Forth Fat Fatbike Gathering April 2016 - The aftermath report, pics and film...

There is so many folk to thank for the weekend, the riders that travelled from nearby and from far flung countries to enjoy what we probably take for granted here in East Lothian on our coast.
`Build it and they will come...`  well they certainly did this year!, 81 riders on Saturday, 50 on Sunday!
Big thanks esp to the following;
I need to start with Surly bikes-build a bicycle that opened up new boundaries possible and hey it`s all your fault!, but what a life changer of a bicycle it has been for myself and no doubt others who have found the fun in these bikes whatever manufacturer...

Pat Joscelyne at ISON Distribution
Dave at Law Cycles

Gil at The Cycle Shed.co.uk who always comes up trumps with stickers and T shirts

All my regular cycling friends who pointed folks in the right directions, esp mega thanks to good mate Craig and his wee bro Ross who spent the weekend as tail end charlies picking up the debris...

Tantallon Caravan and campsite for immaculate facilities,

Steampunk Coffee amazing coffee and on Friday nights open later for pizza at-

The Big Blu Pizza Van, top bloke and he really likes the fatbikes!

Back to Steampunk cafe and again thanks for providing room for a slide show by Alaskan Iditabike 1000 mile racer Carl Hutchings who gave a great fantastic slide show and talk of his Iditabike experiences-he really brought it home just how far 1000 miles on a bicycle in Artic conditions is...
Carl also donated some bike boxes of Squirt dry chain lube and other items - all ideal for beach riding
which are available from in2dust.co.uk

The Ship Inn North Berwick for great staff, sorting out food and great selection of Ales, Cider and Whisky..

Jack Dale for offering to take the inland ride on Sunday allowing me to enjoy the rock crawling, and the Dale Family who own Seacliff Estate and harbour- this is the most amazing scenic part of the East lothian coast under the cliffs of Tantallon Castle and the Bass Rock offshore, not to mention the infamous CARR rocks exposed at low tide, they did not wreck any Fatbikes though...

Mike, Gary K, Tommy and Lars for the nice pressies, and Phil Wood for the unique WW2 Hispano clock!, made from Hispano 20mm cartridge ends  i found here at Yellowcraig (se last pic)

Charlie Bikemonger who posted up cool stickers-they arrived late but they will keep for the next big meeting here...

And the sun that showed it`s face each day, it was a real cold wind but the dry weather and big skies showed off the East Lothian coast in its finest!...

And lastly everyone who turned up to ride, saw us ride, and laughed and smiled...



Friday;
Pitched up at Campsite and a ride around town with aarly arrivals, then take some Surly Demo bike customers along the coast, then another ride on a loop west on the coast and woods before heading up North Berwick Law to enjoy superb clear sky views.
back to Steampunk for pizza and then Carl Hutchings slideshow of his Alaskan Iditabike racing experiances\
evening rounded off with a few pints at the Ship Inn...

Day Two; Saturday;
With a cold but clear sky once again the weather was in our favour as we met at the Celtic cross to ride west to Gullane, riders joined the group on route and when we left the WW2 midget submarine wrecks out in Aberlady bay there was 81 of us, don`t think i will every forget the sight of all those bikes rolling across the sands, the group spread out as we headed east back to North Berwick and regrouping at the harbour we handed over a donation bucket to the North Berwick Beach Wheelchairs, run by volunteers it gives the chance for people to access the coast that we take for granted.
Food was served up at the Ship Inn then it was back to the campsite before sunset in various groups...

Day Three;  Sunday at Seacliff...
Sunday morning we left Whitekirk Hill via the historic Becky`s Strip Byway on our own Mission to the amazing Seacliff Harbour with it`s views across to Tantallon Castle perched on the cliffs and the mighty Bass Rock island that dominates the view out to sea.  Jack Dale whose family own Seacliff was there on his Fatbike and offered to lead the easy route group to Schoughall so i could ride the infamous Carr Rocks,
Regrouped at Peffersands it was time for some dune surfing before the Secret trail and along to Mosshouse Point.  Returning to Whitekirk via Binning Woods Dave from law Cycles had the BBQ and we sat in the balmy warm weather sheltered from the cool Northerly wind of the weekend....

Here is a short edit film from the weekend, will add a longer cut on here later,
No idea who the song is by but i like it!


Forth Fat Fatbike gathering, North Berwick, April 2016 from coastkid71 on Vimeo.


Monday wind down ride; John Muir Park...

With Monday off work and Phil, Craig and Ross we went a bimble east to John Muir Park on a bit of a WW2 them ride to show Phil whats still around there from the coastal defences. It was freezing.  Hail showers pepperd us and it was unreal that the day before we sat in the sun in T shirts!, we still had ice cream at Cools after looking for bullets at `Bullet Hill` before returning via the Tyne trail and Smeaton Mill...

Other links to the weekend;

Blog post by Dave Simpson;  Forth Fat 2016; Scotland

Film by John aka `Crazy Churchill`..

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