2009 retrospect...

its been a good year for me....rediscovering what the simplicity of cycling should be after a few years of spending far too much money buying high end,high tech and high maintenance mountainbikes which were only really any use at trailcentres and a downhill track 45 mins/1 hour drive from home(each way), i now ride from home mostly (on cheap to maintain) ridged bikes i have built ideally suited for the trails and coast of east lothian and have re-explored local trails and rekindled my interest in nature and local history,after a busy summer week operating grass cutting machinery at work i have no desire to drive much at weekends now...
places and scenery always under my nose i took for granted i now cherish with memories and photos if i can,i started a blog in march originally to post exploits on my surly pugsley on the beaches of east lothian but it has become alot more than that(i think)- a wee window to look through at life in this small county in south east scotland by new friends all round the world,all living diff rent lifestyles but linked by similar interests,i have also enjoyed reading other blogs and find many really interesting..thank you all for a wee look into your worlds...,
it was also a short and brief 7 months without a motorcycle which is an interest i have had since a teenager and now i cycle locally alot costing little and riding 2 low maintenance mtbs i managed to buy back my motorbike i had sold..phew..
HIGHS AND LOWS;
HIGHS; as above,also going to harris again in june and the drive up through glencoe at sunrise at 4am then the road up to skye in clear weather,the scenery and beaches on harris was great,also the dawn beachride out to holy island again 4 am- that was amazing,no injurys this year except a sore hip,no health issues with anyone i know too is a good thing..having motivation to get out of bed at 3am to see some of sunrises in summer...thats priceless...
LOWS; none really,except seeing the industry i work in go into a bit of decline..all to evident in the amount of visitors (money) and spending across the industry is evident from sales reps faces to annual wage rises and expenditure..,but theres not much you can do,keep enjoying the sunrises and scenery...another year being single could be counted as a low by some but again not much you can do there..i live in a country where not many girls are interested in getting up at 4am to go cycle on the beach!, also seeing people losing there jobs in the construction industry and in some cases there home is sad, as was the flooding of peoples homes down in england,spare a thought for those folk this xmas...
next years plans?
hopefully beachriding with fellow blogger tommy from netherlands whos visiting edinburgh in febuary and bringing his pug!,go to watch the scottish 6 days motorcycle trial at kinlochleven/glencoe on the friday (vintage day)in april,want to do some 2day mini adventures overnight bivvying up in the local lammermuir hills on the 29er and visit some other beaches on pugsley around our coast..,buy a better camera (olympus tough) and do more motorcycling..the best way by far to soak up scottish scenery...summer hols still undecided if going on the motorcycle 2 weeks around scotlands coast including western isles again(likely) or return to western isles cycling for more exploring..,hope to improve my spelling too next year!,never a strongpoint...
some 09 stats;
bike miles; surly pugsley 1300 miles
surly karate monkey 29er 650 miles
cannondale uber v 350 miles (est)
cannondale killer v 7-800miles (est)
2500-3000 photos..
72 youtube films uploaded, about 40 i havent used or on blog via photobucket
25,612(to date) viewings so either i have a stalker!!!,or someones
watching them...
god knows how many hours of film shot..
several tons of cereal bars...
gallons of cider in evenings while on here and moviemaker...

heres some photos and some monthly highlights of 2009...thanks for watching
JANUARY;
only bike i was riding was the pugsley.racked up 800 miles in 3 months!,was lovin it like my first mtb way back in 1987...made my first youtube film on my local beach...



it was 2nd posted after the soundtrack was removed after a week and had to be re-edited,looks funny to watch with the quality of the old original tachyon camera.. and feels like a longtime ago now too...
then it snowed!, deep snow,1st for years,and i had fun..






FEBUARY;
we once again got a big dumping of snow,it was wet and only lasted a few days while it was pretty wild in the south of england,worst recorded in 100 years,i just went cycling on pugsley!,and i did alot of beachriding along the coast where i grew up from aberlady to gullane...



MARCH;
i started the blog and it was quiet for the first few posts...i didnt know if anyone would find what i did interesting... i wrote the first `midweek trailride` which is often my favourite rides as usually no-ones around and i got my first comment,thanks antonine!
was also the spring equinox which i always do something on,this year a sunset beachride and film using the amazing track `owls and vultures` by luke janela...






APRIL;
i sold my lovely devinci downhill bike after the uplift price went up from £18-£32 (for 8 lifts up a hill!)with petrol too thats nearly £50 for a day out on a pushbike!,3 other friends did the same,wonder how many other folk packed it in?..,
no turning back now-full committment to local cycling! and i built a surly karate monkey 29er and after riding it the first day i really like this bike...

also did the longest days trailriding of the year a leg shattering 56 mile 7 hour ride on pugsley over the cheviot hills on the scottish/english border,anyone whos ridden there will know the climbs and soft ground involved,it was unseasonly dry and the pugs tyres helped alot...


the cheviots is a lovely yet lonely and wild range of hills...



MAY;
i had the bug to make youtube films now and with the lightening evenings i made several films on local trails and some exploring places around east lothian like one of the coldwar bunkers and a midweek evening trailride along the first trail i ever rode a mountainbike in 1987 above gullane beach...



and enjoyed unusually dry trails before the summer grass and nettles was up..



JUNE;
summer hols..drove to skye,left car..ferry to harris with pugsley and spent 5 amazing days cycling around the lower loop of harris spending 4 days camping on the western coasts beaches,my 6th or 7th visit to harris and as always the beaches of scarista and luskyntyre aswell as hushinish being the highlights..weather was warm but windy..next i went to applecross and rode the penulsia trails and a daytrip to redpoint beach from torridon again allways when up there breathtaking scenery and being pre-british holiday time quiet,3 days on skye and a vertigo induced walk up the cullins too!




heres the film i made using one of my favourite songs by ex scottish eletronic duo `boards of canada` a big song for the big scenery of the isle of harris...



and a few days spent at applecross,another favourite place on the north west coast...



JULY;
sat 4th july..big day in the USA,big day for me,one of the most amazing bikerides ive ever done,up at 3am.. drove 35 miles down to the border at berwick and rode out the 8 miles of sand at low tide to holy island at sunrise,my camera cant capture the light,it was amazing,i was out on the island for 7am and back at the car for 9 and home 10am!from a days ride!,never forget that one..also lots of midweek evening trailrides locally..






AUGUST;
proberly my favourite month scenically in east lothian as the harvest starts and you get rolling fields dotted with bales but this years sunshine through july seen combines out a bit earlier than normal at the begining of august then 2 weeks rain (usually at night) meant fields were all cut really quickley and it seemed over in no time!,alot of the old rights of ways are overgrowen in august but theres plenty other places to go ride if you have a pugsley...



i also did some films up our local hills of traprain law and north berwick law which both dominate the skyline across the flat plain of the county,i sold my santa cruz heckler which i had built for riding down at glentress and innerliethen..,and bought my old motorbike back from a friend i sold it too but he had hardly used...



some harvest time pics in east lothian...




SEPTEMBER;
a fun month with lots of distruction!,wild thunderstorms,the river tyne flooded...



but the weather gave amazing sunsets with the storm clouds,i found out that pugsley floats and will support a 14 stone of human on top! and i made this fun film which is one of my favourites as when UK forum `singletrack` were full of folk moaning about trails being unridable with the brief weather and some of them moaning had took the mick out of ME for when i posted stuff on the pugsley..,but i was out on pugsley have a ball AND STILL RIDING...






OCTOBER;
the tachyon 2010xc sports cameras arrived from the USA i won in there youtube competition back in july and i could again do some proper films riding and the cameras have been great,after a few tryouts i made a film cycling the local ridgeroad...



i also started adding my morning commute to the blog as i seem to cycle to work more in winter than summer,opposite to most folk!,autumn didnt seem to last long but i did a couple of films of the woods...



nights drawing in meant less time to ride afterwork before dark but onto winter hours and 3pm finish meant getting some sunset riding done then home on trails afterdark...






NOVEMBER;
with the clocks changed it was niterides midweek and often the beaches on pugsley at weekends,i made 2 films on the beach at gullane point on the local nature reserve...



then the following week at aberlady point after finding a new shallow point to ford the peffer burn at lowtide rode out across the 2 miles of sand past the WW2 submarines to gullane...



also like the pictures the tachyon camera takes with its 90degree lense...



DECEMBER;
were still in the grip of a cold front here unheard of for years before xmas it started and theres more cold weather to come..yipee!,ive posted nearly daily instead of twice a week (the original plan was monthly!!) but theres been plenty cycling for me to do having pugsley and plenty pics to take,i made 4 snowbiking in 2 days,3 out of the satuarday footage,this one on the sundau...



may as well make the most of it,instead of recent posted pics heres some from yesterday when i drove up to visit my mate at a hill farm at the foot of the lammermuirs,while we got sleet/rain they got 8" of snow in 3 hours..its gonna be up on the hills a while!,snow shoes in scotland?,possible now...
funny going to see a friend up the road and taking a shovel,a rope,flask of tea and loads of clothes..


and thats another year,and decade...i would like to wish everyone all the best for 2009...