Naked in Ullapool – bloody hell,you ARE keen.Pink rinse wifies will have a fit.

Ben wyvis is rather fun,wot with the new path an all.Top can be scary fast with a following wind and the odd hidden rock in the heather.Descent down An Caber is ultra steep.2.5hrs walking with 25 min descent.Pick a good day tho!!!

BIG MATES!!!

Dingwall to Durness,via Garve/Croick/Oykel bridge/rosehall/glen cassley/corrykinloch/glen golly/gualain/durness.About 100 miles,3 days(or two if youse in a hurry)most of it off road in some of the remotest glens in Scotland.Hotels at Oykel bridge and Overscaig if you hate ruffin it(bit expensive tho – fishing hotels for the well heeled).Plus bike bus from Durness to Inverness.What more could you want.

Remember tho! – more than three shakes is a w~:k!

A few years back there was a bit of trials bike malarky on the top of Ben Wyvis near Inverness.Tossers tore the top of the hill to pieces.By all means find an isolated glen to burn around in,but stay off the tops,it takes years for the soil to recover.To be honest though,getting a place to ride in the Highlands is nigh on impossible unless you are mates with Estate staff,etc.Sell the damn thing,get a MX bike,and burn round yer local housing estate – much more fun.

nullAnd again

If you are cheap like me ,you could do this!

Stop donating to charity! – get involved instead.You will soon change your tune about the work charities do,after putting in long hours for free,getting no thanks,and getting stressed because you can only do a wee bit.Why give a tenner for instance, when you can organise a rideout for £5/head,and hand that over instead.There are good and bad charities,but its up to you how well infomed you are – dont expect chuggers to tell you the whole truth.Thats what singletrack is for!!!!!

Nope – again?

Bump!

London based fixie forum – hardcore,no pussies allowed!

Off to the Bealach na Ba and Skye with me visitors for a run.Crackin day what!

Did anyone mention ball race – right I'm off to see the wife!!!!

me too?

A bit off track,but! – a number of years ago,a shepard mate of mine found a tent in the hill when out lookin for his sheeps.Said mate unzipped tent,then rezipped it sharpish like – a young lady had taken (a few )tablets,passed aways – as you do,and then proceeded to decompose for a few weeks in her nylon coffin.Cops took her off the hill by simply picking up the (waterproof) tent and sloshing her down the hill.She was only one mile up from the road(in Sutherland) – so the moral is,NEVER take it for granted somone will find your bones in time.Not all of the UK is overrun!!!

Morning all – sounds interesting,mainframes/servers etc – BUT,what probably happened was this.Woman is standing at self scan inputting her PIN,Bulgarian looks over shoulder,eyeballs the pin,passes PIN to mate outside with laptop and hey presto.There are some details missing of course,however that is just what happened at out local Tesco.Made the local rag in fact.So the moral of the story is,dinnae let scrots/neds/pikeys/Bulgarians(apologies to 99.99999% of honest Bulgarians) look over yer shoulder!!!!

Ow! – damn razor is blunt.

Sat in my dentist to-day,an picked up(before the torture began) a triathalon mag.Story kicks of about some elderly gent(70!)doing a thing called the Deca marathon(not sure thats the name,but you get the idea).Now I never heard bout such a thing an reads on.Statistics are thus – 25 mile(yes mile's)swim,1200 mile cycle and 250 mile run/walk/crawl/die(maybe?).You have 2 weeks in which to complete,and apparently the old boy came 5th.So next time you saddle up/shoe up,remember marathons and iron mans are for pussies – the decathon is for real men/women.

The Beverly hillibilies in a gothic underground nightclub in Aberdeen in 1984.Skinheads slamdancin to what can only be described as a racket
(18 yrs old – so long ago!!!).

Ehhmm! – don't bother,it's too late from the "side view".You could convert to buddhism tho,end it all, an come back as a skinny London courier,etc,etc,etc.

I have the 12325 model and its fabtastic.I've crashed it,dropped it etc and it keeps on going.I keep four batteries on the go to maximise run times.Buy one now,but don't forget to get batteries and charger from HK,as buying them in the UK is ridiculously expensive.I was bouts £40 all in for the P7 and running gear.

Love my maxxis tyres,a bit heavy to be fair,but bombproof.Nobby nics are arse lightweights,burst too easily on laggan – and no idea bouts anything else cos I'm too mean to try anything else!

Funny! – but the Picolax tread is way funnier tho!

Summer days

Tyre – £50, Lawyer Chappie to defend your cheapskate boss £70/hr -Hhhhmmm?

Not a whole lot you can do in my experience,other than to refer him to the fantastic people at Alcoholics Anonymus.Unless you are an addict,you will not be able to relate to his ilness.He will need all his friends though, as recovery is a lifelong process,wish you and him all the best mate.

Train to Inverness,Bus to Durness – Loads of options for walking/B+B/dining etc.Go to Cape wrath on the bus/bird watch or if thats too far – Ullapool.Loads of hills in the vicinity and good transport.

Steve at Square wheels does,penny farthing is more crack though!

No one seems to talkin up Mr Vipond,how is our telly superstar.Word is that the fall was deliberate,so that he could enjoy lunch in the local hotel – don't quote me though, as that would be seen to be mischief makin an trouble stirrin on my part,an that just would'nt do – sirs/ladies

Built a wooden frame to hold me wheels between me leggies.

By the way,I left the Puffer at 7am to had back to Dingwall over the Strath,and the road was horrendous.Car spinning up in 4th at Jamestown on almost no throttle.Called the cops to advise,to be told "yes we have had calls all night" – so where the **** was the gritter? 20 mins later my next door neighbor is pulling a young lassie out of her car(upside down – the car that is)on the road near Fodderty.She is OK but her car is lookin a bit secondhand.Glad I drove home like Miss Daisy.

The gentleman in question was unconnected with the race.However despite the best efforts of medical teams on site including a local Doctor,he unfortunatly never made it.It was his time – RIP!

I think yer face was melting in the heat,you stood there for so long! – Cracking day though,hope you did well.

And another! – we salute you sir!

Possible pics(or not).

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3546/3519967438_1a4350bd8f.jpg
The bog snorkler – I love it!

Bought me a pair of Brasher fabric boots in the Tiso sale (£75),and I reckon they are better than my Scarpa mantas in terms of stiffness.Havn't tried on the crampons yet,but for security on all but the most dodgy ground they will be fine with basic 12 pointers.If you are going out in serious terrain though,get decent gear – would you really want to be stuck up a mountain somewhere because you saved £50 on boots.Up to you!

The dogs welfare come first,and while it is an absolutely horrible thing you will have to do with your wee pal,it really is in his best interests.I was heartbroken when I lost my wee collie to cancer,but the fact that he is buried looking out onto the Fannichs is some consolation.You can never replace the space left by your 4 legged best mate,but we now have two collies that were rescued from a home that cared not a jot for their welfare,and they make the loss of my wee fella a bit easier to take.RIP Corrie!