If its southern Scotland then you should try Ae, Dalbeattie, Mabie and of course Drumlanrig. All are very close together around Dumfries.

If you fancy heading up to the Laggan area again you will find a large amount of natural trails in the Cairngorms. Superb scenery and trails.

And if you do go up there it would be a shame to not go a little further and do Golspie too.

Or you could head up to Fort william area. Lenachan forest, Nevis range and the loops around Kinlochleven too.

In short your spoilt for choice.

Enjoy.

The European premiere of Follow Me is on at the Glasgow Film Theatre next Tuesday at 8:10 pm.

Probably still tickets available as its in the 400 seat theatre. The previous MTB films were shown in the 200 seat theatre and always sold out.

I have six tickets but my mates would kill me if i sold them on, lol.

Its a double bill with Seasons.

Curry and two films, sorted.

Emmm, if he has a bike and expects it to take a week till he can go home…….

Why not suggest he undertakes an epic and cycles home ?

Something to tell the grandchildren about.

I saw a plane flying in the air yesterday !

Honest i did.

It may have been a Tucano but not sure as it was a bit far away. Heading towards Glasgow Airport so may have been a civil or air ambulance.

It is weird having nothing about. Not even the police helo.

Strangely i have had lots of dust on the car but it has been pretty dry so may just be road dust.

No offence taken Voodoo.

Can't understand how you are bikeless for a visit to the best concentration of trails in Britian.

Would you like a nice letter of support to give to your Missus ?

We could start a petition !

If you fish you are in a great area for that as well. Fresh and sea.

Have a look at the Undiscovered Scotland website, it has loads of info about all areas of Scotland.

Things to do ?

Lets see …..

1st, best not to use the phrase "Jocks" we are not keen on it and it may lead to poor service etc.

Cream of Galloway farm park is close by. Their ice cream is very pleasant.

Of Course you will be doing Mabie, Ae, Dalbeattie Drumlanrig and Kirroughtree while you are there. The family can entertain themselves.

There is an aircraft museum at Dumfries to wander round.

Will see what else i can come up with.

Just checked there, its a 24 i have like Trout's. Where i got 74 from i don't know.

A wee hint when mounting a vice is to always ensure the back jaws are slightly forwards of the front of your bench. Otherwise you cant clamp tubes etc vertically in the vice.

Loads of folk camp or campervan at the Buzzards nest.

And there is even a portaloo, woohoo !

Not sure if the gate at the bottom is closed at night, just to bear that in mind if you drive to the pub in the evening.

I have one of the rotating Lidl ones in the hut. Its ok i guess for general stuff.

But in the garage i have my dads No47 Record quick release vice. Over 40 years old, works perfectly.

Weighs rather a lot and the bench is bolted to the wall after a previous bench tried to land on me.

Get an old one, it will be usefull for your grandson.

GFT not answering the phone just now.
Thanks for the link Downgrade.

Boarding Bob, what is Follow Me ? Not familiar with that.

Think a curry at Karma Sutra or Chinese at Chicoku (?) with the lads will be in order.

Cheers

I second Cbike with Tayviallach. Fabulous wee place with more boats than cars. The forest trail from Crinan also passes through Carsaig.

Watch out for dolphins and otters ( only time i have seen them in the wild)and a possibility of whales.

The drive from Bellanoch to Tayviallach via Caol Scotnish looks more like Canada than Scotland.

And daddy can do the Firetower Trail too if he gets a pass from mum !

The whole area has fantastic scenery, including the canal towpath.

But don't tell anyone, keep it nice and quiet.

Friend had an ex police training car. Omega MV6.

Went like stink, not standard cams or suspension.

He was once asked by a traffic cop if the diff still whine'd over 135mph ?

"Ahem, I would have no idea officer, I, Ahem, never drive that fast."

Traffic cars are well maintained, serviced every 4-5 k miles. Beat cars are usually total sheds !

Now – Imperium by Robert Harris ( for the 3rd time)
Before – The man who cycled the world.
Before again – Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyer
Before that – Dawdling by the Danube by Edward Enfield (Harry's dad on his bike)

I cant believe he left out one critical detail.

If you look closely, or just glance quickly, its completely obvious that the front end is a different colour from the back.

He should ask for £500 more as a cut and shut gives you twice the car for the money.

Innit ?

My friends did it on bmx's as well. Silly beggars.

Their wrists were killing them at the end. But good for them all the same.

2 years ago we passed a guy on a hand cranked bike. Now that was impressive !

I'm on strike next Wednesday !

How will i feel whilst taking the road bike round the Isle of Bute ?

Better than work !

Until payday :-(

Probably a bit more than 3 hours but the loop from Kinlochard to Inversnaid is worth considering.

Need OS 1:50,000 No 56 and 57.

Start at Kinlochard and head via Stronmachair, Stuc a Bhuic, Gleann Gaoithe to Cailness (to the south of Inversnaid).

Then up WHW to inversnaid then by road ( big climb) back towards Kinlochard. You can go back off road and go round the west side of Loch Chon for the last bit.

Ben Venue from Ledard is another option but snow may well be a problem just now.

Miles of other tracks in the area.

If it was snuffing it at various times, not just on start up, then it could be fuel pump.

Intermittent faults with fuel pumps don't always show up on diagnostics.

My ibiza had that kind of fault and the 15-50 computer at the dealer said there was no fault at all.

Replaced it with a pump from a polo. Least favourite job ever, fishing about in a tank of unleaded, praying for a lack of static electricity. Not fun.

£163 a year for lovely soft scottish water. Included with Council Tax bill.

Still folk buy bottled water sourced from within 40 miles of here.

Go figure !

I'm fairly handy on the descents, allowing for the occasional wobble on jumps.

But where i am utter mince is the really slow stuff. Places like Dalbeattie have me dabbing all the time. And McMoab, just don't go there !!

Yet on the road bike i can trackstand all day.

Go figure.

Couple of trails up at Arrochar for starters.

From Ardgarten down the west side of Loch Long then up the east side of Loch goil and back parallel to the rest and be thankful.

Or from the head of loch long up onto the forest road that the Cobbler path crosses then towards Ben Vane then singletrack back to Arrochar. (in last months MBR i think).

And of course The West Highland way, Ben lomond and miles of trails in the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park around Aberfoyle.

Have a look at the Visitscotland (cycling) website for loads of trails in the area.

Cheers.

I doubt that the 17.5kg limit is due to the vertical load on the bike rack.

Much more likely its taking the lateral load into account during cornering/crosswinds.

Lionhearts suggestion about a toestrap round the downtube is a sensible precaution.

I also use two ratchet tie-downs. Fit an exhaust clamp to the centre of the roofbar (2x8mm holes needed) and you can secure the other end to the outside of the roofbar. The top end of the tiedowns should be attached to the frame above the level of the hubs. Most bikes will have something you can hook them on to.

Dont forget to drill the holes horizontally through the roofbar or it will get in the way next time your getting plywood at B&Q !

Using this method the bike will be very stable laterally, and dont forget to lock your fork out if you can.

Of course it does take a minute or two more to load the bike but better that than it falling off.

Gore windstoppers are excellent. Fine down to just about zero.

They are just a single layer so plenty of feel.

If Whales have trainers,

Does that mean Dolphins have sandals ?

Sharks would have Doc Martins for sure !

All of our motivational posters have been taken down due to the latest idea to hit our department.

So thats a PASS

But the latest scheme is called LEAN….Invented by Toyota…..

FAIL !!!

But at least we are still "Going the extra mile !"

Not me though, i stopped for a bacon buttie.

Aparently there are 107 miles of cycleable paths and tracks around Aberfoyle.

Did the loop to the south of Loch Ard from Milton back in the autum with the wee one. A more perfect Autumn day you could not have asked for.

The Loch Katrine loop cn be done but bear in mind you need to go over the Dukes at some point. The road round Katrine is not a loop and you need to head back from Stronachlachar by road. You can of course divert onto the forest roads at several points. If your keen you can miss out the Dukes by returning to the car park at Katrine via Ledard and Ben Venue !

Another i fancy is from Kinlochard to Cailness on the banks of Loch Lomond. The descent to Cailness is mental fast i have been told. Then its up the WHW to Inversnaid and back by road to Kinlochleven. Or you can take the WHW south to Rowardennan then the Ben Lomond path up to and then across Moin Eich and back into the Loch Ard forest.

It has to be said that these routes are not an easy return to the bike by any means. Simply stunning scenery on all of them though.

First patch of black ice he hits on his beloved fixtie will see him instantly convert back to the way of the freewheel !

devilishly attractive young

To me this seems like another case of technology overcoming common sense.

Lets have fancy buttons and electronic cards for everything and then find we cant just use the key to kill the engine.

So will Toyota fit a huge red kill switch on the top of the dash to stop them getting sued in the future ?

Course not, that will hurt sales !

5 of us gave GT a miss on Sunday and went round Inners.

Loads of snow everywhere. Lots of hike a bike.

We met 3 lads who got as far as the shortcut and they gave up. We, being hardy souls ( i.e. daft) went up and across the shortcut. No one had been up the summit trail at all.

The shortcut and the top of Enduro had a minimum of 1ft of snow and 2 sets of footprints on it ! We all fell over a lot.

The bottom end of it was ok, sort of. You could ride it all at least.

Plora had yet more white stuff. No one had been down it at all. The last third was fine.

And finally, after more hiking, Cadon was snow free, wet and a blast.

Needless to say, if it stays this mild it will ride a lot better, if it freezes it will be slippy as hell.

I see a flaw in these new fangled "see round corner lights".

What if you scandy flick it into the corner ? Can the lights react quickly enough ?

Oh and my Pug bleeps very annoyingly when you apply the handbrake at speed.

Yet more dumbing down of drivers abilities.

I shudder to think if this kind of unnecessary crap ever appears on MTB's.

MrBen,

Think it was MBR that had an article recently on taking the sleeper train up to Aviemore for a MTB weekend.

As said before it is a brilliant area for the bike and the trails are an easy ride from the town ( Or closer still if you shell out for the Coylumnbridge hotel).

Laggan is close, cant remember if the folk from there will pick you up from Aviemore, think they can ?

The weather is much more stable than Ft Bill. Stunning scenery at both though.

I stay just south of Glasgow and after 4 weeks of snow cover the roads are just revealing the extent of damage they have suffered.

Some of the pavements in my Village have risen about two inches above the level of the kerbstones with an inch gap horizontally.

It's now 7 c so it's not frost heave. Unless of course it takes a few days to settle from that.

The condition of the roads was pathetic before the recent cold spell so god help us now.

Oh and my car had developed a clunk in the rear suspension. Do you think the council will pay for repairs ? Being a roadie and Mtb-er i do avoid all potholes as a matter of course.

Brooks Pro big rivet, still got mine from 1984.

Oh and the Viscount VT2 on my road bike is super comfy.

What difference does a saddle make on an MTB, you never sit on it long enough. Ahem.

Yon pigeon will get rodgered by an ostrich just like its mummy did.

Sorry but that pic is LMAO funny.

This is a mountain bike forum and is no place to show images of a Ducatti 999.

Please remove it to my garage immediatly !

Some trails at Chatelherault ( cant spell it either).

Cant speak of Cathkin but it is the location for the Commonwealth MTB trails, not built yet though (?).

New trails at Whinlatter wind farm by Eaglesham, not technical though.

Upstream of New Lanark there are some trails. Starting from New Lanark itself.

Fereneze Braes between Barrhead and Paisley host XC races. Start from Brownside farm.

Of course, Glentress is only 40 mins away. If you can ride the trails for the snow !

Etc etc.

The Park Bits box is £22 !!

It does have a see-through lid though so its a reaonable price. Ahem.

M+S do great wee sealable tubs that come with the added bonus of mini chocolate treats.

Neilston Pad just to the south of Glasgow.

Local rag had a story about it a while ago.

Did meet a guy walking his big German Shepherd who said about a time when they heard a deep growling from the undergrowth. He said the dog was off like a rocket ! In the opposite direction !

Personally it's only deer, rabbits and buzzards i ever see. Phew !