Midweek Cycle; Mudplugging at Binning Woods...

The buzz of Surly Nates on tarmac!!!
I have built and sold three Surly Pugsleys and two sets of wheels  in the last year, and the Man Cave stock of fatbike parts is nearly dry and done...
I still have a pair of Surly Nate tyres, and a pair of Surly Large Marge rims.  a rummage about found a front Surly hub and rear cheap Shimano LX hub, and 4 different lenght spokes to be able to knock up a set of winter wheels for the Surly Pugsley...
Set up `Ghetto` split tubeless with Schwalbe 20" tubes and juiced with Stans for no Hawthorn thorn issues i had the disc rotors and a 9 speed cassette to complete the wheel set...

A LX rear hub is not what i would build on a fatbike wheel set but it`s a wheel set in the making and hey if the free hub explodes i can wheel swap and single speed it home..
Good thing is the Wheel swap from the Shimano hubs to Hope Pro 2 require no realignment of the rear mech and gears, the disc is near in line too with just the need to back off the out side pad a few clicks and wind in the inside pads a couple of clicks on the Avid BB7 calliper...

I don`t need Nates for 95% of my fatbike riding here on the coast... except here mid winter in my local woods...

After the recent heavy rain it gets a bit sticky around here...

`Bruce`s Circle` as shown on the OS map of Binning Wood is actually not named after `Robert the Bruce` as i and most folk would think, but i have been told by a local it is after a Driver/Chauffeur of a Duchess of Tyninghame...
I need to investigate this story...

Last light of the day...

And on with the lights for the ride home...

A real muddy bike to hose down...these wheels will come into use too if we get wet snow where the grip of the Nates excel...

Surly ECR Update;
Home and the ECR `Stingray` frame bag had arrived from Alpkit...

And it fits a treat on the ECR...

ECR is finished and ready for next Spring and some Bikepacking adventures...
Time for a Cider...

More soon...

Mud...

Some friends do not get why i am not that fussed about going (regular) mountain biking these days.
So here is an explanation; Mud, i hate mud...

Bear with me and i will try and explain in a bit...

I do the odd muddy ride on my fat bikes but they are not really the best tool in the shed for thick ankle deep gloop like the conditions in most woodland and along trails this now inland and away from the sandy soils of the coast.
After all the heavy rain on already saturated ground luckily we here in S.E Scotland have not had the destructive flooding of England and Wales that has been on the daily TV News.

Last Sunday i donned the paclites and cycled along to the local woods on the Moonlander through the monsoon, taking the Go Pro i thought i will get some filming done as not done much lately but it was so wet and slow to cycle along the slog fest of trails it was not worth filming!
I then came down a forest road and turning onto a trail the front end washed out at a good speed.
Down like a sack of spuds i went!. This snapped a brake lever, first ever MTB lever i have broke in 25 years!, the Go Pro popped out of the chest mount but was ok, the fall broke a front rack i recently fitted for beach combing, and i took a chunk of flesh out my shin, now i am nursing a few bruises too!, i knew i should have went to the beach!

Luckily for you lot i got it on film -:)

But that's not the reason for disliking cycling through gloop and getting covered from head to toe,

Its work, or rather working on a Clay base hill, the mud at work in winter during wet weather, the last few weeks have seen flooding and the return of mud on all the transport roads around the Golf Course...

It gets on all the machinery, like the mud guards on the Gators which we drive about on...

This then goes all over your clothes, gloves and ruins leather boots...

The greens are US Spec and built on free draining sand so doing jobs like rolling is no probs...

But towing stuff about behind Gators like the Greens Iron on tracks like this covers it in gloop and you have to wipe the machine seat and controls down at each green...

So come the weekend, or indeed a mid week night ride the last thing i wanna do is go out in more mud!.
Maybe if i worked in an office all week i would be happy to go jump in the stuff come the weekend.
At this time of year i envy friends working on the sand based Links Courses!. Sand is so clean!

After 2 weeks of grey overcast skies, loads of rain, commuting on mud covered country roads from farm machinery we have a window of cold clear weather forecast right through to this weekend!
So i rode to work today on the Surly Pugsley for some grin factor -:) ...

It was definitely cold today at around 5C but great to get some sunshine and a sunset again.
Looking forward to riding on the coast this Saturday for the Global fat bike day - Sand and rocks!
and mud free! ...