Thursday 30 March 2017

Surly KramPug 29+ Commuting; High Tide Trails...



I commute to work by bike 4 days a week, and while i have a lovely British tourer bicycle - a Dawes Ultra Galaxy, i still find after loads of different commuter bikes over the years in my previous and present job my favourite is my original Surly Pugsley Fatbike fitted with a 29+ wheel set and Shimano Alfine 8 speed Internal Gear Hub (IGH. It is such a great set up for road work on rough country roads and taking a detour  route home off road on trails. The road ride into work is a real smooth ride on the rough country roads...





All around there are signs of spring in the air...


Into work and another day and a great variety of work...



Today a beach clean with fellow staff and the Countryside Ranger Service volunteers...




A load of rubbish collected and afterwards some coffee and cake!...



Home time and with a 5pm high tide of 5.7 meters there would be no post work beach riding today - hence the 29+ wheels for coastline trails...






Into NB and i then headed to Seacliff as i wanted to try get a pic of Seacliff harbour fully submerged...









And there it was!...





Moody sky...




 Along to Peffersands and along the 'Secret Trail' before heading for home...











Home and parked up, over a cup of coffee i soaked up how good this bike is...


Fast rolling 29+ wheels set up split tubeless so no pinch flats or Hawthorn flats....
Real comfy with Brooks Saddle and Jones Loop handlebars...
No problem to cycle through long grass above the high tide line with no derailiers...

Get out there and just ride for fun!...

More soon!...

Monday 27 March 2017

No time to ride?, all you need is a half hour...


Monday had dawned as the weekend had with clear skies,
I had the weekend off from cycling, the first in i don't really know how many months, all i have been doing is cycling locally and i really enjoyed going on foot for a walk on the coast and seeing a different coast, and sharing a day with someone else....

So back to work today and i should have rode a Fatbike in to enjoy a fantastic sunset on the coast, but the weather forecast was for it to cloud over, so i took the road bike and as i rode home under blue skies that we had enjoyed all day i was cursing my bike choice!.
Home and i decided to stick a Pugsley on the car and scoot down to NB and grab a sunset ride, except the sun was soon swallowed by cloud after a half hour or so, but before the sun disappeared i managed to get some film and some pics, 8 pics to be exact and 26 film clips...








So how to make a film out of about 30 seconds of film once edited on iMovie?
Quite easy once you slow sections down and add some pics,
Choosing a song is always the key to making a film work, and the ideal song with ideal title was already my plan for the film as i played and replayed it on my iPod

I have been listening and using a lot of tracks from new albums by new/other bands in recent months but still always listen to Boards of Canada on my iPod,
BOC is music i find i can lose myself and find myself while riding, while there unique sounds and that wavy tone so often used goes so well to cranks and wheels turning as it also does to waves breaking along the shore. Some film more about the light on the coast than the cycling...

Song is `Open the light` by Boards of Canada


Open the Light - Boards of Canada; Beachride at Broadsands March 17 from coastkid71 on Vimeo.




More soon...