Outdoors again, and nowhere near a mountain. It looks like getting the miles in on the bike is taking over at the moment, but I’m heading to the Arrochar Alps as soon as there’s a gap in the weather. I’m not missing taking a right turn at Tarbet on Loch Lomond though, I’ve seen enough of the A82 for a wee while.
Instead, I watched Jimmy get the Wee Spark towed along the canal by a horse for the first time which was fun. The Wee Spark is a 1/3 size Clyde Puffer which he built in our workshop and is now a legend in the world of boats an’ that.
Holly got to pat the horse and was very pleased with that, and the speed at which the horse could pull the boat was frightening, horses are badass.
I did many hours in the saddle as well, racking up 60km on Sunday, with about half of it in the rain. The new bike feels good (that’s it above) and covers the ground well for a full-susser. I’ve dropped a good bit of weight off it already since I replaced some of its low-rent stock items with the good kit off my old frame, and I’ll get another kilo or two off it before the WHW trip as well. Bikes are the realm of the super-geek, tinkering, replacing, fettling, improving, feeding that bottomless pit that eats your money and laughs when it’s still “Hmmm, not quite right yet”.
The glorious apparel I’m sporting above is a Honey Stinger/Big Agnes team jersey that was presented to me when I was through at the UK HQ a few weeks back. I’ve worn it a few times now and it’s actually really good. The fit is spot on, the zip goes down to my navel and the fabric is pretty much all-conditions specific. And I thought that cycle gear looked crap and performed as convincingly as a hamster on a stick. Being wrong is good.
The photie above also captures the moment when I was distracted whilst waiting for the timer to go off and was thinking “That dug coming towards me is helluva big…”
I took a wee run around the harbour on the way home after tearing round the woods on the singletrack with the last of my energy as hunger took a firm hold. It was both dismal and magnetic watching the greys shift and change as the rain flowed over the water and onto the hills.
I was soaked to the skin when I got home, and decided to have a bath to enjoy some of that therapeutic stuff that baths are supposed to provide. I fitted a corner bath in our Mickey Mouse bathroom to save space however, and jammed in there with bubbles and myriad toys and tea-set components I must have looked like a murder victim in a wheelie bin.
Still, with my feet sticking out over the side, I fell asleep with Rammstein’s Reise, Reise on the iPod, quite happy with my lot.
Was oot on the bike yesterday too !
Not as long a runas you but descovered a nice wee circuit at the back of Neilston.
Gees a shout when you are heading to Arrochar
It looks very purposeful, but what is it? The photie’s too wee to make out the fine details.
It’s a Kona Dawg, which although not the highest spec Dawg in the range, has the same frame as the top of the line model which makes it a steal with £400 off! I’ve started upgrading with parts I’ve already got, and I’ll ebay the Rock Shox forks, the wheels, bars/stem. seatpost/saddle to help fund some more bits and pieces.
It’s super rideable just now though, so I’m quite happy.
Bobinson, I just switched my phone on, we shall coordinate the next ride better!
Looks quite agile – I hope it’s a faithful hound.
Get the vet to sort out its droopytoptubeitis though. :O)
Is that bent bit intentional then? I just assumed someone had sat on it…
too much suspension and 26 gears too many ;o)
There’s a challenge: WHW on a fixie!
Hey, I’m an old man, I like riding a couch :o)
I had a droopy top tube a few years back when I had a Gary Fisher Sugar. I really liked it for those sudden stops I have because I’m a big feartie. The really high bottom bracket on the last Dawg plus the straight top tube made me nervous on a couple of occasions, I think this one is better for my nerves!
I kinda like the looks of it as well, some bendy tubes look hideous, this is quite subtle. Anything that drifts away from the classic double diamond bike shape always looks a little wrong though.
Aye it’s no’ bad looking at all. Not like some of the things Specialized have came out with lately. *shudder*
If I knew you were in the market for a new bike you could have got this one: http://twitpic.com/g01jz Same Bee theme going on and matches your black/yellow Honey Stinger top!
Even has stabilisers to help you with those steep trails!
:o)
Aye Gordy, there’s a fair few bikes out there that look like collapsed scaffolding.
Ange, I might need those stabilisers on day two as my spirit breaks having to deal with all the gates on the section of the WHW near Dumgoyne.
Ah, I’m planning in detail now… Help ma Boab…
Plans are good. I like planning. It’s the aftermath of when it’s all over that I don’t like.
BTW shopping list – down booties – tick!! Wait til you see them… smart :o)
I picked up the new Trail at lunchtime. A ‘Scottish Islands’ special.
I trust that Trail will not fall into the usual trap of assuming that the Scottish Islands = the Hebrides.
Doh!
Ange, I carried down booties and mitts all last winter for camp and it’s brilliant kit. Good call!
David, now, now :o)
Not the best issue of Trail ever, I’m afraid, although I was entertained to read that Lewis and Harris are be “an altitude so northerly that the sun barely creeps below the horizon…”
My sarcasm glands are about to burst…
AND – why have they ditched your column, but persist with the waste of space that is the Readers gear test.
Oh , yes, six base layers tested by six different readers who each provide a score of 4 out of 5.
I mean that is soooooooooooooo helpful.
Of course that should be ‘latitude’ rathe than ‘altitude’, so I may have to burst my sarcasm gland at myself.
I’m saying nothing :o)
..about any of it!
I’ve got routes in the next five issues at least, and I’m not setting myself up just in case I’ve let a howler though into the text!