Peffersands beachride; These dunes are growing!

Took Mowgli to Peffersands and Tyninghame this morning for a couple of hours,
Coastal erosion is something you often see on the News, and it can be seen on our coastline here in East Lothian, i see more movement of sand as it is blown over rocks and grassland, and the dunes to the south of the Peffer burn have definitely grown in size over the last 2 winters!

Last night i swapped the Jones loop bars for the FUNN `Full On` 785mm wide riser bars.70mm stem combo on the Pumpkin Pugsley... £20 bars from CRC  bargain!

This area here was all sand blown last year and the Marram grass has grown through, and the whole area is noticeably higher...

And a whole load of new paths have been created through this rising dune system!...

I struggled a bit on the Pugsley to keep moving but on the big Moonlander i will be able to cycle right along the top paths created to the big crater and dunes...

Mowgli was enjoying bombing about!...

WW2 `Coastal Crust` defences dumped now exposed in the dunes...

Barbed wire...

More sand has blown up the dunes here too...

Mowgli found a squeaky ball!...

Apart from the Marram grass wrapping through the rear mech you could nearly ride right along the top of the dunes now all the way from the Peffer burn to Ravensheugh in the distance... need to give it a go with the Alfine hub Pugsley!...

Down on the beach and Mowgli headed for the surf...

Then back up the dunes! as i rode along the beach...

And around the headland...

Along the secret trail and out to Mosshouse Point...

Lol!

Cheese!!!  the smiling Spaniel!...

Back through the woods and secret trail again before back to the car, past the remains of this old MTB,

`Rust In Peace`...

More soon...

Film by Salamandre Cycles

Lovely film of building and riding Fatbikes

Salamandre Cycles : en dehors des sentiers battus from PJN on Vimeo.

New Album by Public Service Broadcasting...

I like listening  to music sometimes when cycling, esp when out on the coast away from everyone,
A band i really like are PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING
Good upbeat music combined with audio and film in their videos of important moments recorded in our history...

Click here for previous PSB posts of their music and films,

And PSB have just released another album!;  `The Race For Space`
I got it ordered!

Here is the track Go! from the new album released on youtube this week...
I wish PSB used Vimeo, no stupid pop up adds like here on youtube!




More soon...

Surly Cross-Check Update

Sunday was a wind swept wash out of a day for cycling, though i was still out for a few hours to try out the Surly Cross-Check`s new rear wheel i laced up last week...
Do you spy it? A Shimano Alfine 8 speed internal gear hub (IGH) i bought last summer reduced, along with a trigger shifter for regular handle bars that i have managed to bodge on the drop bars...

Surly Cross-Check;
The cross-Check is one of Surly Bikes longest production and favourite and best selling bikes, probably due to its price to ride quality and its diversity in build options,
You can read about the CC here on the Surly Website

My Cross-Check Commuter;
And you can read about how i built my Cross-Check from a Fixie bike my big bro gave me, the frame was too small so i won on eBay a 56cm black CC frame set for £275-not bad for an under a year old frame set with little use, you can read about the bikes first build here; Checkmate!

Single speed or gears?
If you read that link then you will have seen 3 bikes i own and have ridden single speed;
The Surly KramPug 29+.
The Surly Karate Monkey 29er ridged MTB,
And then the Cross-Check,
And the Cross-Check was with full mudguards added a perfect commuter,  well nearly because once you add panniers and some shopping that perfect single gear ratio becomes too hard, as it does when you venture off road even if you add a freewheel to the flip-flop rear hub but use road gearing off road, as i wrote in the last CC blog post here; Roughstuff on the Cross-Check

And for myself the problem of riding single speed is the bikes have to be geared for road or off road,
All these bikes i would love to keep as a single speed set up, but with gears they are so much more versatile,

Derailleur drive chains for commuting;
For UK winter commuting on the mud coated country roads i ride here in East Lothian derailleur gears are not ideal and take a lot of punishment...

Which is why i usually switch to the old 1985 Muddy Fox Courier MTB...

As you can see after the worst of this winter it has taken a lot of crap, the chain is shot after 4 months...

The answer? Hub gears!;
Longer chain life as a single speed but gear options so you can ride whatever the hills or wind, or bike weight  with shopping etc and arriving without having a melt down with sweat- and that is the important one if like myself you work outside, last thing you want to do after a commute is go out side (in the same base layers) and get cold and a chill...

So, i decided to get the hub gear laced up this week and having a spare Mavic rim i went on line and using Pro Wheel builder i got the spoke lenght needed...

Having a rake through the bundles of spokes i have from previous wheels i stripped i had 32 288mm spokes, think these are from the single speed 29+ wheel, at 288mm lenght they were  perfect!,
I laced the wheel up one afternoon and while the radial truness is not perfect the wheel is good enough and spoke tension feels the same around the wheel- so far so good this week!...

The MTB trigger shifter i mounted using a cheap Accessory bar clamp made for lights, electronic computers etc,,, and it works a treat!...

Only the cable needs some 3M stick on mounts to tidy it up...

One bike with two rear wheels and 3 build options;
So now i have a geared 3 season commuter with the option of the 20 tooth sprocket 8 speed IGH, or with a quick cut of a few cable ties, remove the bar clamp and re fit the flip-flop hub wheel and ride the bike with the fixed 20tooth track sprocket, or as a 20 tooth freewheel single speed!

Happy days...

More soon...

A Tale of two bikes in one beach ride!

Late night arrangement to meet friend Brian​ today at North Berwick for a beach ride early at 9pm this morning to catch the low tide, It was a tale of 2 bikes in one ride when my Middleburn RS7 cranks lock ring on the green Pugsley stripped at Yellowcraig and i had to return to NB...
Home in the car, i grabbed the old Pug and back to NB (Got the same parking space again!) and nailed it on the JMW to Gullane to meet Brian on route to Cools for ice cream  having been out to the subs wrecks in Aberlady Bay :)
Turned out a fun day in the end with another amazing winter sun blue sky coastal vista... We found a coconut!, caught up with Craig at the cafe who has been chained to the sink, so a good day,,,

Look at the winter light and colour, fantastic!

Low tide at Broadsands...

Then at Marine Villa my chain rings went all wobbly...

With the crank spider lock ring seemingly stripped i limped home to NB on the John Muir Way leaving Brian to ride on. I just hoped the ride would not damage the threads too much on the spider and cranks.
Days like this i am glad i drove to the coast with the bike on the car!,
Back home and i grabbed the old Alfine hub Pugsley, bottle and tools swapped and ready to go again!...

Even got the same parking space!, you would be lucky to get parked here in summer by mid morning!
Same pic again, but another Pug!..

Headed to Gullane via the John Muir Way, hoping to meet Brian for an ice cream!...

Past the usual ice cream stop at Cools and following the JMW i soon met Brian again...

And had that ice cream!...

Then we headed back to the coast via some of the sandy single track trails like `Baked Bean Trail`...

And through the pine woods...

Back to the coast...

Tide times have not been ideal this week for my winter week holiday at home but the weather has been fantastic!...

No need to go away when you have this on your doorstep...

Look what we found...

A coconut!  :)

Loads of  sand has blown  up onto the dunes this winter...

And while some areas of beach have been stripped  to the rock bed some like here have been totally covered...

Surly Larry tyres are definitely the best compromise beach riding tyre, after riding with the big chunky Nate tyres on the green Pugsley the Larry`s really roll!...

Tides are real high this now so we cut in at North Berwick to head to the cafe to see friend Craig...

A big dirty black cloud blew down the coast, lucky we missed this down pour...

Tail wind assisted grassy single track into town...

And some food and banter with Craig who was hard at work!

Tide was a low 0.4 meter this morning at 10.09am,  now at 16,11 it was 5.9 meters...

Why it makes our coastal riding so varied...

Back home and two bikes to hose down, and pulled off the cranks on the green Pugsley...

Looks like the lock ring is stripped, and the crank threads look a bit iffy, Main thing is no play in the spider on when on the cranks, Must have not been enough free play to damage it...

I will email Middleburn about it as they have a good reputation for warranty stuff even on older products like these 7 year old cranks,
Failing that friend Craig is a fabricator and could alloy weld my cranks! :)

The wheels i built on the green Pugsley i have been meaning to swap over to use at the fat wheels for the Pumpkin Pugsley so some tyre swapping was done...

I stuck in two new tubes, Schwarbe 2.1-3.0  Scraeder valve Downhill tubes,
After juicing them up with some `Joes No Flats` for the Hawthorn hedge cuttings around here, half a 160ml bottle per tube...

After topping up the bottle with some glitter, it makes the juice last a lot longer adding particles to the juice...
I now also carry one of these 160ml bottles in my tools as the amount of thorns on our roads is bad this year,
Hedges have just been cut again so make sure you tubes are juiced up!...

Green bike with wheels swapped awaiting crank repair...

And my Pumpkin Pugsley with the Larry tyre wheels fitted, with the 29+ wheels and 2 handlebar options which both take take under 5 minutes to swap, along with SPD or flat pedals this is my good Pugsley for this summer.

It does need some nice drilled rims and a Hope Pro 2 rear hub to finish it!...

More soon...