hometown tourist....

since last friday we have had high pressure weather with a calm sea breeze...spring has sprung for sure... hanneke was over for the weekend so we cycled down to north berwick and locking the bikes went for a wander around town and the beaches and harbour...funny being a tourist in your home town...
riding around the trails from the glen...



and soaking up the views...good weather draws the visitors to the town...



then along to the harbour...



warm enough for 3/4 shorts now...

and ice cream...

the world record for pebble skimming is 38 skips...records safe here...


live music by some good buskers up on the road...and never seen one of these before...thats a really cool idea...

back to the bikes...


and cycle out of town and along to seacliff..our favourite beach to visit...

down below the old castle...

and the trail down to the beach is washed out...makes a nice descent...



hanneke filmed me bouncing about going down,good fun on the fully ridgid bike...though i did foot once!...

ridgid 29er DH... from coastkid71 on Vimeo.

it was alot quieter here than north berwick...


time to head home via a few trails...

red clay pantiles are a common roof feature in east lothian and they originaly came from hanneke`s country...empty dutch ships would load with them for ballast to cross the north sea for scotland...

heres a roadsign you dont want to drive into...

home for dinner out in the garden and a lovely sunset...

carrying bike gear....

having several bikes means i have ended up with several tool kits,under seat tool bags,small frame bags,bottle cages,pumps,spare tubes etc... and it all has never been really organised...and spent a small fortune. over the years...
thens theres all my bags...i mean how many do you need? (not enough some woman will tell you!)...

while its good if its all on the bike the wieght does add up..the price for not having a sweaty back...a day humping a bike over fences/unridable terrian and you really feel it...without sounding like a wieght weenie (with a 35lbs pugsley???? lol) it does make a noticable difference riding a stripped bike...
so after trying to carry it all on the bikes for the last few years im going back to riding with camelbacks...so i stripped all bikes of tool bags,bottle cages and frame bags including the pugsley as i want to use the epic designs frame bags on the karate monkey 29er aswell if i go bivvying for carrying the stove and food...
so i sorted all the stuff out and simplyfied what to carry...

first off a lightwieght kit for glentress or a 2-3hr ride on my suspension mtb or 29er;

topeak mini blaster pump (with spare O ring seal)
26"x2.25 spare tube (26" tube will also do as a spare for the 29er
crank brothers multi tool with chain breaker...
shimano rivet link and sram quick link
spare gear cable
park tool tyre lever
park tool glueless patches for back-up tube repair
this lot goes in the camelback rogue which has a 2 litre drink bladder...a (car key) pocket and enough room for a couple of cereal bars...


main pack
for general riding-all day or the pugsley...

toppeak master blaster pump (with spare O ring seal)
26x2.5" nokian downhill tube for the pugsley and a 26x2.25 tube for all bikes (do as a get-you home tube on the pugsley)
tyre sealant- use this if way out on the beach or a busy road,night time etc...
Co2 bottle and adapter (pugsley tyres take alot of pumping!)
puncture repair kit with shimano rivet link and sram quick link inside
2 park tool levers
spare gear change cable
small stuff goes in a little cordura bag then the tools go in a sealed bag
tubes go in a seperate sealed bag...

this goes in my old trusty camelback blowfish which has a zip that can open the width of the bag for a second external compartment,it too takes a 2 litre drink bladder and has a car key pocket and net bag for ceral bars etc...

its getting a bit old so will replace it this year...with its extra capacity pocket i can add any of this stuff...

front and rear lights- all bikes have brackets fitted for these lights...
and hope stems for the hope HID (high intensity discharge) stem mounting light or helmet mounting light...
cameras-cannon compact and tachyon 2010 xc sports cam...
montane packlight jacket and trousers...
bike lock...
survival blanket...
tub of treats (haribo sports mixture!)...
another spare tube...
hip flask...
waterproof mobile phone...
more food,clothes etc...

all this lot can also go into the big blue karrimor rush air 20 bag which has loads of room and if going bivvying will carry spare clothes too...all bags use the same 2 litre drink bladder so i have one that i use for powder mix drinks...
top tip- keep the drink bladders in the fridge and it stops them getting that black spec alge type stuff on them.. i clean them every couple of months with "milton" baby bottle cleaner...
i can still put everything i need to carry in the epic designs frame bag on either of the surly bikes if i dont want to wear a backpack...
if im going to take alot of pictures or film i also have the gas tank bags to fit ...
it all sits in a box near the back door beside the backpacks and epic design frame bags so i can just grab what i need and go ride...
dont think ive forgotten anything......

springtime dawn...

onto 7am (from 8am) starts this week... always a bit tiring as you lose an hour a night sleep until you start going to sleep earlier- which never happens...
but the earlier starts are often made easier when you get a nice sunrise as you cycle up to work....

and now a bit too early for office worker commuters making there way to edinburgh by car my 3 mile cycle on country hedgelined roads are near car free...which lets you relax and soak up the dawn...and the changes as spring unfolds...from buds on the trees to chicanes of mating toads to noisy crows on the old dead tree...often a buzzard looks down as i pass below perched on its telephone line pole..rabbits..hares and the odd vole is often seen...roe deer sometimes cross infront of me and all this under an orchestra of morning chorus birdsong...this and cycling certainly helps me arrive at work feeling awake...alive...and lucky to appreciate the dawn of each day...

easter sunday beachride...

its that time of year again...kamikazie toads on the roads around here...
i was heading early down to the coast at tyningham-or as we all call it `the nam`...
an early ride being easter sunday as the beach here is busy most sundays but today it will proberly be choc a block by midday...this is my nearest beach for me to ride 2...around 3.5 miles nearly all offroad but by road today as the trails are swamps with recent weather...
onto the beach and alot of debris along the hightide line...i rode the loop out and back around sandy hirst point...

sheltered from the wind the water in the bay at tyne sands was flat calm...

must have been a duck race down the river tyne...`brian No11 your duck is here!`...

then into links wood to ride along the hidden trail above the tideline...struggled a few times here riding clipped in today...

out of links wood to ride around above the coastline past st baldreds cradle...

and the view over the rocks called bathans strand and beyond peffer sands to scoughall rocks (pronunced skoal) and seacliff in the distance...

onto ravensheugh sands and today it was hard and smooth and easy cycling....

the dunes at peffer sands are washed away at there base...bit too steep to ride down!...


never seen this before...sand washed away at the peffer burn exposing a complete WW2 coastal defence anti glider pole... beaches around the UK were covered in these poles to prevent german invasion gliders landing...they were all cut down after the war leaving the stumps and conctete often still seen but somehow this one is complete...

yesterday i came across a boat...today a paddle!...

the WW2 coastal defence machine gun pill box has slide down the dune which has mostly been washed away...shame to see this as stuff like this is part of the history of our coast...

on towards seacliff...passing alot more coastal erosion...



i love the chestnut brown colour of the rock and sand here...shaped by the tide and wind...

and the algae on the rocks here is almost neon green in colour...

at seacliff it was quiet with no visitors...the views here are priceless...




nearly midday...time to head for home...