Roadtrip 2011; 2011 UCI Downhill World Cup; Fort William

So another summer holiday and as always here in Scotland was the destination,
5 days around Fort William with Friends then heading north alone for some me time on some of Scotland's most spectacular beaches and coastline,
First up getting all this lot into a wee Ford Fiesta-home for the next 12 days...


Heading north up the A9 means missing the scenery of Glencoe but also the slow traffic, there are still plenty of places to stop off at on the A9 to admire the views...




We all keep in touch on facebook but it was great seeing Steve from London and Chris from Yorkshire again, local friends Andy and Ben,Martin & Sarah too on the Friday,
Camped again at the usual spot in the Nevis Range Campsite,
Thursday was spent out and about on the bikes around Fort William doing some site seeing...
(curling rinks)








Shopping- at the `Nam Shop`...


And after visiting the Whisky shop some whisky sampling...




Followed by some beachriding and big grins all round on the pugsley...


Friday was a daytrip up to Arisaig and Glenfinnan, but thats for the next post,
By friday evening the campsite was near full...






And time for some beers,chat and some guitar by Steve...chorus by midges..


Saturday and Sunday we cycled along to Aonach Mor,
Only one bike here with 4" tyres...


Saturday was Downhill Qualifying then 4X, This years 4X racing was excellent with a lot of passes and a few crashes to entertain the crowds...


As were the usual spectating tree kids,can you see him? (click on pic to enlarge)


Sunday; Downhill finals...
This year was the 10th anniversary of the Fort William round of the UCI Downhill World Cup, over the years there has been some amazing racing and story's from what is rated as the longest and toughest Downhill track in the World Cup series,
Here is a great review of famous on track incidents and off track stuff that maybe shouldnt have been filmed -:)


Its hard to show even on film how steep and rough the track is and just how fast the riders get down the hill, one mistake and your into a world of pain with huge rocks off line waiting to catch you,










watch out in the filming i did of a guy jumping over this tree stump in the woods, its nuts!, but in a controlled and calculated way...


I rode the hill a few years back when i was really fit and only managed 3 runs before i couldnt hold onto the bars anymore from fatigue,and i was taking over twice the time set by the competitors, you freewheel a lot of the track feathering the brakes as it is so steep in places, trying to keep breathing and pick lines,
its like a rollercoaster- thinking your gonna die any second but full of adrenalin,
How these guys and girls are riding off the brakes and also peddling still on the motorway towards the end is beyond belief,
We had a great affy walking down the track watching the racing,
Steve is very proud of his Scottish ancestry and his rights to wear Leslie tartan...


And Andys walking poles made a lot of sense for crossing the wet boggy areas,
i will deft have a set with me next year, there was a lot of fans with muddy arses!...


The noise at the bottom is unreal as each faster qualifying rider comes down into the areana...






Once again this year a wee film of some of the most skilled men and woman in cycling...oh and cheered on by the loudest fans on the world cup circuit!...

Wild Weekend...

40th birthdays are often celebrated here in Scotland, a kind of milestone, and sometimes for some a bit of an achievement making it -:),
At the end of the day its just a number...but an excuse to celebrate something with friends,
Friday evening i had my last ever thirty's beachride on the pugsley at Peffersands with friend Jason, an evening of cycling and jellyfish...lots and lots of common jellyfish have been washed ashore...




Jason did a really kind thing and filmed making a film for me, i could get used to this-having someone else make the films!,


Anyway this is in wide screen HD, unlike my Go Pro efforts though im waiting on more memory to arrive by post for the PC and soon i will be able to use the right editing software and go HD quality too,
Check out Jason`s channel on Youtube , watch out for a lot more fatbike films coming soon,
check out his slow- mo bits, ace!, thanks Jason...



Big party in the garden and man cave Saturday evening went on until 5am, and typical of the Scots there was a serious amount of booze drunk...i was totaly buckled by dawn on Sunday morning, we did the right thing not opening the whisky..it would have been carnage...














Here is Mikes smoker cooker made from an old BBQ found dumped and a 45 Gallon drum...


Door welded on the base can be used to draw air,it is a section from another drum...


The grill, tray and top are from an American made Weber garden BBQ, not cheap to buy,free if found dumped like this!, its grill and lid fits perfect over the drum...


The drum top cut out sits on 4 bolts acting as arms, this plate holds the coal tray-
which is an old baking tray drilled to draw air...


My Alaskan Salmon wrapped in foil to cook tasted amazing on here!
The Winton Massif cycle gang got me a voucher for a microlight flight from here at East Fortune and i got another from friend Al so its going to be great seeing our coast from the air,Thanks so much guys!, i will wait a month until the fields turn golden, hopefuly ican take a camera to film and take pics,

Sunday morning and the mother of all hangovers...
best way to sober up is food and a bike ride, down to North Berwick, the first really warm Sunday and the town beaches were mobbed...


We met my big bro and wife and dog who had been walking the coast,
after an ice cream we rode west along the coast, kids had been drawing and digging all over the exposed low tide sands, here some sort of space travel theme was going on...
The Earth...


A space rocket...


Saturn...


And the Sun...


We left the day visitors behind and just had more jellyfish for company...


The common jellyfish dont sting, most are around 6" across, a few are bigger, this one about a foot across...


Near Marine villa we stopped to answer my mobile phone-1st time i took it riding for months -:) and a couple stopped who were running along the beach,
Peter and Mary are now friends on Facebook, they stopped to ask about our bikes, Peter took some pics and we had a chat about what we do, us cycling and our bikes and them running along the coast, i suggested `coast runner` would be a good blog but Mary already did a blog on running called yak hunter ,
Turns out this is a blog similar to mine... and on 19th June Mary posted a picture from a race finnish with my Sisters partner Ian!, small world eh? -:)
Marys partner Peter has made some great wee films, some are on his facebook page, i will post a link to them once i find where else there posted for public viewing,
What a great weekend...

And 40 year olds can do wheelies just as well as 39 year olds...-:)