Sunshine and upgrades

My last post was just before my holiday, so I am now back from Gibraltar with some dodgy tan marks and feeling well rested. It was really hot over there which was lovely during the day as long as I did nothing but sit and read, there was no way I could have ridden my bike in that though!

This is what summer looks like

Since arriving back I sorted my tubeless issues on my hardtail, namely being in too much of a rush to ride it I put in less than half the required sealant and got a rear flat, so on returning I bought more sealant and also made a tubeless tyre inflator from a fire extinguisher. For non bike mechanic nerds tubeless is when you run bike tyres like car tyres that is with no innertube, so we use sealant (liquid latex with granules in it to seal holes) which fixes small punctures as we ride. This set up allows us to run lower pressures in the tyres which gives more grip as well as reducing the times we need to stop to repair a puncture. It's something I love but can be a pain to set up as you're dealing with a wheel, a loose tyre which want's to let the air escape and some liquid latex that want's to run onto the floor, your clothes, pets, kids, or explode into your hair if you really get it wrong (or are a badger). The main issue with tubeless is getting enough air into the tyre quickly enough to 'seat' the edge of the tyre onto the edge of the wheel, thus locking in the air. Compressors and high volume pumps can help, but I am poor so made an inflator from a fire extinguisher for £2. I pump up the extinguisher, attach a tube to the valve on the wheel and pull the trigger, dispensing the air into the tyre in one go, pop, pop, pop, tyres seats perfectly and locks itself to the rim. Job done.

Ghettotastic

Once my tyre issues were sorted I was raring to ride again, a fun day up the local hill was the order of the day on Saturday, the trails are running brilliantly, damp enough to provide loads of grip but dry enough to not need scuba gear. The new forks, wheels and cranks were spot on, I am back in love with the Hornet, phew!

Just need my stem and she's done! 

Singletrack dreams

hiya Glasgow, possibly my favourite view

With bad weather at the start of the week I bailed on my Tuesday night ride as I lost my snorkel, so last night a group of us went to Carron Valley for some fun swoopy jumping. I have had an issue here since I crashed on the runway jump section in the ice a while back, and for some reason one non-serious crash had put me off 2 small sections here so much that I would come to a complete standstill. Not last night, I stayed off the brakes and kept my focus and rode that section like I used to before the monkey jumped on my back, then went round again just to be sure. The monkey is dead, long live the runway! 

This weekend is filled with riding once again so should be a good one, aside from that I am trying to sell my self built camper to fund a bigger build of a similar design, but more suitable for the 4 day trips I seem to end up doing, would be nice to have a shower in it too.. at least for those around me! 

Vangelina, soon to go to a new home

Happy trails all! 

Home sweet home!

After 4 weekends of living in the van I was happy to have a weekend at home, time for some local riding, hot showers and my proper bed! I love my van and am planning on converting a bigger one for future biger plans, this will have a fixed double bed rather than the foldable one this van has, as much as it is useful it would be nice to have a bed that is always ready and has a proper mattress if I am using it on a more regular basis. 

Home is Glasgow and with lots of local hills we have loads of trails, we really are spoiled rotten. The Kilpatrick Hills are my most frequent local haunt now but there are some official and unofficial trails in Pollok Park which is a short pedal from my front door so I will be investigating this more, Mugdock Country Park has lots of trails hidden in the trees, Cathkin Braes is home to the Commonwealth Games tracks and Carron Valley has some nice fun hardpack trails that are a blast in all conditions. Spoiled. Aside from this super local stuff there is a load of riding within short driving distance such as the 7 Stanes Glentress and Innerleithen, Laggan Wolftrax, Cambusbarron and Dumyat near Stirling and loads more. This is why I love Scotland and why I love living in Glasgow. 

Glasgow from the Kilpatrick Hills.

Bit of love for my big bike.

The Kilpatricks squad. 

The last few weeks have been great fun off the bikes too, my other half is also an outdoorsy type but not a mountain biker so we took the van and went away for a weekend to the Knapdale Beaver trial, where they have reintroduced beavers into Scotland as a trial which ends this year. Though we didn't see any beavers we saw lots of beautiful flowers and insects and some amazing views, including taking a walk to the end of a peninsular where it felt like we were at the end of the earth, it was so isolated it was wonderful. 

Red Damselfly - one of my favourite photos I have taken.

Sheep skull. 

Me at the end of the earth. 

Getting arty. 

Bluebells in abundance. 

Us off for a wander in the woods. 

My sister graduated from Glasgow University with an honours degree in Italian and English, so she has a degree in reading and I have a degree in colouring in! I got the chance to dress up in my new suit, full three piece job with matching tie and pocket square, brilliant fun! 

My special little sister.

Suited and booted.

Zap!

As our parents were visiting I wanted them to see more of Glasgow, the bits that I like, so we took them to Pollok Park for a nice walk and to see the Highland Coos, was a lovely sunny day, typical the day after Rebecca's graduation but at least there was some nice weather during their visit. After the Park we visited the Kelpies, two massive horse head sculptures a short drive from Glasgow, they are really awesome up close, full of character, well worth seeing. 

As an eternal bike tinkerer I rarely go more than a few weeks without getting the tools out, this time I was upgrading my Dartmoor Hornet hardtail bike. The bike was originally built on a jump bike frame using parts bought in various sales and from mates, the forks were old school heavy ones bought faulty and repaired by myself. Having seen a mate selling a much lighter fork I decided I may as well upgrade the Hornet to the new trendy wheel size to match my big bike and get the forks and some new wheels too. I still need to change the white cranks but am loving the new updated stealth hornet and it weighs loads less than before. No I did not weigh it before or after, I don’t care about numbers just how it rides and it rides amazingly and feels super light now and thats what matters to me. 

I have a friend, we all have one, who is a bit nuts. Stevie comes up with mad ideas and loves making things almost as much as I do. Having just bought a shed / manacle he asked me to make him a table for it, just for general use, a coffee table really but for a shed. I made the table from the cut out left from the sink in his new kitchen installation, some tongue and groove I had lying about and some wood left from the floor braces in Stevie’s house. Whilst I made this the madman used a bucket BBQ, some canes and foil and made a DIY smoker to cook a joint of beef, chicken and ribs. For the most part it worked, the beef was well smoked and very tasty. Funny enough the support structure for the ribs being made of canes was less of a success and burned to death once the fat from the meat started to create flames. oops. Still the ribs were almost cooked so a bit longer lying on the coals and they were perfect.

Ghetto smoker.

Stevie. 

Not bad for scraps.

Table.

Cabaret. Not something I have been particularly interested in, I always thought it was for old people and cruise ships, but a night a Wild Cabaret in Glasgow last weekend was great fun. Lovely food and great acts with plenty of drinks made for a fun and different night out. I can’t say I was keen on the host but the dancers, rope guy, bendy ladies and hula hooper were all brilliant fun to watch. Gratuitous photo from the night - check out my bike bow tie! 

After work on Wednesday was my first chance to try out my new and improved bike, needing to be back for 7.30 I set off just after 6 from my front door, cycled to Pollok Park and did a couple of laps of the red and blue loops. My second lap was pretty slow as my rear tyre was starting to go flat, I had set it up tubeless but was impatient and left the dodgy old tape on and only had half the sealant I should have used, so it was my own fault. I managed to complete the last lap and get halfway home before it was really too flat to ride on so walked the last mile. The wheels were my saviour, I have never had tubeless specific wheels before, only used ghetto systems, there is no way a non-specific wheel would have held up as long as these did and even though it is now totally flat.

New and improved Hornet.

Glorious mud! 

Now I am off on holiday to Gibraltar, bye!!

Missing link 3 - the final link

Hooray, the last part of my missing month, and as I have had fewer adventures in June I should soon be up to date, guess I should start riding, partying and doing more!

After the EWS weekend the DH World Cup was visiting Fort William as it does every year, and I had a road trip with the bikes planned as I do every year. This year was my seventh in a row and it may be the last one where I dedicate my whole weekend and take holidays from work for it, or at least that was my thinking before this year, now I am not so sure.

Laggan. I love the place, I wrote about it in depth recently so I won't talk too much about the slabs and trails aside from to say they are great fun, but this time I was able to sample a bacon butty and coffee at the cafe before setting off and they were both excellent, good quality bacon, cooked fresh to order, strong coffee in a mug. Perfick. This visit was with speed demon Gael and my sister Rebecca, I sit somewhere between them in riding skill so had a great time trying to keep up with Gael / not die and helping Rebecca progress her riding. It was a great day out, the weather was spot on after a damp climb and the people we bumped in to had good chat, it was a great start to the weekend.

Rebecca and I supporting Tahnee Seagrave and Copparide at the top of the red climb.

Gael smiling on a climb?!

Rain cleared and the blue skies appeared.

Rebecca riding some Laggan slabs. 

Enduro mode. 

Following Laggan we all loaded up the car and van and headed on to Fort William for the weekend of madness. As Gael is posh she and her boyfriend had a hotel booked whilst Rebecca and I were headed to the "Wild Camping" closer to the base of the Nevis Range where we were expecting parties, music, beer and fun. Arriving at the site it looked a bit muddy, and by a bit I mean it was a mudfest, but we found a spot, pitched Rebecca's tent and had a beer whilst waiting for Gael and John to pick us up for dinner. The campsite was a bit ropey, the showers required (expensive) tokens, but at least they existed and a food van was there. Music was in a barn, but as they had provided a bar we were not allowed to take our own drinks in, this would have been fine if we had known, but we had stocked up on cans (no glass on the campsite) especially, so we were kind of excluded from the barn.

In town we tried every food venue that was open until we found somewhere with space at last, an indian restaurant, yay for food! The guys from Singletrack mag had a table by the window, yep I spotted you. The food was ok, the service was odd, but we all needed food after a day on the bikes so it was wolfed down. On our mission to find an eatery we were stopped by staff from the bookies, asking if we wanted to bet on the DH racing, it's almost as if they knew us, out of my family I am the only one who does not work in gambling, my parents and little sister all work in the industry. Once food was ordered the two of us popped down the road to part with our cash. I bet my money on Bryceland (long shot after injury but I like the lad) and Manon Carpenter along with a little side on Tahnee Seagrave to place, Rebecca bet on an Atherton double and the same side of Seagrave. Fed and watered we were kindly delivered back to camp by Gael and John, so tired we just went to bed ready for a day up the mountain.

Saturday at Fort Bill is always a bit quieter than the Sunday as lots of people travel up or ride Laggan then, just coming to the World Cup for the race finals, but I love watching Four Cross so have always come up for both days. It's a shame but the 4x is not what it used to be, it was fun to watch the last few races but nowhere near the atmosphere of previous times, with fewer Brits racing and a very low turn out for the ladies it has really lost it's place and appeal in my opinion. The weather on Saturday was horrible, wet, windy, very Scottish. We got the gondola up the hill once, it didn't feel very safe, and the cold wind up the top was horrid so we didn't even get out, just carried on round back to the start, the first World Cup where I had not walked down the mountain, bit of a shame. Watching people walking down the track, being blown about I don't think I was missing much.

With qualifying cancelled there were quite a few pro riders at a loose end, so we managed to snag photos with Gee Atherton, who agreed it was pretty grim, Team Saracen hiding in a tent and I even got a pic with Rob Warner who was happy to have been spotted, his enduro beard seems to be a good disguise it seems.

Bad weather makes for nice double rainbows. 

Rebecca got to meet one of her idols, Gee. 

Me and Gee. 

A happy and soggy me meeting a happy and soggy Warner. 

Heading back down the hill at dinner time there was a nice double rainbow over the mountains, the view from the campsite was decent, we grabbed chips from the van and had a few beers. A nice chilled evening, with a walk around the campsite to see if we could see any familiar faces, but aside from some absolute lunatics it was a fruitless endeavour and we ended back at the van and tent for an earlyish night. 

Sunday was a much nicer day, starting a bit wet but drying up and even resulting in us 'catching the sun' which is novel in Scotland. The racing was brilliant, with carnage and crashes, Rachel and Tahnee both came through for us on our bets, thanks girls! Rebecca even snagged a pair of Seagrave's special limited edition pink socks as consolation for not winning her awesome DH bike. Racing done we watched the podiums before collecting our bikes for the final run down the hill, I always love that last ride down on a Sunday, everyone is amped on the day and yelling "pedal" at me, as I am easily persuaded it does make me fly down the hill grinning, thinking I am Manon, but riding on a tarmac road, idiot. 

Camp, showers, beers, time to take a walk into town to see our mates for some drinks. It's about six miles from the camp to town so I amused myself by trying to get the trucks to honk their horns for us. Danny Macaskill, you need a better horn in your van, it's a bit squeaky! Arriving in town we ran into the promo guys for the RedBull Jeep after party and were easily persuaded by the offer of free food and free bar. Deal. Walking into the Nevis Centre it was a bit quiet so we got food and beers and found a spot to sit next to a couple of guys, one of whom was Neil Donoghue, I got a bit excited but hid it well, of course. By the end of the night we had chatted to Rachel and Gee Atherton, hung out with Fionn Griffiths (and been photobombed by her) and Siegenthaller, watched Bryceland and his mates do some bad dancing and taken far too much advantage of the free bar. What a night. Now I am torn about my plan of not going back next year, I might go up just for finals and the after party! 

Nice night for a walk.

Distillery in the sun. 

Meeting my idols. 

And being photobombed by them. 

Monday morning. Today is the day we set aside for riding the Nevis tracks. Oh dear. On the Nevis Range there are a few cross country tracks and some downhill, there is the main DH track used by the pros for the racing, which is open to the public with a few features removed, and the red dh which is still pushing the limits of my riding but a bit more achievable for us mere mortals. Shame about the free bar last night though, I was feeling ROUGH. Arriving at the car park I made a beeline for the cafe, ordered a full breakfast and black coffee and tried to resemble a human, it was a tough call. Gael and co arrived all smiles and consent forms, I duly completed my life-waiver whilst trying to hold down my bacon and eggs, drinking more coffee and wishing I had taken better advantage of the free food last night and not just the bar. 

Go time. Bikes loaded on the back we got in the gondola for the trip up the hill, yuck, not fun with a hangover, but at least the view was nice and unlike Saturday the whole thing was not swinging about in the gale force wind. Getting out of the lift at the top was pretty nice, it was cool up there with a nice breeze, the view was stunning as ever, and I had started to feel like a person at last. I hate boardwalk. Even if it is 6 inches off the ground I hate it, I like to leave riding on fences to trials riders, I like the ground beneath my wheels, not chicken wire and slippy planks. The top of the Nevis Red DH if all that though, seemingly miles of boardwalk, often with a 6ft plus drop to one side, not my favourite, and certainly not today, I was so wibbly I kept riding off the boardwalk at the top (before it gains a massive drop to one side), so I had to get off and walk / run with my poor bike until I found terra firma again.

The last time I rode this track was two years ago and it was hard but I mostly enjoyed it, this year I was hoping to slay all my demons here and shred the trail, but it was not to be. I minced it all, walked too much and generally had a mediocre day of it, I only managed two runs as I felt so awful and both of those were terrible. I blame the beer. I will go back some point this year and try again, no free bar the night before and hopefully a lot more sleep!

Next time - Beaver hunting, bike upgrades and learning curves. 

Missing link 2

This is the next part of my missing month, where I was having too much fun to write my blogs, this one covers the EWS weekend that was part of Tweedlove in Peebles.

Blue skies on Friday. 

Straight from work on Friday night to the Tweed Green for the marshall briefing, lots of important info and a nice catch up with some familiar faces. Not a fan of driving more than I need to I was living the vanlife this weekend, so headed just outside of Peebles to a quiet spot to camp for the night, dinner, a beer and some quiet time, just what I need after a week at work. 

Saturday was a free day, as much as I love marshalling I would go insane if I didn't ride my own bike too, so I only volunteer one day each weekend and ride the other, this gets me riding new places sometimes and allows me to have my own weekend time. My friend Gael came through to meet me and we spent the day riding the Glentress Red and Blue trails, getting her new fancy Mondraker set up, and generally having some fun in the sun. 

Sunday was go day for marshalling, I was to meet at the Buzzards Nest car park at 6.30am, so only one thing for it, that was to be my camp spot meaning I could have a beer, chill out and get an extra 30 mins in my bed, bliss! Was nice to be chilling at the back of my van with no cars passing by, it was lovely and quiet with a few bikers still coming and going and a couple of other over nighters dotted about. Burgers, beer and feet up in preparation for a big day. 

Waking to a chilly and soggy Sunday I layered up in all my clothes and waterproofs before cooking my breakfast under my unruly tarp over the back doors, which promptly blew off into a puddle (I have since added big spring clips to the van to resolve this). After a slightly damp breakfast I gathered my bag, flask and brolly and assembled with the crew. Briefings, meetings, more rain, more coffee, cake, radios, maps, rain, rain, coffee, ready to go, bundled into pick ups and posted up on the hill, go time. Due to the weather the day had been cut from four to just two stages, I was positioned at the bottom of stage 5, the first stage of the day (1-4 were the previous day at Innerleithen), and as it turned out, a muddy, sticky, nasty stage that took its toll on many riders, bikes and kit. Top 20 riders aside I don't know if many people didn't have to stop to clear the mud goop from their tyres, most common phrase of the day was "my wheels just stopped moving" closely followed by "I ripped off my mudguard". It seems that any braking was a bad idea as it just accelerated the mud accumulation which then hit the fork brace or mudguard and brought the bikes to a halt. Most people were pretty miserable by this point in the day so I tried being as upbeat as possible, whilst also trying not to have too much of a fan girl moment as my idols zipped into view and paused for breath beside me. 

Pro marshall set up

Once the riders were all passed and the course was announced clear we were free to return our radios and responsibilities to head marshall Tara and clear off to the Green for some pro-spotting, friend finding and window shopping. Catching my friend Victoria from Foxhunt at the Green, we headed off for some much needed food. It is amazing how hungry I get standing on a hill doing not a lot, when I find I hardly eat during exercise, I cannot seem to stop on marshall days! After food (and jump starting Victoria's car) I ventured off to find a new spot for my van for tonight. As a marshall I was given a pass to the EWS after party so tonights requirements were to be walking distance to Peebles and pretty, I found just the spot. 

Tweedlove EWS afterparty... the bar ran out of IPA, Vodka, Jaegermeister, and I have no idea what else... it was that kind of party. I made new friends, whose names I cannot remember, I drank too much, partied with people I barely knew before this evening and even managed to snag a few pics with a legend. Top night. 

Waking on Monday I was feeling more than a little delicate, but the view above helped with that, as did a big mug of strong coffee and plenty of bacon and eggs, for today was no day to be hungover, today was EWS Xtra, and I was supposed to be on form for riding. Riding trails way beyond my normal level and a bit worn in by 500 riders thrashing them for 2 days. After breakfast I headed to Innerleithen and to No.1 Peebles Cafe for a nice strong black coffee whilst waiting for Gael to arrive. 

Starting at the "Golfie" trails behind Innerleithen the trails are far steeper than my comfort zone allows, I tried and failed to ride some of it, I crashed into more than one tree and resorted to walking / falling down the hill dragging and being dragged by my bike. Must practice steep. Meeting Gael I felt pretty bad for holding her back until she said she had an OTB and was finding it a bit sketchy as it was all blown out from the traffic of the race. We agreed to call it quits at Inners and headed to Glentress instead for the rest of the day. 

I have wanted to ride the off-piste trails at Glentress for a long time now and this was the first time I would have a go, having nicely way-marked trails to help us piece together a fun day made it a lot easier to get some flow and fun into the day. Starting at the mast right at the top, above Spooky Wood, we began to ride, for me it was the first ride of the day, as I managed to ride more than 10m in a go! Twisting through the woods on a fresh trail was great fun, and I started to relax and remember to have fun and ride my bike instead of stressing about what I cannot do. The trail took in bits of Spooky Wood, Betty Blue and joined Broon Troot further down, I cannot say I rode Broon Troot, I probably managed 70% of it, but I will be back to keep on practicing until I can, and it will be a good way to progress my riding and maybe get back to the Golfie once I can ride it well enough and see if I can ride that too by then! After Broon Troot and Pie Run we were back at the fire road so we pushed on up to shortly before the mast to ride stage 8, starting in the woods with some twisty turny fun again, into Ho Chi Minh, a rooty, wild ride, I cannot wait to go back and ride that again. 

I have kept my maps and plan on riding more of the off piste trails at GT in the future. The trail centre trails are great for all weather riding, but the more natural stuff is wild, fun and scary, it's brilliant! 

Next time: Fort William, World Cup Fever and more vanlife. 

Missing link 1

Since I did so much in my absent two months I am breaking it down into smaller stories, this is the first and covers May pretty much. WARNING… Picture Heavy!

I enjoy taking photos, I like to share adventures and have something to look back on, but I don't like that I only post these digitally and never have a physical photo unless it stands out for some reason then I may print it. I decided to print a load of my photos in polaroid style and create a wall of memories, a lot of them are bike related, some are from my childhood, all make me smile. The wall is in my living room so it's nice to see it every day, it is not yet complete, I need more pegs, and will continue to print images and when it is full I will swap images in and out to keep it fresh and interesting.

On May 9th I took my sister to Carron Valley for some mountain bike fun, we love it there though lots of people slate it. I like to think of it as a giant bmx track and enjoy the flow of the jumps and berms, it is not technical in the usual sense, there are no roots or big features, but ridden as fast as you can it is a good laugh. Being a surfaced trail it is rideable in all weathers and it features a lot in my winter riding, though it hurts to fall there when the ground is covered in 4 inches of solid ice. We had a lovely mellow day in the sunshine, enjoying short sleeve riding which is always a highlight! 

The view over the loch is lovely.

Rebecca loves me taking photos of her on the climbs! 

Me in my garish colours. 

My birthday is in May, and this year fell nicely on a bank holiday weekend so I took the Friday off work and had a nice long weekend planned. Drove from Glasgow to Perth on Thursday night to catch up with a friend, we drank too much and chatted until about 4am, I am too old for this! Waking at almost 1pm I was worried that I had wasted my first bike day so I ate some food quickly and headed north towards Laggan, a trail I love but only visit on the world cup weekend en route to Fort William each year. I made it to Laggan for just after 3, got my bike sorted and headed up the hill, an ominous cloud hanging overhead and a bit worried that I had left it too late. On the climb the clouds parted, the air warmed, greens became greener and everything just became brighter and better, I think this was in part the weather improving but mostly my hangover shifting. I have never ridden Laggan alone, only in groups, and it was great fun, riding at my own (slow) speed, stopping only when I wanted and repeating anything I wanted to. The rocky, slab based trail is brilliant in all weather but in the sunshine, on my own, on a Friday, it was perfection. 

Artsy bike and log photo. 

View part way up the climb.

Part way up the upper red climb. 

Top of the upper red loop. 

On returning to the van I would have loved to go round again, but being a weakling and having another bike day booked in for the next day, I opted to get cleaned up and find a spot for the night instead of pushing it too far. Driving through the Cairngorms is always nice, I drove towards Fochabers because Saturday plans involved meeting friends from Aberdeen to ride the Moray Monster Trails. I found a quiet set-back layby and set up camp, cooked my sausages, enjoyed a beer, and just sat. Bliss.

My layby. 

The sun descending. 

Breakfast time. 

After my bacon and eggs I trucked onwards to meet Bruce and Elle at the trail car park. The Moray Monster trails are pretty old school in nature, lots of climbing to start, berms and flow, a lots of roots to finish, but not major big features. The last section had recently been updated and has some massive berms, swoops and flowy features, it was fast, wild and fun trying to keep ahead of Bruce who was snapping at my heels! Brilliant day, but I was glad I had not overdone it at Laggan. 

What a view from the top of the Moray climb! 

Hey Bruce! 

Hey Elle! 

Another artsy bike photo. 

After our ride we drove back to Aberdeen and went to a pub for a nice catch up, I was on the water as then drove to Stonehaven with my SO where I was treated to a lovely dinner, we camped in the van on the cliff top, woke at sunrise to visit the castle ruins but were defeated by clouds. A few more hours sleep and we drove onward to a lovely beach and had breakfast high up on the cliff tops, before some rock climbing, walking barefoot in the sand and paddling in the freezing cold water, refreshing! Driving back to Glasgow for dinner at my sister's house then drinks with my friends, it was a perfect weekend, here's to another year! 

Although I do try to avoid gluten and sugar, 

there is no avoiding cake made by my sister for me. 

It would just be rude! 

Next time - EWS, Tweedlove and more vanlife.