FORTH FAT Fatbike Gathering 27th/28th April North Berwick East Lothian Scotland

"Never in the field of human cycling has so much been owed to so few. We shall cycle them on the beaches..."


Build it and they will come...

And they did...

The largest ever group of Fat bikes to date in Europe,
40 ish Fatbikes rolled out of North Berwick west to Gullane on Saturday morning and 30 ish on Sunday to Tyninghame Links, hard to put an exact number as some came and went during each days ride, there was i think 42 at the WW2 midget submarine wrecks in Aberlady Bay, a sight i will remember for a very long time...

This weekend made me realise just how lucky we are to live in this wee county by the comments made of our coast here by old friends and new friends met over the weekend ...

East Lothian is a place i am very proud of, home to the birth place of our Saltire Flag, The Bass Rock and Fidra Islands offshore, ruin castles and miles and miles of amazing coastline and Victorian seaside architecture...

We showed our coast at its best with big blue skies with fluffy white clouds that drifted by, and that magical sunlight reflection of the clouds on the calm sea that brings the water to life as it sparkles on ripples and waves,  and warms your back as you cruise along the coast...
The grins and comments of the great scenery and fantastic coastal trails and beach riding from everyone also warmed me a lot...

Special thanks go to those who helped out with the weekend;

A MASSIVE thanks to Jason and Barry who were tail - end charlies and brought up the rear of the group, with out them the group would never have stayed on route and all arrived each day, thanks guys!

Stuart H and Colin C for van driving duties, you made Saturday`s ride out to the Sub wrecks run perfect... thanks guys!

Dave at Law Cycles here in North Berwick, helping out Pat from ISON...

Carl Hutchings for the free handout Squirt Dry Lube for everyone, great to meet you at last Carl and show you our coast!,

Jon from bike-bags.co.uk for a T shirt to hand out and the Free Frame bag which we have still to raffle and will update on here and the UK Fatbike Forum...

Si from UK Fatbikes Forum for help and also Gil for the usual stickers, T shirts and Hoodies, top blokes!

Pat from ISON for sorting out our overseas visitors,

Eric and Tyler from SURLY Bikes USA, who came to our little county here in Scotland to check out our UK scene, and as Eric said we have a great wee scene going on here....
Two larger than life characters who said they had a fantastic two days riding  and said they will be back for more...

One day a few years back i said `one day the guys from SURLY will come and ride here`...

I have to admit to being blown away that they have indeed come here and rode on our coast!,
Then we all got drunk on Saturday evening and had a riot!, my sides were sore from laughing...

I am totally made up with what happened here this weekend...

This post will get updated with friends films and photo sets of the weekend.
The raffle film still has to be done and will be posted for the Bike-bag.co.uk frame bag...

The story of FORTH FAT is not really told by myself but those who came along and rode...
I was up front most of the time leading out and cranking on to spread the field out between stops and keep the fitter riders happy, so not a lot of time to film and take pics myself..

If you have a link to a photo set or film you want to share email me at; coastkid71@yahoo.co.uk
and i will add it on here...

Check out friend Allan Kelly`s fantastic photos of Sundays ride; open a beer, put on a favourite tune and watch Allan's FORTH FAT Slideshow

Also John Climbers pictures, who also rode up NB Law TWICE after Saturdays ride! Flickr pics

And Alan Cole`s Flickr set

Gavins Blog post and pics

Colin Caddon captured the Fatbike parade  through North Berwick High Street on Saturday morning,
I could hear the rumble of the tyres behind me!






And friend Gary Buckham who rode mid field made a fantastic film that captured Saturdays ride;




Eric's dune crash on the Sunday; hope your not too sore!

There are also Si`s fantastic pics on the The Big FORTH FAT Gathering photo thread
If your not already a member you may have to wait a while to get registered as it takes Si a while to get through the spam for the genuine registration requests, be patient and you will get on...

I took 150 pics, you already know what our coast looks like here from the blog, quite different in real life alot of folk said, as usual most pics are taken when the going is flat and easy, ask anyone who came along and they will tell you just how challenging some of our coastline can be to ride a bicycle across,
I will post up a bakers dozen here of some of the old friends and new friends made,
friends i hope to cycle with for many years to come,  the photo set can be viewed Here on Flickr

Not much film as leading from the front and often we were stretched out over a mile in places, mixed with pics and various tunes...
click on the cog icon to view in HD



I took home some nice SURLY goodies from Eric, Tyler and Pat ,
My T shirt and Hoodie and stickers from Gil and memories from everyone who turned up, helped out and made the weekend, as it was YOUR weekend,  and the memories i will cherish for a long time,

Thanks everyone and see you at the next Gathering...

3 Sleeps to FORTH FAT...

Countdown to the weekend, and the biggest ever gathering of Fatbikes in the UK...

Most of the riders coming along for the weekend or for one of the two days rides know all the details via the UK FatBike Forum  and/or UK Fatbikes Facebook page,

Those that are not camping and in B&Bs and driving in for Saturdays ride are meeting at the North berwick Rugby Club car park (which is a Council Car park and free parking) and will be ready to ride at 9.30am as the campsite  group will roll out exactly on 9.30am, those running late will have to catch up as were riding to meet a turning tide - and the tide waits for no one,

If you want to come down to North Berwick High Street and see the bikes cruising past we will be rolling through North Berwick High Street between 9.35am and 9.45am exactly - were riding through non stop because of the size of the group, leaving Tantallon campsite 9.30am and stopping at the North Berwick Rugby Car Park 5 mins later and will be through the High Street at 9.45am...

We will all be back in NB and parked at the Fish & Chip shop/ Ship Inn for 5pm and be there a few hours, come and say high and pinch the tyres...


I met up with BBC Radio Scotland  `Out of Doors` programme presenter Mark Steven last night for a Recorded beach ride here at North Berwick which will be broadcast maybe this Saturday but more likely the next again Saturday, Mark rode my Surly Pugsley and was amazed at how it rode over the very soft sand above the boating pond on the East Beach. He thought the bikes were amazing and had that usual big grin everyone has when they have a shot of them on the beach...

It was fun doing the interview and again something new to experience, interesting how Mark catches all the noises and describes the experience that will paint a picture to listeners when it is aired. Return here for  link or download of the beach ride with Mark, i have tabbed the post as `Radio Scotland Out of Doors Beach ride`

Sunday Morning Singletracking...

Out early Sunday morning on the SURLY Karate Monkey around a favourite loop of the local Garleton Hills Ridge Road and the great single track trails from Haddington Town to East Linton Village alongside the river Tyne.

Look how dry the ground is!...

The Athelstaneford Royal Observer Corps Cold War Monitoring bunker Here on the Garleton Hills will, i bet be complete when they stood it down and demolished it, i bet they just shut the door into the monitoring room and knocked down the 2 small towers above ground level and threw them down the entrance shaft and then filled it with other rubble,
i wonder what they left inside..

I got some chest Go Pro camera `chest cam` film along the local single track when it is so dry and before everything bursts into bloom - the trails i filmed riding today are public paths, shared by all and you have to be carefull and aware of people walking, dogs off leads and young children...  once the trees and bushes bloom visibility is limited and you cannot really go ripping along single track trails with blind corners...

MTB films of just a chest camera angle can get a bit boring to watch, esp for non cyclists, though for the mountain biker it gives a good view of a trail. We have some brilliant single track trails here in East Lothian if you know where to go...

So here is 3 Chest Cam films, quite a work out nailing it along these trails but its the time of year to do it, though the trails were hard and the new trail west of Haddington alongside the river Tyne is very bumpy, my bike was jumping gears and feet bouncing off the pedals - why i have named the section from Abbey mill bridge to Hailes Castle `The Rattler` even on the bendy and springy Karate Monkey it was a harsh ride...
It wasn't rain on the lenses but sweat!...

The first film (film 2 - done a KM film already), is the Garleton descent, kids have dug up the trail and ruined the flow of this superb trail, which is also a public path and on the Core Path Plans, and i will be removing the jumps and filling in the holes... does nothing for public relationships with bikes and as i say ruins the flow of a superb descent...


Film 2;
Descent south from Barney Hill
Song is `Molly's Lips` (John Peel Session) by Nirvana...
click on the cog icon to view in HD






Film 3;
Haddington to Hailes Castle along the river Tyne trail... the rattler...
Songs by Phontaine; `track 10`  `Isla de la Piedra` and `WASH`
click on the cog icon to view in HD






Film 4;
Hailes Castle to East Linton
song is `Break to the Future` (extended) by Phontaine





This bike is ace!, so much fun and so fast,  i like to bimble about the coast on my fat bikes and stop for a look about at stuff, but i also love going for solo rides on bikes like this and nailing it everywhere and in the process give myself a good workout, this bike is fun... Life is Good... -:)

Oh i believe this pub is re opening here in East Linton, if so that is good news as this was always the cyclists pub... so hopefully there will once again be bikes parked up outside on Thursday evenings, maybe some FatBikes too...

Summers Day at North Berwick...

The weather has been windy but Friday affy was glorious, with a half day i had a spin around the nearby race circuit on the Schwinn Klunker, did some tidying up in the Man Cave then fired up the chiminea and it was warm sitting in the garden...

I still have not used this Replica Klunker much since building it!, i need to get it off road for a good Klunk!...

Cycled every Saturday so far this year and today was on two wheels again...
Friend Gavin texed to say he had his new Salsa Mukluk Fatbike getting serviced at North Berwick and had picked it up and was along the coast at Yellowcraig, so i jumped on the Pugsley and bombed down to meet him there...
Blown sand from the weeks gales engulfed the John Muir Trail at Yellowcraig...

Gavin found a nice sheltered spot to sit and relax until i turned up...

Gavin is loving his Salsa Mukluk...

Into North Berwick, the good weather has brought out the day visitors...

Eiders...

Sign this petition if you see it...

Such a historic public green like this here should not be ploughed up because of the motor car, plenty fields outside North Berwick suitable for Park and Ride Parks...

Were real lucky living in East Lothian Towns like North Berwick are stunning when the sun shines on them...

Back to The car park at Daves shop and Eddie turned up, his moustache is looking rather spiffing... needs some wax!...

Gavin had his own washer in his car as he lives in a flat, well prepared!...

Back home on some of the John Muir Way trying to tack out of the fierce South Westerly gale...
The space invader sign at the Whisky Bottle reservoir...