more woods riding...

sunday dawned clear and cold like yesterday with a hard frost, there is a wooded hill near home which now with all the vegitation died back would be good for a look round, often deer tracks through woods are ridable in winter as was the case here..and i found some short downhill runs..who made them ive no idea so they will remain elusive to anyone asking whereabouts on youtube...made for intresting riding on fully a ridgid bike with ballon tyres and a high seatpost!
it was a lovely clear day...



people say to me how can i be bothered making films and setting up
cameras and going back and forward?.... the cycling is just part of being outdoors..im looking at scenery,wildlife,whats on the ground when on the coast...when your constantly cycling be it on road or off often your hearts pounding and your breathing hard and though you do see stuff you dont see half of whats about..or hear it...i often watch road cyclists head down legs pushing hard and they havent even seen me standing not 5 yards from the road....i dont like road only cycling because i just dont feel safe being passed by cars sometimes only leaving a foot or two clearance...walking is great for seeing everything but your limited to distance covered,i find combining cycling with a bit on foot exploring best for myself but each to there own and i respect that...anyway when filming you get really quick after a while and it isnt much trouble at all..after being in the woods i rode round some field boundrys which were frozen and enjoyed the views...



back mid afternoon and another nice trailride...

pugsley gets naked...

dont worry i kept my clothes on but i stripped all the racks ,frame bag and bolt on stuff off pugsley last night to ride it all skinny looking this weekend...
why?...well it has got quite a bit heavier..and i got a new backpack so just want to see if its better riding a bare bike with gear on your back...of course if wet weather now i will get filthy and wet if crossing tidal run-out on the beach..
but i love the look of pugsleys skinny steel tubes with the big 4" endo tyres...

today (satuarday) dawned clear and cold with a hard frost, i was heading for a ride through woods on the old estate where i grew up,not many pictures as i was filming...
there are wild boar in fenced off areas in one of the woods,i thought this was funny...pugsley meets pigsley...

wouldnt like to be charged by one of these things if it had its horns!,quite hard looking...but it seemed more intrested in snuffling for truffles...

did see lots of roe deer, i take this for granted as i see them daily at work but they are lovely to see..and watch effortlessly jump a 6 foot gap over a ditch or 3 feet high fence,
i didnt film any of the grander views in the estate but the ruins and stuff off through the woods where i could...not alot of junk lying around now like there was around some ruins but i did come across this WW2 ammo box,intrestingly in RAF blue...

and a morris minor engine...

finishing popping out onto the coast at high tide...

i enjoyed riding the pug stripped down and it did feel lighter and easier when walking along fallen trees or jumping over ditches and it can be shoulderd too,though i did notice the wieght of tools and water in my backpack,the framebag fits the karate monkey 29er too and i will be using it on that for bivvy weekends,in the meantime,jurys out..but i do like the simple look of the plain fatbike...heres the film...

youtube surfing....

some stuff ive found lately and had in favourites...

a cool film with a message...



only 3 strings...



being one of the hairiest dirt bikes ever made i found this funny...



nothing much changed here...except currency...



or you could go on one wheel...the best here...



classic 80s electronic...



classic 80s comedy...



would love to do this...



having had a weimaraner i love this...

a new blog.....

my big brother scot has got his blog up and running now.... http://scottishnatureboy.blogspot.com/

he is a marine biologist so knows alot more about scotlands coastline than me...and can spell too!..also a keen cyclist-more road,triathlete and hill runner (4th once in the infamous lairig ghru race) if you follow this blog you may find alot of his postings interesting...maybe we may do a few dualathlon races again?,i could be persuaded to get my raceface on when its clansname sake at stake!

sunday coastal trailride

big day out yesterday on the coast...
still raining as i left 9am and rode 8 miles on the road on the pugsley enjoying the easterly tailwind,
i was going to visit my parents at lunchtime after a morning riding a few trails west of where they stay on the coast,a few pics from the day...


the rain had went off so i stuck the camera on to film some trails...plenty water about...



i rode up to the 1745 battle of prestonpans monument then down to the cockenzie power station...









WW2 coastal defence anti-tank blocks lifted from aberlady bay and nature reserve were used in the foundations of the power station when built in the 1960s...

a concrete coastal path leads to port seaton harbour...


the promenade...there was an open air swimming pool here until the 1980s...





onto a nice mile or so sandy singletrack above the coast...filmed again...



midday now it was up to the parents for an hour for lunch then headed again east along the coast for lowtide at 1.30pm...

still 9 miles to go out across the reserve and onto north berwick and home..a big day out,nearly 45 miles on the pug...love it...

normal mountainbiking.........

today (Saturday) dawned grey skys...forcast was clear and with a midday lowtide i was going to head down the beach for some fun on the pugsley...
rain came on around 10am..oh well...now lacking a bit motivation to go now after the amazing weather last satuarday i decided to take the motorbike a quick spin to charge up the battery as the rain will now be washing alot of the (2 weeks late) salt off the roads,it was heavy rain but what the heck...around the coastroad 15miles from home the bike started to misfire when throttled,it died at a junction and didnt have enough battery power to turn over..either it has a charging problem or more likely the cheap make battery my mate bought when he bought it is goosed...its £50 for a new one,when i bought the bike back from him it had nearly went flat on me a few times when the bike had sat a few weeks,ok so now i have to start it -no kickstart fitted and unlike the honda XR trailbikes the later electric start only XT and TTR yamahas have no decompression lever which lifts a valve enabling them to be kickstart easier...try pushing 160KG + 4 gallons (full tank!) and jumping in 3rd gear...anyway i had to do this at least a dozon times to get home at junctions,luckily i usually had a slight slope but was sweating loads!,once home i ordered a battery,i know it will be this as this model wont run without a certain voltage in the battery and it was fine before when used about 6 weeks ago...
buying cheap parts costs more in the long run...
good news though is i recently got a pair of sidi courier boots...

these are often regaurded as the best boots for the money for dualsport motorcycle riding,they are the hieght of trials boots and have a treaded sole like them too..
there pretty waterproof and comfy to walk in too...my friends and i used to rate good motorbike boots if you can walk to the clachaig inn at glencoe from the red squirrel campsite!,
im lucky in being a half size at size 10 1/2 as i can ware a size 11 allowing a pair of bridgedale socks and army goretex boot liners,warm,cosy and dry...
so i wasnt home untill after 1pm and felt a bit hacked off..the rain and grey skys didnt help too but thats the way the cookie crumbles..

i geared up and for a change grabbed the full suspension cannondale,
despite being a 10 year old frame with a 5 year old shock and forks and build etc i still love the look of this bike,from the drainpipe downtube to the side frametubes around the shock,the super v is a classic in full suspension mtb`s..because it was one that actually worked really well..



i havent ridden this since last down glentress in october,in fact i havent ridden any bike with suspension since then...not just rear suspension but front too!
it felt real wierd,it dosnt bob with the fox RP3 shock when peddeling but the rear movement was just wierd!,i went a ride along the john muir way to north berwick law,

it was throwing it down but i was warming to the old super v again..so i pushed up to the top of north berwick law,it was really wet underfoot and the compacted grass was slick in places,
the jurys out too for me on SPDs..pushing up north berwick law i was slipping on the cleats..and thats wearing shimano MT90 boots,proberly the best SPD shoes to walk in,i used to ride flats for downhill and have them on the pugsley,
i think i will switch to flats on this bike when i start to go back down glentress in the spring- yes GT friends ive enjoyed the break from the routine of going down but will be making the visit monthly as want to do alot of filming this year there and at innerliethen..
up the top the views were a bit grim but i took a couple of pics from inside the WW2 lookout post...


i stuck the tachyon camera on the helmet to film riding down,it was real slick and i proberly dragged the rear brake all the way down!,i just stuck to the main walking path,i took nearly twice as long as in summer to go down!...i plan on reaching 40 with my front teeth...
riding home i was soaked through,wet under the paclite jacket now with sweat...

even in the woods it was too wet for taking pics so it was the usual "pic from inside the garage once home shot"

nice to get out on the full suss bike again..it may be a bit old now (in mtb circles) but it will still run circles around alot of newer stuff..and it keeps on going..single pivot suspension reliability and i think the best brakes hope made-the original (alloy-non anodised) mono`s with cookie cutter discs...
it felt ok riding home and quite comfy!,more fun to have on this old steed...
heres a quick film riding down north berwick law..nothing special and i tried to wipe the lense on the way down!,

click on the thumbnail to watch...

coast riding

the snows 2 feet+ deep up on the lammermuirs!,so i decided will head up there next week so after a month of snow(biking) with just new years day on the coast at high tide it was back on the sand sunday under a clear blue sky-first sunshine since the thaw kicked in a week ago, low tide was 9.20am..perfect to get in the old favourite run down to north berwick,
riding out on a few trails it was lifting to feel the warmth of the sun when out the westerly wind...


riding out onto the beach at aberlady bay some volunteer`s were picking up litter along the tideline...i do my own bit further round the coast every spring...usually i burn it as last time i phoned the council it was never lifted...
as i neared the subs i saw something sitting on the beach ahead of me...

first time ive found a full size sea urchin shell unbroken...


i wrapped it in a sleevless baselayer in the framebag and would have to be careful to get it home unbroken...
sand was perfect too...flat and smooth,with the tailwind breeze and clear skys i was in my element...


up until i reached broadsands at yellowcraig i had only passed a few people but after fidra the beach was busy..

a quick bit filming i made at the submarine wrecks and near fidra lighthouse...



i still managed to get a few people free pics at broadsands!...


this is starting to become a lot more common sight...broken washed up creels...i really dislike seeing this...

from north berwick i usually ride home south via the john muir way trail but today i rode west using the trail back into yellowcraig to ride some woods before a roadride home...

heres why i go riding at daylight on a sunday..check all the folk out!...

once home the wrapped up urchin shell was still ok,a nice addition to the beachcombing collection...

UPDATE OF POST; harri asked about the WW2 spitfire shells size...heres a picture of a spitfire bullet shell next to a 303 rifle shell for comparison in size...

we found loads of these as greenkeepers in the 1980s lifting turf at a nursery now not in use due to rare orchids found there...the site of the old turf nursery is west of the 12th green of gullane NO2 course...the green you walk past on route to the nature reserve point..i had lots of these shells but gave them to friends over the years and now just have this one...
and heres the famous plane...nothing sounds like a merlin engine...