Peffersands with Jake dog...

Film of Jake, full of beans!
Song is `Mexican Grand Prix` by Mogwai




More soon...

Last days of April...

April has been a dry month with cool onshore easterly winds, trails have been real dry, then a warm Easter weekend and some evening showers and things have started to green up, the leaves are out on most trees now and the woods transform under a canopy, Gorse is flowering and fields are green with Wheat and Barley, yellow with flowering Oilseed, or brown still where potatoes are now planted...

Nice wee stretch of the legs, no film this time,

More soon...

Surly Pugsley 2.0 with 29+ wheels- aka Surly KramPug 2.0; update and a loop of local trails...

The weekend before FORTH FAT 2019 i got out a cycle on the new Surly Pugsley 2.0 having changed a few things, with my older Green 29+ `KramPug` having an Alfine 8 speed internal gear hub (IGH) i re laced the back wheel to a Shimano XT hub and fitted a 10 speed drive chain...

No money spent having all the stuff on other bikes it was built up with my usual choice of a Sunrace 40t cassette and Shimano Zee mech and this time a 32tooth narrow wide chain ring for more road speed with the buzzy Surly Dirt Wizard tyres  swapped out for faster quieter Maxxis Chronicles, and for a bit retro style a Microshift thumb shifter again from another bike...

Was a lovely morning to be out cycling early...

The cold dry April has seen a month of bone dry trails...

Fields are now being sown with potato crops...

Down to see M, busy with Johnny...

Jake dog unusually quiet!...

We went a walk and he soon warmed up to his usual hyper self...

M meanwhile doing some training...

Apparently this is Yoga,  though not sure Johnny makes of it!....

Leaving M as it was quite nippy standing around in the cold easterly breeze. I headed on back towards the John Muir Way via some old green roads towards Kingston...

Fenton tower...

A Brown Hare, common around here jumped up and took off across the field!...

Through Balgone Estate and onto the JMW...

Been a while since there has been a `bike on sign` pic!...

Home and coffee,  New Pug is riding real nice now...

 Wee film edited, not sure of the track title but it is by Boards of Canada...




More soon...

Forth Fat 2019...

FORTH FAT 2019,
After a mild dry winter March cooled down and cold easterlies rolled in off the coast and the last couple of weeks were baltic cold winds and as always seems to happen the temps rose just in time for FORTH FAT weekend!, dunno how we always get this but again the sun gods shone on the coast of East Lothian!,
In it`s 7th year were still going and although this year showed how less interest in the mainstream cycling scene of Fatbikes has also seen less new Fatbike sales and new riders appear over the weekend,  This year the weekend also coincided with Easter weekend so many riders could not make it with family commitments, many others have visited a few times and i guess are doing other new stuff now, but not  to worry as most who made it over the weekend were regulars and with 2 new local faces turning up made it still worth while advertising the weekend on here, Facebook and the UK Fatbike Forum,

Friday;  NB Law...
For me a day to ride 29+ wheels and i stuck the new Surly Pugsley, along with Chris`s  Surly ECR in the van when i got home from work 1pm (great to be back in my new job Greenkeeping again as early finish Fridays) and we headed down to North Berwick to meet up at Steampunk Cafe  for a cycle up NB Law, the weather was glorious and we were soon up on the summit...

 Met up in NB up we go...

Descending...

One thing that has also changed about the FORTH FAT Gatherings is no Pub!,  little drinking now with few people staying at the campsite or going to the Pubs with both not being cheap visits these days.  I don`t drink much anymore having had Kidney surgery, a couple of bottles of cider once home does me fine these days, i was also working 3 hours this weekend so being up at 5am it was 2 long days!

Film of the ride up and down NB Law...
Song is `Perlandine Friday` by Chris T




Saturday; Cycle to the sub wrecks...
Saturday dawned clear and temps were soon hitting 20 Celsius as we rode out inland to the Sub wrecks out in Aberlady Bay, then returned along the coast back to NB. A spring tide saw a fast incoming tide and a narrowing beach as we neared NB town...

Back in town we sat and baked in the 20C + temps...

 Film of the ride out and back from NB to the sub wrecks...
Song is `Fragments` by Thievery Corporation

Sunday; Seacliff and Tyninghame...
Back to the cross for 10am and  we rode out to Seacliff and around over the challenging Car rocks exposed at low tide  to Peffersands where the big dune waited to be surfed-though this year the sand was all fluffed up and real soft after such dry weather so we soon moved on and after the Secret trail we headed to Tyninghame cafe to refuel before heading back to NB through Binning Woods and Balgone Estate and home on the John Muir Way...

And lastly film from Sundays cycle,
Song is `Whacko King Hako` by Peatbog Fairies




And that`s it for FORTH FAT for now, see you next time next year, dates and stuff will be posted in January 2020,
`We will ride them on the beaches`...


More soon...