2 new bike build progects...

Started building up the Kona Humu frame after lots of humming and hawing about what do do with it.Originaly wanted to hack the frame up to make a 2nd fatbike with a hacked up extracycle kit to build a cargo fatbike but really its just going to cost loads to do and decided its going to be a 69er singlespeed winter woods bike, for night riding the flat local woods that get quite muddy in winter,only a half mile from home the woods are ideal for an hour or so riding and so i want a low maintenance bike that i dont need to wash after every ride,
so far i have used whats lying about in the man cave:
Surly Karate Monkey 29er ridged fork,
hope headset,
azonic stem,
shimano XT square taper BB and shimano Atlas crank arms,
32T XT chainring
bars,grips,levers from the junk tray,
Surly Karate Monkey seat clamp.
USE suspension post,
SDG bel air seat,
rustproof bmx pitch HD chain,
£175 will cover wheels and mud tyres and front cable disc caliper (and disc) building the bike for £250...a nice cheap winter hack...
with the forks on i compared the geometry with the on-one 456......
with 26" wheels it was low at the bottom bracket hieght,BB height was 12 1/4"...

with the Karate Monkey 29er front wheel on it was more in line with the 456 and BB height is 13 1/4"...


456 BB height is 13" with 140mm forks, the humu looks a bit slack at the front as a 69er...


but the view from sitting on the bike looks fine so i think it will ride fine...


only just discovered the rear hub with is 130mm (road size) but i can turn down the pro 2 rear hub spacers that came off the pugsley, still to decide on a shimano coaster hub rear wheel,don't know how long it would last in winter here as no-one i have heard of has used one here!,better than a v brake which are awful in mud grinding away...

the other project to build is this...

took it off ebay...just cant sell it as i love it...collect parts over winter to build it up for next summer...

legs rested Saturday for an epic trailride Sunday...report to follow...

Roadtrip; Kintyre...

Day 5
last part of last weeks trip...
after i biked to Campbeltown and met my big Sis,Ian and the gang we went for ice cream at Macrihanish after a walk on the beach there...
if you live in East Lothian you will smile at the name of the beach here...

surfer waiting to go out...

heading to the beach past the M.O.D Macrihanish is Macrihanish Dunes...

a recently opened Links golf course which compared to the recent new Scottish golf courses is something of a testament to the old historic links courses of Scotland, being a Head Greenkeeper and a links trained one at that i find this place interesting as it isnt a money no object remodelling of the landscape like nearly all new courses are...built on a SSSI ground the course has had to use the natural lie of the land and with no dune control allowed (by fencing) greens will just have to be moved when they are engulfed by the moving dunes...bunkers are what they looked like 180 years ago...

a small unobtrusive clubhouse keeps in tone with the area and with no fertiliser allowed except on the greens,this is a working example of how golf courses can be built into the enviroment...
but i was on holiday and trying not to look too much,i was more interested in what is over the top of the dunes...3 miles of Atlantic beach...





will definitly be back down here this year for a weekend and do a beachride on the pugsley...there is about another 3 to 4 miles of ridable beach either side of the sands...




the wet sand from the previous tide was covered in jelly fish...


and this one is Lions Maine which is poisonous...

before the beach we drove past M.O.D Macrihanish, formarly RAF Macrihanish...



this base is often referred to as the Area 51 of the UK...
lots of rumour`s surround the base from the 3 km landing strip being a standby runway for the NASA shuttle if it was to overshoot Cape Kennedy, to it once being a top secret test base for a super sonic stealth plane which is again rumoured to be linked to the Chinook helicopter crash on the Mull of Kintyre that was full of top brass officals,locals that witnessed the noise of the crash said there was a very loud sonic boom at the same time,(witnesses were also made to sign the offical secrets act! )a noise that they had heard often at night over the base and out to sea,
and the plane was housed in a large hanger which the doors have never been seen open in daylight...who knows,maybe all just rumour...

what is fact is that during the cold war after the runway was extended to 3 km Vulcan bombers started to land at the base, B57 nucleur bombs designed to be used for submarine attack were stored at the base,the Americans left after the demise of the cold war in the early 90s and the base was stood down to minimal staff,next time the space shuttle is up it would be interesting to see if there is any increased activity!
more reading on the base here; Secret Scotland
and here; E GOAT forum

last evening friends came round to the holiday house and after dinner the chiminea was lit and early on a midge infested footy game of big ones verses wee ones...
note the midge nets!



"take me to your leader"...

with sideways rain on Friday i gave riding the mtb trails near Lochgilphead a miss and headed home at a very slow speed,the west coast wouldnt be the west coast without the rain which gives it its colour,and lush green plant and tree growth,
i love it...


heres a film of Kintyre...

Roadtrip; Kintyre... Ancient Monuments...

Day 4
After a morning bikeride/run with Ian we took the boys in my car for an afternoon look around a castle ruin,standing stones and burial cairns and the hill where Scotlands kings were once crowned...
all a stones throw from Lochgilphead...
you could spend days in Argyll looking at all the sites from the last Millennia...
we drove up to the ruins of the 16th century Carnasserie Castle...











across from the castle on a small hill are 2 standing stones...the only stones on a hill looking down the vally we would return down to Dunadd,all other burial cairns and stones are on the valley floor...nearly every site in view of each other...

back to the car and down the road is Kilmartin Glebe Cairn...


down the road a bit again and the Nether Largie Burial Cairn with chamber...




from the burial cairn a path leads to a field full of stones...


alot of these stones in Scotland are dated to 3000 years old, just think about that for a bit...amazing...



next a short drive down the road to ballymeanoch and some superb stones...

past another cairn...


after Callanish on the Isle of Lewis these are proberly the next most impressive stones ive been too...







all very impressive...


A Rowan Tree growing over an old tree stump...

we had one last special place to visit that afternoon...the ancient hill of Dunadd...


on top of the hill is a cup mark and foot carving...where the Gaelic Kings of Scotland were crowned...


they must have all been size 11 :)

the 360 views from Dunadd are superb...





we headed back to meet the woman folk stopping at a Hotel on the Crinan Canal for a cheeky pint...




after an afternoon like this it really makes me so happy to be Scottish...