10 @ Kirroughtree

Too old, too unfit, too slow. Any excuse will do.

Two of undertook 10 @ Kirroughtree and managed four laps. Poor. I can't even bring myself to go on typing...

I blame the midgies.

Stats
Date: 09/07 2011
Position: 76th out of 83
Pedaling time: 8 hours 22 minutes but much of that involved the timing chip sitting in the sun
Distance: Just over 10 miles per lap
Number of laps completed: 5 (although we can only remember doing 4 :p)
Fastest lap time: 22 minutes (ahem... dodgy timing chip?)
Slowest lap time: 2 hours 20 minutes (see above?)
Puncture count: 1
Bike shop: At the car park
Cafe: Excellent hog roast
Riders: AS and DH

Boing boing!

Old shox buggered, £90 to get them even looked at, and I need my lockout for the 10 at KT from nofuss events so.....these arrived today.

£180 2nd hand but are in really good nick.

Same as http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=54611

Looking forward to fitting them when I get back from holibags.

W00t!

The price of it all...

funny how these things seem cheap at the time but soon mount up. Failed to keep it <£500, think it is about £530. Curses... Dont tell the wife.

frame £80
headset £20
chain £15
headset spacers £2.50
brake mount £6
saddle £22
gear cables £7
outers £7
pedals £20
shocks £50
rotors £13
seatpost £19
rear wheel £40
rear mech £14
brakes/gears £65
bar/stem £30
front wheel £40
xt chainset £80

Build a Bike - Part something

oooh, time marches on doesnt it?

sunny as well, and the garage isn't quite so damp and dark, to time to press on to the brakes.

Easy enough to mount on the handlebars obviously, then just route the cables to the mounts. So the rear kinda takes care of itself, however the front presented a bit of a snag. It appears (unknown to me) that there are two types of brake mount: post mount, and IS mount.

here is a wee picture


you know what is coming next, my forks were IS mount, but the brakes Post mount. all is not lost however, a handy adapter saved the day.

Ta da!

That led to this


which in turn leads to


You'd think that would be it , but the pads were too far to one side, scraping the rotor, and making a definite noise they shouldn't do. They would work ok if the calipers were unscrewed slightly, but that isnt something we want to do on brakes is it? The trick turned out to screw the caliper on at the same time as holding the brake lever. Easy when you know how...Nice wee rear shot for you (pfnarr)


So, not much left to do apart from gears, ooh and the chain.Had new get new cables and outers, so plumped for these, I am indeed last of the big spenders. New outers from ebay for a similarly high price!All I needed to do was do a bit of cutting the outers so they fitted and routed the cable, no fuss at all. Odd...

New bike - new chain says I. SRAM jobbies, so it comes with powerlink which are really quite nifty.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=9911

Chains are normally too big by design so to get the size right you fit the chain over the largest rear sprocket and largest front. Oddly you don't thread it though the rear derailleur when sizing . Dunno why. that was what the book said anyway.I also popped on the front derailleur. again nothing too scientific just lined it up by eye. Somehow I think this fairly haphazard method wont work long term.

So put chain on, it was far too big dangling all over the place, so I just removed some links (think it was about 5) until it "looked good". Yup, that scientific. Re-break it, then put it through derailleur and pedal like stink. And find that the gears slip all the time....

Another quick look at the book said cable tension too slack, fixed by just turing the barrell a couple of times. Heh Heh...

So,we are almost at the end of our story. We are good to go apart from the seat. Could get a nasty surprise if we forgot that eh? Bargain off forums time again! £20...ok that innit. SDG. Tres posh.

Well it would be if it would fit into this

Lesson 2) (to be filed beside different brake mounts), is that you get different saddle mounts too, so check before you buy, Ibeam (the saddle I got) and the old fashioned rails. Dohhh...

Back to shopping (last time surely?) for this

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/charge-spoon-saddle-with-cromo-rails

so, that then leaves us with........


Ithankyouverymuch.... (takes bow). Well it certainly looks like a bike anyway.

Test ride next week methinks, lets hope those brakes hold.... Will also produce a price list to see how much I have put down the pan.

Bithdays and Berms

The big 4-0 arrived for for one of The Rusty Chain today so a day at Glentress seemed a fitting way to spend it. With not a cloud in the sky and the sun beating down (yes really), seven hours out on the dusty trails was a great way to get the first visits to the 7stanes this year under our belts.

A quick coffee at The Hub and then it was a huff and puff up from the Trailhead to Buzzard's Nest Car Park, and then onto the Red Route and up, up, up to the top of Spooky Wood for some birthday flapjack in the sun. To be honest we could have quite happily sat taking in the views and topping up the tans for a few hours but then again the Spooky Wood Descent was literally just round the corner.

Being a bit rusty Spooky Woods was left behind in no record breaking times and it was down the Red Route and back to the Hub for lunch.

The afternoon saw a trip to the Freeride Park and included a ride down Glentress' latest addition, Berm Baby Berm. It's only been open a week and not yet marked on the official trail map but you find it just after you cycle past the North edge of the Freeride Park. As the Forestry Commission put it this new bit of the Blue Route is "700m of bermy, flowy, occasionally jumpy and pumpy singletrack to take you from the exit of Blue Velvet back to the Buzzards Nest carpark. It replaces the forest road descent and will hopefully put a smile on your face."

It was nice and fast flowing, with a surface that was more like a skateboard park than a forest trail but then again there can't be many that have riden it before we did. Nice to see those Trail Fairies have done Glentress proud once more!

Riders: DH (age 39) and AS (age 40)

The Cyclotrope

OK not really one from The Rusty Chain but what to do? Build a bike or make an entertaining wee film using the bits lying around?

Created and animated by Tim Wheatley, the cyclotrope is a cycle of 18 images spinning at a certan speed so that the frame rate of the camera filming it gives the illusion of animation. To see more head over to Tim's blog at thecyclotrope.blogspot.com​


Hope DH doesn't get any ideas...

Time to Get Out and About

The weather's not great but it's time to get back out on the bike after an extended lay off since the snow (and associated unhealthy living) arrived at the tail end of last year.



Why the panic? Well ever since someone signed us up for 10 @ Kirroughtree a few hours ago it suddenly seems like a good idea to put foot to pedal.

OK, so it'll be less brutal than Relentless 24 but a 10 hour mountain bike round Galloway Forest Park at the start of June (that's like only 3 months away) needs some sadle time pronto.

Just glad I don't need to finish building my bike first.

BAB - bottom brackets and crankset

Continuing on then... its time for the BB.

As usual with these things, there are various different types of BB and sizes you need to get. Easy enough to measure what you need. I plumped for a 2nd hand shimano integrated type below (a BB70) to be precise.

Here is it here:

Boring innit. So to start with I applied a good dab of anti-seize lube into the BB shell. The two parts of the BB are labelled L and R and also tell you which way to screw them in, which is handy.

You obviously get fleeced for another type of spanner for this mind you....

So once those were in and screwed nice and tight, its time for the cranks. A wee bargain these off the STW forums. XT. quite posh for me.

Now this was easy. You just pop em through one side (give em a bash with a hammer) and attach the other crank arm to the spindle, and tighten it with a wee nut thing that came with the cranks.

Jobs a good un!

Next time we shall get into the meat of it, and start installing the anchors!

L8rs...

Steering Bit

k then....

Lets get on with this shall we?

First bit I decided to put on was the handlebars bit. The thing you hang onto ya?

Before you connect em up though, you need to insert the fork, and for that you need a headset on the bike. This wee bit of metal gives your forks a nice comfy feeling, basically you insert the forks into the headset (the are bits of the headset at either end of the headtube).

Shit spins round easy cause they have bearings or something like that.

Headsets are generally 1.1/8 these days, so I trotted off to CRC and got a nice cheap un. The FSA pig (oink oink) fitted the bill nicely (and the pocket).

All you get for that is a lot of wee circles like this, its fairly disappointing tbh.

Still its fairly obvious what bit goes where. As it was an FSA model, the crown race (the bit that goes over the forks, was split, and therefore piss easy to install), no need for any fancy tools, just drop it over the forks and tappy tappy down with a screwdriver. Tick in the box for mr FSA.

You plug these into the headtube, but they dont screw in, it is sheer grunt to get these buggers in. You need a tool, called a headset press. You can make em yourself, or buy one. I ended up doing both (durr) as for some reason I could get one in fine with my self-built effort but not the other side. A quick £30 down the tubes (this time at wiggle) sorted me right out. Hopefully I will be able to rent that tool out to some other chumps. ahem.

So once that was on, it was time to put on the stem, and the bars. Pop them on, and screw down the top bit of the headset. There is a wee screw inside the forks call the star nut that they attach to. My forks came with it in already, cause they were off some gypsy and second hand. If you are posh, you'll need to fit yer own.

So, to sum up we have so far:

• forks
• stem
• bar
• frame

Almost done with this bit, but need to get some headset spacers. The forks are currently 2cm or so too long, so some spacers will be needed to fully sort it out. or it will look a bit shonky. And we can't have that.

There ye go. Next time, bottom bracket time. I can't wait. Can you?

Project B-A-B is gooooo!

BAB ye say?

Build a bike of course. Simplz, or not as I am sure will be the case.

I have this lurking in the back of the garage:

plus a load of other metal bits to stick onto it. The white thing, not the red kayak you chump....

More to follow once the spanners come out.

Over and Out for now.

DH

Holiday at the Hydro - Part 2 - Innerleithen

Report

Black, blue, green, orange and red. Mix them all together and what do you get? A tailor made trip round Glentress.

 

Summary
Highlight: Going off-trail from Jenny's Brae back to the Hydro.
Lowlight: The 'groundhog day' pedal up Shieldgreen Kipps in the rain.
Ride Rating: 7/10

Stats
Date: 16/10/10
Pedaling time: ? hours ? minutes
Distance: ? kilometres
Max speed: ? miles/hour
Total ascent: ? metres
Puncture count: 1
Bike shop: The Hub, right at the trail head
Cafe: The Hub, next to the bike shop
Riders: DH, DI, RI, AS, FS and AW

Driving from Glasgow
Distance: 54 miles
Travel time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Directions: Google Maps

Holiday at the Hydro - Part 1 - Innerleithen

Report
This weekend saw a wee holiday from work on the Friday with the plan set for heading down to Peebles for a couple of days. A couple of days biking is good but add in the palatial surroundings of staying at the Hydro and we were all set for a cracking last weekend away for 2010.



All we had to do on the Friday was pedal our way up the cross country trail at Innerleithen. As soon as we left the car park in the rain we started going up and about two hours later we reached the wind-swept summit of Minch Moor. A lot of up, with some more up added for good measure, but at least the rain had stopped.



The climb does give you a great view over the Tweed Valley but it was a tad cold to hand around so it was on to the fun part of the ride which was grin-inducing from the off.

The twisting bermed descent across the moorland with some small drop-offs, all on a pretty much perfect surface, was over all too quickly. It's a few minutes of what mountain biking should be.

The remainder of the ride down was nice but not spectacular until you get the the last part of the ride at Cadon Bank. This is the Alton Towers of cycling. With one rollercoasting table top and bombhole after another, the sense of speed on this steep section is incredible. At two kilometres long, and taking you right to the car park, its the perfect end to a ride even if you are a bit numb at the bottom.

Tomorrow it's Glentress.

Summary

Highlight: The rollercoaster ride of Cadon Bank - the laat bit of the ride, but worth the wait.
Lowlight: The seemingly never-ending 2 hour climb in the drizzle to the summit of Minch Moor.
Summary: A lot of up but two really nice and distinctive pieces of down on the way back.
Ride Rating: 7/10

Stats
Date: 12/09/10
Pedaling time: 3 hours 30 minutes-ish
Distance: 18 kilometres
Max speed: ? miles/hour
Total ascent: 440 metres
Puncture count: 0
Bike shop: i-Cycles and Alpine Bikes in Innerleithen village
Cafe: Shops in Innerleithen village
Riders: DH and AS

Driving from Glasgow
Distance: 59 miles
Travel time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Directions: Google Maps

Pedal for Scotland 2010

Well that's the Pedal for Scotland finishing line been roled across for another year. Taking about 4 hours to complete yesterday (including a few food stops along the way) we managed to raise almost £1,300 for Maggie's so a big 'thank you' to all that sponsored us.

Scotland's biggest charity bike ride attracted over 9,000 riders this year and the weather was perfect so why not join us to do it all again in 2011?

There's talk already of doing the 100 mile challenge next year. Just talk, mind you.

Summary
Highlight: Raising money for charity.
Lowlight: The climb after tucking in at the home baking tent.
Summary: A nice ride across the country in the sun raising money for charity.
Ride Rating: 10/10

Stats
Date: 12/09/10
Pedaling time: 3 hours 10 minutes
Distance: 51 miles
Max speed: 32 miles/hour
Total ascent: 570 metres
Puncture count: 0
Bike shop: Support teams at the reststops
Cafe: Food tents at the reststops
Massage: Maggie's tent at the finish line
Riders: DH, AS, FS and AW
Sponsorship Manager: SS

How To Do... Drop Offs

If you want to master the techniques for tackling a drop-off simply watch this video and then do the opposite. Easy.



If you decide to ignore this advice, and instead copy the moves shown, you'll probably end up looking like this and having to shell out for a new wheel.

Stats
Date: 05/08/10
Stunt Rider: FS
Camera Rider: H
Filmed on location at Mugdock Country Park.

Dirt School

Today saw us head down to Peebles for a skills course at Glentress with Dirt School's Andy Barlow. The morning was spent at the Freeride area where we were introduced to pulling manuals, loading over jumps and getting take off on jumps.

After heading back down to the Hub for a spot of lunch, it was back up to the Freeride area to practice drop-offs and then a quick spin up to Spooky Woods to put it all together and get some tuition in cornering round the berms.

The full day of Andy's expert tuition and pactience at our obvous lack of talent flew by and the results were instant even if the techniques hadn't quite been mastered. Riding back to the Hub (for some of their excellent Banoffe pie) on the Blue trail was much faster, flowing and fun than it had been when we took the route only a few hours earlier.

A great day was had by all and we can't recommend Dirt School enough so book your course today!

Summary
Highlight: Instant improvements in pretty much every area.
Lowlight: Realising that you've been doing it wrong all these years.
Summary: Expert friendly review of existing skills and teaching of new ones.
Ride Rating: 10/10

Stats
Date: 11/06/10
Pedaling time: Course runs from 9.30am - 4.00pm
Distance: N/A
Max speed: N/A
Total ascent: N/A
Total descent: N/A
Puncture count: 2
Bike shop: The Hub on site
Cafe: The Hub on site
Riders: DH, RI, AS, FS and AW

Driving from Glasgow
Distance: 54 miles
Travel time: 1hr 30mins
Directions: Google Maps

Mabie

The Easter Expedition with Dirt School at Glentress got hit where it hurts after an unseasonal dump saw the trails covered in a foot of snow. After being forced to cancel at the eleventh hour a hurried change of plan was put in place to head to one of the Seven Stanes in the West. Travelling South of Dumfries we arrived at Mabie which was to be our home for the day.

The first proper ride of the year got under way in perfect Spring weather with a ride past the Ghost Stane and along the red graded Phoenix Trail but if you want to see everything that's on offer then take a look at the official trail map.

The route has some nice riding through mixed woodland and offers some great views of the surrounding countryside from the top of the climbs. A variety of fast flowing trails combined with a few rocks, roots, jumps and drop-offs made for a great 'classic' day out even if it didn't have some of the iconic parts found at some other rides.

The cycle was finished off with a very quick visit to the orange graded Mini X area. As usual we were rubbish and put to shame by the kids that were quite happily battering over the dirt jumps.

A cross country drive later and we were cleaned up at our Peebles accommodation (well Dirt School was off but the night out was on) and out for a curry. So at the end of the day, a nice wee Easter break was had by all.

Summary
Highlight: The twisting ride down the Descender Bender
Lowlight: The leg sapping Elevator
Summary: Nothing too strenuous for the year's first ride and a good mix of up, down and twisting singletrack.
Ride Rating: 6/10

Stats
Stats for this ride suffered a bit from the GPS logger battery running out so some are a bit of an estimate.
Date: 02/04/10
Pedaling time: 2 hrs?
Distance: 17km?
Max speed: ?
Total ascent: ?
Total descent: ?
Puncture count: 2
Bike shop: The Shed on site
Cafe: The Shed on site
Riders: DH, RI, AS, FS and AW

Driving from Glasgow
Distance: 82 miles
Travel time: 1hr 45mins
Directions: Google Maps

Easter Expedition

The Easter holiday has been booked and it'll be a wee trip to sunny Peebles. We've booked in with the gents at Dirt School to see if us old dogs can finally learn some new tricks at Glentress.

Should be a great day out, assuming all the snow is gone by then.

Doesn't Time Fly?

Well it's that time of year again and Pedal for Scotland, Scotland's biggest charity bike ride, is now taking entries.

OK, so it not until September 12th 2010 but you can't start early enough getting all that sponsorship money lined up.

You can pledge some cash using the widget on the right of the screen or go along to http://www.justgiving.com/westendmassive to find out more.

Kilpatrick Hills

Time for a local jaunt, no need to sit hours in the car, we started at Milngavie, the plan to Head over the Kilpatrick Hills in a loop-like route.



We blagged this route off a What-Mountain-Bike magazine coverdisk, so you would of thought the trail would of been well marked, but it fell a bit short at the end.

The first section from Milngavie to Hardgate is good, head over past Craigtown school to Cochno road, nice bits of wee ST and riding over fields to get the legs warmed up. Just as well, cause the pull up to Greenside reservoir takes its toll. From there you need to get to Loch Humphrey, there are some trails marked just be careful in your choice. Quite boggy riding but certainly easy enough to find your way (hint:follow the pylons).

From Humphrey to Lily you follow a fairly muddy trail, look for the intersection of the stone walls, and don't try and head over Duncolm hill. Stick left. Once past Lily loch the route to Burncrooks is poor at best, heavy riding over boggy moorland. Lots of falling off been done as the front wheels got sucked down. After Burncrooks its standard fire-road trail back onto the WHW to head to Milngavie.

Piccies are here

Summary
Highlight: Down from Craigton to Hardgate
Lowlight: Lily to Burncrooks
Summary: Potential to be a cracker - but a touch too wet and Lily loch section brings it down.
Ride Rating: 6/10

Stats
Date: 17/10/09
Pedaling time: 4.5hrs
Distance: 19miles
Max speed: ?
Total ascent: ?
Total descent: ?
Puncture count: 0
Bike shop: Solid Rock Cycles
Cafe: Lots in Milngavie
Riders: DH,RI, SC

Driving from Glasgow
Distance: 10 miles
Travel time: 15mins
Directions: Google Maps

Kirroughtree

Finding myself down Dumfries way last week, I took the opportunity to pop along to one of the farthest from Glasgow 7 Stanes - Kirroughtree, the home of the infamous McMoab.

Now I had to hire a steed for this jaunt as I didnt take the Dawg with me, but there is a small if functional bike shop at the car park, where they offered to lend me a nice Orange 5, for £40. With my CCard in their mits and my feet on the pedals I headed off to the trails..


Route
I did the Black Craigs route, which is the longest available at the park, which took me around 4hrs. A very nice route, if a touch long for my lardy ass, 95% ST, with only a few dods of fireroad to suffer. McMoab proved far too tricky for me, more a walk over the rocks than a cycle, but a nice diversion from the normal track all the same. This route differed a bit from normal 7Stanes fair, not so many berms or tabletop jumps, more emphasis on single track. Some buggering big hills mind you.

Mr McMoab

Summary
Highlight: "The Twister"
Lowlight: My lack of fitness, I was ready to call it a day with 3km to go.
Summary: Another triumph for the forest commission - shame it is so far away!
Ride Rating: 8/10

Stats
Date: 7/10/09
Pedaling time: 4hrs
Distance: ?
Max speed: ?
Total ascent: ?
Total descent: ?
Puncture count: 0
Bike shop: At the car park (opens from 10am)
Cafe: Lots of choice in Newton Stewart and their is one on site too
Riders: DH

Driving from Glasgow
Distance: 86 miles
Travel time: 2.5hrs
Directions: Google Maps