centre where more than 500 orangutans are given a second chance. At the centre - Nyaru Menteng - the orangutans are learning all the skills necessary to one day return to Borneo's rainforest. You can help the orangutans by adopting one here http://savetheorangutan.org/adopt-meryl

I'd been keeping an eye on the Deeside Trail website and group since it's inception over a year ago. Since then there have been 2 group rides and various people doing it as an individual time trial (ITT) using GPS data to prove times and routes.

I wanted to join them. Looking at the route on the website I could see it stretched westwards from it's start point in Banchory, into the Cairngorm National Park past the market town of Ballater and then into the mountains around Braemar. It then looped back around northwards taking in more remote mountain passes before some of the steepest and longest climbs in the last third as it headed back to Banchory again. It looked a challenging route. Others who'd done it already didn't disagree.

Parco Abruzzo in the Italian Apennines filmed a single beech tree for a year.

I walked, camped and bothied through these mountains a while back. Didn't see any wolves or bears though.

Dog infiltrates Street View of entire island by following the camera operator around.

Click here to view for yourself

I found myself signed up for the 3rd time to join the group ride of the Capital Trail, a 250km, 5000m of ascent, bikepacking trail. The route takes riders from the beach (literally....it starts on the sand!) at Portobello, Edinburgh around a big loop which encompasses some of the best riding and trails in Scotland. Although never too far from the nearest town, the route at times feels remote, and the high open hill tops certainly need to be respected, especially in bad weather.

It's a tough ride, the climbing would be hard enough without the added weight of overnight gear that most people carry. The inclement Scottish weather also means riders need to be prepared for the worst it can thrown at you, adding even more to the bike weight.

I always liked this song.
The words originated from an article written in the Chicago Tribune by Mary Schmich in 1997. It had the title of: "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young"

Soon an urban legend rose which attributed the text to a commencement speech by Kurt Vonnegut, the author famous for his novel "Slaughterhouse-five" published in 1969. He never made a commencement speech, but said he'd have been proud of this one had he made it. For a long time his lawyer was inundated with requests for copies of the text.

Early in the year, I signed up again for the 2nd Dirty Reiver event, a 200km gravel race ( I rode the first one, which you can read about in my book). This is not really my normal type of ride, but I enjoyed it last time (funny how memory gets skewed over time) so thought I'd give it another go.

The date of the event was almost upon me as I realised I probably hadn't been doing enough riding. I also had a bit of a bug and wasn't exactly feeling brilliant. Still, this was no time to be mouping around, I checked my 29 hardtail bike over, oiled it up and drove myself over the hills down to the remote village of Kielder where I'd booked myself a spot in the camp-site for a couple of nights.

Some balls escape from others in a great story involving a Rube Goldberg machine.