Beach patrol John Muir Park

 

Back on the coast cycling!

 

Back out cycling again!, had a real sore shoulder which was probably a trapped nerve/muscle in neck/shoulder but its one of those injuries that your better just trying to keep moving and just get out and about and put it to the back of your mind - too much to get on with in life to sit about doing nothing!

Today we rode around John Muir Park, an easy peddle in no rush and I had another Pugsley I recently stuck together and gave it another rattle can spray job!

These pics are in reverse order but cannot be bothered to sort them around anymore, here is really just somewhere to store all pics and links to films I make and I know a lot of people still come on here for a read and still enjoying reading a blog type format,  thank you all and I will try and keep weekly posts coming!

Will do a post on this size large Pugsley., it will probably be up for sale along with another couple of bikes in the future so get in touch if interested!...

Wee film...

More soon...

Return of the FAT BOB Trailer!...

Friday is usually a day at the beach cycling , weather permitting now as we get into the winter months.  Today I was  back out with the FAT BOB trailer!, its been a while since I used the trailer as no longer need to haul firewood home for a stove now and just used it a few times to haul wood off the coast for the garden burner, but it is a fun thing to use and a cool accessory for a Surly Pugsley...

Simply this is an older generation Beast Of Burden (BOB) YAK trailer that I have the wheel mounts off and had welder an inch wider each side to allow a 4" tyre Kite Buggy wheel to fit. That wheel has sealed bearings with 20mm internal diameter  which I then used Hope Components 20mm to 6mm QR convertors to secure and job done...

A 29er yolk was bought as standard this was 26" wheel yolk from back in the day...

Spacers provided on the 135mm QR BOB axle were swapped around for the 17mm offset of the Surly Pugsley and all sorted and it has seen loads of days out hauling several tons of logs off the coast previously for my old house that had a stove, now it just sees a yearly outing for garden fire box wood...

Today it was back out to transport a Bendy Bucket and Army Shovel to go clear a WW2 Machine gun pill box.  The Book below is a must have for anyone with an interest in finding and exploring coastal defences of WW2 that were built in 1940 when  Btirain looked like it would be invaded after the fall of Europe to the German War Machine...

It is a fascinating read full of information and a real eye opener to what efforts were actually done to defend this Island Nation...

Out in JMCP is a spite of land that was a tidal island in 1940 and in it is a machine gun pill box most visitors are unaware of... it is now on a spit of land which was an island in 1940 and locally known as Duck Island...

To find this pill box you must first find the Wreck of a Matilda Tank - reportable one of 3 parked here to uses for live fire practice possibly post WW2, and scrapped after  little remains...

Anyway look NW from the wreck into the dunes and a path on a NE direction will within 50 yards take you to the pill box...

Turned out to not need to much digging out for interested folks to access and after 6 bucket loads and the two gun slits dug out from outside the light inside it was better...

Wee film, song is `The Black Mill Video Tape` by Aye Corner Audio

More soon...

Surly Pugsley Army bike; quick frame swap and back out on the beach again after a week off from cycling...

 

Time to get out cycling again after a week off of my bikes being busy with the motorbike and a military vehicle meet last Sunday - more on that in the next blog.

So, The Army Pug,  my home made army style Fatbike was built using an original MK 1 Surly Pugsley frame set that I got in a part exchange with friend Chris for the John Deere green and yellow Surly Moonlander I bought which turned out not to be a size Large but an XL!, it suited Chris more with his height and I was happy to get a size Large Mk 1 Pugsley frame set to add to the Fat Retro Collection...

When friend Alan offered me a size Large Yellow Pugsley frame set it seemed a good idea as I could then strip and repaint the Mk 1 Pug on the Army bike as these frames are rare and sought after these days.

The Yellow Pugsley frames came out in around 2014/15 and many were used as warranty replacements on the Snowblind white complete bikes (The first complete build Fatbikes by Surly), this  frame set had a painted fork from being on another black bike and a lot of marks from being used with frame bags despite being covered with clear protective tape.It is a shame to paint the original colour of a frame but yellow did not really fit into my colour scheme of bikes and so it got sanded and using the compressor spray gun it got a coat of red oxide primer then two coats of Olive Drab spare from the Jeep...

This was done in a day and a few days later I swapped over the frames and job done...

The original Surly Pugsley frames are easily recognisable with non drop top tube and cantilever mounts on the frame and forks, the Large also only has a 4" head tube on these early models (5" on newer frames)...

Im looking forward to repainting and building up another original Mk1 Pugsley again using some rare old Fatbike parts I have squirrelled away... I`m thinking a Porsche Peppermint green colour with silver parts - I do have rare to the U.K. Alaska Made Snowcat 55mm wide 29" wheels so maybe a 29+ single speed with swappable wheels giving two gearing options in classic Surly Pugsley tradition?,  we will see...

Back to the green bike and I took it an early morning cycle along to John Muir Country Park (JMCP) via a harvested and baled Barley field, before the day got too hot as forecasted to hit 25 C by midday, it was a fantastic calm day with still water and G would have loved to SUP today but working... 

After some beachcombing revealed loads of WW2 .303 rifle cartridge cases and a pristine bullet - or a projectile  as I was told to call them...

Here is some film, first beach riding film I have added narrative and feedback is welcome!, 

Music is by Boards of Canada

More soon...