dRj0n's wanderings

Videodrome.

2012-01-30T19:12:00.001Z

So the sun was shining in the January sky this morning. The RoShamBo was sitting there with that big knobbly tyre on the front. I couldn't say no. Huffed, puffed and schmeared my way around the local woods. Took some video and after passing it through the iMac, here's what i gots....

It's back...

2012-01-29T22:04:00.002Z

My Kelly Ro Sham Bo was my first 29" wheel bike. Over the years it has been pressed into duty in many roles. Most recently it saw time as a fixed gear/fat front bike....then a commuter for a while. Now, the fat front fixed is back...yeah, it looks special....but i'm looking forward to walking those cranks over slimey rocks and letting the Nate do what it looks like it ought to do so very well....

This Dial goes to 11.

2012-01-25T07:50:00.001Z

From the inimitable Roman Dial.

South Shore bikepark.

2012-01-24T19:40:00.002Z

A bike park? in Dorset? Mike Davis' blog post explains all...but this needs a bit of internet crowd action...go to it...and yes, thats Mike Davis of Whatmtb and Privateer etc.

Ptarmigan.

2012-01-21T19:53:00.007Z

A little while ago, i rode/carried up Ben Lomond, turned tail and dropped down. Despite suffering numerous punctures as i plummeted over the sharp rocky trail i had a great time. It was very clear and sunny at the top and, for the first time, i saw the Ptarmigan Ridge trail in sharp relief. This was a little bit of a surprise because i have been up Ben Lomond quite a number of times - by bike and on foot.

Needless to say, the idea of riding that trail has been worming around in my brain for a while.

Whereas the main trail up the Ben has been worked on in order to be sustainable given the presumably large amount of footfall, the Ptarmigan Ridge trail is 'natural' for the most part. As such, it is way less impervious to Scotland's famed precipitation.

Same old same old: tired, unwell and busy. But just just as the cold, low, cloud cleared on occasion as i ascended the mountain, the will and the opportunity coalesced and i had a window to go for a ride. I like my local trails, but at the moment they are sodden and i'm pretty sure we are doing a fair bit of damage as we ride them. I'm philosophical about this...you would never ride in Scotland if you avoided commiting rubber to trail in bad weather. I also have issues riding the same trails time after time. So i dropped Daisy off at nursery and then loaded the car - it's been a while, so i had to find my 'further afield' kit - and after much delay i headed off to the Ben.

Although it was a bright, clear day at the bottom, as i cleared the first portage section i climbed into cloud. There were myriad, amazing frost patterns on the windswept grass. After the plateau-ish area i was into the second portage: it was here i hit boiler plate ice. It was tricky to get to the top, and lets just say the scramble down to the Ptarmigan Ridge from the summit area was interesting. At one point i slipped and mashed my knee into the fork so hard i thought i might actually be out the game. After a bit of massage and cussing, that saw me cooling rapidly in the biting wind, i knew i needed to get moving. Limping along, a sling to attach me to the bike in case of slips, i came to the point where i could ride.

This trail will not be for everyone. In places i was on the limit of my abilities and was having to display some serious cojones. In other places i needed accept my limitations and get off and walk - and not just for ice. This will be a test piece for sure, but it certainly isn't for everyone.

Of course, i wasn't helped by a contaminated front brake on BA. Seems my hose/banjo crimp joint started leaking and dribbled some oil into the caliper. Needless to say it was noisy and sketchier than it needed to be. Despite the odd light, i got some snaps. Maybe a bit too processed, but i think it gives an idea...here you go.

Cunningham.

2012-01-15T08:37:00.002Z

It's no secret i am a massive fan of jacquie phelan and charlie cunningham and, indeed, wilderness trail bikes in its original incarnation. The mix of environmental awareness, focus on a low impact lifestyle, technical and design acumen and pure functionality was and remain second to none.

Anyway, i found this video...short but well worth a view. At any stage in the history of mtb that bike would be fantastic, given the year of its construction it is nothing short of genius.

Charlie Cunningham - "Racer" from Steve Banks on Vimeo.

So, you know, just cos...

2012-01-14T10:12:00.003Z

I have an interest in bicycle related tool chests. A quick search on flickr showed up some rather controversial groups but none i though really relevant. So i started one...bikes and tool chests...enjoy.

A long time coming.

2012-01-12T21:58:00.002Z

Of interest.

2012-01-02T09:23:00.003Z

(pic is Sean's)

As the water level continues to rise around these parts, thanks to colossal rain fall over the last couple of weeks, off-road riding is little and infrequent. As i mentioned before, plans are afoot to build up something with a bit more float that may allow me to not plough too deep a furrow when i do get out.

Sean and Ricky are taking this to the extreme.

I'd suggest following along....a build thread is on the go on empty beer.

Chili verde.

2012-01-02T09:12:00.002Z

Have i done this before on here? dunno. If i have, it's worthy of a repeat, because i have refined my method.

First, grab a highball, put 4 ice cubes in there, stick 4 fingers of decent silver tequila a wedge of squidged lime and a few slugs of decent oj. Sup.

Next, wander over to your iMusic station and toggle through 'til you get to Mastodon. Crack the Skye is ideal, i'd recommend Quintessence is a good start.

Ok. Grab your pile of pork. I went for 500+g of pork belly, 2 loin steaks and a fillet (tenderloin). Also a few hundred grams of lardons to start off with. You want 3-4 onions finely chopped and you want to cook all this down in a BIG pan. Olive oil over a pretty fierce heat initially. Of course in an ideal world, this would be done over wood chips on the bbq or in a smoker, but it is a wet winter in Scotland, so we'll make do. Add some liquid smoke if you have it (if you don't, mail order some from Lupe Pinto's now, that goes for chilis too...).

Once this lot is showing signs of being cooked, add about 3 tablespoons (not a typo) of dried oregano, and you want 8 cloves of finely chopped garlic. Yep, thats not a typo either. Add 500ml of good quality (i can't stress this enough) chicken stock.

Cook for a bit. Meanwile, in a frying pan, soften 2 green peppers, that you chopped to smithereens. Hold on! you are supping your teq and oh, right?. Turn the volume up.

You want 3 or 4 poblanos. Tinned will do (...Lupe...) and a small handful of chopped marinated green chill and rajas and then i add 8-10 pickled chopped serrano's.

Then you want 1 or two tablespoons of flour...you want it to thicken up, but not become a paste. Go easy and stir.

Cook the bugger for as long as you can but keep on top of the fluid level - i'd err on the sloppy side.

If you were in new mexico, you'd probably get this with tortillas and or beans. Id say go for rice. It should be fiery plus plus plus, mmmm'kay? not for the baby or for newbie chili eaters....aim for endorphins and you won't go wrong. Ok go.

Buying fresh chili's in Glasgow might just have become a little easier....Wholefoods is now open in Giffnock. Check it...'Tthebitttt!' says Daisy...

When the going gets weird…

2011-12-25T20:16:00.000Z

A few days ago there was another fresh snow fall to the west coast of Scotland. That led me to commit to a course of action. Riding a normal bike in slushy, waterlogged or snow covered woods is ok once or twice but loses its appeal. Several years ago, I took my Kelly RoShamBo and mounted a jones/vicious fat fork and Paul Whub/uma drilled 50mm front rim with endomorph. Initially my thinkering led me to believe that a 26” rear wheel (with a maxis minion tyre) would balance out the geometry (the fork is 5mm shorter and has more offset than the RoShamBo was designed for, and the endo on a 50mm rim has about ½” less radius than the 29er wheel it replaced. Those frames already have a steepish head angle and I didn’t want to pitch myself too far forward - hence dropping the rear with the smaller wheel.. Of course due to the rim brake frame, that meant going either front brake only, or fixed. Fixed it was. Cue loads of fun. The front wheel had precious little lateral grip in the mud and snow, but careening about pinballing off rocks etc was great fun. Before too long, the low bottom bracket and super relaxed (floppy!) handling made me try a 650b rear wheel. Helped by the excellent Neo Moto tyre, it worked really well. The sun ringle 27mm wide rim was just enough despite pretty low quality material and construction. The bike even survived a strathpuffer…amongst other things.Eventually, the bike was pulled apart to lend things to other projects.

But it is time.

This iteration is going to be a bit different. Surly nate. Is there *anything* else? Maybe the Husker Du’s when they arrive? But meantime flotation and grip will be paramount. Again, the rear will be 650b, but I’m going to lace up a velocity p35. It is the widest rear rim I can find and with a dh tube, should allow me to run stupid low pressures mitigating the imbalance between the nate up front and the skinny rear.

Fixed or front brake only? Saint Franken mech or singlespeed? To be decided….

Unexpected.

2011-12-21T12:10:00.002Z

So it seems when you have a post that is save as a draft, when you go to publish it, it slots in when you started it, not when you finished it...hmm!...so: if you want, scroll down for that one.

Backed up.

2011-12-16T20:17:00.002Z

Written on December 14th 2011.

Yesterday I picked up my 20kg and my 24kg kettlebells and spent 15 minutes swinging and pressing. Then I got out the rollers and saddled up the road bike and punted out 15 minutes or so at a pretty high intensity. At least it felt like a pretty high intensity.

Today, I can feel it. Feel the pain in the stabilising muscles and in the hamstrings. That tells me I’m way out of shape. It’s not OK, but it’s ok. There are reasons I haven’t been exercising at my usual levels. I may never be able to again. All in all, I need to change the way I 'do' exercise. What remains is the fact that I feel better when I do a certain level and intensity of physical work. I am committed to the act and the results of training.

I was reflecting on the fact that for 2012 I have no goals. In an idle moment I was thinking of trying to enter the Trans Provence. Following that race this year was a thrill. With one thing and another, I couldn’t fit it in, and felt a tinge of disappointment about that as a couple of friends have had their entries confirmed. Not only would I like to do the thing, i'd like to do it with them. But, you know, I’ve been pretty lucky. Or maybe luck isn’t the right word – I’ve been pretty committed to riding in some amazing places over the years. No reason for that to change.

What really struck home was the number of places I have been that have featured in videos that are doing the rounds at the moment: Rossland, BC, Rotorua, NZ and even our own Ben A’an right here in Scotland. Yeah, it’s been ok. Just in case you have missed any, here are those videos.

House of the Big Wheel Part 2: Hei Hei and King Kahuna from Kona Bikes on Vimeo.

Trail Notes - Official Trailer from Cadre Productions on Vimeo.

Ever decreasing circles...

2011-12-10T21:02:00.003Z

Illness: 3 of us.
Hard work: here, and there.
Time is of the essence and in short supply. It's not a sob story or a saga. Just reality.

The snow came. For a short time it gave me sanctuary.

In the night, before sleep i am reading of cold, far off places. Kiss or kill: by Mark Twight, and now End of the Earth by Peter Mathiessen. All to soon, if Daisy doesnt wake us convulsing with vomit in the dark hours, the hours that should be occupied purely by dreams, the weak sun fights to break night's hold on the land.

Hope is born anew.

Sublimity and ridiculousness.

2011-12-04T09:13:00.007Z

At the risk of turning this blog from a cycling-centric monologue into a D.I.Y how-to, the last 24 hours has been all about cast iron and what NOT to do with it.

When we moved house, one of the primary features of the living space was a cast iron spiral staircase. Now, if you were thinking "Oooo! there just isn't enough cast iron stair in my life" at any point, let me counsel you to stop and think once more. Because when you conclude that your decision lacked clarity, and you want to move the beast out of your house, lets just say it takes a fair old bit of elbow grease. Yet again, i owe my dad big time for the efforts.

Then of course once you have done this, stir in a generous portion of your just-well daughter vomiting her guts up 'til midnight. Stir and take it all down the hatch without a scratch.

I should add, i HATE the smell of vomit. I doubly hate the smell of vomit as it is soaking though my clothes. The poor, wee lamb - i could cry for her...i really could.

Ok: other stuff.

New Black Keys album soon.
New The Roots album soon.

The P Phone has ended her incarceration. She went outside for the first time in ~6 weeks yesterday. Her new porthole into the outside wall is perhaps a little snug fitting, but i'm sure its just her winter coat, right?

Talking of which...

Pegboard!

2011-11-28T20:35:00.003Z

Forever. That is how long i have wanted a pegboard tool board. Yes, yes, yes i keep most of the tools in a tool chest. Doesn't matter one jot. I still want - and now have - a pegboard tool hanger system. Getting pegboard in the UK isn't easy: this was mail order. Still, with a wee bit of the saw, the drill and the screwdriver, i have a perfectly servicable pegboard now. Bliss!

It looks a little like a polka albino monolith from 2001: a space odyssey, but it makes me happy.

I am running up a massive debt of intended posts, i am also so far behind on personal comms it wouldn't surprise me if people disown me. Gah! every 5 minutes seems to have 10 minutes worth of tasks vying for attention. I'll get there, but this suffocating, drowning sensation is driving me nuts.

Onwards...

Self affirming delusions.

2011-11-18T16:19:00.007Z

It is my suspicion that most people live their lives buoyed by a degree of self affirming delusion. How could it not be so? Take, well, me for example. I think of myself as a constructive part of a family, a friend, a bike rider (and occasionally a racer), an aspiring epicurean and somone who puts a fair amount of effort into my work.

An objective outsider might question if any of these facets were realistic given the way the last few weeks have transpired. Am i maintaining my opinion of myself with delusion? After all, there has been no real affirmitive activity. Most often, a generally well adjusted adult will be able to maintain their 'adequacy' even in the face of low levels of supportive input. However, over time, surely it must take its toll?

Is this the reason for the generalised ennui it is hard to ignore in society? On a personal level, there is no hiding my occasional bouts of grumpiness of late, which I am certain are related to the lack of upkeep of the things i believe are the pillars of my personality. However, there has not been any time for all of that: i am more than happy to be focussed on other great and good things at the moment and although I would not say my belief is impregnable, it is most likely that this is a temporary situation.

Why type all this? The other day i finished the things i wanted to do with enough time to escape for a last minute local ride. I plucked the Maul from the rack as (rather unbelievably) i hadnt ridden the bike in the UK. Despite the appaling conditions, i wanted to savor the outcome of Sean and my efforts at creating a truly unique and rewarding tool. Needless to say, it was tantamount to abuse to put such a machine to work in the slop, goop and muck. But it fed my soul. It will keep me afloat for another couple of weeks until things calm down. Or... maybe they wont calm down. Maybe i will need to adapt.

Reagrdless, dont forget to try and spend just a little time doing the things you love to do. With a little nurturing, i will keep on charging. So will you.

Mohandas Gandhi

2011-11-17T22:22:00.002Z

Amongst many, many thought provoking and profound comments Gandhi made, this one appeals to me greatly:

'You must be the change you wish to see in the world.'

Yup.

Alastair Humphrey's microadventures.

2011-11-14T20:28:00.004Z

So, every now and then i catch up with what the prolific Mr Humphrey's has been up to... i was happy to see he has been up the Cuillin ridge and pleasantly surprised that this micro adventure was shared with Alex Glasgow - a friend i don't see enough of.

Mountain Microadventure: Climbing the Cuillin Ridge from Alastair Humphreys on Vimeo.

The Cuillin ridge is a piece of this earth i have great respect and love for. And the riding round there ain't bad either.

Good work...

Future includes.

2011-11-13T20:52:00.001Z

Virginia Mountain Bike Trail from Scott Wootten on Vimeo.

When moustaches go critical.

2011-11-11T21:50:00.003Z

Thursday was one such day. You know it is coming, as you chew a sandwich an errant moustache hair makes its way between your incisors and makes for an unpleasant tugging sensation. Or you may wake up with a saliva soaked pelt on you lip. Either way, it is a sign that the manly display you take such pride in needs some love...

It is true that when you have packed all your facial hair preening products and accessories sometimes this task takes a back seat....but all too soon, things go critical. You can't eat, speak, cope with any breeze in to your face without follicular invasion of the mouth.

It may be Mo'vember, but you need to keep things tidy.

Anyway, been juggling a lot of stuff. There are one or two projects on the go, but infancy, nay concept stage. The most interesting is linking a set of new style xt levers to an old set of either Saint or xt calipers. I am undecided as to whether Goodridge, or Shimano will provide the hose via either Saint high pressure hose, or SM90 xtr hose and also what bore of hose insert i'll use. We'll see....it needs a bit of tinkering. Part of me is loathe to break up the Saint brake set i have cos i might try and find a new home for them, but it would be fun to try.

Chipps popped by as well...a surprise visit that was very welcome indeed. We don't see enough of each other at the mo', a situation that i'm sure will improve. I haven't managed to get down to the valley this year....which just goes to show: the speeding-up-of-just-about-everything takes a firmer grip. Good to see good people.

We also need to repatriate the cat at some point. The P-phone has been holidaying with my mum and dad...she always seems so serene and calm after a time with them...we'll need to work out what we will allow her access to while she aquants herself with the new territory...hopefully it won't lead to bother for her.

And you know, i might try and ride a bike soon. Talking of which, the story of the new 6 mile commute is kinda chewing on me at the moment....why do people become fangs-bared-maniacs as soon as they get in their metal/wheeled boxes?

And last -but far, far from least - our baby girl is one on wednesday. One. what an immense, mind-boggling, entertaining, rewarding, consuming year it has been, It has gone by in the blink of an eye, so much has changed, so many charged events. Bonkers. Here's to year two.

It's been ages, right?...

2011-11-06T20:26:00.004Z

...since i updated the blog....feels like it at least. Every day has been played out at one hundred miles per hour. Maybe more. I am so far behind on things like e-mails i may collapse yahoo's server. However, the fruits of the labour are worth the backlog.

This is the new kitchen. We are fortunate that Daisy has *very* helpful and caring grandparents. The list of things they have all done for us over the last few weeks (let alone years!) is long indeed. A big, big thank you for all the hard work. For instance, my dad took a week from work to come through and help me rip out the old kitchen (that had a mouse colony in it...oh, the smell.....oh....) and build a new one, whilst re-wiring and re-plumbing all the new stuff in. I have learned over the years a small percentage of his knowledge in terms of this sort of project and there is always more to learn...its *great* fun, if hard work, especially over the last 12 hours where things have been at an 'almost done' stage. This might give some idea of where we started...

So, a few colour charts, a little more wiring, some plaster finishing and painting and we can move on to the next room...
I'm sore and tired, tasks like breaking down the old marble work surfaces was really heavy work, but i'm stoked with the results.

Whisky in the jar.

2011-10-29T15:30:00.002+01:00

Well, Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA anyway.

Packing up is sort of cathartic, sort of sad. Neither of us slept well last night, i guess anticipating today's hard work...Nearly done.

Not long 'til we're outta here...

2011-10-27T18:28:00.003+01:00

Nearly there...nearly.

A few things have been found, or perhaps re-located would be the best way to say it...take this:

The glass was given to entrants at the 2005 singlespeed worlds in State College, PA. To my mind, the best course i've ridden at a sswc, though there have been so many shining examples. The beer is local to that area: it is the last 90 minute IPA i have in the beer store. Savouring it slowly, particularly as the potent 9% will take my head off as exhaustion means i have very little beer capacity.

Lots of things are happening. I need to write up our experiences at the Mugdock round of the 'cross season. I managed to force a 16th place finish. A great race, but again, the weather had left a mud bath for riders to ride in. Persephone is fighting too - for territory. A new feline arrival is causing havoc with established areas. I'm sure it will work out, but i couldn't help but yell an internal "go girl!' as she chased off the much larger male interloper this morning.

I may also have a new role to fulfil soon. It should be fun, but is under wraps at present. Still haven't ridden a bike, but there are more pressing tasks to attend to.

What else....wordpress or typepad? or stick with this? who knows....

Unpacking & packing.

2011-10-22T19:50:00.006+01:00

So i finally got the Maul built up today...in a previous life a time delay this long would have been unthinkable...but so it goes....it was cool to get it back together and add the few finishing touches - ti rotor bolts, caliper and brake bolts, bottle cage bolts, headset adjustment bolt, and drop the bars 3mm.

Nope, i havent had chance to get out and ride...it has been so damn wet here that is not such a big deal...but i will, soon.

Tomorrow it is 'cross race number 2 for me, 3rd in the season, and one of my favourites: Mugdock!...local riding and a not very 'cross 'cross course...but good fun. I released the Iron Maiden bike from the grip of the concrete like mud that it had been encased in, Han Solo like, since Plean, but didnt have time to do a full clean up job. Talking of Plean, i finally got a write up onto the VC Moulin blog. Check it.

You might notice that the layout and background on this blog have changed again. Somewhere along the line i burnt my bridges and so i lost a shit load of stuff, such as the flickr link window and the nicely organised links i had. Pretty grumpy about all that, but it seems i'm not the only one grumbling about blogger....we'll see how this plays out. I got damn close to shutting the whole thing down....

Anyway.

Perhaps of interest, there is an interview i did with Benji for Singletrack World in the current issue, 69, of Singletrack mag. I'm not clear if you gain much, but there is some history there and a general insight in to what makes me tick - bikewise at least....it is generally a good issue, with interesting tests of the Jones steel diamond frame and the Mukluk from Salsa and various other interesting articles....

Talking of interesting bits, i still need to write up my visit to Ruckus Components in Portland - two interesting and talented guys weaving magic from carbon fibre, and also the Oregon Manifest Constructors competition show.

I'll get to it..

Updates, sort of...

2011-10-17T19:07:00.002+01:00

I've been using blogger for some time now...it is inevitable that you start to mess around with the html as you go along. Add a widget here, re-space the content there, add a flickr link etc etc.

I don't know if blogger has thrown the toys out the pram, or whether the mess i made in there was just too much, but recently lots of things haven't been working out. Links and past entires were somewhat penitently buried under the main text and the links were getting unwieldy at best.

So, i tried to do some sorting out and hey presto! everything went sideways.

Hmmm...

So here you have my, at best, temporary fix. It may well last long enough to become otherwise. It is 'dynamic' apparently, but lacks links and other widgets...not sure how much that matters or not....got an opinion? Do play around with the layout options if you like.

Meanwhile, i'm collecting my thoughts after a rather messy 'cross race...here's a pic of my most important fan in the mean time

Currently, i am listening to: Talkdemonic - thank you Mr Vernor.

Are you 'cross enough?

2011-10-15T19:28:00.003+01:00

The Photo is my wifes. It may well be the last time - or there abouts - i raced 'cross. The year before last, give or take. I'd like to think i was passionate about 'cross, but compared to the zealotry it engenders in some bike racers i'll admit that i'm relatively ambivalent - hence the hiatus. As harsh as that sounds, i do like racing 'cross. It is fast, furious and generally gets a lot of crunched up angst out of the system. If you aren't tasting blood, you probably aren't trying hard enough and to not try hard enough is to miss the point of 'cross entirely.

So tomorrow, i'm going to drag my exhausted, out of shape, weak and soft carcass to Plean for the next round of the Scottish cyclocross series. I may very well race at Mugdock the following weekend as well.

I *will* race my guts out.

To that end, i have a new secret weapon (no, not a bike) that will give me special powers and may offset a little of the weaksauce i am currently bathed in. The bike has been slightly updated: lower, more aggressive, smaller gear, new rear tyre. Better lube the chain, dig out the embrocation and get ready to rumble.

Minneapolis West.

2011-10-09T15:06:00.000+01:00

Heading home now. In some ways, it seems to have been a loooong trip. In others, very short. What i would definitely say is it has been highly enjoyable. Portland has a nice way of life: the priorities seem in good order. People, health, food, quality of life issues. I'll be back for sure.

Highlights? Catching up with Sean and family. The Maul, of course!...surpassing all my objectives, aesthetically, and functionally. Awesome!. Riding in sight of Mt Hood. Again, thanks to Kevin and Sean for that one. Doing a little welding with some ti tubes. I'm going to come back to this in a future post. I had chance to catch up with Nick Sande as well - and we reflected on his bike packing trips out of Portland. The area is ripe for that sort of thing, with major differences in climate as you move over the rain shadow of the mountains, east towards Bend.

I also managed a short trip to the Museum of Contemporary Craft to check out the winners of the Oregon Manifest design challenge. Say what you like about expensive, custom commuting bikes, but i fully expect to see some of the design features here trickle down and make your next town bike a whole lot better to use. I also had a great time visiting Ruckus Components. Super bright guys.

I didnt get chance to ride the Mackenzie River trail, which i had been hoping to cram in. No matter, it's not going anywhere...I'm looking forward to seeing my baby and my baby now. Persephone needs a wee hug and a head scratch too. Home soon.

Travel.

2011-10-02T09:54:00.003+01:00

Wish my ladies were coming with me. A brief sojourn in the Pacific Northwest.

Another view...

2011-09-29T21:57:00.002+01:00

A few posts ago i waffled on about making plans for the future and sort of chipping away at them to make big things actually happen.

This is the view from the west of the summit of Ben Lomond. Perhaps due to its proximity to civilisation, if Glasgow can be called such!, this hill doesnt have any real attraction to those who live for the wild places. It is often busy, which robs it of the isolation and maybe even the sense of risk that walkers desire. Nevertheless, as a bike route it has some good attributes. The west highland way, which runs along side Ben Lomond, is pretty good riding at this stage. You can be up it in under 2 hours, with good sections being rideable. It is a pretty reasonable technical descent. Nothing mind boggling, or with crushing exposure, but a good solid work out for rider and bike the whole way down. I had never considered the Ptarmigan Ridge of Ben Lomond before (which is what i am looking at in the above picture). But, you know, i might just have to pretty soon...it looks like it might be a little more involving...and that is no bad thing.

These are not termed the bonny banks for nothing...

Only the other day...

2011-09-29T21:41:00.002+01:00

'Only the other day i looked forward to this airy barrier as a definite point in our journey homewards; but now i find it, all such resting-places for the imagination are like shadows, which a man moving onwards cannot catch.'

This was Charles Darwin in his Beagle journal. I came across this quote the other day in a book about a journey to the Antarctic. It describes the sense that often the physical way points of a journey take on a lesser quality when compared to the effects on the person that takes place concurrently and as a result of the journey.

This is something i wholly subscribe to.

9 teeth is all you need.

2011-09-20T20:27:00.005+01:00

A little while ago, i posted about new school micro drive mtb clusters. There are lots of reasons why they make sense. Suffice to say that with a 9, 10 and 11 tooth at the high range on the cluster, going down to 32, 34 or even 36 with 9 or 10 speeds gives a huge spread and although the 9 tooth might put more strain on the chain and be slightly less mechanically efficient in lab conditions, covered in mud and given how lttle time you spend in your top gear, and how low the torque is in that gear (admit it!), i doubt durability will be that much of an issue...but think of the benefits....!

(pic is Pinkbikes, from an article about this custom DT freehub body for Sam Hill and the rest of the Specialized DH boys bikes. I'm pretty sure this is a Shimano Capreo compatible system).

Exactly!

For the record the development (as in the distance a 26" wheel bike moves with one rotation of the pedals) for a 36:11 gear is 7.053m. Let's say you had a block with 9 teeth on the smallest sprocket, the same development, more or less, is achieved with a 30 tooth front cog (7.183m). So imagine how real-world useful a 32 or 34 chainring with a 9-34 or even 36 rear cluster would be?

(pic is VitalMTB's from their excellent interbike coverage).

Enter Canfield Brothers. With a can-do attitude, and a broad range of mountain bikes in their portfolio (including a new interest in 29er am hardtail set ups), they are bringing to market a hub that will work on most rear standards (135mm, 150mm, 157mm and i believe qr or 12mm and 9 and 10 speed compatible) that has a freehub body optimised to run the bottom 3 sprockets of a Shimano Capreo cassette. If you haven't heard of the Capreo group, it was designed to work with small wheel road bikes - think folders, Bromptons etc. 'Course with a small wheel, you need big gear ratios to give you resonable development. So, you use massive chainrings or small clusters. Bingo. The 11 tooth has a female fitting over the end of the cassette body splines (look up at that top pic) and it has male splines that the 10 tooth fits onto. This in turn has male splines that the 9 tooth fits on to and there is an external lockring that threads onto the end of the stepped down section of the freehub body. You only lose a small amount of lateral space for the bearings that typically fit in the freehub body.

I want one...or maybe 2...yes, i hope DT market the freehub body so i can use my DT hubs, but i think i'll be getting one of the Canfield hubs when it hits the market. With Hope also playing with this system, i doubt it will be long until really wide range 1x10 set ups are common place.

A hill.

2011-09-18T22:06:00.001+01:00

The Wind as allegory and the 'cross season.

2011-09-17T12:25:00.007+01:00

So much. So much.

The 'cross season is around the corner...last year i managed somewhere in the region of zero cross races. This year i'm hoping to try a little harder. We'll see how we go. As part of my 'cross specific training program, i spent a bit o' time parked on my fat arse looking at pictures of what is going on at interbike. Theres been some stuff of interest to me at eurobike and interbike, and one of those items is the even fatter tyres from Surly.

I think this picture (belonging to Chris King's flickr) sums it up best...

By this time in the year, over the last decade, i would probably be coming down off somewhere in the region of 12 plus hours of riding a week. At present i'm squeaking out about 2. I'm fried by work and the constant battering of 4.30am wake ups with Daisy. She is just getting crawling going with a consistent forward direction (you should have seen the look of surprise on her face as she went for something in fornt of her, but ended up reversing and often pirouetting around over the last fortnight). We're kind of hoping that as she gets less frustrated and more mobile and thus presumably more tired she sleeps a little more...we could certainly do with it.

As such, you've got to find the time to squeeze in what you can, right? so when i took my car to the garage i use in Bathgate, i decided to ride back to Glasgow. Of course, i knew we were still under the effects of Hurricane Katia and as such i would face a headwind for 60 km. Well i did. A brutal, mind numbing and deafening headwind. I learnt all about the larger cogs on the 10 speed block and was incredibly grateful that i had the foresight to bring an ipod to provide a psychological boost as the wind roared through me. Still, despite managing to get lost yet again as the national cycle route 75 takes detours and bypasses building work in Airdrie, i got home somewhat happy that i had chipped out a couple of hours ride time.

So with that, i'll turn on the iplayer and watch some of this weeks rugby world cup with a beer and a thousand mile stare...Hodala!...here's to cross season!...

(Picture is the Bikehugger's...)

Saint 2012?

2011-09-09T11:35:00.000+01:00

A few posts back i had wondered aloud whetehr Aaron Gwin's rear derailleur might be a mash up of the xtr trail plus and Saint mechs. It might be, but here, 4 minutes in on Pinkbike's 'just the tip', Brett Tippie and Monkey (the Trek world racing mechanic) discuss the new (presumably Saint) shimano brake and rear mech prototypes Mr Gwin was using in Champerey.

Eyes peeled - i can only imagine what the new Saint brakes will be like given the transformation the xc orientated ones have had and that rear mech is on the want list.

Course some other guy called 'Danny' is in there too...

New World Order.

2011-09-07T20:11:00.002+01:00

There has been lots to see at Eurobike...several things i am interested in are the advent of lighter 83mm bb cranks (such as the e thirteen 'r' model and a slew of lightweight race bikes - most interesting of which were the pro's 'works' bikes - Flükiger's Trek and Nino Schurter's Scott for example...love that stuff...

But the game changer in some ways has to be the proto Maxxis Minion 2.5 29er tyre. Seen on twentynineinches.com. As one of the most respected 'all mountain' tyres it heralds the new world order.

Daisy's Adventures: Bike ride!

2011-09-05T18:01:00.002+01:00

Daisy's adventures: bike ride!

Seafood and pork Étoufée.

2011-08-31T15:54:00.004+01:00

Étoufée is a cajun dish - usually a mixture of fish over rice. It is less sloppy than gumbo, but similar in the use of the dark roux and the Louisiana 'holy trinity' of onions, green peppers and celery.

I mix in a bit of pork: lardons, bacon, you choose and i tend to use more veg than the typical recipe.

Here you go (for 4 servings).
Pour yourself a boozy drink.
Quaff deeply.
Make a dark roux.
Add a little olive oil and then the chopped head of celery, 2 chopped green peppers, 4-6 spring onions chopped and a large, spanish onion, again, chopped finely.
Give it about 5 minutes on a medium heat and add the lardons, chopped bacon or whatever. I also will sometimes add some pulled, boiled chicken breast at this point (boil some chicken with some oregano and maybe some garlic, long and slow).
Quaff deeply if you havent already, and take in the aroma of cooking cured pork. Ahhhhhh! bacon!.....
Stir in 500ml of chicken stock. The higher quality (home made?) the better.
Add 1-2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper, 1-2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, A few sprigs of fresh thyme (dried will do) a bunch of parsley, chopped and 3-4 bayleaves - again, ideally fresh - scrunch them up to release the oils.
After seasoning, simmer for half an hour or so.
Add scallops - as many as you fancy and prawns too. Give it a couple of minutes, then add a lump of dressed crab (maybe 200g+?) and either a carton of cream (volume as you see fit 200ml or so ?) if you want to chase the heart attacks, or perhaps 2% Total or similar greek yoghurt and get it off the heat.

Serve over boiled rice, with Louisianna hot sauce - i like Crystal - some chopped parsley and perhaps a wedge of lemon.

Yo.

? φιλοσοφία

2011-08-29T09:34:00.003+01:00

That is Greek...and it means 'love of wisdom'...translates to philosophy. A little while back i waffled on about the fact my philosophy as regards riding was changing. Perhaps changing isn't the right word. Developing? maturing? going mouldy? heh!...Then because i didnt actually know how to define philosophy, i ended up doing a bit of wikipediaing and getting all excited by Stoicism. But i'm back now...

Despite arguably having had some good results in the (2 ?) races i entered this year, my interest in racing is waning. Clock watching, intervals, riding not-just-for-fun hasn't been doing it much over the last 12-18 months.

On the other hand, despite significant amounts of hike-a-bike and peat bogs, grand, backcountry-ish style loops have my full attention. Yes, you might end up riding for 10 hours, 1 of which is golden, but all in all a 1:10 ratio isn't all that bad...in fact, it's probably good. The work to get to out of the way places, to sample trails or views that few others do, is definitely a driving force at the moment. But it is not a oneupmanship sort of a thing. I thrive on solitude in the hills, i relish hard work in order to witness remote places. Yeah, i hate carrying my bike down rivers or through bogs, but it comes with the territory.

Anyway, yesterday i got a late start and after peering at some maps for a while, i decided to head west along Loch Voil (because i never have) and take a look at the Inverlochlarig area. This is a dead end road that grants access to the bottom of a group of mountains that define the north east end of Loch Lomond.

I have always been intrigued by the area, as the access in and out of it seems to be primarily from the west and north. What if i could traverse this area and by doing so link up the west of Loch Lomond (that acts as a great scar down the centre-west of scotland) and the area to the east - the Trossachs and Perthshire. It would be a big loop, almost definitely an overnighter if not two, but it would link up massive amounts of trail close to home...

It needs more work, particularly as the trail as you move to the west side looks like it could be both steep and very boggy in places. But the tops of Beinn a'Chroin An Caisteal and Beinn Chabhair look like they provide that precious, sweet singletrack with incredible views even if in some places it appears there might be a bit of scrambling. So one or two more reconnaissance trips and then we'll see if we can get it done before the snows fall.

A hack saw, a Dremel and a set of files.

2011-08-27T14:20:00.002+01:00

So i got a set of the M985 Trail pedals (185g) and got to work....

It was a little nerve wracking at times...ripping up a brand new set of expensive pedals will do that i guess, but i only slipped with the file a couple of times and pedals get bashed up pretty quickly, so no matter.

Once the cage was cut down and most of the residual teeth filed down (i left a couple to aid flipping during engagement) the weight was 165g - not that i'm counting, but the Race pedals are only 155g...and these have *way* more surface area...

They are going to rock...

Anyone need some M970 xtr pedals going cheap? :-)~

Then i finished off the guide...

This required more cutting, filing, sanding and a little material removed from the outer/lower edge of the plastic bit of the guide cage...this gives me the clearance i need between the crank arm inner surface and the guide. Sweet.

Next.

2011-08-24T19:22:00.002+01:00

This is a shimano M980 'race' xtr pedal.

Notice the pedal surface area (raw aluminium sections over the axle). This represents a huge (was it 400% ?) increase in surface area over the M970 xtr pedal. Can you feel it? most definitely! No foot hotspots, much more solid connect, easier to stand on un-clipped, likely increase in pedaling efficiency without resorting to carbon solde shoes you cant walk in... In some ways it makes the M970 obsolete...a shame as i have 3 sets on the go, all in perfect working order. But in riding, the M980 is streets ahead....i *love* it...Now, if you have seen bikerumor.com*, you may have looked at the article on Chris DeNoma's bike - a beautiful orange IF. Being a shimano rep, he's going to have some hop ups and black box type stuff, right? well precious little, but one thing he did have...

...was a modified M985 xtr 'trail' pedal. Basically he cut away the extended cage fore and aft. Look again at the raw aluminium flat area...its HUGE....precious little weight gain over the 'race' model, by removing the near useless extra cage, but a further massive increase in pedaling surface area. Errr, win?

My next project....

*Link to bikerumor.com article:

Maul's rear end.

2011-08-24T07:53:00.000+01:00

All curves...

The Maul: almost ready for tacking and more components.

2011-08-23T19:37:00.002+01:00

I'm really, really pleased about the lines of the frame. I wasnt sure what the sliders with the sweet stays (swoopy seat stays) would be like, but all i can say is i'm stoked. No, make that über stoked.

A bit more on this bike: Sean took my random ramblings and created a blueprint for a bike that will allow me to go from a-b as fast as possible for races lasting 10+ hours. This is where i lay my hat, in a competitive sense. There is nothing to hide behind on this build. I thought long and hard on it - optimisation is the word that springs to mind. Even if a choice was complex, everything here is exactly as it should be for the use intended.

A few more parts...

No, it doesnt have any weird, 2 headset sort of things going on. Maul will have a red/black/raw ti theme...the mango bb and headset will get slotted onto BA. King bearings are second to none in the Scottish sludge. Enve/Edge make some of the finest parts and rims i have used. It is what it is.

Out and about.

2011-08-22T19:02:00.001+01:00

Today, we were out and about - Macpac style.

Daisy's Burley.

2011-08-22T09:02:00.003+01:00

It became clear a few weeks ago that we were going to have to get Daisy mobile without the use of petroleum. She loves seeing the trees move in the wind and feeling the air as it rushes by. So i did a bit of reading, a bit of asking around and came to the conclusion that baby trailers and seats *both* have their place.

A good friend of mine had a Burley trailer that he had been on many an adventure with his sons and after he accepted way too little cash for it, and another good friend went way out of his way to deliver it, Daisy got her first wheels.

Burley trailers are ingenious. They are big and, well, burley but they fold down and are extremely user friendly. After attaching it to the bike, we took off for a trial run. Daisy is quite wee for the harness as is. More good advice from a good friend and Burley user was to pack her in with pillows and cushions. We have also ordered a snuggle seat that will hopefully help.

At first it was all smiles, but without padding things got quite sideways and admittedly there were some tears and snotters.

In addition, Daisy will be helping out on the neighbours school run. Or maybe that would be hindering, we'll see! but now, she also has a rack-seat...again, at first it was all smiles...and i'm sure once she is used to it - and the helmet! - it will all be good. But the first run did lead to some tears...and snotters!....

It's all good.

Recipe needed...

2011-08-20T21:26:00.002+01:00

Apricot and pine nut piñon chutney:

Toast pine nuts in a pan (1/3 cup).
Combine the pound of dried apricots and the 1/2 cup dark raisins in a bowl and pour in 4 cups boiling water, leaving to stand for 10 mins. Drain the fruit but save a cup of the juice.

In a heavy bottomed pan, combine the soaked fruit, reserved water, 2/3 cup white wine vinegar, 2/3 cup sugar and 2 small red dried chiles (maybe de arbol? or japones?).

Cook over a medium heat for 30 ish minutes and let cool, then stir in the pine nuts....leave it to mellow for 24 hours and it will keep for a month.

A day off.

2011-08-19T17:42:00.003+01:00

I took a day off work today. Kinda needed some chill time and trina's maternity leave is coming to an end, so we thought we'd take the opportunity (with Daisy kindly being looked after by her grandparents) to go out for dinner.

But what to do during the day? The last few months have left me with a long list of things i needed to do, but were not critical. This was the day.

Mostly this revolved around getting the bikes running better. You guessed, right?

So:
1) Replace gold bolts on crank for The Maul with red ones. Swap 34 tooth ring for 35 tooth one.

2) Clean and replace oil in wiper seals on Fox forks.

3) Replace chain guide and crank on BA.

4) File down the TALAS knob on the Fox fork on BA. The lever, if the fork is in short travel setting hits the down tube as i discovered the other day. You *know* one day you will forget about this, crash and thwack either the lever off or leave a dent in the down tube. Best do it now.

5) Adjust the thru axle so the bite point is in a better place.

6) Strip EBB from Jones and clean it, re-grease and...

...use light Loctite on the thread of the wedges in the mechanism and replace in bike. I've been having to re-tighten the EBB every 4-5 hours of riding which seems like too frequently...after a chat with the guys at Bushnell, we'll see how this goes.

7) Flip Jones bars then re-fit brake levers etc. Re-flip as it clearly wasn't right.

8) Check alignment of TS-2 wheel jig.

9) Carefully strip down the Bontrager Duster rim from a Paul whub and rebuild wheel with a Stan's Flow. Always be careful as Stan's underestimate the ERD of the rims by at least one mm if not two.

Love building wheels...

10) Change tyres over to winter tyres. Its a sign of the times.

11) Replace the block on the road bike (105 now ultegra) and fit RWS skewers to finish off the wheels. Sweet as.

All in all, a productive day.

Also, i got to take Daisy for her first ride in the Burley the other day.....that needs it's own post though...

Metalwork.

2011-08-14T19:42:00.004+01:00

After a bit of hurried metalwork, i removed some material from the e type e thirteen guide. it now mounts flush to the Blackspire iscg05 plate and with a bit of messing around with clearances, i had an e thirteen based guide that will work with the chainring in the outer position on the xtr M980 crank. Sweet!. it has plenty of clearance between the crank arms and the guide but may need a tiny sliver of plastic shaved from the bottom of the outer plate/lower radius of the guide *if* i decide to use a 34 tooth ring. With 35 teeth and 36 teeth rings, it clears the outward angled crank arm inner surface well. Phew.

I was nervous about attempting all this, because i really wanted it to work. After looking at it all i knew it would be close.

So it was...

The Maul: components, part 1.

2011-08-13T20:02:00.004+01:00

Part number one.

The ring may get flipped or changed out, perhaps to a 35 and perhaps to a Homebrrewed Components ring. Or Carbon Ti. Or maybe even an action tec heat treated ti ring. We'll see. But its exciting to finally start getting some of the pieces out of the boxes they have been stored in as i have collected them.

Next up is getting the guide sorted. More to come.

Project Maul.

2011-08-11T08:15:00.001+01:00

Dry fitting the front end....

Pretty stoked right now.

Pic is Sean's. Go to Vertigo Cycles flickr for more.

Stuc a'Chroin.

2011-08-09T08:24:00.003+01:00

Big day in the hills yesterday. Pretty severely broken. I think i'm beginning to get some sort of appreciation of what My Vertigo is going to allow me to do: despite a fair bit of portage and boggy sections between Ben Vorlich and Stuc a'Chroin, the descent down to Loch Earn ranks up at the very top of anything i have ridden. Wild riding.

More on this ride shortly, when i have collected my thoughts. I've been changing my philosophy of route choice recently and not saying too much about it...

Gears on a singlespeed.

2011-08-06T19:24:00.002+01:00

So the pinkster has vertical dropouts, no hanger and an ebb. Its a great bike to ride loaded, it should be! it was designed and built with input from some of the best brains i know - Tim at Sideways, the guys at Independent Fabrication and, well, me :-)~

Although touring on dirt/off/roads is pure and simple on a singlespeed - and makes sense! (are you in a rush? do you want to have fewer mechanical issues? ) - occasional use of gears is something i have become pretty interested in.

Enter the frankenmech.

Saint M800 thru axle mount on a 10mm DT swiss rws. It has an 11 tooth upper jockey and 13 tooth lower on a short cage (just cos...) and i will replace the b tension bolt for a longer version as i will be using it initially with a 6 speed 17-34 block. The arc the mech needs to take to clear this is much more severe than if you use a deeper/more cog block It is not impossible i'll need to space it out from the frame. We'll see....

More once it is mounted and working.

Something wicked this way comes...

2011-08-06T19:22:00.002+01:00

Things are afoot.

More as it happens...

Big jockey wheels keep on rollin'

2011-08-04T19:40:00.002+01:00

The 13 tooth jockey wheels arrived. Its surprising how big they seem compared to the normal 11 toothers on shimano mechs. I am not at all convinced i will notice any difference, but the theory is that a bigger wheel forces the chain through less-tight bends and is thus more efficient. It may be a little more noticeable in mud as well. We'll see...

Spending sofa time with Daisy....

2011-07-31T18:19:00.001+01:00

It was Mike's idea...

Riding The Long White Cloud - Trailer from friendlyfire on Vimeo.

Yurp.

2011-07-29T20:20:00.002+01:00

Yurp. It's an M985 xtr shadow rear derailleur. So what? It's on Aaron Gwin's bike. It isnt stock. It's got a Saint short cage melded to what will be the standard parallelogram body. Whats so tough about that? it's been done before (see sicklines modded M972 xtr/Saint mech).

Well, i'm not so sure...see, the bolt that holds the body to the cage usually marries up to a stub axle on the outer cage, concentric with the pulley centre. If you look at the shimano tech docs for all these mechs, the Saint cage should be compatible with most xtr bodies, but the shadow has a different stub axle on the outer cage - much smaller in diameter. The attachment bolt seems quite different. I'm guessing that is because the mechanism that controls the damping of the movement of the mech is situated in the same area. 'Course at £135 for the shadow and £100 for the Saint, i dont want to attempt this and find it doesn't work without impossible-for-me modifications.

But why do i even want to do this in the first place? Well, i ride in Scotland. Scotland is home to heather. Heather and derailleurs don't mix at all well. Minimising contact between heather and derailleurs is paramount, especially if you are going to be out in the boonies. I really like the idea of using an i-spec mount for the new Vertigo, with a 1x10. 1x10 doesn't need the chain take up of a GS or SGS cage. Would i be willing to give up the Saint short cage to get the 10 speed ? (the throw geometry is differnt with the new 10 speed dyna sys, so i cant use all the 10 speed stuff with the 9 speed mech, and the i-spec mount isnt compatible with 9 speed shifters). Probably...

I'm also doing some surgery on an old M801 Saint mech. I want to thank Tim at Sideways Cycles for his help locating this part. Its for the pink bike, which is singlespeed specific, but on the odd occasion i want to be able to mount gears. The DT thru axles should mary up nicely and allow quick, easy conversions to 6 or 9 speeds. Sweet.

First stage is removing the SGS cage and bolting on an old ss cage. There is a 2mm allen bolt under the body that acts as a lock - easily done. Next is putting some different jockey wheels on. Upper will go to an alloy 11 tooth, Lower will be a 13 tooth alloy unit. Dunno, just want to give em a try.

What am i looking at?

2011-07-28T22:29:00.001+01:00

A possible solution. More once i've collected my thoughts.

Video killed the radio star.

2011-07-27T17:51:00.002+01:00

It seems everyone is doing videos these days. Seeing as my camera has the capacity and my energy levels are so low i was never going to move rapidly when i got out today, i thought i might as well give it a shot.

Untitled from jonmeredith on Vimeo.

More to come?

5 kilo.

2011-07-23T12:57:00.004+01:00

Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels, right? I beg to differ. I haven't been physically unwell continuously for a week, errr, ever. At least as far as my memory stretches back. This week i have spent the majority - no hyperbole - of the time between 1am and 6am up, in pain, vomiting and as of 4.30am this morning having diarrhoea. Yeah, yeah, it's probably just a bug. Well, i do what i do for a living and i know that, but this is getting pretty damn tiresome. In 6 days i have lost 5 kilos. That weight loss would have served me well at this weekends VC Moulin ride - 200km of beautiful roads and hills organised by the DS. I ain't no Schleck, but hauling 84 kilos over a big hill is a lot easier than 89 kilos. Power to weight ratios. Power to wait? Hmmm...i really wanted to be there and i am looking forward to photos and reports.

Of course, despite the mockery of a review by the surgical team at the hospital that had me taking my own leave of the ward, i will get better. And of course, in reality, this is trivial- a mere blip on an otherwise healthy and blessed existence, but i'm tired, y'know?

Coincidentally, i was reminded of Fast Boy Ezra's blog somehow the other day. You want to read about fortitude in the face of ill health, an insightful and inspiring comment on life's curve balls, then i suggest paying attention to his blog.

In the meantime, i am enjoying the dying stages of the tour, i'd really like to see Cadel in yellow. There are few riders in the tour that work as hard, as consistently, as him and i believe in him. Unlike Bertie. As brash as Cavendish is, i also strongly want to see him retain the green jersey. He is a showman, über talented, yes - a loudmouth, but so exciting to watch.

Shaggy leaves for the Colorado trail race soon. Many years ago now, we sat around a camp fire in Wales, on a bike/rave weekend Chipps organised (where we met at a service station in north england with no idea where we were all headed and convoyed to a pub with grounds that allowed us to ride, drink beer and chill for a weekend). An inspired idea - thanks Chipps!

Late, late in the night shaggy and myself regaled 2 local lads of our complicated and entirely fabricated tales of solo and ultra-minimalist adventures across the world. How we funded our adventures based off a double bladed scalpel design and had married each others sisters. At the time, it was almost a battle of wits to see how one of us responded to the others opening gambit: for example... "so Jon, tell them about that time we were on top of Denali in a storm, with our bikes and we had to call in the choppers...?"

Course, the ironic thing is shaggy is doing his damnedest to turn fantasy into reality - and with a great deal of success. I wish him tail winds and fine, blue skies.

Yesterday, i watched the film Fair Game. It is not as good as it could have been, but it is *well* worth viewing and then it is well worth reading around the reality the film was based on. Yet another sickening inditement of what governments are capable of when they want to find means to an end. Also a great performance by Sean Penn.

Ok. Have a good weekend. Hopefully the next entry will be a little more dynamic.

The Human Condition/fighting fire with fire.

2011-07-18T12:26:00.001+01:00

I am bored. For the last 2 days i have had stomach pains, nausea, vomiting and yes the other. One of the perks of my job is an exposure to ill people, all the time. You sort of get a smorgasbord of bugs to choose from. Having eaten very little over the course of the last 30 hours i am feeling weak and a little dizzy. This morning as i sat sipping coffee, trying to ignore the pain in my guts something snapped. Fight. Fire. With Fire.

Manliness.

2011-07-16T18:59:00.003+01:00

Back in 2006 i worked for Michael Mann as a Manliness Consultant. For the most part, i spent my days getting Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell ship-shape for Miami Vice. It would be fair to say that once filming for the day was over we enjoyed the odd drink or two. It was during this time that i developed my taste for Mojitos.

(Here, Colin is practising his 'determined and manly' look, essential in several scenes.)

'Course, you have to be careful not to get any errant sprigs of mint caught in your luxuriant moustache, but thats all part of being a man, right?

So how does one make a good Mojito?

First, take a highball glass and with the back of a spoon gently crush a few mint leaves with about a tablespoon of fine Caribbean sugar. You dont want pulp, just to brake the membrane of the mint leaves to release the oils.

Stir in 1 and a half tablespoons of fresh lime juice, a good slug of white or golden rhum and dissolve the sugar. Add ice cubes so the glass is half full, and then fill up with club soda.

Enjoy.

MTB Cut tv.

2011-07-14T21:39:00.002+01:00

Always worth keeping an eye on MTB Cut tv...lots of good stuff....

This is the inimitable Joe Barnes riding a hill that is pretty near by....that hill is small but S T E E P....good stuff....

The path of most resistance: part II

2011-07-11T19:16:00.003+01:00

After wasting a good 2 hours of sunshine this morning looking at maps, i finally dragged my sorry arse out to the hills. Every so often, and it is becoming more frequent, i get in a mither about riding in Scotland. I don't have quite as much time to ride as i used to and i also am about 100% done with driving distances every weekend in order to ride my bike. Which is sort of limiting in some ways, y'know?

Anyway. After discarding everywhere i could think of as a good idea over the 16 preceding hours i sat looking at a pile of OS maps becoming increasingly angry and desperate...i needed a route. I needed to get out on my bike and take in some solitude in the hills. A 5am wake up with Daisy, who decided she was wide awake and ready for mischief meant my energy levels were low - there wasn't going to be any massive efforts today, but i wanted interest and intrigue. Something new and perhaps helpful for planning a future loop.

After spending a great deal of time looking at the area around Crieff, i decided it was too far away, and probably more suited to a bike-pack or a cross bike ride. My gaze shifted back to Arrochar. The Arrochar Alps as they are known are situated to the west of Loch Lomond. Easily within striking distance and on a good day the scenery is superb. Of course the classic loop is the Ardgarten peninsula loop round to Lochgoilhead and back up over the rest and be thankful.

So. What was it to be. Scotland is quite often hard to cross in an east/west (or vice versa) way. All the great routes, passes and roads seem to be north/south. Often times, when planning a bigger loop, it is going sideways between the greater glens and passes that is the issue. At the top of Glen Croe, you can gain access to Glen Kinglas and from there you can cross east towards Loch Lomond, looping behind Ben Vane. I'd looked at doing this so many times in the past that today seemed like a perfect opportunity. The idea was to then drop south and climb up from Inveruglas and cross once again into Arrochar through Glen Loin.

Easy.

Well, the climb up Glen Croe is both long and strenuous and my body was letting me know i didn't have much in the tank. The forecast had suggested a dry day so i was being pretty minimal By the time the rain hit i was pretty cold. Still, it cleared as i hit Glen Kinglas, and although the trail was far from technical, the view was spectacular as i crossed behind Beinn Chorranach. Onwards and upwards. And upwards.

My map was out of date. I had hoped to find an old walking trail down to the shores of Loch Lomond at Inverarnan, but there was a veritable motorway dropping at about 20% all the way parallel to the Strath Dubh-uisge, and i popped out just south of the Drovers with the rotors smoking. Down the road to Inveruglas and then the pinch up the access road to Loch Sloy all was going well. Yes, i had been bitten by my 3rd horsefly (where are they all coming from this year?) but it wasn't far now to the bealach and the (hopefully) rewarding drop down Glen Loin.

As i mentioned before, my map must have been a little out of date, because it showed the trail running under the power lines as they cross from the interchange next to the Inveruglas Water. As i dropped down the the river, with the hope of picking up the trail on the other side, not only were the greasy rocks and fast flowing water a problem, but as i looked at my arms i saw a carpet of thousands of midge. My face, neck, arms and legs were literally crawling. The nips were plentiful and i threw caution to the wind and leapt across the last section of river and commenced that freaky dance anyone who is outdoors in Scotland bewtween may and september will recognise as i batted and wiped. The hump up the west bank was hard and i hit a horrible bog/tussock double act under the power lines as i got over the bank. Lovely. Talk about the path of most resistance. After 30 minutes of brutal hike-a-bike and several near-submergings in bog water i got to some high ground and spotted the trail on the far northwest corner of the bog-field. Ah well, get on with it. 10 meters from the trail i saw that it did indeed wind all the way back, it was just very well hidden from view. Just to make sure, i followed it back to the river out of pure bitterness. Damn. It was also in an entirely different position to the maps suggestion...

Anyway, after a fairly rapid and loose drop down Glen Loin i was back at the car in Succoth. 4 and a half hours of effort and a pretty reasonable loop. Although it was far from a technical, best-trail-ever sort of ride, it was great to have been out and got some interesting passes under tyre. I have a vague notion for an extended bike-pack trip around here and this helps immensely.

Resource:
Map.

OS map 364.

Trust me...

2011-07-09T20:10:00.004+01:00

OK. You're going to have to trust me on this.

Get a pint glass. Add 3 ice cubes, 2 or 3 good dashes of Tabasco, 7 of Worcestershire sauce. Squeeze a third of a lemon roughly into the glass. A wedge of lime, squeezed between your fingers and dropped in, too. Fill to the half way point with Guinness. Yep, you heard me right - Guinness. It's good for you. Fill up with Clamato.

Trust me...

This is called a Bloody Maureen. It is a good thing.

Try harder...

2011-07-07T21:08:00.002+01:00

I've been in a fankle recently about trying hard enough. I think it stemmed from a conversation i might have had after watching a Danny Mac video. See, the boy doesnt half step. When he tries to do something he TRIES to do something. Full on effort, no holding back.

Let's take the last time i was at the skate park. I was trying to 360 out of a bowl. Blah. i am an old man after all...but what i noticed was that i wasnt REALLY trying....i was concerned in case i broke my ankle/wasnt able to work/ride off road at the weekend/do whatever i needed to do/it hurt/ etc.

If you dont try to the fullest and you dont succeed, you have no one to blame but yourself and you will never realise your potential.

i guess i was reflecting on this in the last 2 races i did. NOTHING was stopping me trying harder, except me. Nothing made me take my foot off the gas, nothing made me rest for more precious time, except me. Finding a way to tap the minds amazing ability to overpower the body is an important part of life i think. Living life to the fullest, the richest it can be, should be an important target. Once you realise that there is potential beyond what you think you might achieve, thats when you really get a buzz. No matter the sphere of effort, going beyond takes things to a different and better level.

Anyway....this video might make a similar point, a little more clearly.

Enjoy.

The path of most resistance.

2011-07-05T20:21:00.003+01:00

After joining my father in law for his 70th birthday in Crieff, by way of a pedal on the quieter roads up from glasgow, we had a great day chilling out in the sunshine at Crieff Hydro. Many happy returns Ian! i hope you got one or two good swings in.

Taking advantage of the weather, i took a wee crack at a route i've had my eye on for a little while. The first hour was spent carrying my bike up an unfeasibly steep slope, often in thick, high ferns on wet ground. The route then hit tussocks and open moor land, which left me changing plans and dropping through a disused slate quarry.

The reward was hitting the ridge from Ben Venue and dropping down southwards. As you can see in the pic, it got a little tricky at times, but was for the most part rideable. Further down, the trail has ben badly damaged by water since i was last there, no surprise! but it was a good day in the hills.

Alaska.

2011-07-05T20:15:00.002+01:00

I doubt i'd be able to cope: lots of reasons, but the mosquitoes are probably the thing that gets under my skin more than the rest combined. I'm sure i'll come back to this..but for now, i'll let Mike Curiak's well aimed lens do the talking.

The Lost Coast - again!

2011-06-29T19:17:00.003+01:00

Sounding a little like a combo of a who's who in ultra gnarly endurance biking, a group of bikers (including Doom, Roman Dial, Mike Curiak and Epic Eric) have headed for the Lost Coast of Alaska again. With Mike Curiak there, i'm hoping for some good images and perhaps some video...

In the meantime, heres a snippet from The previous trip Eric of Revelate and friend completed a couple of years ago...

Lost Coast Sitkagi Bluffs from Eric Parsons on Vimeo.

Damn, that looks like some pretty hard going!

Dear diary.

2011-06-26T10:06:00.006+01:00

A few months ago, i decided that this blog would concentrate on cycling related activities, rather than my opinions and thoughts on what is going on in the world, food, books or anything else really. The only problem with that is that at the moment i am doing precious little riding of note, and a lot of other stuff. To be fair, not much of that is interesting to anyone but me and mine - so i aint going to clog up the interweb with lots of 'Dear diary' type posts. However, there have been some things recently that i think are worth sharing.

1) G Funk savalas and myself have been busily working on our chili con carne recipes recently. Such a simple meal, but it benefits from refinement and repeated experimentation with ingredients. Really a stew of meat and chilies, it seems so simple, but initial appearances can be deceptive. Most recently i have been messing around with green chili/oregano based mixes. Last night's version makes me think i'm pretty close. 'Scuse the crappy phone pic, but here is a run down of the way to make it. Changes will include swapping bacon for lardons, and perhaps the mince to pulled pork loin or something, ideally from the bbq. It also needs a shed load more heat. Adding pickled chilies after is ok, as is green chili sauce, but it doesnt really cut it. Ideally i would be using Poblanos from the broiler but getting hold of fresh poblanos in the uk is almost impossible....so, for what its worth, here you go:

Fry chopped bacon in olive oil in a thick, deep bottomed pot. Remove bacon once it is crispy. Add chopped onions 2 good size or 3 small spanish/yellow. Add 7 finely chopped cloves of garlic. fry until the onion is soft. Add the pork mince - 500g or so. colour the meat. Next comes 500ml of chicken stock. Use good stuff, not a cube. Add a tin of mooshed green chilies. While this was going on, you had chopped the flesh from 3 green peppers, and stuck them in a frying pan under a VERY hot grill to blacken the skin. Run around as the smoke alarm goes off, then put a lid or a cover on the pan (once you burn your hand removing it from under the grill) and allow the steam to lift the skins, which you then peal off, before chopping the flesh and add this to the stew, along with a tablespoon (really) of dried oregano. Add the bacon back and cook on a very low heat for at least 30 minutes. Boil up some rice and serve with soured cream, some grated (mature) cheese and pickled jalapenos and green chili sauce.

Course, if you're going to have this, you're going to want a good beer with it...if it was me, i'd go with something hoppy and strong...like Odell's IPA.

2) Read a book. The Cordillera is a journal of writing inspired by the tour divide. This year, proceeds are going to a fund for the daughter of a racer who died while riding the course last year. The proceeds are being matched by a charitable donation from a benefactor. As good a reason to buy this book as ever. You know what to do: order it here.

3) G funk has been on a roll recently, and sent me Travels with Charley. Mind blowing: thanks, G. You *must* read this book. That is all.

4) Going back to food again, Daisy has been ramping up the food intake pretty solidly now for a couple of weeks Croissant, red peppers, Bread sticks, porridge, cream cheese, you name it....its all going down the hatch without a scratch...Awesome!

5) I did manage to squeeze in a ride yesterday - probably the first time i have seen Hamish and Dave chops options in about a month, maybe more. The trails are wet beyond belief: Hamish mentioned that the jet stream is playing up which is the reason that north ireland and west scotland are getting a deluge, while the rest of the UK basks in sunshine. Dammit. Anyways, Hamish had some home made energy bar with him, which he picked up off the Hungry Cyclist. The website is well worth a read - thanks go to Hamish for the gustatory heads up.

6) I have been considering Centre of Gravity recently. Most of my recent off road bikes have been 29ers with relatively large bb drop - giving a relatively low bb height, and thus a pretty low C of G. They are wicked good in the turns and flow, but recently i have started to wonder what would happen if the C of G were a little higher? Not Beast of the East high, but maybe 1cm or a little more. Good for slower, more trials-y riding? rocks and fallen trees and slow muddy conditions? I cant remember what first made me start chewing this over, but the recent article about Geoff Apps in the latest (and most excellent) issue of Privateer magazine certainly made me go into full on ponder mode. Fortunately, most of the recent bikes have EBB's that were designed to run in the 'low' positions. Its a pretty simple matter to decrease the bb drop and see how we go...more on this in future...course there are limits:

I need a bacon roll....

Adjustments.

2011-06-19T14:45:00.002+01:00

Been hanging around waiting for the LG TR from e.thirteen, but it looks like it will be a little ways off and to be honest i am never going to use the LG1+ without modification, so with the help of Kris from 44 bikes, who was a great source of advice, i set to work on modifying the taco part of the LG1+. With just a little effort and good technique it came out great. Why do this? well, i use a 36 tooth chainring with the 1x9 and i will not go bigger. The taco acts as a bash ring, but it would transmit all the force of an impact to the iscg mounts on the bottom bracket shell. I very rarely hit the chainring, but the taco stood nearly a cm proud of the chainring so i reckoned it would make contact more frequently. In addition, i've heard a few folk have bent their iscg mounts due to this sort of impact - something i didnt want to have happen.

So there you go.

It is also Father's day - my first as a father. I only hope i can emulate *my* father's love, dedication, hard work and efforts over all these years. Maybe to try and ensure i try my best, Daisy got in contact with Steve Fassbinder at Republic of Doom and had a custom vest made for me as a gift.

The skull/pirate theme with the daisy motif is just absolutely fantastic and having always coveted Steve's work (and his numerous back country cycle trips!) it will be worn with a massive smile...

One day.

2011-06-19T11:17:00.005+01:00

One day i must get my arse over to SSUSA...

allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="224">

It looks like a lot of fun, hey?

Clear up...

2011-06-15T14:19:00.003+01:00

On reflection, Bristol was interesting. It worked really well for me to get down there without a mammoth drive immediately prior to racing. Better for the mind and the body. Despite not really having adequate fitness, the years of similar efforts meant my mental and organisational game was there. Food wise, although the heat and bumpiness of the course directly after the pit area (which made riding off with a mouthful and or a handful tricky - damn if i didn't drop half a mini pork pie that i was particularly enjoying!) led me to not take in enough calories in the middle part of the 12 hours, i knew what i needed and could tolerate.

But it is really the mental aspect that is important. At one point i was lying on my side in the pit zone seeing double and struggling with the concept of doing anything, let alone 4 laps. But if i had gone home having quit, i wouldn't have been able to tolerate it, so i dug deep.

So why do i feel this need to take on challenges that make my life pretty difficult and uncomfortable? why not just chill out; go for a pleasant ride; have a beer or two? I don't know. I *think* the reason is tied up in the swing of emotions you get afterwards. The 'never again' pure exhaustion and physical pain, followed by the down-turn in the mood as all the endorphins and fun-chemicals re-stabilise in the blood. After, as i gradually claw my way back to normality is the sense of achievement and the appreciation of overcoming an obstacle.

Who knows? This time was the best i have ever been at quick turn arounds in the pits. In, recharge bottles, a quick bite and out. It felt smooth and fluid - very rewarding - almost like a proper athlete...heh!....

Anyways. We'll see how things go, but apart from a return to Shenandoah 100 or Wilderness 101 i cant see me doing another 1 day distance race on the singlespeed. For whatever reason, i think i have done everything i want to realistically do with that. In a lot of ways riding a singlespeed is easier than gears. You can always go faster and push harder if you have gears: your fitness and strength is the limit. Once you get over a certain cadence on a singlespeed, the only way to move faster is to draft - an extremely important skill to gain for races such as Shenandoah, where there are some quite long dirt road segments. Getting on the tail of a geared rider or a group pays huge dividends.

I was following the Trans Sylvania Mountainbike Epic stage race recently. Based around one of my favourite places to ride in the world - State Collge, PA, i could easily see myself dusting off the singlespeed to do that race, but it is different: multiple shorter stages over a period of days. I reckon its on the 'to do list' though.

After i got back from Bristol, we went straight into house buying mode. We had spotted a property a little just out of town, that has a big garage and workroom that i will be able to secure quite easily and space inside enough to suit our 'stay mostly in the kitchen/living area' lifestyle with some easily accessed garden space too. It is ripe for some future 'organic architecture' style refits and a bit of open plan action. I'm thinking of channeling my Frank Lloyd Wright here - opening the space up to the garden, perhaps some more glass/door type stuff. Usonian...knowwhatimean? But thats a ways off! So we had to tear our current place apart and get it ship-shape to put on the market. It has been a pretty hectic few days, but i think we are nearly ready...want to buy a flat?

And to top it all off, there was even a day where it didn't rain and i got out on the bike.

Touring...

2011-06-14T22:15:00.001+01:00

So Dejay and Jake are on the tour divide....

You'll want to catch up on mtb cast right?

Tear it a new one, boys....

Bristol Bike Fest.

2011-06-07T16:41:00.002+01:00

Reportage on VC Moulin...read it there.

Ding a ding dang.

2011-06-02T15:14:00.004+01:00

Here we go again... I leave shortly for Bristol Bike Fest - another 12 hour race. Hopefully i will do the new VC Moulin colours proud, but there has been a woeful dearth of riding. Infact, the only ride on a mtb recently led to me highsiding off a narrow cliff edge trail. I'd spotted this line across the top of a stepped edge, which led under the leaves of a tree. What i wasn't expecting was the 8" diameter stout branch in those leaves. Needless to say, i nutted it, stopped dead and the bike keeled over with me on it. Unfortunately to my left was a 6 foot drop, with a 45 degree slope about 3 feet long, leading to another 6 foot drop, another 3 foot/45 degree slope and then a 12 foot drop to the ground below.

Landing on one's head after a fall of around 9 feet isn't good, but if one has to do it, i don't recommend following it straight up with a further 6 foot drop. Fortunately i came to a shuddering halt before the longest drop.

I *did* get some good riding in, and although a little sore and stiff, i know i will at least enjoy the singletrack of Ashton Court. The Vertigo is laughably competent as a singlespeed. I will also come back to how good the new xtr xc pedals are. Although i'll miss my girls, it will be nice to escape the incessant rain that, over the last month, has taken the trails and turned them to mush. Long live long rides in bright sunshine. More when i get back.

It's been one of those weeks...

2011-05-28T19:39:00.003+01:00

A little while ago, i decided that rather than waffle about day to day random rubbish which is of little or no interest to anyone, i'd try and keep this blog entirely cycling related. The problem with that is that sometimes i do precious little in the way of cycling related stuff. Take this week for instance. Primarily it has involved arseing around with cars, getting the first points i have had on my licence, trying to catch up on sleep and house stuff. The weather has been rubbish and all in all i'd say i'm feeling a little down in the dumps. Everything i have done has taken an inordinate amount of effort - probably due to being exhausted rather than karma or bad luck - and has more often than not turned right around and smacked me in the face.

Anyways, i could go on moaning but no one wants to hear that, right? what we want here is some stiff upper lip and to make lemonade out of lemons etc etc.

Some good stuff: Daisy has been bouncing in the jumperoo, eating everything we put within arms reach and just generally being a wee star.

We went to see Clan Donald in the 'ferry. We had a great time, but it was humbling to see them deal with 4 kids when it seems quite time consuming (if rewarding) having but 1. Mike and i escaped for a couple of hours and rode some of the quieter backroads near Glamis Castle. Despite a brisk wind it was an excellent ride, with great company. Thanks Mike!

I have also been re-experimenting with Micheladas. These beer-based drinks - composed similarly to a bloody mary - are a like 'em or love 'em sort of thing. So far i am liking the 50:50 mix of clamato, negro modelo with 8 dashes of worcestershire sauce and 3 dashes of tabasco and the squeeze of 1/3 lemon, 4 ice cubes and a squeeze of lime version, but i'm trying alternatives. We'll see where it goes...

Bristol Bike Fest is approaching rapidly, So rapidly infact that i am almost entirely anti-prepared. I have done almost zero riding recently, my sleep has been terrible and i have a million and one things on my mind. Still, today i finally pulled my finger out and decided what bike i was going to ride. It is no secret amongst those who know me how broken i was after the race last year. The course was quite rough and unbeknownst to me my seat post was gradually walking out of my frame due to excessive flex (my fault in asking so much of the seat post, rather than a design flaw i'd hasten to add - now fixed with a reinforcement sleeve internally in the post). My wrists and back got an absolute shoe-ing. Perhaps driving 8 hours the day before, after clearing up to go on holiday to Switzerland, and driving down through France the next day was part of it, but i was pretty broken.

Needless to say i have been having an internal dialogue about whether i am able to cope with such a bumpy course this year and still try to do well (2nd last year). I doubt it: Lack of fitness, saddle time and fear are all part of it, but i just dont think i would be able to do the 12 hours.

So my initial thoughts were to singlespeed the Vertigo, perhaps with a magic gear ratio, or run the 29er snow rim on the front of the pink bike and hope the added floatation was sufficient. I had also hoped to have ridden both options in ernest so as to make a reasonable decision. Ha!....

I had held off on singlespeeding the Vertigo: i felt it would be a time sink and i wasnt convinced that i really *wanted* to. It is set up really nice at present and i just didnt want to meddle. Then my friend shaggy gave me a bit of a course report. Seems there has been quite a lot of work done by the Bristol Trail Fairies and many of the bumpier areas have been somewhat smoothed. With his description my mind was cast back and i started sweating. I *knew* that at hour 7 or 8 i was going to want that fox fork up front. So i set to work. Using the fixmeup! program described in a previous post, i knew i had 3 or so options that would give me the gear i wanted. I might have needed to use a old or a brand new chain to get the tension juuuust right, but with very little work indeed, the first ratio i tried (and the preferred one) slipped on with perfect tension. Damn! fixmeup! and a good tape measure worked a charm!...

So, i'll desperately try to get a ride on this bike this week prior to leaving for Bristol, but with the volume of precipitation, i'm not banking on it, but at least when i hit those roots on the sweet singletrack of Ashton Court i'll be smiling and flying rather than wincing.

It has come to this.

2011-05-23T12:40:00.003+01:00

As the rain continues to fall, a desperate move has been made. What can i say? i need to feel the burn of lactate as the muscles approach the redline. After 5 sets of 5 minutes at threshold on the rollers, my downstairs neighbour decided to ask me to stfu.

What can you do?

Hard to believe.

2011-05-18T16:20:00.003+01:00

It is hard to believe after the last fortnights rains that just a short time ago we were enjoying the driest April i can remember. When you have the opportunity, you'd best use it. I decided to try and do a Cairngorm loop that would give me some pointers for a future planned ride.

The idea was to rough camp in Glen Feshie, get up at the arse crack of dawn and ride round Loch Gamhna, to Picadilly, round Loch Morlich, into the Ryvoan pass, hang an east and head up the Lairig an Laoigh, past Bynack Mor, drop down to the Fords of Avon, keep heading down into Glen Derry, then head west along the Dee before following the Geldie Burn up into Feshie and back.

Yep, quite a beefy route, but i was hoping all the dry weather would make the notoriously boggy Glen Feshie at the far end of the loop rideable, at least in part.

The other thing i wasnt sure about was how rideable the Lairig would be. The Lairig Ghru isnt, so i guess optimism was key here.

As i pulled myself out of my tent, the warm evening had given way to a frosty start. It was minus 5. By the time i hit dirt, the temp had only reached minus 4 and i was shivering. The stable weather system meant that temps well into the 20's were for sure, so i was relatively minimally dressed. Keep calm. Carry on.

By the time i was in sight of Bynack Mor, i was well warmed up. The views were spectacular, but the brisk breeze kept speeds low.

The trail improvements are a ways off, so there was a little pushing on this section. With gears, i reckon its 100% rideable. As i passed under the Barns of Bynack (huge granite tors that overlook the glen) the trail became almost a trials problem. I spent a significant amount of time here before i finally dropped down to the Avon refuge.

After a quick dip to ford the river, where i was careful not to lose my socks, i headed down the sweet Glen Derry descent. Awesome times.

The area around the base of Derry Cairngorm is beautiful: it was a pleasure to ride out of this bowl with classic Caledonian pine and high mountain scenery.

The weather conditions meant the tracks west from the Linn of Dee were dry until i was close to Glen Feshie, and even here, it was partly rideable. Some land slides and a shonky old bridge over a cascading waterfall, then i was into Feshie proper - always a beautiful place to be.

11 or so hours later i was back at the car. Desiccated, as it was 25 degrees now, but what a route. Am i any closer to knowing how to connect the dots for the future. Some...we'll see....

Just when you thought it was safe....

2011-05-14T10:44:00.004+01:00

Just when you thought it was safe to revisit this blog and not see something that dissappears up its own black hole about gear ratios: i'm going to talk gear ratios.

Lets say that following on from a pretty bumpy 12 hour race you have another bumpy 12 hour race coming up. You might have a history of doing ok in that race and it may be the one race you look forward to (in the uk at least) more than any other. Buuut the last time you did it you were nearly reduced to tears by back and arm pain due to riding on the baked hard course on an uncompromisingly rigid forked bike with narrow tyres at high pressure. Something has to give, right?

This is where i am.

At Newcastleton i used high volume Conti race kings at 20psi. This was a good thing. The Jones was pretty comfy for the most part, just a little jangly on some of the washboard sections. It was awesome to ride through the singletrack...but lets say i want to race a bike with a suspension fork at Bristol Bike Fest....especially if it is as baked hard under-tyre as last year.

However, the Vertigo frame has no chain tensioning bits. Fortunately. FixMeUp! provides a way to calculate what cog and chainring combos might work for a given chainstay length....

Once all this goes into the melting pot i'm left with several options that will potentially allow me to 'magic gear' the Vertigo for Bristol.....35x19, 39x23, and 34x20. These all fall at very slightly different chainstay lengths, so one or the other should fit, especially if i try combos with new or used chains...

Other things to look at:

Entries open for SSUK 11.

As is SSUSA.

New Black Owls visuals.

Issue 3 of Privateer is out. If you want a more cerebral mtb magazine, get it.

12/24 of Exposure.

2011-05-11T21:26:00.002+01:00

Write up.

(pic by Joolze, as ever, lady in the trenches)

Get the pearls over at the VC Moulin blog, yo.

Full throttle.

2011-05-10T21:19:00.003+01:00

Within the space of a few days things seemed to have flipped from all talk/no action to all action/no talk.

Promise to get some beefier updates up here shortly, but in the meantime i'm going to leave you with this image of my new jersey.

I guess it means i am the British and European 12 hour singlespeed champ (after this weekends 12/24 hrs of exposure) and despite the fact that most of the big guns were shooting for the 24 hour title, i'm pretty damn pleased. Especially as Morvelo did such a good job on the design...a full report will be up on VC Moulin shortly.

In saying that, i was probably more pleased to get home and give my wee girl a hug...2 days away was a long time.

Get your kayak stoke on...

2011-05-02T17:53:00.003+01:00

Watch more free documentaries

Or view here...

Cairngorm loop...

2011-05-01T21:28:00.002+01:00

Feshie/Loch Morlich/Glenmore Lodge/Ryvoan pass/Lairig an Laoigh/Glen Derry/Dee/Feshie.

8.5 hrs. Sweet as. More on this shortly....

Damo and the Bicentennial Trail.

2011-04-28T20:39:00.003+01:00

You might remember that my friend Damo was riding the Bicentennial Trail in Australia recently. He'd mentioned he had written it up on bikepacking.net, but i was clearly being a dufus and couldn't find it...however, i've got it now!...so, follow this link, and enjoy!

Iced Coffee.

2011-04-27T20:06:00.002+01:00

So, its been a little warmer out. Occasionally i like an iced coffee.

Here's a good recipe...

Iced coffee.

I found this amazing image on dspaulding09 flickr. I could stare at it for hours....

Ghlo.

2011-04-26T18:50:00.004+01:00

Weather systems were favourable. Time and light were on my side. I slipped through the speed barrier to Blair Atholl and started climbing. The aim was 3 munros arranged conveniently in a ridge. There was a slight drop between each one, and then off the last on to the shoulder of a smaller hill, before a rapid descent to a glen i know very well.

The climb up Carn Liath was like one of those Escher prints...i kept moving, but slipped down seemingly as far as i climbed. Eventually i made the top, and enjoyed the breathtaking view over to the Cairngorm.

As i snaked down the ridge, i saw Braigh Coire Chruinn-Bhalgain rear up in front. The trail looked wicked as it dropped to the bealach, then ascended the ridge onto the top.

It seemed to take mere minutes to summit and hit cloud level, but soon enough i dropped below the cloud again and was afforded excellent views.

Body and bike were working well together, and with the steep drop off the Braigh behind me, i grappled with Carn Ban Gabhar. If you look at the next photo closely. you'll see the trail drop steeply by my left shoulder in the back ground.

Energy restocked, the summit again came quickly, but with a pang of anxiety this time. I had no real knowledge of the route down i intended to take. No matter, soak up the majesty. Breathe. Witness Mother Nature in all her splendour.

The way ahead seemed clear. A slight parting in the heather. But the gradient was intimidating. Perhaps the steepest i have ever ridden for a sustained time. Oddly, as i levelled out a little a gyrocopter thrummed overhead.

Too soon, i was poised above Glen Tilt. The ground fell so steeply that leaves of soil, rock and heather were literally peeling off, At times, these fissures were being used to route the trail.

Steep switchbacks and some heart-in-the-mouth rear wheel hop turns, brought me back down to ground level. To be back on flat ground so soon after tasting the sky was harsh, but the exhilaration will be with me long after i'm back in the city.

Just when you thought you'd seen it all...

2011-04-23T09:35:00.001+01:00

Kush sprockets....

For moto, but coming to an mtb near you soon?

Local...ish. Danny Macaskill, Steve Peat and Hans Rey hit Scotland.

2011-04-21T21:04:00.001+01:00

As seen on singletrackworld...

Mountain biking in Scotland on TV: Part 1 from H&I Adventures on Vimeo.

Mountain biking in Scotland on TV: Part 2 from H&I Adventures on Vimeo.

I guess this would give an idea of the trails i ride when i head a little further afield...

My own private road ride.

2011-04-20T07:47:00.003+01:00

The last couple weeks has seen me tied in knots. Sleep has been hard to find. A virus that finally exploded at 2am on sunday morning has left me weak and pouring snot. My brain has been going overtime, trying desperately to make amends for the body's lack of strength and stamina. Under rocks and behind the tool chest. In the deepest recesses of my imagination, i have been looking for something that will safeguard against a possible future.

I dearly love being competitive. My self loathing and pessimism - the things that whisper negative comments when i am down or hurting - get the better of me when i know i am not up to the task. At the moment, there are very few tasks i *am* up to.

As dawn broke on monday, 3 or so hours after i had awoken, and started sweating out a fever i could see me wasting an allotted window for riding. I sat on the couch with Daisy and watched her play with her toes and sing. I love the snatched time i get with her in the mornings before work, so on a day where the only things on the agenda are what i choose to do, it would be easy to stay rooted to the spot.

But the demon's were all around me. Hissing. With Daisy off to Tiny Talk, i knew that an offroad ride - which is really what i ought to be doing in such glorious sunshine and likely dry trails - wasnt going to happen. I decided to drag the skeletor out and hit the tarmac. Filled bottles, took paracetamol, a couple slices toast with cream cheese and smoked ham - but really my appetite had evaporated.

Pedaling out of the road, avoiding the crush of modern society. Avoiding cars, just. Until i hit the coast road, shy of Helensburgh. Then past Rhu the houses began to fade away and it was just me, the road and the sea. Onwards and upwards, aiming back to Tarbet and inland. But i spotted a half remembered road, signed to Glen Douglas and decided on a whim to follow it.

i climbed up picture perfect swithcbacks. The Cobbler clear in the distance. I dont know the gradient, but i reckon it was 1:8 - my second serious climb of the day and unbelievably, despite the exhaustion, the weariness, the virus coursing n my veins, i felt alive.

Over the crux and dropping into the glen proper. Whizzing down slightly battered road, parallel to some M.O.D land and popping out at Inverbeg on Loch Lomond side. There is a good cycle path along the loch side, and i took this to Balloch then headed back to Milngavie via the quiet roads north west of Croftamie. Then diving back into the traffic, the grind, the dust and the pressure of people once again. 4.10 of worthwhile escapism. I'm suffering now - pushing hard with a bug on board is only going to lead to horrors, but i'm still smiling about the private roads i span along in the sun, so effortlessly, peacefully and the ejuvination of the mind that it brought.

e thirteen.

2011-04-17T19:04:00.004+01:00

I've been pretty happy with the xc style chainguides i have been using. The e13 a little more than the mrp. i love the adjustability and construction of the Paul, but havent needed it - yet.

However, recently on BA i've been noticing that the guide is rotating occasionally, i presume as it gets knocked. When the frame was being made i asked sean to add an ISCG mount at the last minute...and i'm glad i did. I fitted an e13 LG1+ today. It took all of 5 minutes. It lined up incredibly easily, and is considerably stiffer in the 'yank it in the bike stand' test.

Initially i am going to run just the top section, though i might well add the taco and roller at a later date...we'll see.

Sea Otter is on, and theres some sweet looking stuff appearing. I see on Bikerumor that they are releasing a 1x10 sort of inbetween-ish guide aimed at rougher/1x10 riding - the LG 1 trail. Cool.

Now all i need to get out into the woods and RIDE.

Compromise.

2011-04-14T18:53:00.003+01:00

Lots of compromises recently. Time, place and person. So it goes – life may well be *about* compromise, eh?

There are definitely some bike compromises coming up. On may the 7th ill be racing for 12 hours at the 12/24 of Exposure race at Newcastleton. Plenty of climbing per (11 mile) lap and hopefully a weather resistant - if not dry - trail. So: plenty of laps expected.

What with one thing and another, my fitness is pretty poor. Normally I would want to feel I could knock out 6-10 hours of strenuous riding with no major issues prior to a race like this. I do try to do well afterall, rather than just finish. But at present I feel it will be touch and go to ride for the full 12 hours. Bike choice is therefore more important. I don't have the strength to just 'run what i brung'.

A wee while ago, I got to thinking about whether I should race on a singlespeed, or push BA into service. Here is where the compromising starts. Rigid singlespeeds are generally ok for endurance racing, but you can get pretty beaten up if the course is rough. If there is a lot of climbing, you need to have good legs and a strong core to cope. Hmmm.

In addition, my singlespeed of choice – the Jones – is a bit of a conundrum to race. It is a *fantastic* riding bike. It is lively, pinpoint accurate and super good fun. It handles technical situations that would cause a lesser bike to baulk. However, that truss fork doesn’t budge an inch, or even a mm. The short wheel base and fast handling become a handful when you are delirious at 8 hours in, with an empty tank. In short, as good a bike as it is, it isn’t a race bike.

I am lucky enough to have some other bikes I could ride. First, there is BA. The Vertigo is an ‘all mountain’ hardtail that is designed to thrive in back country type riding. The sort of riding where I go out into difficult terrain, hit some big climbing and some big descending. Get back the same day. Hopefully. It wasn’t designed for pedalling around and around trail centres at speed. It can do it, but it would be a slight compromise. There are a few things I could easily do to make it more ‘race bike’ish: a lower and maybe longer stem. Move the saddle forward a cm or so. Run lighter tyres and/or tubes. I’d need to ride with a back pack, as it was designed to have one bottle cage only. But it might be the best option.

Another option is the pink bike. This bike has been seldom used but when it has been needed it has dealt with abuse without complaint. A robust, steal IF designed for light/loaded bike packing. Originally it was fitted with old man mountain racks. But since the advent of soft seat post and bar packs, these are not used. The tubing is beefy, and the bike ain’t light, but it is good fun to ride once you get used to the long wheel base and slack angles with huge offset fork. All the things that make it an ideal off-road touring bike take away from its racing ability. But again, I could minimise the compromise. The fork is less rigid (read more comfortable at hour 8) than the Jones fork. I could even swap on the old pace carbon fibre fork (with the intricacies of mechanical trail this would slightly speed up the handling and drop about 300g from the front of the bike).

Since it was fitted with hydraulic brakes, arm pump is less of an issue and the longer stays and front centre would make for relaxed and forgiving handling as the race wears on. It has 3 bottle cage mounts – ideal to take all the weight of a pack and fluid from my back. But I wont be able to squeeze a big tyre in the back. It was designed around narrower/slicker tyres. Recently it was fitted with a higher rise/shorter stem but it retains a good reach to prevent me getting to crunched up in a long race.

The funny thing is, all this to-ing and fro-ing makes me realise that the plan for a xc racing bike isn’t the ramblings of a bike-bling addicted, tech-obsessed freak. Well - much.

If I intend to keep competing at endurance races, I will benefit from having the right tool for the job. The new Vertigo will have excellent handling I have no doubt, but it will be more forgiving over many laps. It will run gears or singlespeed and I will be able to choose rigid or suspension. I won’t have to compromise on the bike ever again.

The body? The mind? The fitness? Those are different questions!

Desert rock in glasgow.

2011-04-08T07:47:00.008+01:00

Kyuss lives! have risen from the ashes of Kyuss. They are touring at the moment and this is clearly causing an awful lot of exitement in those-who-are-prone-to-flashing-the-devil's-horns. So it was that on a monday evening i jumped on my trusty bike-that-kills-hipsters. Ok technically, it doesnt, but i feel the need to justify owning a brooklyn machine works. Ok i dont, as its a bomber commuter. Anyway, back to the point of this rambling. The gig venue was the ABC on Sauchiehall street. Now if you have ever been to glasgow, you may well have spent some time avoiding trouble on Sauchiehall street. Even on a monday. Sauchiehall street is the sort of place that if you leave a bike locked up, some neanderthal is likely to just kick it to a broken pile just 'cos its there. So. I had to make a plan.

Fortunately there is an art house cinema at the top of Sauchiehall street. I figured there was at least a 75% chance there would be hipster-types watching an art house film there. They would be coming and going at about the time pubs receive and discharge the clientele. A fierce horde of art house-hipster-types are likely to protect my bike that for one evening wont try to kill any hipsters. Right? Right.

So it went.

Kyuss lives! lived up to the dream. It was a pretty wild night and i am guessing that there were a lot of folk who missed work, the majority of the morning and/or needed a heavy dose of painkillers on tuesday. I'm old now, and sad to say i wore earplugs and avoided the mosh pit. Ok, less of a mosh pit, more of a mosh room. I've made the mistake of getting involved before and the following few days are always a nightmare of neck spasm and ear ringing.

I might have been sad - but i *did* spot one fellow wearing glow in the dark ear plugs. Ha! dweeeb!

Goatee of Filth.

2011-04-05T21:19:00.002+01:00

Less numbers. More riding. 50 odd miles of commute with a 60 mile sweet-as ride in the middle with great company. Thanks Marty.

Goatee of Filth from martin steele on Vimeo.

Phlegmish.

2011-04-02T11:24:00.002+01:00

It is a little known fact that Mart 'naegears' Savalas, one of my team mates on VC Moulin, is half Phlegmish.

As such he has organised a cobbled, gritty, Kingdom of Fife ride, The Goatee of Filth, which will take place tomorrow giving us time to catch the end of the Ronde van Vlaanderen.

I will be channelling my inner Ian Stannard...

Super dry.

2011-04-02T11:03:00.003+01:00

So: super dry and boring gear ratio and development has been sort of on my mind recently. Particularly because everyone shy of adam craig and mark weir (who seem to run in the region of 40 tooth rings and 11-34 blocks) seem to be running way smaller gears than I am.

I’ve been riding singlespeeds for a long time now, and I’ve ridden a lot of different terrain. Depending on my strength and weight and, admittedly, course profile - I have found anywhere between 34:18 on a 29er to 34:20 being appropriate. But let’s face it, it is a compromise. At present I have settled pretty much on 33:18 which gives me a development of 167”.

When I went to a 6 speed, albeit on a slightly heavier bike, I ended up using a 40 tooth chainring with a cut down 17-34 cassette. The ratios left were 40:17/20/23/26/30/34 giving a development of 214.4”/182.2”/158.4”/140.2”/121.5”/107.2” which is a pretty good spread. Ideally you want to spend most of the time in the middle 3 or so cogs right? So the chainline is straight and therefore efficient and you get the quickest changes with the least aggravation.

You will notice that on that spread, I was going to be riding high in the block and the ratio’s weren’t ideal given what I was used to spinning (well, ok, pushing in squares). Most of the time, I felt I was in a slightly ‘wrong’ gear.

So what? …change the chainring or the block… well, not as easy as all that. To get the cogs on an alloy carrier to fit on a singlespeed freehub body (as was on the DT hub I was using on BA) I was limited to a pretty small possible selection of cassettes. In addition, to make having gears on the bike worthwhile, I needed to try and keep the range useful. As it was, I was often using the highest gear, and occasionally needing the lowest, so I didn’t want to decrease the range from the 40x17-34. Along with the fact that 9/10 speed DT 150mm rear hubs are dishless, and I wanted a stiffer stronger rim (reducing the need for super wide flange spacng at the hub), I knew I could move to a 1x9 or 1x10 and retain the range, or even improve it, but give myself better gears around the sweet spot.

Initially I did some calculations and worked out that a 35 tooth ring and an 11-34 spread would give me an ample and good enough range.

Development with the 35 tooth ring and 11-34 cassette: 289.9”/245.3”/212.8”/187.6”/159.4”/138.6”/122.6”/106.3”/93.8”

Oddly, it didn’t feel right straight from the off….again I was never in the right gear as much as I wanted to be. You’ll notice the middle ratios dance around the 167” I am most used to pedalling…but not close enough to feel comfortable? Seems far fetched, but so it was.

However, no matter. In this situation it was easy to pop on a 36 tooth ring which, with the 11-34 cassette, gives.

298.2”/252.3”/218.7”/192.9”/164”/142.6”/126.1”/109.3”/98.5”.

Still an excellent spread and the middle ratio is 164” – really close to my ‘ideal’.

But – I hear you cry – (you are still paying attention, yes?) why not use a smaller chainring with the 11-34, as its quite a lot of high end and the chainline defers to the smaller rear cogs anyway due to the 83mm bb shell right? Or even add a 11-32 block with the smaller chainring?

34 ring with 11-34 cassette gives:
281.6”/238.3”/206.5”/182.2”/154.9”/134.7”/119.1”/103.3”/91.1”

35 ring and 11-32 cassette gives:
289.9”/265.7”/227.8”/199.3”/177.2”/151.8”/132.9”/113.9”/99.6”

34 ring with an 11-32 cassette gives:
281.6”/258.1”/221.3”/193.6”/172.1”/147.5”/129.1”/110.6”/96.8”

33 ring with 11-32 cassette gives:
273.3”/250.5”/214.8”/187.9”/167”/143.2”/125.3”/107.4”/94.0”

Hmmm! The only one that comes close to the magic mid-point gear is the 33x 11-32…but the gears on either side are 187.9” and 143.2” compared to the 192.9” and 142.6” with the 36x11-34, and the latter set up gives more low-end and more high end in a pinch.

So, that probably goes some way to explaining why my 1x9 ratios seem way bigger than what most folk seem to be running. I think, anyway!

This also helps me plan the gearing on the new, xc orientated beast. Clearance here is likely to be tighter, as it's going to have a 73mm shell, but i think i can get a 36 on there, especially as it will be mounted to the outer position of the XTR M980 crank. I'll probably stick with 9 speeds, as it will allow me to use a saint rear derailleur, or perhaps an xtr/saint splice a la fabien barel? (as pictured above). We'll see.

More Mountain Biking Videos

B.A update.

2011-03-30T17:11:00.002+01:00

So i have a year onboard with B.A and it's been all good. He even got sedated and flown out to NAHBS this year. Many trails under tyre and lots of smiles and heart in mouth moments. Awesome!

The time came for some upgrades. The 6 speed was really useful, but the funny thing was, it showed me more possibilities...so i decided to go for 9 speeds. The DT 440 rear 150mm hub is pretty much dishless, and with DT comps and the edge am rim, its going to be bomber. Swapped to an Ethirteen xcx guide, which is stiffer than the mrp, but this is also going to be pulled in favour of an LG1+ running the back plate and the upper guide only initially. I've noticed the bb cups loosen occasionally and i reckon its the guide getting bashed and rotating a little. 36 tooth ring, with 11-34 on the rear.

The Saints are amazing brakes, but i've been spoiled by xtr M988, so on they went (replacing the lever clamp bolts with ti, and using SM 76 rotors and xtr post mount adaptors. All good. Last but not least the steerer is shortened and the stem dropped 5mm: I'm running less sag than i was initially with the terralogic on the Fox. It's all working out.

Next on the list is Conti Rubber Queens when they finally get released and i'm still humming and haaing about a dropper post. We'll see. Here's to the next year on B.A.

Loops 2.

2011-03-28T14:36:00.003+01:00

Giga endurance rider shaggy, just back from alaska, and mel were staying this weekend. A great time had: even managed to slip out for a ride at the local trails. In some ways it acted to kick start a high intensity training block...such as i'm capable of at present.... but in other ways it was just a damn fun time riding our bikes in the woods. We were joined by Marty maebegears and Ken. Conditions were so good we even managed to check out where i'm trying to bed in some trail. It needs more work, but by summer i reckon we'll have 4 hours of primarily singletrack loops out there with very little repetition. Sweet as.

Loops 1.

2011-03-23T14:15:00.004Z

So, with the sun's appearance low in the sky, my blood finally warmed enough to get out and break the 4 hour early season barrier. Yes, there have been one or two longer rides, but that has mostly been conditions and/or terrain dictated. An early 'test piece' loop i often use to gauge where i am on the wide scale of fitness is the Mangrunt loop. So named as when Chris and myself ticked it off first time around, it led to a fair bit of man grunting as we tackled the steeper pitches on our relatively new-at-the-time singlespeeds.

Anyways, usually you leave around six hours for this loop. Various permutations, and i took a slight short cut to miss out on some foresting but all in all a respectable 4.30 for the whole loop. Pretty stoked about that: it wouldnt have surprised me if it had taken at least an hour longer.

I started at the car park midway between Drymen and Aberfoyle and whipped back over the hill (into a brisk headwind) to Garadhban. From there i avoided the dilapidated trails over Conic Hill by dropping down to Milton of Buchanan. Re-joining the West Highland Way my mind turned to a possible attempt at the WHW double. We'll see about that, but not soon.

The trails were in great condition and i made good time up to Inversnaid. The little steppy sections and tight trail in the trees were a joy. Instead of taking the road from Inversnaid to Loch Arklet, i headed up the steep trails to Rob Roy's view, then rejoined the road. Time saved was a wash, but the views were way better.

Back into the Queen Elizabeth Forest and then joined the mustard loop, but took a diversion to avoid the section nearest Aberfoyle - knocking 30 or so mins i reckon off the total loop.

The last section of the forest access road was ruined by recent foresting, and was covered in a carpet of dead frogs. An odd way to finish a grand loop. A little more in the legs than expected, i was able to push quite hard. There is a degree of hope for the 12 hours of exposure afterall....

Next up: Loops 2.

Access by bike.

2011-03-16T19:42:00.001Z

An interesting thread is developing on singletrackworld. Worth a read, really!

Hup, hup...

2011-03-14T20:26:00.001Z

First ride back in the uk today. On some new-to-me trail. My legs are p a t h e t i c. Some serious work needs to be done...

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