Saturday XC Pugsley ride

Dad will be in Hospital for another couple of weeks and today i was not visiting so as he wishes i was out on my bikes - keeping the dream alive -:)

It is really hot and muggy at 25C + and very humid. Those over the pond probably do not think this is very hot but here in the UK it is with our weather conditions.
I was out on the Pugsley this morning around the East side of the local Garlton Hills. After more heavy rain there was knee deep cattle hoof footprints and it was very muddy off of the Ridge road on the many single track trails made by the passage of hooves, but it was a change from the coast and taking the Pugsley instead  of the semi fat Karate Monkey 29er was a good choice for when crossing those wet hoof print areas...
Only 10 miles on the trip but out for over 4 hours as i took the Go Pro and did some filming, as always the Go pro seems to flatten the steepness of slopes ridden, some are steep, esp without dropping the seat...

Anyway here are a few pics...

Wee film, song is `Get Down` (Instrumental) by Nas...

warming up nice...

things are heating up here in scotland at last...20C today at work,and with all that volcanic activity in iceland we have had some cool sunsets this week...

UCI downhill world cup fever is building too, 5th june-fort william...
tickets arrived other day...we is going!...


danny macaskill gets alot of press for his bicycle trials skills and talent...heres another british guy just as talented and usually at fort william on the world cup weekend...go see him if you can...heres how to ride a courier singlespeed bike;

Chris Akrigg THE MAURICE.0 from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

meanwhile back at the ranch....
the other evening was spent out in the mancave tweaking the karate monkey...
a creaking hope headset(now 6 years old) was swapped out for another used one in stock...

i took the chance to cut down the steerer lenght now i have ridden the 29er at various stem hieghts when the fork was off...
having lots of good tools can be addictive...but essential...
free homemade tools are even better...here are two my friend made me on his lathe...
a steerer cutter...

tighten in vice...insert steerer...clamp with grub screws then hacksaw down the provided cut..perfect everytime...

also have this bit of machined steel that dropped down seats the crown race collar nicely...

an easy to do job with the right tools...

also swapped out the 2.5 wierwolfs for the 2.25 ardents as the wtb tyres just dont clear there tread of thick mud...why i crashed on sunday!...
they have there place for sandy trails though...

thursday evening i went a ride around my local xc loop with new friend paul i met last sunday...
was a lovely warm evening...

filmed descending the nice singletrack woodland...



near letham holdings the locals are friendly...


kids in boats having fun...can you spy the heron on the wier?...

managed to go over the bars at about 2 mph somehow...twice in under a week!,jeeez..
alot of sand on the riverside trails but still sweet...

was a lovely evening for a trailride...

lots more evenings to come like this...

heaven is some nice singletrack......

...and i found about 45 seconds worth on my doorstep just 4 miles from home tonight...which for me is as good as 5 miles of french alpine meadow singletrack a plane flight away...
it was raining at dinner time with a strong southerly wind as i rode along to my local garlton hills into that wind... looked forward to the return ride home...

i soon forgot about heading further to haddington and up to gifford as planned as i was soaked after 15 mins road riding...i remmembered a grass field on the western end of the garltons which is grazed with cattle..if theres cows then there`s cow trails- singletrack to us mountainbikers...
after walking up the side of a sown field- waiting for the local farmer barlymow to acost me trampling his crop (subisdised by us tax payers) i reached spied grazing field and found this...

oh please please please go down hill...

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thumbs up:)

oh yes ...

then something really sore but funny happened...setting up the camera on a post for this shot i leant onto the single strand electric wire you can see in the pic!...aaaarrrrgggghhh!, wet clothes and because i was taking a drink at the time i got a sore electric shock through the bite valve!!!...my tounge was a bit numb for a while...
with the rain now off the helmet camera was rolling... heres a song that reminds me of high school disco`s...



nice to find something new on your doorstep...

although spring is a bit late this year some of the trails are soon going to be overgrowen soon like this trail to the coates farm...

oh by the way 29er`s dont offer any more clearance from nettles than regular 26" mtb`s...my legs are burning tonight as i type this...young nettles have a real sting!...heading up to byres hill around the garlton monument where i filmed the southside descent before riding home...


nice views out to the coast despite being overcast...

the whin`s bushes are out in flower... if you live in england you will know these as gorsh bushes...

oh... this sign is for a motorist trail... this is scotland...not the netherlands!...

i pushed up byres hill and filmed the 2 descents in the wood you watched at the end of the first film...


then headed up to descend the ridgeroad... here near my bike a mound with a small crater...it is the only surface remains of a cold war ROC bunker...strange to think all that work to make it then they bulldozed it...but the bunker is still here underground...

heading for home down the ridgeroad with a sweet tail wind...



happy days...

rewind..last saturday..recce trailride...

i drove the car to work the last 2 days as we have had torrential rain for 3 days now..usually sideways in a bitter easterly wind off the north sea, while the south of scotland has had rain the north has had snow...the A9 was blocked for 17 hours from pitlochry to inverness...nearly 2 meters of snow is lying at the base of cairngorm ski centre and glencoe ski centre has had the most snowfall of all snow resorts worldwide in the last 2 days!..theres one for you eh?...wish we had got some snow here too...not too much just enough for some snowbiking again,
i hope tonight (friday) brings a good dumping on our local hills for a play in the snow tomorrow on the pugsley as high tide is midday and local trails will be as good as flooded now as the fields are...
rewind last satuarday and a days riding with weather as lovely as sundays social trailride but even colder never going above zero 0C...i went a recce round sundays route just to check what the trails were like as been a while since along the river tyne..i had alot to do at home so it was a hard blast round with quick stops for pics and some pics while still cycling...it was really cold...it was after a week of hard frost and a small sprinkling of snow along the garlton ridge road around 1" deep...i even wore my endura MT500 overshoes and 661 winter gloves...
i didnt get this posted as hanneke suprised me with a visit and well getting together with her was alot more important to me!,we had a great 3 days and for her a bonus it was better weather for her 2nd visit here and we had some great days on the coast around north berwick,she too has fallen in love with east lothians coastline and i hope she too will be riding trails and beaches here with me soon...
leaving 9am it was a lovely morning...

bit of a lung burning ride up the ridge road to barney hill transmitters in the below zero tempertures...



riding off the garltons below the dusting of snow the trails were frozen solid...

along the river tyne...would be a few more tyre marks here by sunday...

hungry swans...we would see them again tomorrow too...


it really was a lovely clear,crisp,cold and calm winter day...





untreated roads...

ive forgotton how nice it is cycling alongside the river..listening to the water and its sparkle and glow in the low winter sun...



on the home run now...under a fantastic blue sky...

back home and no need to wash the bike being still below zero and mud free...the upside down abus bag worked a treat as a gastank bag and handy for quick photos,just need to watch the upside down zip dosnt open,it will hopefully stiffen up like zips do... just had to fit the hip flask for tomorrow...