[applause]

Thanks for sharing your odyssey Ian. It's been entertaining and inspiring.

Glen Sligachan is a great ride, I really enjoyed it. Did part of the well publicised loop from the Sligachan Hotel round to Torrin, missing out Strath Mor which I've heard is a bit of a bog/slog. Reckon it would work quite well as an out and back too, although you'd miss the fun descent from Am Mam down to Kilmarie. Mind you I'd have happily gone back down from Am Mam to Camasunary too, looked like it would have been a blast 🙂

I really don't think tackling the bad step with a bike would be much fun at all though.

I have some Laurin 130 FCRs and, you are right, Magura forks are anything but fit and forget.

Reckon it was worth the effort to get them set up right though. Don't know if Thors are air or coil but higher than recommended air pressure and a little bit of compression damping helps to reduce dive on mine.

Aye, sounds good, mine's a pint of the

the roadrat ticks all of your boxes a11y.

I love mine. Horizontal dropouts do mean that fixing punctures when running full mudguards is a wee bit awkward, but that's the only downside I have found.

As for mudguards I use full length SKS chromoplastics (FTW +1) for up to 28c tyres, although they do them for bigger rubber too.

It's great for the commute, trips to the pub and handles surprisingly well when laden down with too much beer/shopping. Comfy on longer rides too.

my creaky bike/wheezy lungs will be in attendance.

see you at Bonaly.

wheeeee, great fun. the rolling camera made me dizzy and looks very cool 😀

not sure the 456 can be beaten for grins per penny really.

I found this pretty inspiring.

Green. No pockets please.

Is this what sir is looking for?

Think the first one could be one of the fords coming down towards Loch an Eilean from Lochan Deo… seem to remember riding something like that coming back down from Loch Einich although there are loads of similar fords in the area.

Second is definitely the top of Badaguish. Fantastic wee trails up there, worth a few laps.

Always enjoy hunting for new stuff around Aviemore and I've never been dissapointed with what I've found. Bothy Bikes are very helpful too.

loving these tales of your epic daunder, superb

Have contracted some kind of summer lurgy so am not feeling up to riding and not best pleased 🙁

Sounds like a good route though… enjoy.

nice report and photos, looks like a great trip. Lammermuirs are lovely and dry underwheel just now.

quite similar to a Leith to Leaderfoot route I did last month.

I went up from Longyester to Lammer Law and over the other Herring Road (it seems nobody knows the exact route of it from the wee bit of research I did) and then joined on to the Southern Upland way just above Lauder. It is a great wee descent into the village although I agree it would be nice if it was a little longer.

I love the way the Lammermuirs manage to feel so remote despite being a fairly intensely managed environment. Even though there's not that much singletrack up there some of older landy tracks / quad tracks are great fun.

'disc wipes'

enjoy the soul and footy, ya big jessie 😉

Great ride last night folks, always good to meet more folk who like hooning around on great big hills on bikes 🙂

cool, will be at TBC for six.

'loading only' covers bikes and riders doesn't it 😉

lift available with me 13thfloormonk.

I'll either be heading down to TBC to pick folk up or leaving from my work in Newington if that suits yourself or anyone else better.

cheers,
alasdair

Aye, I'm up for that. Room for two other bikes.

The word epic is often bandied around inappropriately, but in this case I think it fits.

I'm just back to work after a week of (comparatively tame) walking & biking in the highlands and I'm wishing that I could head back right now 🙂

Inspiring stuff, looking forward to seeing more of your big adventure.

http://www.boingboing.net/%5B/url%5D

Diverse, interesting (often fairly bizzare) and regularly funny. Defintely worth a look now and then.

Yup, eventually managed to convince my civil service employer to go for it. Took a ridiculous amount of effort considering that it's a government led scheme but it was worth it. Lot's of new cyclists in the office now, the full bike shed makes me glad I kicked up a fuss 🙂

Why would you need it to turn more than 45 degrees?

Barspins? 😀

From The Stills –> Old Crow Medicine Show – Wagon Wheel

Three listens today and I think it's great. Loving the vocals against that sound. It's a lot more tight and focussed than some of NIN's more recent recordings. thanks again for the link kimbers.

[sets alarm clock to play ATR] 😀

cheers folks, that was a great way to spend a Wednesday night. Trails all riding really well and the goat track was especially entertaining.

Alasdair

Aye, count me in.

I'll be at the Bonaly shop for 7pm and toiling at the back of the Pentland peloton thereafter 😀

cheers,
alasdair

I had wondered what he'd be up to after NIN's wave goodbye.

Thanks for the link, be interesting to hear what that's like.

If you're hiring and you have a mishap at least someone will come and look for the bike at some point 😉

One left at the Lidl in Leith this afternoon.

I was tempted but I could only see it ending badly 🙂

Beautifully framed, nice and simple. Love the dog and the log hop.

discount fail on this occassion. I always feel a bit odd coming into the shop and announcing that "I have come from the internet and therefore demand money off" 😉

You kind folks gave me the web price for a chain/some bits at the weekend and gave a discount on top of that too so I'm not worried about missing out today.

Mightily peeved that I can't make it along tonight though, it's looking nice out. hope everyone enjoys it.

cheers TBC, I popped in at lunchtime and picked up a pair of the standard Marathons. Hopefully my journey to work will be at least 70% less sweary than it currently is 🙂

Gah, not going to be able to make this one, which is a shame as my new multitool has an attachment for removing mountain bikers from horses hooves.

Oh, a tiny threadjack if I may… TBC folk, do you have any Marathon Plus 700c x 28 tyres in at the moment? Mine seem to have lost their anti-puncture voodoo in their old age.

Yeah, I thought it looked like Abbeyhill too or somewhere around there anyway.

I think it's Lochend Close just off Calton Road.

That any help?

I reckon the biggest factor is getting a good build.

I got a bombproof set of 719s on hope pro2 hubs handbuilt by Merlin[/url] which have needed a lot less attention than anything machine built I've had in the past. They've been treated with little respect and stayed impressively true.

Also heard good things about Wheelpro[/url] who tweak Hope Hoops to order.

Celebrating my birthday with a couple of these before heading out for a meal somewhere 🙂

EDIT – oops, that image is bigger than actual size, ah well never mind I think I'll just leave it.

My granny was always telling me to get off my behouchie or threating to skelp it if I was up to no good.

The fact that there are several Scots words including stooshie and stramash to describe messy confrontational situations amuses me, a bit like the way the innuit supposedly have several words for different types of snow 🙂

Gallus is probably my oldest favourite and boorach my newest, I'd never heard that one before.

The Northen Irish use of talent for attractive members of the opposite sex is rather good too.

I've got a BMX

I'm crap on it

I'm nowhere near Corby

I'm at work on Tuesday

That'll be a no then

Aye, same here… but on the upside this just opened up down the road 🙂

I enjoyed that. Good to meet and ride with some new folk and a great way to spend a Wednesday evening.

Corstorphine Hill sounds fun but I'm off to a gig next week so I'll have to give it a miss. Will definitely be along for some more rides in the future though.

cheers,
alasdair

That laphroaig sounds good, I've never tried the 18 year old. Is it a wee bit more refined than the blustering 10 year old?

I'm currently enjoying a rather special SMWS[/url] 24 year old Highland Park. Only 123 bottles in existence and soon, I fear, only 122 🙂

I'm up for this. I'll come to TBC for six and would appreciate a lift if there is one going.

Will bring petrol pennies and sweets 🙂

I can reciprocate transport at a later date once my van has been deshonked.