2021 Retrospect...

2021... Another year  and not been a bad year for us both, we both turned 50 within a month of each other but were not interested in making a big deal of it... still don't know why folk want to celebrate getting older!, for myself the more important big things were going part time at work back in March after 8 weeks Furlough with a 3 day week and onto long weekends off which (time delayed in starting with Covid) I will be working part time for myself with a part time buisiness with  hopefully the odd long weekend off to get away cycling with G in 2020 - more on that soon...and off course my first year of  Willys Jeep ownership!,

Throughout the year I learned how to fix things and service it and enjoyed 2500 miles cruising around country roads, living the dream I have dreamt of doing for so long...

Action Man approved...

Under the Vulcan with permission on a day visit with friend to the Scottish national Museum of Flight......

G returned to part time work also and bought a Stand Up Paddle Board (SUP) and has enjoyed learning a new hobby... She also got a lovely Pink Pugsley I built and is her favourite bike to date she says...

There is a 29+ wheel build to finish for her for the Pink Pug and it will also be used on her bikepacking forays...

And on the subject of Bikes were now mostly riding on the coast the Surly Pugsley 2.0 - sadly no longer available in their fleet... with Surly Moonlander wheels - 100mm wide Surly Clown shoe rims and 4.8" Schwalbe Jumbo Jim tyres are our go to choice for fat biking on sand and rocks... 

My bike is now also finished same as G`s build with matching painted Moonlander fork (my fork is offset-looks real ugly but gives reversible wheels!) , and also now with rebuilt white spoked wheels and white graphics and control cables...

Definitely the best ever frame set Surly have made, takes all wheel sizes, cheap 135mm rear MTB hubs and 1' 1/8th headset, threaded 100mm bottom bracket so cheap to build in the old Surly tradition, I hope Surly realise the cult following for this bike and return it to production,  the Facebook `The Amazing Surly Pugsley` is the oldest original Fatbike FB page and is still to date probably the most lively Fatbike page with posts form all around the Globe of fans of this bike which says something to not be ignored by the big S...

Wee film of the Pugsley 2.0 and it's build options...

This year we got away bike packing locally in Berwickshire and a few days up North in Morayshire... 

Helping Glenda with the online research we found out a lot about the area of John Muir Country Park on the outskirts of Dunbar Town and it's history which G will maybe submit to a local magazine next year, We uncovered part of the WW2 firing range from when the area was requisitioned by the Military and The West Barnes Ranges we have plotted using maps and other information we gathered from several sources both local and officials. After a friend sent us the 1940 Bylaws we put it all together like a big jigsaw and using elderly local recounts of here after WW2  we uncovered a concrete aircraft marker marked with a letter `F` the same as the `A` one uncovered 2 years ago by a local...

If you read the UK Mountainbike `Singletrack` Magazine then you will have read an article which includes this discovery along with others G and I visited and documented from local information and knowledge from locals which on an Autumn day I shared with friend and Magazine contributor Sanny...

It's all looking very different now at John Muir Country Park (JMCP) now though after the recent Storm Arwen flattened most of the trees sadly...

Time will tell in a month or so if the latest Omicron variant is anything to worry about or just the common cold as so many think... 

We will be continuing doing what we enjoy together on the coast and up in the hills whatever the outcome in 2022...

Work hard and ride free...

All the best to blog readers for 2022!...

More soon...

Cycle alongside SUP at Belhaven Bay...

 

Another stunning day on the east coast!, high pressure and no wind and fantastic light made for an enjoyable afternoon at Belhaven Bay, G was out on here paddleboard and I  cycled alongside on the coast...

What a fantastic day to be out here...

G was a bit further out than we planned due to the waves, plus the Go Pro makes objects look further away than they are with the fish eye lenses...

G turned back for the bridge after over a mile along the beach so waiting I set up a midwinter sun picture...

Back at Seafield bridge and the water would now be too deep to attempt to get onto the bridge so I sped across to the park and around the Biel burn where I soon returned to the van and G deflating her paddle board.... mission accomplished!...

Wee film I made from the beach, Song is `Daydream` by Tycho,

Seasons Greetings and the blog 2021 Retrospect is up next...

More soon...

Winter Solstice Cycle; a cycle to the Serpents Head, Barnes Ness...

 

Tuesday 21st December, The Winter solstice, the shortest daylight hours of the winter - so to speak - from now on the days will grow longer in daylight, minutes a day but slowly at first, take until mid January before you start to really notice it. It is a more important time for myself than the Summer solstice - that marks the start of the busiest month of the year being a Greenkeeper and The Scottish Open Championship, a month of longer hours and early mornings, rewarded after with some Overtime that pays to keep the van on the road so worth it...

Back to today and sunrise is 08.40,  sunset is 15.36, however the weather was as forecasted overcast and cold and so this year we did our cycle on Sunday as I was also working Tuesday… here is how dark it can be at this time of year with low cloud and no sun…

This was Tuesday 9am…

12pm midday, and be nearly dark by 3.30pm…

Back to Sunday and It was nearly 10am before the sun was up casting a long shadow on the melting frost lifting off the cars and we headed out on out Surly Pugsley bikes for a cycle east of the town...

Stunning winter day so out a wee pedal and we cycled east out of town to Barnes Ness...

No one was at the Dunbear so we stopped for some pics...

Past the battle memorial and along the cycle track...

Down in this wee glen is a suprise if you go looking...

The Serpents Head...

Sadly the artist that carved this has passed away but hopefully this will be here for many years, unknown to most visitors to the coast...

Starfish...

Along to the Lighthouse....

Home and a lovely winter day...

Sun was setting by 3pm as we sat outside wrapped up having a cuppa and biccies...

Wee film, Song is `Montana` by Tycho

More soon...