i gave cycling today a miss as just too sore after my wee off but it was such a nice clear autumn day,,i got up to the first proper frost this autumn... my friend kieths wife ann was going a birthday microlight flight along the road from me at east fortune so i popped along to meet up with them,it was a hive of activity as alot of microlights were out making the most of the high depression which brought clear skys with little wind,i took some film of take off and landing maybe should have got some cameras rigged to the aircraft!,talking of which the motor is pretty sweet on them... a 100 BHP four stroke austrian ROTAX which is infact 2 motors-yep,they can be run independently incase of a failure-how cool is that?, good to see the nuts holding the prop were lock wired on!.... ann said the flight was amazing,its something ive always wanted to do but always had something to spend the needed money on elsewhere...,be cool to see the coast where i cycle from the air,maybe i should start a wee saving plan for a flight next year.., oh heres a pic of kieths latest project he built, a 130 landrover,think its about the 4th or 5th landy he`s built and being built as a workhorse it kinda puts to shame the stupid shiny 4x4s that east lothian has far too many off...
ive posted quite a bit on here last 2 days,well because ive had an enforced lay off from cycling... so i went out the other night on the karate monkey with the new maxxis ardent tyres,i expected a bit drag on the road despite having got the harder 70a compound and still pumped up to 40 psi as they are after all mtb tyres,i was rolling along fine on them,not much worse than the semi slick halo twin rails,yes there was a buzz from them but there not a drag on tarmac, i decided to do the 23 mile loop that takes in the local ridgeroad and river tyne pathway which is often a nightride for me in winter,climbing up to the highest point of the ridge road i stopped for a breather as its a mile of moderate climb,also into a headwind from home (4 miles to here),took a photo... although it was an overcast evening i had still brought a camera with me so i clipped it onto the mount above the front tyre,rolling down the road to cut into the sweet bit of singletrack descent alongside the road i recently cleared with the chainsaw...
i thought that i should drop a bit air out the tyres then thought `oh it will be fine as it is` ....,i wasnt going that fast and you can hear i was mostly freewheeling...,there was quite alot of loose leaves in the trail,about halfway down the front just washed out and i went down like a ton of bricks knocking the wind out of me,you can here the groan caught on the minute long film,ive slowed the crash down 4 times too and you see its after ive come out the corner it slid out..,weird,pity i hadnt had the camera on my helmet then maybe be a better view of the crash! 48 hours later and my waist is swollen up and sore to touch and a cracking bruise has come up (thats swelling.. not a love handle!!) and the usual skinned elbow.. i had to sit a bit after to get my breath back and i felt sick,funny how the relief of nothing serious done makes you feel a bit better even though your slightly in shock!!,a crash like that could of been alot worse after all,cracked or broken ribs,broken collerbone,teeth knocked out hitting a tree,or worse still damage done to the bike!!!,it was fine as was the tachyon camera that did hit the ground and was unscathed,maybe a front fork would have saved the front end washing out..,probably just letting 10 psi out the tyres would have made the deference,oh well..one things for sure-the older you get the harder the ground gets...
One of my favourite bands is Scottish electronic duo `boards of Canada`they have took off for me where `tangerine dream` stopped in the 90s,a band i still listen to a lot, on youtube and i recently came across a BOC video for one of there best songs `Dayvan cowboy` which brought to light something i never knew happened.., watch the start of this amazing bit of film clip is from `Project Excelsior`...
On august 16th 1960 Joesph Kittenger of the USAF stepped off a balloon gondola in the stratosphere on the edge of space at 102,800ft. Just think about that for a minute..., that's like nearly 40 kilometres/24 miles up...
Free falling for 4 1/2 minutes, to open his main chute at 17,500 ft, and setting a highest ever free fall and parachute jump. which has still remained unchallenged to this day...
It was part of a 3 jump experiment to see how the human body could cope with a high altitude (edge of space) parachute.This was of course because of the approaching cold war and the high altitude U2 spy planes being developed. The USAF needed a parachute system which would work in a near airless environment in the case of an emergency.
A 2 stage parachute system was successfully tried out in Project Excelsior with Joseph kittenger being the living subject. Remember humans had only parachuted from around 60,000 feet so he was going where `no man had been before`.
Any failure with his suit that weighed his own weight would have resulted in instant death.
There was no computers then that could predict the results, only boffins doing maths with pen and pencil.
A pretty hardcore experiment i think, which still remains unbeaten today. Why didn't we learn about stuff like this at school?,here's alot of info on project excelsior
and a documentary film of the 3 jumps made...
i think the BOC song really fits the film,a big song for a big sky-check out the curvature of the earth!!, amazing...
so in true style to celebrate having the pugsley a year i took it down the beach and gave it a good dunking in the sand and surf between aberlady and north berwick,
i didnt take many pics on the beachride
but i did stick the camera on my lid to film riding over the slimey rocks near yellowcraig below the caves just to show what these bikes can do,it took a few months riding the pug to get used to no suspension but on flat pedals it eats up stuff like this...
low tide being midday the beaches were busy too with folk out enjoying the crisp clear day,a strong wind meant there were a few kite boarders out at gullane too,
once i rode around the point and north berwick came into view something came into view about the mile away...,once i got closer i saw what it was...
once again i pulled out the camera and stuck it on to film..,handy cameras,esp with the snap velcro to quickly attach..there was an open day for the life boat and coastgaurd hence the arrival of the airsea rescue helicopter an impressive beast!
new tyres arrived at last for the 29er,been waiting a month for them to come into stock,i got a set of maxxis ardents, 2.35 nice and fat for comfort,the tread is pretty much the same as there minion tyre which i have used on most of my bikes in different sizes and compounds and i like the grip/rolling/puncure resistance of them so these should be good for my riding through winter, i love the spec waffle on tyre packaging,as if there trying to comfort you for shelling out £55 for a pair of pushbike tyres! the halo twinrails 2.2s i have on have been brilliant and hardly worn in 600 miles,with only one (huge thorn) puncture aswell,they will go back on in 6 months time for next summer, the ardents spread quite wide on the 37mm wide halo rims... and there is loads of tyre clearance despite the 2.25 width...,50mm wide uno rims from speedway cycles and 2.5 WTB weirwolf tyres would be the way to go to achieve my aim of a bike thats half way between a pugsley and a regular mountainbike,,those wheels will have to wait till next year now.. i have the `monkey nut` dropout spacers fitted which came with the frame to help tyre clearace... pumped up to 40psi to seat them i will probably run them around 30-35 psi,to get a bit comfort and `float` i only realised tonight as the rear wheel has never been off since building the bike in april that i dont need to remove the rear caliper to get the back wheel out like on the pugsley where i remove the lower caliper mount bolt and pivot the avid mechanical caliper out the way,maybe its just the hope mono caliper is high cut at the rear,excellent brakes on the road aswell.. ready to roll for winter,with lights,knobbly tyres and mudgaurds... oh the heathers are doing well behind in the garden too!!
thats a year already since i got my pugsley,just before halloween,jake at `the hub in the forest`bike shop at glentress in the scottish borders finished building the monster i hadnt seen one in the flesh so was expecting it to look mad having already seen the frameset,rims then tyres when they arrived but was bowled over when i walked into the shop and saw it,it was love as 1st sight... lol
a quick spin round the carpark and i knew i was onto something special here,i had thought i would have to trailer it everywhere to ride before the 1st test ride,thinking there would be massive drag with those huge wheels but feeling the acceleration and momentum once rolling around the carpark at glentress i knew this was going to be fun,it took an hour to get the bike on the rear car rack,tied on and out the carpark with all the folk coming over asking what it is,it used to take me about a minute to explain what it was originally made for,now ive got it down to about 8 seconds-"its a low enviroment impact floatation tyre bicycle for riding on snow and other soft terrain where normal bicycles would struggle" or i just say its an ATB(all terain bicycle) i actually prefer ATB to MTB anyway..,
once home with the pug and the word was out and all the usual suspects were round for a bit tyre kicking(plenty to kick)i rode to work next day amazed at its road speed (14mph average)and i had the biggest daftest grin while riding it,i also noticed returning home people in cars passing giving me the double look,i dont even notice now but park it up anywhere and it attracts a crowd,something im not used to being a bit (ahem)camera shy..so it was down to the local beach for its maiden beachride,i wont ever forget that feeling flying onto the beach and instead of doing a big endo and faceplant the bike just kept going!!,next night i made my first film to post on youtube...
so heres a few pics of great fun on the pugsley over the last year,and links to the films made at the time if you want to watch them-riding where maybe no-one else has (successfully),alot more to come too..
december-1st big beachride out to the WW2 midget submarines`s at aberlady bay...
a week of deep snow in febuary was ideal for a good snowride up the local lammermuir hills...
then the next day a frozen icy ride along the local garlton hills ridgeroad,
haha funny watching these 1st films again...
april-a massive 56 mile day over the cheviot hills on the border of scotland and england,soft peaty ground was ideal on the pugsley having slogged for miles up there before on normal bikes,the 2000 year old `dere street` is one of my all time favourite trails...
i stuck a camera on the pugsley fork above the 4" `endomorph` tyre film which has been a cool film with folk with the biggest youtube hits of my films...
june, summer hols included 6 days on the isle of harris in the western isles camping and cruiseing the west coast beaches,amazing...
if you like these pics or at work and want to kill time the full 17min film is here on vimeo...
july; applecross is one of my favourite places on the NW coast the coffin road track over the penulsia is a favourite trail...
july-this is my favourite ride on pugsley yet..4.30am sunrise beachride out to holy island, a 6 mile ride on sand with an amazing sunrise and sky,the film dosnt do it justice,wierd to be home from a day out biking at 10am!!!,this is going to be an annual bikeride for me now for sure,do a mid winter one too...
august i made a film down at nearby seacliff,has to be one of the most scenic beaches around with its tiny harbour,whit sand,and views of tantallon castle and the bass rock offshore it makes for the perfect evening/sunset beachride...
and lastly pugsley floats too!,yep..a floating bike which also holds a humans wieght,waters getting abit cold for this now but next year expect more watersports stuff...
1400 odd miles now on the pug.lots of smiles per miles and still as much fun..an amazing bike...
I live in East Lothian, S.E. Scotland.
I fill my time with my hobbies, interests and passions. Often cycling along the coast here. I ride steel bikes with big wheels, I like to enjoy all interests of the coast, Its scenery, wildlife, local history, with my other interests in art and music when out and about...
I was diagnosed with Relapsing remitting Multiple Sclerosis in August 2018, it`s early days but i plan to continue to live my life as i have and show that having a medical condition like MS does not mean you need to stop enjoying your life,
Please excuse the bad grammar, i am working on it!
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