Stage 2

Getting there...a bit more rough file work, and then we are close to finishing. Paint it? leave it raw?

Going to put a mono veloce Blackspire on there, so the contrast may be odd...we'll see..

Lets go to work.

Finally started to mod the cranks for the new bike...hack saw, file and elbow grease....reckon its going to take 7 days + to get em done...this is day 1.

P-phone

Had some visitng time today....

Pink to make the boys wink.

Just returned from Chipps birthday bash in Hebden Bridge. A top time had....fine folk, beer and chat.

Also picked up the pink frame from Tim at Sideways. It's as lovely as i'd hoped and i've done a wee bit of pressing, cutting, loctiting and tweaking already. Rims will be bonty duster on DT 240, the old man mountain racks are ready, there is a new saddle coming, a SSM zoncolan and the cranks will either be a modded M960 xtr, or something else....the gear will range depending on load, and there is a frame bag if needed. Brakes are bb7 with beloved paul levers and i'll likely bend up some steel conduit for em...no rush to build it...i think you can see from the pic the kicked out fork and relaxed angles. I'm very much looking forward to testing it out.

On the horizon is a Fort William to Glasgow 'time trial' off road which will be the first big ride of the year for me i think....

thoydy thoyd and thoyd

Looks like the 36"er thing is (ahem) on a roll. A chap called Bryan Keener has made his own, utilising chopped and sleeved hubs to give a dual 185mm front, double disc, and therefore 26" wheel spoke angled wheel. It is currently set up with the colker tyre and unicycle rim, but there is soon to be availability of a 2 ply tyre, and a lighter/better quality rim.

Following on from Ben at milltown cycles pofahl made frames, this may be an alternative that will become hard to ignore...

pics are Keener's and are lifted from mtbr...

10,000

I think i am approaching 10,000 photos on flickr, cycling news and velonews of the NAHBS. Good that i am on holiday and have plenty of time in the morning over coffee, eh?

Typically, the work is amazing. The town bike seems to be the thing, with robust but beautiful racks to hold the essential.

It got me thinking: i am lucky enough to have shaken hands with several of the displaying builders. I would love to own a bike made by each of them....hmmmmmm....

photo credit: logan wetzell who has some good shots.

Also a for sale sort of thing.
1) Original wtb dirt drops for sale....make me an offer. 25.4 clamp, used for 2 rides...i dont get on with drops.
2) Dia compe 287 brake levers to go with them if wanted, they work with v's. £10.
3) Nitto moustache bars. The 25.4 clamp ones again.£15.
4) voodoo 17" dambala. used for several months. no damage, some light scratches on top tube from brake cable. gold king headset installed, which can be removed, and a niner rigid fork (frame is 100mm suspension corrected). Top tube is 22.5, head angle 72 degrees, seat tube is 14.5" c-c. it rides nicely with this set up as the forks are 490mm c-c, i wouldnt go shorter. i would like to get £250 for it.


Ok.

Random stuff.

Definitely chilled now. 14 hours sleep yesterday. It seems about right too, not too much. Whomever said you can over sleep was wrong.

Nahbs stuff this year has upped the ante yet again. The Naked townie/track, the Potts, the Vanilla's (as ever...) the Black Sheep stuff...all amazing. A good long flickr search is recommended as is the coverage on Cycling News and Rouleur, and Urban Velo.

Marty Savalas joins the blogging fray, or is that flay, with Hell on Wheels. Check it.

Got some maps for some mtb'ing in the region but i may stick to urban riding, as the river is a great spring board for checking out the architecture, mixed as it is between the Moorish influence and the old style Spanish.

So, batteries recharging. SM100 entered. A more Settled plan on the camp bike build...all good.

Disused rooftop.

Sheldon

Today we cycled to the area known as Triana. Really nice Barrio, lots of cool little shops, including a knife shop where i satisfied an urge i have had for many years, and purchased a small Opinel knife. A number 6 for those that care. I damned near bought an Opinel Folding hand saw too, as some of the trails i ride have had some trees come down and it would be useful to be able to carry a saw in my pack but i'll wait til i get home. No cheese or ham is safe now...

Trina snapped some pics of some of the world class graffiti today, and we will wait til we can upload to flickr properly as the detail is amazing. A (french?) guy called Poch seems to be my favourite, but there's still a lot to see.

Most of you/us already know that Sheldon Brown has died. A real blow. Irreverent and endlessly informative, his willingness to share wisdom will be forever remembered. I wish i had met him. Through his websites i hope many others continue to benefit from his great knowledge and humour.

Ride on.

The rain isn't in Spain.

Its beautiful here. Sunny and warm during the day, cool and balmy during the evening and night. Trina and me did a bit of a food shop today, as the oily tapa has been taking a toll. Still, we have eaten an enormous range of fish, pork cuts and peppers...all washed down with the local vino tinto and cerveza.

The apartment is great, a good location and quiet and comfortable, even when we had trina's bro and beau here for a few days. I built the bikes today and spent an hour or so pedalling along the river, and fettling. The graffiti along the river is outstanding. I'll get herself to snap some shots ...there is one piece in particular i want a shot of..you'll see why.

Sherry so far has been ok-ish i s'pose. We arsed up a little and bought a cream sherry, then found out that cream sherry is sweetened olorosso....not bad, but much to learn.

We visited a carnival in Cadiz, Jerez, and are planning a trip to a wildlife sanctuary, but mostly chilling, missing the cat and getting excited about building the camp bike.

Ok for now....

Can it get any worse....

Link picked up from bike satan. Despicable. More.

Ugly

From bikecentric....

Dead cyclist - jail.laughter.

I gots some Bruno knickers.

If you haven't visited the Yard Sale, you should do now...I admit to cracking a wide smile as i opened a box from Swobo HQ to find a tin of Bud & Clamato inside. Definitely not a drink for the feint hearted, but it is high on my list for containing 'some-of-the-best-stuff-ever'. Muchos gracias, steve!

What else? been poking around the internet looking at wheel stuff. The camp bike should be arriving at some point shortly and once my wallet has stopped vibrating, its going to need some wheels. So far the rims from the Bontrager rhythm wheel, in an aftermarket 32 hole, with DT comps and prolock nips to DT 240 s is the thing that is making me go ooooo! If the 29er version of the mud x arrives before the dusty (ha!) scottish summer, so much the better.

Also, we watched the ipcress file the other day. We like michael caine, oh yes, we do...

Buster collar...

Images

Strathpuffer images are up here. Some of the usual suspects and a good indication of conditions...and yes i'll be buying some!

Persephone is walking backwards.

She cant seem to get used to the collar preventing her pulling out the stitches. Wants to back out the tunnel. Its sad, she looks pleadingly at me to do something. But she'll be fine...

I lost my wallet last night. Bah! always bad. Except this was a special wallet. The contents much less important than the person (trina) who gave it to me. It was a Vivienne Westwood pirate themed wallet, and anybody who knows me knows how stoked i was to get such a thing...Viv is a classic, tartan and anarchy and an impish sense of fun.

Oddly, 2 minutes after finishing cancelling my cards, i had a phone call from a police station a wee way away, and someone had handed it in.

It was a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. A day when a 14 year old girl was stabbed to death and left for dead with 30 wounds, including 1 to her neck. Perhaps, my faith in humanity was restored, a little.

Strathpuffed

Up and at em. A top week end. Summary: friday, chris manfully drove a bunch of folk up to Strathpeffer, on the information provided by mel and shaggy that the campsite wasn't going to open as it was a mud bath. Fortunately, we found a spot by the Victorian Station in the spa town and set up the camper vans with the just riding along crew and the minx kittens all there.

A few beers were drunk then all of a sudden we were being towed into the campsite by a tractor. Needless to say the start was delayed to 11 am, and as i was last up i had the pleasure of our teams first lap. Wow - ice. I reckon 20% of the course needed to be walked initially as there were huges sheets of boiler plate ice all over the fire roads. The course was ace though with new technical singletrack sections added, slabby rock decents and very little mud, at this stage anyway. The race continued and the minxes and TSPC rolled out a few laps. The ice was breaking up as the studded tire mob and the walkers shattered the surface enough to create some traction. As this happened the sun shone and the mud began to form. Shaggy and phil were steadily amassing laps in the solo compo as was chris duncan despite a brake issue.

Into the latter part of the evening, emily went down hard and pulled her knee, off to Raigmore Hospital for her, and our teams were both down to three. The girls struggled 'manfully' through the night and ended up second, whereas the lure of sleeping bags and beer led to the TSPC taking longer and longer to change over until we folded around midnight.

Phil raged into first place singlespeed solo and Shaggy did the right thing and pulled before his knee tore up too much...he was in 4th overall and maintaining a good pace...respect to all.

The pics will no doubt start arriving and i have borrowed one from him up north which i think is beautiful and summed up the amazing conditions at this years event.

On a slightly more sober note, the organisers weren't sure whether they will do another strathpuffer. I am not surprised, the stress levels must have been pretty high as they fought to find some way to get the folk to the race and wondered whether there would be any race course access for the inevitable crashes, which on ice are quick and always sore. Kudos for doing it at all...

The Claw

Lobster Johnson, a Hellboy offshoot, made a new appearance. Looking forward to the collection, if it ever comes...

Crap.

Its strathpuffer tomorrow.

Here is the forecast.

Wish us luck...

Fight the bulge

The new year saw me with a pretty bad cold, out of which pit i am finally crawling. I have been using my rollers (not for the hair: for the bike) and trying to get back into the kettlebells. My back has been a mess, and some massages have been helping, but all in all, its not the corner i thought i'd be coming out of, swinging and punching. Oh well.

Strathpuffer is the first of this years offerings, and it is next week end. Half heartedly, i have been gathering the stuff i'll need to survive the super wet, super gritty, super dark horrid thing that it is. It'll be fine. Dave, Chipps and Chris are the team, and there are a couple of others we know in a girly girl team (jac, jenn, emily and 1 other...?) and shaggy is solo-ing. Mel will be team smile for us all and the camper van will be in full effect.

Went out today, as i put the dambala together for the race as your bike does tend to get, well, destroyed up there...so it is the most expendable, and i kind of enjoyed sliding around on the super wet flooded out trails, with every root and rock a challenge. Again, if you are in any doubt BUY SOME ENDURA eVENT 3/4's. They rock harder than Eddie Van Halen.

It was a beautiful thing actually, I rarely head out if it is raining heavily, but dont mind if im out, prepared and wearing enough clothes for it...oh and im not aiming to do distance. For the last month i have been concentrating on the technical stuff, and it is beginning to show...my skills are back to the (low) level i like. The dambala was good today, the kit on it all held (including the new wheel shaggy christened) and the gear feels nice...its going to be a 36:18 for strathpuffer. Not quite as stout as it sounds as im running the vapors, so the diameter is a little less, and hence the gear a little lower...should be 56" .

What else? well, Persephone is looking mad bad and dangerous to know, now that she has got her glossy coat back after a mammoth 2 week lick fest to get all the charcoal off after the chimney escapade. Good work. She will be visiting the vet soon also, as her undercarriage needs trimming. Or something. She's a bonny wee thing to pop home to after work though, alleviating the razor blade mood that january always holds.

Off to Spain soon, Andalucia, so food and wine are upmost in my mind. As such we have mostly been cooking from Moro East and Gennaro Contaldo's Italian year cook book. Both tops.

I was saddened to hear of the unfortunate death of a minneapolis CRC cafe barista. The story is on how to avoid the bummer life. Im sure we are all sparing a thought for friends and family.

Ok. This next week? kit organisation and gentle exercise. To the Black Isle i tell you!

Revelation

So, in a weird coincidence, the disestablishment of the Church of England was put forward as motion number 666 in the House of Commons. While the house was debating blasphemy.

Odd.

Stuff

So i'm poking around the internet looking at 'endurance racing' bikes and how folk stick all the crap they take along with them to the bike and i come across Lynda Wallenfels bike as set up for Kokopelli...wow. thats a lot of stuff....

H.B

Soulcraft

Soulcraft

Black Cat

black cat bicycles

The end of everything

The end of the year was dominated by the untimely passing of a friend. Nothing can prepare or insulate us from the cruelty of a young, vivacious lady being taken so suddenly from her family and friends. The service was attended by many and the outpouring of love will hopefully give some support to the family over the coming months and years.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Riding has gone on a back burner. Mel and john were here for the new year and we slotted a nice ride in at the local trails, even finding the beginning of a winding technical shoulder clipping slidey and engrossing trail i have been exploring over the last few weeks.

Then the cold hit. Both meteorologically and virally.

For the last few days i have barely been able to move. I have been a zombie at work and sleeping at all other times, living off fruit juice and paracetamol. The sweats have left me swimming out of consciousness at 4 and 5 am, unable to even get up to feed the cat. Today is perhaps the only day i have felt remotely human. Ironic as in the back of the car i have a set of rollers to aid the early season training. Strathpuffer approaches and thereafter i desperately want to set a plan for some long rides, and races, this year. So far i cannot see myself doing any other 24 hour race either solo or in a team, other than perhaps 24:12. The others i think are 'done'. Shenandoah 100 is after the worlds in Napa, and i intend to help chris put on a pretty beefy 4-5 day across scotland ride, self supported, with a 300mile expected route it looks tough. After plotting it on maps the other day we were half way out chris' living room to the kitchen before we were anywhere near the end.

So. The end of the year, but more importantly, the beginning of the next.

The time is nigh...

Hello Everyone:
Registration for the Single Speed World Championships
2008 in Napa,CA, USA, will open on January 1, 2008,
at 12:00 a.m. pacific standard time
(AKA: California time.
We will post an on-line form for people to fill out a
nd email to us soon. Again, registration does not open
until January 1, 2008 at 12:00 a.m. Any emailed
registration forms prior to that date and time will be
deleted. We will leave registration open until it fills
up, maximum riders will be 350. Everyone will be emailed
letting them know if they are in or out. If you are in,
there will be instructions on payment via PayPal.
Registration is $35 U.S. dollars. If you don't make it
in, we still encourage you to come out and play that
weekend anyway. There will be lots of rides going on
all over the Bay Area. More details about the
race weekend will be posted soon. Good Luck! Please
forward to friends that might be interested and please
post on blogs and websites, if applicable. We really want
to inform as many as possible so that everyone has a
fighting chance to get into the race. Thanks.
Curtis, Ken, Jeff, Andrew, Dennis & Mitzi

www.sswc08.com
email: info@sswc08.com

Mornin;

So the years shortest day. Darkness. Daves birthday beers last night ended with g fonk and myself slamming a TVR...all good, and excellent to see the boy before his ageless self becomes a little more ageless.

Jedi on a bike has posted a work of pure genius...i thinki may go have some bacon.

Doing some more home improvement stuff today, taps leaking, floor of newly deco'd room needs varnish, wife needs a coffee upgrade, all the usual stuff. But i *did* manage to get out for an awesome ride the other day in frozen mud on the windy fantabulous Mugdock trails....2.5 hrs of pure fun slamming the IF into things...its ace to ride fat low pressure tyres again now cross season is done.

So, darkness, we welcome thee....as the Humungous says "fear is our ally".

Millions and millions

Somehow, and for once, the sensible choice won....

Go sustrans...

Crossed up

Photo pinched from TA photo...

Sunday saw the championships of the Scottish cyclocross series at Plean, near Stirling. It had snowed and although the air temp was around 2 degree centigrade, as soon as the water splashed up on to the chamois, it got cold. Marty and myself used Belgian knee warmers, and the rest of the crew was made up of Superfans Trina and Chris handing out the heinies with peperami, and £1 primes, and Anja (recent transfer from New Zealand) and G-funk and jac. Telly savalas gave a nod to recent passed Evel with the stars and bars capes and the whole shebang plowed through the mud and the snow for an hour. As you could predict it was hard going. Some of the mild climbing had the singlespeeders grinding out of the saddle to keep any forward progress, but in the end a good time had.

Anja clocked up third with Eileen getting a 1st right at the wire. A prospect for sure. The blokes had to be content with finishing, but g-funk did us proud with a DFL. So DFL in fact the organisers didnt clock he'd finished and ended up phoning him at home! good work there...

Problems...well there were a few. My front wheel took a beating after jumping off a stump onto a slidey off camber landing. Seems that using a disc on that wheel (it is 3 years old) has caused the spokes to loosen a little and i had a taco from lap one onwards. No punctures ( 37c twisters and 70psi put paid to that) but on trying to retrue the wheel today seems its beyond repair....so an A317, and some supercomp spokes are coming my way...amazing how hard it is to find the build info from shimano for their xtr hubs...fortunately there are some resources to help...

Damon Rinard
DT swiss
Spoke calculator

This week end we salute a hero

So it is the Scottish cyclocross champs this week end. Tely savalas players will be in full effect and this time, we are doing it for evel.

I took the rear wheel off the dambala and swapped the end caps to the 10mm bolted fitting, 10 mins work when you have a good method for popping the non drive side end cap off. Not sure yet if i'll run the stans crows or the proper cross tyres. The issue there is im a little undergeared at 38:18 if i drop the wheel diameter...we'll see...

The ro sham bo will ride again, in honour of a man who played that game with fate until the very end...

The logo is lifted from the old kelly site. If anyone didnt read chris' expose of how his brand was in essence stolen from him in {updated: how could i have been so wrong?} the outcast, its worth digging out.

Pictures? well, in the last issue of Dirt we have a tom moran special of mark tattooing kelli's bum, and we also have a story by jp wombat in the latest dirt rag...

Not enough people wear capes these days

Tim said that. Prophetic in the utmost.

RIP Evel...there is a tune by Aim where soundbites of evel talking to a bunch of school children prior to the ill fated jump across the snake river canyon. I suspect a lot of dreams were hatched during that interview.



"Its a sky cycle honey, not a bike, a sky cycle..."

Its been awhile...

photo from ta_photo

Its dark and i struggle when i dont see the sun. Oh well.

Whats been happening? First off (i think) was Carron Valley cyclocross. I have never ridden there and was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the trail. Shame the forestry and now Scottish IMBA cant seem to pull their fingers from there arses and back the development group who have put an enormous effort in to try and get this place up and running. Quality stone laid trail with sympathetic use of the Forrest make for some fun trails.

The course was admittedly not a traditional cyclocross course, and there was some whingeing about the technical features and puncture risk. But all i can say to that is harden the fuck up.

Needless to say trying to keep andy cathcart in site down one of the downhills led to a pinch puncture, that only made itself evident on climbing to the top of the hill, some 10 mins from the end. I was in 7th in the time, and reckon i could have held that placing. DNF. Oh well oh well oh well.

A bit of a break planned last weekend. We headed down to Eastbourne to catch up with biff, ruth and the boys. Wine food singing drawing frisbee jumps showing off and smiles with an interspersed cross race over in brighton, where we said happy birthday to the adjustable crumpet and suffered through a freezing rainstorm on a super slidey green-chalk course. I went down pretty hard and have remembered why i thought it was a good idea to shave my legs...skin lost but not as bad as gravel rash can be. Phil the horse, Jo burt, olly pepper and deano were a few of the brighton boys who were in full effect. An ace day.

Trina and myself popped to london and met up with Nonni, who led us to a garlic and shots restaurant. Ace! i love garlic and the shots were good too...the banoffi shot was a highlight and the toffee pud with garlic in it was, interesting....

Change is afoot. The super light tube from the rear of the dambala has been swapped out to a wtb. Pressures will rise. I need to rest up this week end. I am whacked out. So i will miss the dundee cross, then see where i stand...in Eastbourne i used biffs jones 29er shod with cross tyres. I think i have learned more from this and now believe i have a firm idea of what i like and dont like geometrically and fit wise with 29ers...more on this shortly.

Fine, fine coffee.

Lots to post about. Dambala thoughts, the last 2 cross races, several books, kit i've been using and assorted random things.

But its too early for all that. So i'm going to finish supping on my cup of WC Clarke's finest coffee, a gift from my good friend jimbo from mt nittany wheelworks.

Truly, i cant wait to be over there again...and it may not be that long. The sswc confirmed for 23-24th august, shenandoah is the next week end. It would be churlish not to eh?

Iceman cometh.

Go Kelli. 3 in a row...and still smiling.

youtube'd.

Bread and coffee.

New kid on the block: Tapa. Thanks to gareth's gift of espresso blend, and trina's advice on bread products we have a highly recommended glasgow Special.

Not so Nys.

It was Glenrothes cross last week end, one i have never done previously. The course is notoriously singlespeed unfriendly - it is short and furiously fast with a long straight and an awkward steps section which does not allow any momentum. So it was. A glorious day with the telly's represented by Chris, Jac and myself. Martin took a week off and joined superfan trina in providing beer sprays, bottle hand-ups and photos.

The race started well for me, a good hole shot and the first lap in around 8th or so. The quality of the fields this year has improved...the grass is better kempt...nah! joking. The racers have moved up a notch. The Creber brothers cream everyone when they arrive, and there are a few newbies and out of towners who have swelled the ranks of those vying for top 10. A couple of years ago i could get into the top 10, not comfortably but relatively frequently. Now, well, lets just say im still chasing the top 10!


















































So it is that a little show boating may be the way to gain a psychological and or an actual racing advantage. Bunny hopping started in earnest in the late 80's with Danny de Bie's victory in the Worlds utilising the technique to hop the barriers. There have been several notable practitioners, including Sven Nys and the Americans including our own Adam Craig. One way around this for race organisers ~ who seem to (in the more serious races) want to discourage the practice ~ is to put 2 or 3 barriers in close succession. So it was on Sunday. In my mind, a smooth dismount and remount is a beautiful thing, but prior to the start i had practised the triple hop in order to assess any advantage (and yes, to show off a bit). I wasn't convinced of the benefit, but at race pace it was pretty clear, and on the second lap i decided to go for it.

Ha!

Down i go after my foot pulls directly out of the (very) old time pedal and the front wheel is pulled off line on the first landing, an ignominious fall. Crunching 4 fingers, my left knee and shoulder. Remounting as fast as possible, only to find that the bars 360 had split the front brake cable, leaving the pads rubbing. I went on for half a lap, and then realised there was a growing section of tyre unseated from the rim. So air out and a wander back to the pit. A quick gulp of water and the CO2 to sort things out then give chase.

Chris was having a cracking race and the overall pace was hot. I felt pretty good however and managed to chase down a few folk. The time came to put the hop to the test and i succeeded 3 or 4 times in the end to do the full triple hop section. Coming in to the third barrier was generally pretty heart stopping...but it definitely made for a faster exit as feet were already clipped and applying power. The last time over martin narrowly missed giving me a beer shower for being a show off...but there you go. Jac meanwhile schooled the females and earned a 1st place finish for the Savalas massive.

Overall, 17th last week after the start line spins and beer tomfoolery at mugdock, this week we'll see.

Bivi selection.

The IF camper bike is ordered, or at least as near as dammit, so kit selection is coming to the forefront. Im going to fit old man mountain cold springs racks front and rear, the fat bikes frame bag and use a small ruck sack. That should allow good weight distribution with no high load focus anywhere on me or the bike.

Then there is kit for me. At present i have a pretty light set up. Overnighting is easily possible with ~ 33 litres in a MacPac. However, im wondering if i can go even lighter/tighter. The terra nova jupiter bivi has caught my attention. Made from goretex, with a single pole in order to lift the material from your face, and with a bug net, it has all the right features whilst weighing only 900g. about 600g less than my mountain marathon tent. We'll see....

Ti kettle and spork, msr stove and gas, water im thinking should be directly drinkable or use iodine. Sleep bag, thermarest (3/4) clothes, some food, bob;s yer uncle.

So: it looks like this spring coming will see the long schemed over and eagerly anticipated overnight bike rides.

Need to know more?

http://www.adv-cycling.org/features/ultralight.cfm
http://www2.arnes.si/~ikovse/weight.htm

details, details
http://www.adventurecycling.org/features/ultralightpackinglist.cfm
http://www.adventurecycling.org/features/ultralightgearreview.pdf

Andy's fare thee well alley cat.

Andy, all around tough guy and top bloke, leaves at the end of this week to ride to Jordan (the country...) spend crimbo there, before riding to south africa, through sudan, ethiopia and various other amazing places. Overall its going to be several months of epic.

In order to say bon voyage, an alley cat was organised, around edinburgh with a south african theme and lots of beer and laughter. I proved to myself that i should never ride through red lights and i wouldn't be a good taxi driver...but had a tip top time. Photo is of chris as we zoom to the start/pub....pumpkin lights for hallowe'en.

Have a good one Andy ~ i'll be very much looking forward to hearing the tales on return...

New linkage.

Some things i look at added, not least lacemine29.blogspot.com check the slide shows. Amazing...

I saw a poster in a window today saying "happy halloween". Struck me as a bit odd. Halloween (or hallowe'en) is short for All hallow Even. Initially, it was a pagan festival, but the pope messed around with All Hallows Day and moved this to November the 1st to coincide with the pagan festival. Thus, All Hallows Even became the night prior. In Celtic cultures Samhain, or in scottish gaelic Oidhche Shamhna, was a time when ghosts and spirits could contact the physical world. It was the end of the harvest and prep time for winter. Superstition held that the dead could affect the course of the crop or the livestock and they were placated by bonfires with cattle bones thrown on and masks representing the spirits.

When we guised back in the day with a candle in a carved neep (turnip), dooked for apples and got covered in treacle eating pies hanging from strings, there was always something spooky, and supernatural about the whole thing. In my mind i remember it as always dark, with a haar hanging in the air. It is so odd to see pumpkins at the vegetable shop down the road...so americanised, and weird for some reason to see happy hallowe'en signs.

Perhaps the 'happy' bit related to the day of the dead (dia de los muertos) which also takes place on all saints day. This is a time where the dead but also life are celebrated in Mexico, by calacas (skull masks), gifts of sugar skulls and of course tequila, mezcal and pulque form a fairly important part too.

Who knows? anyways...

Have a spooky one. Knowwhatimean?

Mugdock and soup.

Susan and Martin Savalas were over this week end. We had a lot of near raw beef on Saturday with Helen and G-funk Savalas, all washed down with some banter and beer, then Saturday saw us donning the black suits of doom and racing for telly at our local course. Jac and Chris arrived as did Rose, Heather and Dave Savalas. A league of super fans set up the stereo, complete with rawwwk, the megaphone of heckling and Heineken on tap sat atop gallows' hill. There the race course wound around 3 times including a log hop that Had a few of us wondering about dnf'ing due to bent chain rings. The course was either loved or cursed and a good showing ensued.

The customary 10 spins looking at the sky on the start line meant we all started from DFL, but by the end we peppered the field and excellent soup prepped by my wife and some tired bodies were evident after....

All good clean dirty fun.

Andy is leaving for Jordan (by bike) this week coming. A man who seems destined for adventure. Aim is South Africa ultimately and he is having a leaving alley cat Wednesday ... i'll be trying my level best to be there.

Photo is marty's.

Just.....odd.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news

Sore arse.

Sunday was another cross race - this time the Auchentoshan classic. The forecast suggested dry bright and cold, so i had the crows on and took a fairly early night after the rugby world cup final at friends big andy and grace's house.

Course, i woke up to rain...oh well, no time to change the tires, game on. Trina took photos and did essential bottle handups. The beer of choice for the race was Heineken - subtle and crisp and didnt lead to too many red-line burps.

This race always has a double barrier. I scoped it out pre race for a bunny hop as i wanted to use the flat bar advantage, but they were too close together, so a running dismount/mount it was. It ended up being a good spot for me as for one barrier hit (oops) i took about one place per lap on the barriers. It was good as immediately after there was a singletrack muddy section that was up my street, so i could consolidate any gaps.

Ended up 12th i think, not sure...seems to be a theme as 12th overall, 11th for seniors last race.

Sported the mt nittany kit again, and it has to be said it highlights my glorious body's curves well.

Photo from my wife's flickr. See how much beautiful Rose has grown...


The day after there were no tasks to do around home and i had a portfolio to drop into the RCGP in edinburgh, so i decided to make a ride of it and take the forth and clyde canal then join the union canal at the falkirk wheel then reverse once the parcel was dropped off.

On the way out i took in a doughnut at the old school grocer (think arkwright's) in polmont, then dropped into ratho for a desperately needed cheese sandwich. Weather was classic bright sunny cold and crisp.

Once in edinburgh i needed to stock up on sandwiches from gregs as i was running low on energy. Also by the time i hit linlithgow my arse was beginning to feel raw. No cham moi booty butter will do that. One consolation was seeing a groondie (scottish for ground control) tire track immortalised in the concrete on the almond viaduct.

The minewt proved its value on the 620m rock tunnel as the path aint wide, and i limped home in 10 hours for an estimated 130 mile round trip. Nice to get some miles in the legs.

Today was a kettle bell day and it went surprisingly well, in fact i think i may be peaking for the off-season. Yay! good timing as ever....

Oh well.

After a cross race and 130miles, the flat bars from the dambala are historic items. At present the loctite is setting on the shim and my oldest set of jones bars are going on. My wrists were not happy with the seven 8 degree bar, way too little sweep....more later on how this goes. All information will be fed into the IF super computer and a steel deluxe will be coming my way soon....

Crow.

The uncommonly high pressure/dry weather this autumn so far has allowed me to consider using crow tires, a stans product, for cross and general mixed riding.

The dambala is therefore getting the semi slick, 120 tpi much discussed tires front and rear...we'll see how they go. I dont often weigh bike bits, but in this instance i decided to see if the claimed weight was realistic. 450 g each. I'd say that is fair.

Paired with the salsa light weight tubes i've been too much of a sap to use previously, and inflated to 30psi, they will be an interesting experiment.

Peds and fatties.

Is it a problem, then, this iPod thing? for pedestrians i mean? i think there are issues.

I'll admit to owning an mp3 player and giant dj-esque earphones, too. Often you will see me nodding along the street if i am not on my bike. Tunes keeping me smiling at my own internal world.

Then i come to a junction. What does the green cross code say? hey? Look both ways.

Especially if someone is coming around the corner in, say, a dumper truck. Or on a bike. In the wet.

It is also important, if you decide to ignore this simple and polite bit of common sense, NOT to scowl, shout or otherwise be a dick to the road user you have just stepped out in front of. It ain't their fault, for once.

Hokay?



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



A report was issues this week after examining the rate of obesity in this country. Off the dial and increasing. BY 2050 we may see as many as 60% of the male adults clinically obese and the children? well, thats just child abuse. They should be *able* to eat as much as they can and not get fat because they are exercising so much. Truth.

What's more, beware the crap you are eating. In a not-so-shocking look at fast food outlets, the salt content for some meals (such as at Pizza Hut) were found to contain 200% of the adult recommended daily amount, and 250% of the childs recommended daily amount in just one meal.

Does that give you a thirst? am i being cynical?

who knows...

Snake charmer

Bulit up and ready to roll.
17" dambala frame.
Niner rigid fork, 490mm.
King goldset and spacers.
Ritchey comp stem, 120mm for now, syntace 139g 105mm en route.
Seven ti bar, 25", 8 degree. If i dont like it on this i'm selling it.
Paul shorty levers, an old pair, what else?
BB7 s with avaid flak jacket and steel conduit, bent into place.
DT 240 rear ss hub with king cog, and xtr front hub, both with spline adaptrs and 160mm rotors.
Twister kevlar 37c tires, conti tubes.
XT UN72 bb and impel cranks. Ratio 38:18 through a ultegra chain with sram connector and time pedals (old style).
Moots pin, and magma saddle, wtb trail grips.

Done.

Needs ridden before this week ends cross....

The reason for this bike is to fiddle with geometry. It has a taller front end, with a 71.5 (i think) head angle. The catalogue calls for 72 degrees but i reckon the long fork pitches it slightly more relaxed....2cm shorter f-c and a correspondingly shorter wheel base than my tIF and it also has a shorter top tube by 1cm or so. This combined with a taller bb by 1cm will give some interesting comparisons.

Ok, go.

Gritty

So a new internet service provider has provided and w are back on-line. Several things to report.

First: Blairadam cross. First of the season for me. 1st day feeling like a human being. Just to make sure the night previous i had swung a few kettlebells with no ill effects. so apart from zero riding for 2 weeks, other than short commutes, and very little good nutrition we hit the kingdom of fife for a fresh but not cold day in the trees. The course was great. a fast downhill double track led to a sharp right run up into the trees where a boardwalk with chicken wire led into a steep drop into a muddy, slippery corridor to a rooty winding trail. This opened out and led to a significantly drier sweeping section then onto a double track climb, the only sustained effort of the course, thenb a sweet singletrack decent down to the sart/finish. Apart from the usual idiots t boning everyone trying to get from 40th to 39th on the first lap a good clean race. Think i snuck into 11th, not sure yet. The start line beers and the spicy sup at susan and martin's afterwards with jac and chris was a perfect end to a good day of racing.

Raced in Mt Nittany colors and was proud to do so. Thanks eric, jim and the rest. Photo lifted from Grant doig, who put in a sterling performance after riding to the venue.

Next up is the dambala....

Crook

Not satisfied with being fevered and migrianous on saturday and sunday, hence missing the cross race (played out in 19 degrees and sunshine rumour has it), i spent a beautiful monday thinking i had cholera and then tuesday night having a bizarre full body urticarial reaction complete with fluid filled bubbles all over and hands and feet so swollen i couldnt get my ring off my finger. Not only that but monstrous doses of antihistamine had miited ability to reduce things down. now 18 hrs after it started i am merely pink and itchy and headachey.

Bugger.

Anyways, still hopeful i will be able to race come sunday but walking is a major achievement with so few calories going in and so many being lost. Trina is the same...a right old couple...

Also: sad news, as mentioned in HTATBL Driver has passed on...rest in peace.

Cold

So all the prep was in vain. First cross race tomorrow. I have a beautiful Mt Nittany wheelworks kit courtesy of jim and the guys at the shop to race in, and i have the worst cold i have had for 3 years. I slammed in the vitamin c and echinacea and had so many early nights this week and i still feel like i have been hit by a truck and i cant breathe through my 'node....

Anyways, whining aside i'm going to give'er my best shot. So peebles it is.

Today, a rugby match or two and the urban downhill in edinburgh...ace.

The hour

I have just finished reading Michael Hutchinson's book about sporting immortality the hard way. Being familiar with obree's version, it was a great read. Recommendo. Interestingly, the UCI don't come out of either story smelling of roses. Indeed, the opposite is true.

The last thing in the world the drug addled and gangrenous world of cycling needs at the moment is destruction from within.

On a related note...from cycling news.

Lots of c's

Its been a busy ish few days. A new frame from sideways showed up...a 17" dambala. Lovely green. Purpose: to investigate the effects of suspension corrected forks. Maybe with a view to some lefty's/ maybe not. In the first instance it will get a 490 mm niner steel fork to make the front end somewhere near the predicted 72 degree headangle with a 100mm travel fork. The frame was a screaming deal....check sideways cycles for more info on some of last years voodoo's.

Next we have a no gears and a beer and good soup ride with trina to the stables along the canal on saturday. relaxed pace and beautiful autumnal weather. Oh yeah, thats why we ride bikes.

Another canal...this time the clyde. I followed this from the new section at sighthill to the section immediately prior to loch lomond. Then i did some run up practising in the park near our flat. A 1 min loop with a 2 run ups 45 degree hills. 3 lots of 5 circuits with an extra 2 cos i love punishment.

Oh yes, its cross season.

Lastly, crashing. Whilst hopping up a curb on the town bike. Bad judgement and a face covered in scabs....oh well, its been a while.

Really lastly now....mercedes driver, pulls out after looking at me, and proceeds to cut me up. I thump his near side door and use the odd expletive. I havent had to let go like that in a while, but it was just incredible. If no surprise...