Im leaving on a jet plane !

coming home - that is all !

new bike time !

there are two holes in my assortment of bikes - 1 something i can ride over distance and 2 something i can hoon and just have good fun on ... These are 2 holes that have become apparent that i have not been racing so much and more riding for fun and enjoyment -i still enjoy riding long distances but i dont want to be full on flat backed head down arse up and uncomfy.

26inch wheels suck for distance - its all about the 29er , angle of attack is shallower and you feel less of the bumps - this i have proven to my self with a 400 quid gary fisher rig experiment - it then became my most ridden bike !

Bike number 1 - Ragley TD-1

Not only because my initials are T and D but because last year i was looking into having a custom made frame built up to my specs with 29 inch wheels , rohloff specific drop out , a nice low front end and ability to carry luggage. Then Brant came out with this bike. Im the first to admit ive not always seen eye to eye on some of Brants previous and even some of his current designs but thats why he is the designer and im just a rider. He certainly looks outside the box.

going for a cross between

&

Ade Wards (1st photo) look with forks similar to that of twinkly dave (2nd photo) - and i do prefer daves silver seat pin too

mines how ever is having a rohloff stuck in the rear end . XTR cranks , Stans arch rims , a brooks swallow Ti saddle , hope race x2 brakes , hope seat pin , headset , ceramic BB , front hub. ITs the first bike ive just built purely based on performance of the bits without too much consideration to the price - ive not just got wreckless - nothing is specified unless i think it will perform to the maximum. I could quite easily specifiy this bike with much lighter kit but the risk of it failing and leaving me in a hard spot is quite high !

Bike number 2 -Surly pugsley

Two reasons - i live in an area with alot of soft woodland trails, an area thats prone to lots of snow and could leave me unable to ride about the place for 3 months of the year. The main reason though is that stick in a bit more psi and you can have lots of fun hooning the downhills and rolling over stuff that would stop a normal bike .....

Malabo

Things aint bad out here - the digs aint the best but tollerable , much better than bumbles hostel in nelson anyway.

Looks like a nice enough place tbh , spanish colony , speak a mix of spanish , french and pigeon english - all of them at a speed that i cannot understand - bit like me speaking scots to them;)

not allowed to take photos - infact company policy is no cameras - i have my phone camera so if i feel safe i may take some but not likely anything outside of base or the digs

Managing to get out running after work - who knows what i might get up to when i get back , might be tempted to actually do some real running races -its something i mentioned before about wanting to be a better runner but dont have the time with cycling all the time. Might actually make me a better cyclist being able to run !

Very warm running out here though - 30degrees and 98% humidity last night - sticky !

Off to africa

not much to report , been on standby for a job coming up in africa.

so im off to malabo , equitorial guinea for a couple months starting august 16th !

hopefully it will pay for a new bike , intend to do this running training i keep talking about when im out there , hopefully the lack of the temptation to ride will entice me into thinking im getting fat and make me run.

Meantime im riding 35 miles each way with 4000ft climbing to work and back-excellent ride !

a rather badly timed photo

(photo by footflaps)

but still provides much laughter ...

on the start line at kirroughtree I am paparazzied looking at steve webbs singular cycles mean machine with gears and suspension (unusual for a singular) but unfortunantly for me it looks like im up to no good.

(I dont know Lesley so hopefully she takes this in good humour if she sees it haha)

10 @ kirroughtree

all quiet on the western front as i tried to cash in some of my banked miles in an effort to get a modicum of speed back into my legs last week in an effort to give mark and mike my best effort in our trio - and secretly wanting the fastest lap of our trio if not the event.

Don't think i achieved either but after 3 weeks completely off the bike i didn't expect much else.

I elected to go first off the line due to my aggressive riding style when riding in packs - i dont get bullied easy. Sat on the line with fraser giving us the pep talk and my front tire starts deflating (tubeless) so i frantically try to get it to seal - it does but is rather soft. I ride the lap with greig brown and find my self jumping off mid corner and dabbing lots as the tire squirms under me wildly.

Came in off the lap 4th behind nimmo , keswick mtb and velo 29 and find my tire had 9psi in it !

mark went out and put us in a strong position passing keswick and velo 29 (or so he tells me) followed by mike and the infamous flat tire - god knows what he hit but i think we need to buy shares in stans - he split the rim and tire.

the track was the best in the world for me i loved the mud - i mean seriously loved it , reminded me of my first downhill race back at strathyre on rigids and vbrakes ! It only got muddier as the day went on too.

the rest of the day went smooth with us eeking out the gap to the singular cycles trio in second.

Fraser opted to stop the race an hour early on grounds of light so i got the glory lap for a change and despite low light and crap conditions on course i put in my fastest lap of the day with some very very dodgy piloting - going round corners on the front wheel and launching straight over switch backs jumping into the next berm !

Jayne stayed firm on her decision to do solo despite the weather and the offer of a mixed trio. She came in off lap 1 in first place and thought she had been lapped ! We didnt let on that she was in first till the 8th hour where we told her she was 3 minutes down on second - she stormed the last lap despite a busted rear mech that meant the front rings only for gear choices. Final result - 1 lap up on second to win female solo. The result we have all (except her) been expecting from her for some time - she is getting stronger and more technical riding orientated all the time - the progression curve has been steep and quick !

Moving again .

HAD to get out of the city - the city was killing me.

never been a city fan but equally never one to write something off without trying it.

With that in mind moving to the city onto one of the busiest roads probably wasnt clever !


Now jaynes been given a job at mearns academy which gave me the perfect excuse to get out.

now live right on the trails of drumtochty , fetteresso , durris and swanley hill with a trail network of a couple hundred miles(which will expand once i get started building) all in varying from fire road flowing technical singletrack DH to steep rocky 500m height gain climbs.

the trail head is at my door really - no road work at all to get onto them

we also gained at least double the space of our old flat for 125 quid a month more .... - an extra bedroom , a larger kitchen lounge and bathroom. as well as the quality of the furniture and finishings being about a billion times better.

You know the landlord cares about this place - esp after the vetting process we undertook...