Amen Dunes, The Holydrug Couple, White Fence, Ty Segall and Sic Alps are all recent or active right now musicians I’ve enjoyed…

File under fuzzy rock psych rather my other ‘more difficult’ tastes.

“The Burryman is a Hibee” was always the working title but now it would be far more bike-centric.

My wife actually caught me using ‘we’ whilst describing saturdays ride.
‘who were you with?’
‘oh, just me and the bike’
‘you know your bike isn’t a person?’

veggie household just outside edinburgh. will see what the boss says…

pint at the local – £3.13, pint at the bowling club – 40p cheaper.

just go after a monster day on the bike and £15 is more than enough (if flying solo) these days…

village life.

as a kid, my parents told me to stay of the road and growing up in south queensferry, it wasn’t difficult to find little tracks over fields and through the woods. raleigh strika, grifter and ultimately bomber for me. the other good thing about being actively encouraged to explore away from tarmac was all the bongo mags we found.

‘what on earth is that??’ etc…

someone widening the circle of their friends?

56mph on a steep road near Linlithgow decades ago. being stupid.

also, around the same time, i put a water jet on my front tyre to see how fast my computer could record… hit 79mph then the screen when blank never to be revived.

never much faster than 35mph in these days of responsibility.

5 (1988 – to now…)

Cannondale SM1000 (the teenage, cherry popping, xc racing years)
Cannondale M1000 (the art school, inactive and beer belly years)
Stumpjumper Carbon Expert (the getting my shite back together years)
Kona Unit (the single speed experiment)
Jones Ti Spaceframe (the destination)

i remember walking into edinburgh bicycle co-op in 1988 as a teenager and seeing a cannonade sm1000. the label on the handlebars stated ‘simply the best mountain bike in the world’. full xt, nitto stem, u brake on the seat stay with a shark tooth sticking up, araya rm-25s, irc 1.75 tyres, and extra long hight-rite! and it was £1000!

little did i know barely a few months later on christmas morning, id be standing crying in my parents living room as fondled my very own sm1000. the previous years ridgeback 601sis was to see how serious i was about this new mountain biking thing. even managed to quickly can the mudguards my dad had specced. my folks were certainly not rich but decided i’d merited an extra special christmas. to which I’m forever grateful. I’ve had had four bike since and only one has worked out cheaper that that ‘dale.

for me, mountain biking continues to be an expensive pursuit but, its that important to me, its worth every single penny. the jones (that took me 4 years to pay for) is the single most expensive thing I’ve bought (i don’t drive) but every ride, I’m reminded how amazing this past time is, the healthy aspect is just one of many many benefits.

a friend said to me at the weekend – ‘you are so lucky to have found something you love so much’

Som-beat-alay-um-wego-wego

the mavic mesh ones are great, just don’t parade around in them…

surely they are back to front?

i think you’ll toil to get much more on that bike beyond what you have so far…

i sorted myself out with alpkit stuff recently for the jones. id suggest swapping out the dropper and add a big seat pack for the times you are really loaded up. even with a seat frame and bar bags, I’m still carrying bulky but light stuff on my back a well.

take the wife camping.

or up a munro.

(funny, both incidents happened in glencoe on separate occasions)

lesson learnt now – never ever again.

hard basque-hard

piri piri made locally in portugal and sold at markets etc is amazing. effectively oil and nuclear grade chillis. my folks are over all the time so I’ve got a constant supply. its very cheap as well and on the same ‘vibe’ as that ‘100% pain’ sauce you can pick up m&s i believe.

ps: im a total chilli fiend

you can also head due south from gladhouse reservoir, over bowbeat hill and then follow various forestry roads all the way south to glentress. some descent are very big and fast and you get stunning views if its clear. i never see anyone in the part of that world…

pentlands clearly are good to get south from edinburgh off road but there are interesting little of pockets of trails around roslin, rosewell, camp wood, carrington and temple that could be strung together as well with short road sections.

markgraylish, living and riding in scotland all year round is a total mixed bag weather wise as you’ll no doubt remember.

i guess that you’ll definitely have at least pockets of snow higher up on any of these hills (because you’ve picked higher ones starting at around 3,750ft). with a chance of blizzards or heat waves. whatever, id go ahead and plan the route and just be aware of what the weathers doing. a your canada based so I’m sure you are well equipped for the weather.

from the pentlands on thursday evening, the highlands are all white above what id guess at around 2,500ft just now.

beinn a’bhuird sounds like a good one if you’ve not been before, a personal fav…

‘its your money’

making me hungry…

I’ve had nothing but mac since 1996. there have been times at random jobs were I’ve worked on pc’s. i think there are plus and minus points for both systems and you can do practically anything on either.

suppose its the same as other stuff (like wheel sizes!!) were ‘the quality of the journey’ comes into it. and i personally like the way the mac interface looks and works. despite many doing extremely serious stuff on computers (more serious that me and graphic design), i think its important to enjoy the process of ‘working your computer’. my new mac pro is the most underwhelming object ever (a sith r2d2) and outrageously capably of everything i throw at it and pleasant in doing so…

its all very rigid 29er/fat frontish…

Business is good. Got a ‘Träd, Gräs & Stenar’ album I’d been lusting after for ages and the trails are dry and dusty at the moment. But I did crash into a tree last night.

my wing nut enduro.

even when it weights a ton, its doesn’t seem to register on my back at all. super well designed to access stuff on the move as well.

looks weird so it goes with me and my bike!

ardent 2.4 would be my suggestion. i personally run them when its an extended dry spell (not very often in scotland haha) as they are terrible in anything other than hard pack for me.

for anymore grip in more normal conditions, I’m rating the chunky monkey (although its billed as a front tyre most of the time – 9/10) and still the best rear tyre ever – geax gato 2.3 (10/10) which is actually 1mm wider on my p-35 rim that the ardents.

incidentally, I’m running either a fat front (nate) or 29+ (knard) up front once in a blue moon.

i shave and have done for years from feet to my ‘mid thigh’. use to race and always just made me feel my best on the bike. had some folk slagging this off but although i ride alone 99.9% of the time these days and don’t race anymore, i still feels like another essential part of bike prep to me.

mrs zinaru likes it as well…

This thread got me thinking about 1995 but i reckon 1996 was a much better year as far as my ears/mind were concerned…

Two albums from that year are still very much in my all-time list are –

Millions Now Living Will Never Die by Tortoise
Upgrade and Afterlife by Gastr Del Sol

is it not a figure of 8, bin bag, parcel tape type job?

I’m on my second sonos system now at the new house. previous was in our old house and i had a total nightmare with set up as the wall thickness was massive in some areas and wafer thin in others. eventually the shop i got it from installed various plug-in the wall ‘boosters’ that strengthen the network. it definitely stabilised the system.

not had any problems with the new place at all.

my wife and i live with rocket and mabel (two rescue rabbits) and have had house rabbits for years (ui and lola both made it to 14).

we use a big hutch from pets at home which totally comes apart. its essential so that it can be properly cleaned (especially as being in the living room, you don’t want anything to get smelly (other than me after biking). anything chewable all be chewed at least once and there stomaches are very fragile.

cover up any floor cables with garden hose of similar. once they buns have a routine and set corners with litter trays they are great fun. they stretch out in front of the fire and run to the fridge everytime we open it. both very much fans of 29ers and all my weird biking/music opinions as well.

Rocket boy 😀

i don’t have any real story about that particular song but find it amusing how much hype is in the media about the notes revealing its true meaning.

i predict the true story and meaning behind the song will be a bit rubbish.

he was hungry, he drove a vehicle to an embankment which wasn’t holding back any water at this time. some drunk people were singing. he remembers buddy holly’s plane crashing and hey! lots of words rhyme…

😈

im no doctor either but I’ve just about got over a nasty flu that started of like that. after a few days of what you describe, then it when into what can only be described as the most bunged up I’ve ever been. i felt like my head was filled with quick drying cement/couldn’t unblock for 48 hours. sore back and joints and then an eventually after over a week of feeling like a zombie it slowly buggered off… hideous stuff, good luck!

not sure why the rapha hate? sure its roady focused and very pricey but i swear by their winter socks and other bits and pieces in amongst my ‘trail’ wardrobe.

no experience of this jogger but the union canal consistently bring out the worse in bike/walker aggro in my experience.

i almost got pushed in passing a group of youth a few years ago. another bonus have a fat front set up i suppose is that it would help the bike float…

i looked at a dunster as an office out in my garden as my business is home based. i decided against it due to security issues (part of our garden is open to a quiet road). too nervous with all my mac work stuff. they are smart but i they quite pricey as well i though.

I’m now looking at converting lorry container which seems to be secure, bigger and cheaper if slightly more ‘brutal’ on the eye.

.

i recently invested in some bike pack goodies from alpkit

its amazing how little the extra weight effects the bike compared to previous top heavy pannier experiences.

even for commuting i reckon it would work and still gives you the option to have a beard growing/sleeping in the bushes adventure at some point later.

my wife and i when to thailand a few years back – it was incredible.

we flew from edinburgh – amsterdam then bangok

and then internal flight from bangkok – chang mai, chang mai – krabi and then home again from bangkok

we stayed in local hotels away from the tourist stuff and found internal flights cheap and quick. my wife did so well with the pricing, we actually managed to have another long weekend to marrakesh with the change.

im a vegetarian and have been for almost 10 years. i love animals and hate the way many are treated. believe everyone has the freedom to make a choice.

for me, its all a further extension of my cycling, enjoyment of nature and being respectful to everything we share the planet with. yup, that sounds hippy and it is.

i read a book years ago about father yod and the source family (hippy jesus cult and great psych band) that ran a veggie restaurant in san franciso in the early 70s. one quote ‘nothing needs to die for me to live’ and i instantly thought – well thats that then.

for me, the way animals are treated with intensive farming etc is very removed from many folks understanding, the fact it ends up tasting good is a poor excuse. ill leave it there…

good on the op.

I am not a scientist either.

my guess is both tyres would bottom out at the same time as they are the same height (sidewall). the 29er has slightly more air in it but its the same pressure so its all how those extra few molecules behave…

do i win a texas instrument t30-stat?

yup, i like the sound of this (but I’m another non-android)

would be useful be useful for a –

‘hi babes, don’t go mental but your nice clean house is going to get visited shortly by swamp thing and he’s horny’

a few miles out…